The Righteous Gemstones

This is a four season, 36-episode parody of televangelists and megachurch pastors. The series follows a family that is in the business of religion. It’s funny, insightful, sweet, shocking, and sometimes, very annoying. The Gemstone children are spoiled, emotionally-immature, selfish, and unhinged.

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The saving grace is that each of the children, with the influence of their partners, has a growth arc over the course of the entire series. At the end, they’re still annoying but they are much less selfish.

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The writer, producer, and sometimes director Danny McBride does a great job of calibrating the entire 4 season show. Each season builds to the final episodes where life and death situations provide some much-needed humbling.

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John Goodman does a super job providing gravity as the family patriarch and Walter Goggins is absolutely hilarious as the brother of the Gemstone matriarch. Walter Goggins sings, dances, water skis naked, is totally unreasonable, and does a perfect southern accent. He steals every scene he’s in. I loved him from his acting in Justified. In this, he’s absolutely bonkers.

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It’s impossible to binge watch this because the Gemstone kids are that unpleasant, but it’s worth watching.

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