For half a decade, The Righteous Gemstones has quietly been one of the best comedies on television, providing laughs and joy to anyone with a sick sense of humor and possibly a touch of religious trauma. The fourth and final season, which premieres on March 9 on HBO, is no exception and proves to be a hallelujah of a sendoff to one of television’s most underrated hits.
Season 4 of Danny McBride‘s black comedy finds the Gemstone siblings — Jesse (McBride), Judy (Edi Patterson), and Kelvin (Adam Devine) — struggling to keep up appearances and live up to the expectations of the community after the retirement of their father, Elijah (John Goodman). Jesse and Amber (Cassidy Freeman) have unsuccessfully launched “prayer pods” for congregants to pray in public, Kelvin and Keefe (Tony Cavalero) are worried about living their true authentic life together as boyfriends, and Judy and BJ (Tim Baltz) are adjusting to new challenges that threaten their marriage. Elsewhere, everyone’s favorite uncle Baby Billy (Walton Goggins) is facing his own mortality at the peril of his marriage to Tiffany (Valyn Hall).
Ambitious as ever, McBride and the writers go all in and all out, crafting an unapologetically funny and undeniably delicious block of nine episodes for the fans who have stuck by their side from day one. Among the laundry list of things to love about this show is the commitment to making each season a complete and largely stand-alone story, which doesn’t require the audience to overly rely on bricks laid in previous seasons to enjoy what is currently airing. In a way, I always walk away from this series feeling a bit like I’m watching an anthology, similar to The White Lotus, albeit more depraved and hilarious than Mike White’s own HBO property. Unsurprisingly, Season 4 excels at telling the audience a wholly original tale, helped by the introduction of a new cast of characters — including Megan Mullally, Seann William Scott, and Arden Myrin — to send the series off on a high note.
In the final season, Mullally is introduced as Lori Milsap, the best friend of the late Gemstone matriarch, Aimee-Leigh (Jennifer Nettles). After years of grieving her closest friend from afar, Lori — like Elijah — is brought back to the church for Aimee Leigh’s birthday celebration, only to discover a possible connection with the lovelorn widower of her bestie. From the moment she first steps on screen, Mullally owns every beat and every joke, proving that the only mistake in casting her was that it should have been done sooner. The show is no stranger to some incredible guest stars over the years — Macaulay Culkin, Steve Zahn, Iliza Schlesinger, Dermot Mulroney, and Casey Wilson just to name a few — and still, Mullally will almost certainly go down as the greatest, slipping into the ensemble with such ease and grace that it truly is a wonder it took them this long to get her in a Southern accent.
Mullally, Scott, and Myrin all bring a unique new spice to one of the best ensembles on television, made sturdy by the backbone, McBride, and his on-screen siblings. If the first three seasons of Gemstones allowed for the family members to be at each other’s throats, Season 4 is the homecoming that every parent wishes for. It is unceasingly fascinating and humorous to watch Jesse, Judy, and Kelvin fight each other verbally — and, occasionally, physically — but the last season gives the family the opportunity to realize that they may actually like each other in addition to being required to love each other. In giving new and nuanced life to these characters, Season 4 acts as the metaphorical salvation for the Gemstone siblings and the show itself.
Year after year, I’ve had the unique pain of watching endlessly talented actors like Patterson miss out on Emmy nominations as more mainstream (and often less comical) shows secure nods. It’s a crying shame that Patterson, who plays “one of the boys” better than her on-screen brothers, has never been acknowledged publicly for her work by any major awards voting body. While she often has less screentime than McBride and Goodman, it’s hard not to feel as though she is the star of the show due to her A-plus delivery and over-the-top physical comedy style.
Much has been said about Goodman’s acting prowess over the years, but not enough has been written about his effortless portrayal of Eli Gemstone, a loving father to three halfwits, a compelling and charismatic church leader, and a grieving widower all wrapped in one. For many reasons, I feared heading into this final season that Gemstones would pull a Succession Season 4 and kill off their patriarch in their swan song installment. After all, the shows have, in many ways, echoed each other in structure, narrative, and — every so often — a crude comment from one of the kids. But to do that with Gemstones would have been a disastrous mistake, knowing that while the Gemstone children are the center of the show, Goodman’s character is the steady, beating heart that keeps it running.
Similar words could be said for Goggins, the current White Lotus breakout star who has steadily been turning out some of the best one-liners on The Righteous Gemstones since 2019, long before his Fallout or Mike White days. I often think about the phrase “people will forget what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel” when I am examining performances, and there is no performance that resonates more with that saying than Goggins’ in this HBO comedy. Some actors are just blessed with the gift of being able to deliver inherently mundane lines in such a way that you will always laugh, and that is Goggins as Baby Billy. Off in his own world for much of Season 4, he steals the scene in every ensemble meet-up and does it with such poise and humor that it would be hard to hold it against him.
Of course, I must also note that none of these performances would be possible without the words and ideas brought to the table by McBride, who has steadily given HBO some of its most dependable comedies for the better part of the last two decades. From Eastbound and Down to Vice Principals to Gemstones, his comedic prowess and unique worldview cannot be understated. And while it is painful to have to say goodbye to the best worst family on TV, it is merely the closing of another chapter in the love story between McBride and HBO, one that begs just two questions: what comes next and how long will we have to wait?
The Righteous Gemstones is the kind of show that has made me say I rue the day it ends; I could watch these lovable idiots for 10 years and never become tired of their silliness, hijinks, and rips on each other. Watching three supposedly good Christian adults make the dirtiest jokes you’ve ever heard, assault one another and complete strangers, and leave you questioning if they will ever see the pearly gates is a dynamic that just does not become boring. And if there is a heaven that doesn’t include downright filthy and uproarious characters like Jesse, Judy, Kelvin, and the rest of the Gemstone family, it’s not the kind of place I would want to be.
Absurdist and raunchy as hell, the show does a spectacular job from the first moment to the very last of surprising fans with tender beats that could bring tears to eyes. What else can you expect from a show that sells itself as a parody on Evangelicals but at its core is actually about the pure love shared by the members of the titular family? While the Bible says that “blessed are the pure in heart,” The Righteous Gemstones Season 4 is proof-positive that so are those with a dastardly sense of humor.
The first three seasons of The Righteous Gemstones are currently streaming on Max. Season 4 premieres on Sunday, March 9 at 9 p.m. New episodes release weekly.
The post ‘The Righteous Gemstones’ Season 4 Review: A Hallelujah Sendoff For One Of TV’s Best Comedies appeared first on Decider.
