Sins of the past influencing the decisions of the present weighed heavily over season one of “The Righteous Gemstones,” HBO’s comedic lambasting of televangelist mega-church culture. Putting on a pious show, the drifting, uber-rich Memphis family looked down the barrel of ruin of their own making, bringing them to the brink. Dr. Eli Gemstone (John Goodman), the patriarch of the world-famous Gemstone Salvation Center, spent much of the first season desperately trying to keep his creation from imploding after several calamities set into motion by his ungovernable offspring. By putting his entire being into its preservation, he inadvertently pushed his children into arrested development, culminating in a chaotic, if abrupt, conclusion. For better or worse, not much has changed in season two. The stakes are higher, the humor more imbalanced, and the character digressions even longer, but the show’s fascinations are all still here.
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When last we left The Gemstones, the dysfunctional televangelist family was in a state of redemption and transition. After a tumultuous go of it, Dr. Eli Gemstone (Goodman) had begun to get his church back in order. The eldest son, Jesse (Danny McBride), though on the outs with his wife Amber (Cassidy Freeman), ended up in Haiti with his son Gideon (Skyler Gisondo), whom he sought out to patch up their relationship. Middle child, Judy (Edi Patterson) was back at her father’s church and beginning her relationship anew with boyfriend BJ (Tim Baltz). Also, back at his father’s church, youngest Kelvin (Adam DeVine) had “rescued” his live-in, totally platonic partner Keefe (Tony Cavalero) from the “satanic” rave crowd, and both were happily reunited. Even the season’s ostensible problem, Uncle Baby Billy (Walton Goggins), had his own happy ending. After solving the season’s central conflict and running off with the Gemstones’ money, being confronted, struck by lightning, and living to tell the tale, he and his girlfriend Tiffany are running a traveling revival tent. All was sunshine and roses in Gemstones land. Of course, dysfunction being the name of the game that could only last for so long.
Picking up in season two, “The Righteous Gemstones,” finds life running smoothly for our biblical brood. They’re making new friends in the form of Texas mega pastor Lyle Lissons (Eric Andre), Judy and BJ are married, Jesse and Amber are on the mend, and Kelvin is in full-on messiah mode leading a pack of obscenely muscular men called the “God Squad.” As things are wont to do for the Gemstones, it quickly goes straight to hell. Jesse and Eli are at odds over the church’s future; Eli’s past shows up in the form of a terrific Eric Roberts and a snooping investigative reporter (Jason Schwartzman) threatens to expose the corruption running rampant in the Gemstone church. As was the case in season one, the family’s inner turmoil immediately falls prey to outside forces leaving Eli’s legacy on the brink.
Perhaps most impressive in “The Righteous Gemstones” is McBride’s (along with frequent collaborator and frequent series director Jody Hill) balancing act of finding empathy within the absurdity of this family. It’s easy to mock televangelists and mega-churches. Mined to death, it’s a territory that’ll find little sympathy when thrown under the knife. With a cast as funny as this, it’d be easy to have this be nothing more than a spoof with zero interrogation. But that’s never been McBride or Hill’s interest. Going all the way back to “The Foot Fist Way,” the two have dug deep to find the humanity in what society would deem freak shows or weirdos, and “The Righteous Gemstones” may have the most soul out of any of their works. That’s the hardest thing to reconcile with season two and the show as a whole. Their fascination with who these people are and not reducing them to stereotypes goes so deep but is often undermined by the comedy. As the humor goes full tilt in season two, so does the drama. And where the latter creates robust moments of tension, the former often fails to connect the crazier it gets. It’s a credit to a top-to-bottom dynamite cast that even as the humor wavers, your attachment is never too adrift.
No one exemplifies this better than Goodman. He’s the show’s heart and soul, and that’s made crystal clear in season two. Through frequent flashbacks, including another dip back to his time with wife Aimee-Leigh (Jennifer Nettles) in season highlight “Interlude II,” we’re given more insight into who exactly Dr. Eli Gemstone is and where he comes from. These moments provide the season with a pathos that didn’t fully exist until now, and Goodman plays it beautifully. As his past haunts him and a history of violence comes to the fore, we’re treated to some of the show’s best moments yet. Goodman and Roberts’ back and forths are spellbinding bits of television, giving the show an anchor when the humor goes completely off the rails. Underneath the incendiary jokes and raucous physical comedy, Goodman is quietly doing some of the best work of his career. The man is such a steady presence, and he’s an unambiguous godsend in a sea of rowdy characters.
Tonal imbalance hurt season one a bit but never overpowered it; here, there’s a messiness that it can’t quite reconcile. As the season ramps up into a whodunnit of sorts, not only does the comedy not gel with the drama, but characters and arcs are almost completely flattened. Season one suffered a bit from this, with Dermot Mulroney’s Johnny Seasons arc wrapping up as if the writers had forgotten about it until the last second. In season two, that feeling is the overriding sentiment, from small arcs like Kelvin’s or Judy’s to the actual main throughline of the season, few moments land with any real weight. Most of it ends up rising above the lack of attention because they’re effortlessly funny performers. Edi Patterson is especially adept at turning very little into wildly memorable scenery-chewing. Still, you can’t help but feel like everyone who isn’t Eli or Jesse is floating nebulously through the season.
Walton Goggins’ Baby Billy is given the least to work with, and it’s the biggest mistake the show makes. Goggins, like Goodman, imbues this with a humanity that might not exist otherwise, and it’s doubly impressive with a character like Billy. In a less talented performer’s hands, Billy is a straight parody with no depth or inner life. Goggins excels at that, no doubt, but it’s in the quieter moments where Billy is forced to sit with the kind of man he is that truly sing. Billy isn’t a part of the Gemstones proper, so it makes sense to use him sparingly. It’s just a shame that Goggins is so good at what he does because it actively highlights the shortcomings elsewhere in the show.
Season two of “The Righteous Gemstones” is an ambitious, intermittently hysterical mess. McBride and Hill attempt to expand the show outward, often into full-on action set pieces that, while impressive, fail to find cohesion with the rest of the series. Coupled with forgotten plot lines and lost characters, it’s a disappointing step-down. The finale is perhaps the show’s problems distilled: Too many threads to tie up, the mystery is revealed at a breakneck pace, never letting its impact breathe. The show’s over before you know it, and you’re left with the sensation that very little was accomplished here. It’s a shame because when it’s good, it’s excellent; notably, Goodman and Roberts giving the proceedings weight they don’t necessarily deserve. As the show’s scope goes outward, its focus becomes too chaotic, and it consistently lets its best performers down. A scaled-back, quieter season three wouldn’t be a bad way to go. [C]