In the seemingly never-ending golden age of prestige television, there’s always the notion that the latest season of the newest hot show will take a noticeable dip in quality — the “sophomore slump” as it’s widely known. Fortunately, that impression is nowhere to be found with Season 2 of HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones, with the season finale of the Danny McBride series solidifying the fact that this is already one of the best shows of the year.
The dark comedy about the famous televangelists of the same name has come a long way since its more-dramatic first season back in 2019, with Season 2 being a more effective mix of seriousness and absurdist humor that we’ve come to know from previous McBride comedies like Vice Principals and Eastbound and Down. It doubled down on the show’s strong depiction of family dynamics while also focusing on an engaging murder mystery that took the dark secrets of the Gemstone past into a more fascinating light — all that and even more from genuine Best Boy BJ (Tim Baltz) to boot. In light of the show’s shocking Season 2 finale, let’s dig into what happened and what this could mean for Season 3.
Following the intense confrontation between the Gemstones and the deadly Cycle Ninjas hired to kill their patriarch Eli (John Goodman), it’s revealed through flashback that the person who’s been behind all the recent chaos in the Gemstones' lives was none other than Lyle Lissons (Eric Andre). The Texan televangelist was feeding information about his competitors to journalist Thaniel Block (Jason Schwartzman), but the two quickly butt heads due to Lyle’s fear of putting his co-investment with the Gemstones, the tropical resort Zion’s Landing, at risk. After being threatened by Thaniel that he’ll expose him next, Lyle and his henchmen hysterically attempt to intimidate him via grenades and gunfire before Thaniel is killed by his own bullet ricocheting off a kitchen skillet. Lyle hides as the Gemstone siblings arrive on the scene, and immediately burns down Thaniel’s cabin and his own remaining lackeys to hide any incriminating evidence.
While the big reveal being Lyle comes off as expected, it does provide an interesting layer to the show’s world-building that we wouldn’t have gotten otherwise if it was anyone else. As we come to see in the hateful scene between Lyle and his father (a surprising John Amos!) and the eventual fate of his wife Lindy (Jessica Lowe), Lyle is shown to be a stark and darker contrast to the Gemstone ideology, in particular Jesse (McBride). His selfishness and pride towards the holy profit led him to kill innocent people with no guilt whatsoever. So long as his future feels secured, he’s fine being in complete disregard of the beliefs and ideals he advertises. The fact that we get a villainous performance from Andre as well just makes it even more interesting to watch.
The second act taking place during the opening ceremony of Zion’s Landing makes for a culmination of both the central mystery of the season and a fitting resolution to some of the familial subplots that have been running throughout the show since the beginning. It’s at this point in the Gemstone story where we see that Jesse and Amber (Cassidy Freeman) are in full support of their oldest son Gideon’s (Skyler Gisondo) stunt career, and Eli fully backs Jesse’s endeavor to fund Zion’s Landing. And following the long-awaited reunion with his estranged son Harmon (another surprise casting in Macaulay Culkin), the smooth-talking, elixir-selling pastor "Baby" Billy Freeman (Walton Goggins) arrives at the reception to fix his marriage with Tiffany (Valyn Hall) and their future child, who was brought into the world via port-a-potty.
The ensemble depicted in The Righteous Gemstones is filled with caring people with flaws they don’t easily recognize, and while this season certainly isn’t the end for these characters, it certainly leaves their emotional arcs in a satisfying and somewhat definite spot. Jesse and Amber went from a couple who were stringent on the goals they wanted for their children to being okay with their oldest wanting to find his own way in life. “Baby” Billy understood the importance of getting a second chance to make amends and truly find peace in starting a family. Even Judy (Edi Patterson), the Gemstone sister who came off as the most mean-spirited at the beginning of the show, had a great arc this season that made her more appreciative for the other people in her life through Tiffany and BJ (who is still, as it should always be stated, is a very loyal and very silly Good Boy). The finale reemphasized the show’s thematic statement that this is a story about bringing families together despite their differences, a warming variance from other great HBO shows about rich people.
And it’s in the final moments of the finale where you see those family bonds get put to the test. After Eli receives a tip from his former wrestling buddy Junior (Eric Roberts) that the Cycle Ninjas’ weapons were traced back to Texas, it doesn’t take long for Jesse to figure out Lyle’s dishonesty. Lyle tells Jesse everything at this point, including the hilarious fact that the Cycle Ninjas are actually just teenagers from his orphanage. Following their big sand-mouthed tussle on the beach (and McBride’s debilitatingly comical delivery of “Hi, Hello. Would you please come with me? I just killed someone.”), the rest of the Gemstones arrive to help Jessie with Lyle before Lindy holds them at gunpoint. It’s a tense but fitting moment for the family, as they all stand by Jessie to protect him, proving that their love is even stronger when they’re together (they even start to finally care about BJ, who they now consider as part of the family coincidentally after taking a bullet to the knee). Lindy grabs Lyle and the two make their escape from the island, but that’s not the last we’ve seen from them.
One month goes by and everything’s coming up Gemstones, as they’ve taken full ownership of Zion's Landing and everyone seems to be in a good place, including Kelvin (Adam DeVine) and Keefe (Tony Cavalero), who have taken in the Cycle Ninjas for their youth fitness program after their ordeal with the religiously-swole God Squad. The season ends on a back and forth Godfather-style sequence with the family singing together in peace while the Lissons are hunted down by the Cycle Ninjas in Alaska, as Lindy gets left behind by Lyle to die by gunfire and Lyle freezes to death before being eaten by wolves.
The Season 2 finale of The Righteous Gemstones is both definite and ambiguous. It tells a closed story about forgiveness and the effects left behind by the sins of family past. The Gemstones are some of the most compelling characters in television right now because they believe that they’re in the right because of the faith they teach. While things are looking bright for them now, it’s only a matter of time before another event from yesteryear begins to turn everything upside down. We still don’t know about Amber’s past and what she might really want from being in the family, or what will happen with Eli and Junior’s newfound relationship. But if it’s as good as what we’ve seen from this season, consider us the loyal flock of the Gemstone congregation.