Hear this, sinners: the nine-episode fourth season of The Righteous Gemstones, now streaming on Max, will be the last prayer service for creator-writer-star Danny McBride’s gloriously sacreligious televangelist family. Everybody’s back to see this consistently hilarious series to its conclusion, including McBride as Jesse Gemstone, Edi Patterson and Adam Devine as his siblings and fellow Gemstone pastors Judy and Kelvin, John Goodman as family patriarch Elijah Gemstone, and even the god Walton Goggins as ol’ Baby Billy. But what would a Gemstones production be without stellar guest stars, too? For season 4, Megan Mullally, Seann William Scott, and Arden Myrin join the cast.
Opening Shot: Virginia, 1862, and a preacher speaking to his flock. “Lovin’ your rights as a Virginian – as a Confederate – is lovin’ the very will of God.”
The Gist: “Prelude,” the lead episode of Season 4 ofThe Righteous Gemstones, is exactly that, introducing Bradley Cooper as a guy – a card sharp, roustabout, and an occasional murderer – who through certain circumstances finds himself in the role of military chaplain to an army detachment.
Hey everybody, good God almighty, where are the Gemstones in all of this war and grime? Of course Jesse (McBride), Judy (Patterson), and Kelvin (Devine) will be along in the series present, with a few brand new and totally outrageous ways to promote the Lord above. (And themselves.) The siblings’ relationship with each other remains fractious and fiercely loving. (It’s both, but not necessary all the time for either.) Judy’s marriage to BJ (Tim Baltz) finds new trials, while Kelvin’s romance with Keefe (Tony Cavalero) enters a more public phase. And though matriarch Aimee-Lee Gemstone (Jennifer Nettles) is long gone, her occasional appearances in the series, via the world of ghosts or the “miracle” of holograms, continue to inform the next chapter for Eli Gemstone. While he still grieves, there is also what’s next. Even in that department, his children are both a point of pride and a source of neverending frustration.
The Righteous Gemstones built a pulpit at the intersection of crass and Christ. With the series announcing its end, its fourth season is bound to combine bickering with the blood of the lamb, scheming with sacrament, and familial infighting with outward expressions of love. Gemstones is always funny, but it’s often even funnier as a study in contrasts like this. You know, like a nonbeliever in the past, who somehow found the Lord even though he was an empty vessel. Or like Jesus Christ Himself, behind the wheel of a monster truck named Redeemer, giving new life to all the junked cars He crushes.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The Righteous Gemstones is very much its own thing, but that can be said of most things Danny McBride creates. You could revisit Vice Principals for proof of that, or go all the way back to Eastbound & Down, which still holds up.
Our Take: “That’s why the Lord died for our sins! …Right?” In “Prelude,” the throwback vignette that opens season 4, Bradley Cooper absolutely nails the timing of dialogue that has to sound legit in the moment – as a grifter bullshits his way through sermon – but also has to be a laugh line for the viewing audience. It’s a great performance by Cooper, full of as much darkness as it is humor.
But with that special blend, it’s also a microcosm of the tone The Righteous Gemstones has perfected across its entirety. This is a series that would not be able to skewer modern megachurch-style Christianity and evangelicalism with such finely-tuned, utterly foul-mouthed glee if it was just gonna make broad jokes at the expense of belief systems. It layers its humor instead, starting with the nuance of a top-notch core cast – just watch Edi Patterson dance as Judy Gemstone; it’s side-splitting and deeply-considered all at once – before adding consistently great guest shots around them, building on schemes that seem petty but become grandiose and strange, and finishing with a touch of sweetness that lends Gemstones even more legitimacy. Even at its most absurd, this series never loses sight of the power of belief. It respects it as much as it rips into it.
Sex and Skin: The butts and other naughty bits of 19th century men; but in general, Gemstones has made a humorous habit of highlighting awkward male nudity.
Parting Shot: When the fake preacher finally gets around to reading the scripture contained in his stolen gold Bible, a candle catches a redemptive spirit aglow in his eyes. “God said ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light…”
Sleeper Star: Securing B-Coop for a prequel-style cameo is certainly a season 4 coup for The Righteous Gemstones. But if the “Sleeper Star” category were a career, it would be Walton Goggins’. The actor is a show stealer wherever he appears – check Fallout or season 3 of The White Lotus as recent examples – and Goggins’ Uncle Baby Billy is a character we wish would continue to appear in shows, long after Gemstones concludes.
Most Pilot-y Line: “Will you pray with us?” Over the years, when some of the Gemstones have received this question, it’s with a kind of surprise. If the asker only knew what they were really about. Then again, everyone is welcome in the house of the Lord.
Our Call: Stream It! The Righteous Gemstones is one of the funniest series on television. This we command. And the fourth and final season of Gemstones is sure to offer an additional Lord’s bounty of laughs in the course of following whatever creative path Danny McBride has concocted to conclude its run.
Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.
