‘The Righteous Gemstones’ Season 3 Remains a Scorching Sermon of Religious Satire

Alci Rengifo

Praise the Lord, HBO’s “The Righteous Gemstones” is back to satiate our need for family dysfunction that captures the depraved spirit of modern America. Part of what continues making this show so enjoyable is its combination of sustaining a working format while maintaining an odd underdog status. It’s the kind of show viewers almost discover on their own, lacking the kind of overwhelming hype that greets some of its peers. In a curious way, Danny McBride’s creation taps into the same vein as shows like “Succession.” The evangelical world is as predatory as its corporate cousin, except McBride and team use satire to get across its wildness and relevancy. You don’t have to be a believer to perversely root for your favorite Gemstone.

As the season opens, the Gemstone siblings, Jesse (McBride), Judy (Edi Patterson) and Kelvin (Adam DeVine) are still trying to see who will solely inherit the megachurch throne of father Eli (John Goodman). They are already running the business, with their Zion resort a big success with vacationing Christians looking for flashy fun in the sun without worldly temptations. Jesse’s wife, Amber (Cassidy Freeman), tries to be a pillar of support despite his raging insecurities. She is already raking in cash through “The System,” a Christocentric marriage counseling service that starts at $500 for a starter kit. Kelvin is running the “Smut Busters,” a pack of testosterone-fueled bros who attack dens of immorality such as local sex shops. Judy’s turn as a touring Christian singer has put her into a crisis of conscience since it turns out she has been dry-humping her guitarist and, gasp, kissed him three times! BJ (Tim Baltz) can’t even begin to suspect what his partner has been up to. 

All these set-ups are initial introductions to the ways “The Righteous Gemstones” will expand this season in satirizing evangelical America and in turn, the surreal nature of our wider society in general. In a country where even faith has become a capitalist enterprise, it makes sense that the Gemstones freak out when Dusty Daniels (Shea Whigham), a major donor in the congregation, drops out. Like the “Succession” siblings, there’s a sense that the business/church has not been the same since the patriarch stepped back. New characters are introduced to compete and threaten the Gemstones. Among these the most memorable are Stephen Dorff as Vance, head pastor of the Simkins family, who appears on a race track as in a Jerry Bruckheimer production and challenges Jesse to a race. It’s pure insanity but it also makes sense. This is a world where not only are the characters greedy, they are convinced they are doing God’s work.

John Goodman’s Eli is still a major player this season and is given storylines both funny and dark, reaching back to his past. During a book signing he is approached by May-May (Kristen Johnson), a long-lost sister who asks for help to track down a missing son and husband. An earlier flashback we see how May-May had quite the colorful backstory, nearly attacking Eli’s late wife with a wrench in the 2000s. This story angle also leads to one of the season’s most deliriously entertaining new characters, Peter (Steve Zahn), Eli’s brother-in-law. Peter runs a militia out in the woods espousing the kind of neo-libertarian values of the right-wing groups who stormed the Capitol in 2021. Maddened in survivalist gear and cutting off fingers to make examples of his followers, Peter is appropriately over-the-top and an example of how “The Righteous Gemstones” knows how to stay relevant in these politically dicey times. In some of the lighter humor, McBride and the writers poke fun at Protestant white society and its ancient rituals, like Jesse joining the Cape and Pistol Society, which inducts megachurch leaders with old pistols. It’s a rather brilliant takedown, just in time for the passing of Pat Robertson, on the farcical ways of closed off religious societies.

While the antics remain entertaining, including car chases involving Peter’s zealous militia, this season also gives wider space to the psychological makeup of the characters. In flashbacks we see more of why Judy is the way she is with men, or how Kelvin was bullied into becoming the colder extremist of today. His relationship with assistant youth pastor Keefe (Tony Cavalero) still has a boiling, sexual tension underneath the show is wise to slowly build, considering in this environment, coming out as gay can be disastrous. Judy may love getting sexual attention, but she’s also searching for something more that she will never find with all her half-way fooling around. There are also subtle tensions emerging between Jesse and Amber, especially since her business ventures are much more successful than his attempts to run dad’s church. And then there’s Eli, who with the reappearance of May-May, must face truths about his past. The writing has always given him the complexity of a man who truly has faith, but is worldly enough to make power plays, befriend fiends and make immoral decisions. “The Righteous Gemstones” has an ensemble more likable in general sense than the cutthroat corporate operators of “Succession,” but they have the same, addictive pull with added laughs. They may be doing the Lord’s work, but as flawed mortals prone to very worldly, and entertaining pitfalls.

“The Righteous Gemstones” season three premieres June 18 and airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on HBO.