Holy Hypocrisy! Ideological Critique in The Righteous Gemstones

At a time when religious affiliation and its conservative tendencies are a more volatile topic than ever, a show like The Righteous Gemstones utilizes the unique power of comedy as a vessel for critique. Through its humorous and lewd portrayal of the Gemstone family’s megachurch dynasty, sins and all, the series undercuts holy expectations and family ideology. The show, created by Danny McBride, began airing in the summer of 2019 on HBO; McBride is known for his crude comedy in shows such as Eastbound and Down and Vice Principals, but The Righteous Gemstones is arguably his most relevant work yet. The show’s representation of a powerful Christian family calls moral standards and gender roles associated with family ideology into question through humor stemming from the dysfunction of the family’s relationships with each other, power, money, sin, and being in the public eye. However, the conclusion of the show’s third season celebrates the resilience of the family through an earnest lens of reform as the Gemstones come together in acceptance of a queer storyline. The show centers on the family’s patriarch, Eli Gemstone, and his three adult children, Jesse (McBride), Judy, and Kelvin. The pilot finds them a few years after the death of their matriarch, Aimee-Leigh, and the family has become bitter. The siblings constantly fight over who will succeed their father as head of the Gemstone “empire”; a fitting word, given the family profits enormously from their fear-mongering capitalist endeavors. Each family member has something to hide, whether it be a cocaine-dusted party, an affair, or a Satanic boy toy. Additionally, each of the couples in the family has a non-traditional power dynamic, critiquing the gender roles enforced by dominant family ideology, especially in a religious setting. The inspiration for the show’s biting satire comes from McBride’s own experiences with the hypocrisy of the church, specifically regarding his mother’s divorce and the lack of support from their Southern Baptist community. When it comes to gender roles and family ideology, religious institutions are primary enforcers of their dominance. The rise of televangelism has allowed these views to be disseminated and opened up religious institutions to more commercialization; the Gemstones embody the contradictions that come from a family upholding a holy image on the stage and screen while hiding their true lack of compliance with what they preach. Yet, the reconciliation that ends the third season redefines traditional family values and celebrates the structure’s resilience despite corruption. This paper will examine The Righteous Gemstones, particularly S2E4 (“As to How They Might Destroy Him”) and S3E9 (“Wonders That Cannot Be Fathomed, Miracles That Cannot Be Counted”), as a vehicle of reform that broadens the definition of a righteous family.

The Righteous Gemstones’ clearest critique is of the gender roles enforced by dominant family ideology. These expectations are detailed and critiqued by M. E. O’Brien in her book Family Abolition: “Gendered… roles both enforce male authority at the expense of women’s time and well-being, and trap all participants in narrow and alienated gender expectations” (O’Brien 47). In trying to project the perfect family image, the Gemstones could easily fall into these roles. However, the Gemstone women assert their power in the home, the conference room, and the church. In his 1959 study for Marriage and Family Living, “Traditional Family Ideology and Spousal Roles in Decision Making,” psychologist and sociologist William F. Kenkel analyzed the decision-making tendencies within the heterosexual couple form. He asserts that “the roles played in family decision making can be related… to the nature of the roles the spouses play in the nuclear family or in society generally” (334). In the traditional couple form, the female or feminized partner takes on a submissive, subordinate role; this leads to the unequal distribution and appreciation of the labor that goes on within the home. In a show depicting a powerful Christian family, it is expected that the control of that power falls to the men. While the Gemstone leaders are mainly male, the female characters take up space and hold power in a way that challenges the traditional couple form. Aimee-Leigh Gemstone, the family’s late matriarch, has a strong influence on affairs from beyond the grave. She was a child star along with her brother, Baby Billy Freeman, and her popularity was the seed of the Gemstone empire. Like Amber, she breaks out of the dutiful, economically disengaged stereotype of a wife that Kenkel and O’Brien describe. Aimee-Leigh is an almost God-like mother figure, constantly referenced as the pinnacle of good that the family should be striving for. The siblings constantly remind their father of her absence, stoking the flames of his guilt whenever he appears to be moving on. It is revealed through flashbacks that Aimee-Leigh is not as perfect as she seems; during her life, she played a major role in the family’s exploitative endeavors, mainly their Y2K scandal. Profiting off of the fear of their followers and their projected image of a trustworthy family, the Gemstones sold Y2K Survival Buckets and faced backlash after the world carried on as usual after the end of the 20th century. This controversy prompted protests against the Gemstone family, clearly framing the family’s behavior as unjustifiable. Despite her flaws, Aimee-Leigh is portrayed as a loving mother and her absence is the source of the dysfunction that characterizes the show. Some critics even declare the show to be centered around her loss, with everything stemming back to the grief that the family is recovering from. The power that Aimee-Leigh holds in the world of the The Righteous Gemstones hails the importance of women both in the home and in the economic sphere. Another powerful woman of the Gemstone family is Amber, Jesse’s wife. She stands by her husband despite his scandals but does not hide her unhappiness. One of her most iconic moments comes at the end of season 1; she discovers the depth of Jesse’s lies and expertly shoots him in the buttock from yards away. She has an aptitude for business, boasting equal status to her husband in their economic dealings while managing the household. She negates the findings of Kenkel, who found that “wives [who] scored high in Exaggerated Masculinity and Femininity… were less likely even to share equally with their husbands the total amount of talking, the task actions, and influence, as well as the value placed on her opinions and actions” (338). The exaggerated masculine and feminine roles of traditional religious couples contrasts Amber’s behavior in business settings, demonstrating The Righteous Gemstones’ effort to redefine the idea of a good Christian wife. Though Amber’s sharpshooting Southern charm gets laughs, the most comical facet of the show’s gendered critique comes in the form of Judy Gemstone and her husband BJ. Judy is a hilariously boisterous character, often threatening the powerful men in her life and making her opinions known through dramatic tantrums. BJ is a soft-spoken man who dutifully obeys his wife; even after her season two cheating scandal, she draws him back into her good graces. Judy’s brothers constantly make fun of BJ, questioning his lack of masculinity and criticizing his strange hobbies. When he decides to get baptized, the family accepts him but wonders if he is under Judy’s influence.

S2E4 ("As to How They Might Destroy Him") of The Righteous Gemstones is an exemplary portrayal of the family’s entanglement with power and profit. The episode’s main plotlines relevant to family ideology are as follows: Kelvin aims to take his God Squad to the Judean desert, but Eli refuses to foot the bill. BJ is baptized in a lavish, performative ceremony that devolves into chaos when Kelvin tests Eli’s patience. The climax of the episode comes when BJ’s sister KJ expresses her distaste for the Gemstones’ vanity. “[You’re] making a huge mistake,” KJ tells her brother. “You’re not a Gemstone.” Enraged, BJ declares “I am a Gemstone” and aims a fistful of cake at his sister’s face, only to hit Eli by mistake. BJ’s passion and anger in this moment, which is out of character for him, shows his desperation to be seen as part of the Gemstone empire and emphasizes the power that can be attained through the family unit. As Eli leaves the event, disappointed in the chaos his children have wrought, Kelvin approaches him and begins a verbal altercation. He is furious that his father is not sponsoring his disciples' trip to the Judaean desert. When Keefe, Kelvin’s right hand man, tries to intervene, Eli shuts him down. Kelvin snaps and his desire for individual power and financial support overrides family loyalties. Eli is a financial resource for all three of his children; the entire family lives in separate mansions scattered in a gated compound. In their study “How Does Religion Influence Parental Support of Young Adult Children?” Lei Lei and Frederic Traylor discover that “Christian religious institutions communicate profamily messages, emphasize others’ needs… strengthen intergenerational ties and promote parents’ support of young adult children” (Lei and Traylor, 2139). The extreme level of support that the Gemstones receive is a factor in their moral corruption, made clear by Kelvin’s outburst. As the argument escalates and Kelvin calls Eli a “false prophet,” the fight turns physical. Kelvin throws a bottle of champagne that shatters a portrait of his mother. Eli, revealed in this season to have been a part of the Dixie Mafia as a young man, breaks Kelvin’s thumbs in the ultimate frustration with his insolence. This extreme moment of struggle between family and economics highlights the toxicity of the Gemstones’ corruption. Even when celebrating the sacred event of baptism, capitalistic endeavors cloud the values that the Gemstones preach. They strive for profit both inside the family unit and from their followers. American Studies scholar Nopita Trihastutie analyzes the origins of “the religious marketplace: the… recontextualization of religious symbols, language, and ideas from their original religious context to the media and consumer culture” in her study of “American Televangelical Frames: Religiosity, Spirituality, and Commodification” (Trihastutie 96, 101). The Gemstones are excellent at selling the idea of salvation and of the perfect family. In their case, the power of televangelism in American consumer culture combines with the power of the family structure under capitalism; as M. E. O’Brien describes it, “states have encouraged particular forms of families, policed family life, determined what types of housing are available, provided public schooling, and legally regulated relationships of shared resources, sex, or parenting… criminalizing abortion, sex work, and gay sex; or propagandizing the benefits or harms of various family structures” (O’Brien 34, 35). During their outbursts at the baptism, both BJ and Kelvin are realizing the powerful position the Gemstone family holds, as well as its limits, and let their morals succumb to their desire to stake their claims. Much of the criticism that The Righteous Gemstones presents could be seen as adamantly against the corrupt family structure. However, the final episode of the third season, "Wonders That Cannot Be Fathomed, Miracles That Cannot Be Counted,” ends with the entire Gemstone family having reconciled, enjoying a sunny day and cheering as they take turns driving the family monster truck. Aimee-Leigh, in her first appearance outside of flashbacks, stands at the edge of the field, leaning on the fence, smiling. The approval apparent on her face celebrates the resilience of the family and their ability to come together without her. Furthermore, her approval also applies to the relationship between Kelvin and Keefe that has finally begun after three seasons of punchlines. 

Parallel to his siblings and their spouses, Keefe is Kelvin’s second-in-command. Their friendship began when Kelvin pulled Keefe from the depths of Satanism and brought him to live on the Gemstone compound prior to the events of the pilot; Keefe’s origin story is vague, but his dark past is made clear by his fading “666” and “Hail Satan” tattoos. Keefe is Kelvin’s most loyal disciple, often reassuring him with odd turns of phrase: “I promise to keep your secret, and if I don’t, you can cut my tongue out with rusted sheers and bury it deep.” Their queer-coded relationship is a source for laughs throughout the first three seasons, especially when they’re being teased by Jesse and Judy. Their comic relationship became a fan favorite, culminating in a magical kiss scene in S3E8 that turned jokes into representation. The family reacts with proud, knowing looks and the topic isn’t spoken about for the rest of the season; in the season three finale, Keefe and Kelvin rejoice among family, getting a thumbs-up from Eli. A study by Andrew L. Whitehead, “Religious Organizations and Homosexuality: The Acceptance of Gays and Lesbians in American Congregations,” reveals that “congregations located in the South will be less likely to allow the full inclusion of lesbians and gays into congregational life compared to congregations in the East, Midwest, or West” (Whitehead 301). While Kelvin faces homophobia in the fourth season from rival congregations, he gets complete acceptance from his family and their church. The seamless introduction of this plotline clearly categorizes The Righteous Gemstones as a reform text; it promotes the inclusion of non-traditional family elements being accepted within the established social structure, rather than seeking to abolish the structure as a whole. The show’s fourth and final season, recently aired on HBO Max, continues this plotline in a satisfying manner that shows the writers’ commitment to queer representation. Kelvin is running Prism, a progressive worship group, and is nominated for Top Christ Following Man of the Year. Keefe is by his side through it all and expresses that he’d like to be more open with their Prism disciples, even suggesting marriage. Kelvin values the ambiguity of their relationship in the public eye, but after being slammed with homophobic remarks by a fellow nominee, he confronts his duty as a leader and begins a journey of acceptance. He announces his sexuality at the final Top Christ Following Man event and is crowned the winner. The series finale comes to a close with the wedding of Kelvin and Keefe, to the delight of queer viewers who have rooted for them since the beginning. By committing to Kelvin and Keefe’s storyline in the fourth season, The Righteous Gemstones’ creators make it clear that the show aims to expand the definition of Christian family through acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community. 

In conclusion, The Righteous Gemstones critiques traditional family ideology through its disruption of normative gender roles, depiction of a corrupt religious organization, and inclusion of a queer storyline. Creator Danny McBride, in an interview with GQ on the show’s finale, reflected on his past projects and the aim of their satire: “It’s all these different pillars of American culture. Eastbound is about celebrity and fame. And the second one [Vice Principals] is set in the world of education, and the third is religion. These are all pillars of American culture, and there's a certain expectation about what happens in those worlds. It's a ripe setting to undercut that and poke holes in what's expected and populate it with characters you wouldn’t expect to find in those zones” (Pappademas). The most expected character in The Righteous Gemstones is the memory of Aimee-Leigh. Her presence in the minds of the characters, however corrupt, leads them back to the idea of family and making their mother proud. The series finale ends with Kelvin and Keefe’s wedding; Eli’s love interest, an old friend of Aimee-Leigh, gives him a letter written to her by his late wife. Aimee-Leigh’s voice reads it aloud over the wedding footage, ending the season on a sentimental note: “Even if years go by and we lose our way to each other,” she reads, “know I'll always be waiting, ready to share my love.” After two seasons with happy endings for the family, it’s clear that The Righteous Gemstones suggests simply reforming dominant notions of family by ultimately celebrating it as a form of care and unconditional love. The show argues for a version of the religious family that appreciates the work of women, is aware of the family unit’s interaction with capitalism, celebrates non-traditional relationships, and sparks discussion of corruption at the intersection of religious, capitalist, and family structures.

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Works Cited

“As to How They Might Destroy Him.” The Righteous Gemstones, created by Danny McBride, season 2, episode 4, HBO, 2022. 

Gallagher, Caitlin. "How Danny McBride's Southern Baptist Upbringing Inspired 'The Righteous Gemstones'." Bustle, 18 Aug. 2019, https://www.bustle.com/p/is-the-righteous-gemstones-based-on-a-true-story-danny-mcbride-drew-from-his-own-religious-upbringing-18651427

Kenkel, William F. “Traditional Family Ideology and Spousal Roles in Decision Making.” Marriage and Family Living, vol. 21, no. 4, 1959, pp. 334–39. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/347105. 

Lei, Lei, and Traylor, Frederic. “How Does Religion Influence Parental Support of Young Adult Children?” Journal of Family Issues, vol. 45, no. 9, Sept. 2024, pp. 2135–57. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X231195653.

O’Brien, M. E. Family Abolition: Capitalism and the Communizing of Care. Pluto Press,

2023. 

Pappademas, Alex. "The Righteous Gemstones Creator Danny McBride Talks About Closing the (Good) Book on the Series." GQ, 23 Jan. 2025, https://www.gq.com/story/danny-mcbride-ending-righteous-gemstones.

“That the Man of God May Be Complete.” The Righteous Gemstones, created by Danny McBride, season 4, episode 9, HBO, 2025. 

Trihastutie, Nopita. “American Televangelical Frames: Religiosity, Spirituality, and 

Commodification.” Lire Journal, vol. 3, no. 2, Nov. 2019. EBSCOhost,

https://doi.org/10.33019/lire.v3i2.53.

Whitehead, Andrew L. “Religious Organizations and Homosexuality: The Acceptance of Gays and Lesbians in American Congregations.” Review of Religious Research: The Official Journal of the Religious Research Association, vol. 55, no. 2, June 2013, pp. 297–317. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13644-012-0066-1.

“Wonders That Cannot Be Fathomed, Miracles That Cannot Be Counted.” The Righteous Gemstones, created by Danny McBride, season 3, episode 9, HBO, 2023.