TV Review: ‘The Righteous Gemstones’ Season 3, Episode 3
by Frank Martin
This week’s episode of The Righteous Gemstones was smart in that it was primarily focused on character development rather than plot. The path of the season is fairly straightforward; Eli (John Goodman) and the other Gemstones are going to clash with the Christian nationalists led by Eli’s brother-in-law. But this isn’t a straightforward situation of two forces going up against each other. There’s a lot of charged character drama between these two groups with the Gemstones’ cousins in the middle. In order to up the tension for the inevitable conflict, these cousins — called the Montgomerys — need to have a connection with the Gemstones. That’s what this episode wisely focused on.
As the Montgomery cousins get situated in the Gemstone compound, Jesse (Danny McBride) and the others grow irritated by their behavior. They consider them unrefined and rude. This tension culminates when Baby Billy (Walton Goggins) crashes their dinner in order to pitch his Family Feud rip off game show. The heated competition gets more intense until a fight almost breaks out. But when one of the cousins begin choking, this creates a unified moment for both sides to come together and find common ground. Also, tension within the Gemstone clan rises as word of Judy’s (Edi Patterson) infidelity begins to spread.
There’s not a whole lot of plot development within this episode, but it’s still an important step forward towards furthering that plot in future episodes. Instead, this installment had a lot to do with characterization and reintroducing Baby Billy to the group now that he has a baby in the mix. That doesn’t mean the episode is any less fun. All of the characters put on their trademark ridiculousness in a series of very funny scenes and dialogue. The Righteous Gemstones is a pretty solid show in that even episodes that aren’t action or plot heavy can still hold attention and be hilarious entertainment.
The Righteous Gemstones is Sunday on HBO.
