The Righteous Gemstones

a van-full of socks full of walnuts

If this show were canceled after the first season I would have been fine. At the same time, I am kind of looking forward to starting this new season.

First episode was pretty funny, felt a bit Coen Bros. at times in its operatic ott-ness. Forgot Eric Andre was in this. Could probably watch 45 minutes of the siblings insulting each other, which tbf is what this show often feels like.

I wonder which will be the first show to kill off a character with covid? Wouldn't put it past this one.

Well you didn't forget, Eric Andre wasn't in the first season.

I forgot he was cast I meant.

Oh gotcha, considering season 1 wrapped up over two years ago it's understandable to forget things.

is the Jesse storyline a nod to Succession?

im with josh in that i wouldnt have missed this if it went away but happy its back.

my fear with streaming comedies like this is always that they'll get too plotty and think that i'm actually invested in the epic story of this family or w/e when all i want is laffs. but the fact that i remember almost nothing that happened in the first season is helping me in that respect to make it feel fresh. if they just deliver at least 1 or 2 good sibling schoolyard-insult bickering matches i'll be a satisfied viewer.

Jesse trying to get ahead of his siblings is very Falwell-esque, judging from some of the articles I’ve read

They’ve thrown in so many threads from different evangelical figures

yah totally but also it's the same storyline as the current most popular show on hbo

I think the interview (maybe linked here?) had McBride mentioning he hasn’t watched Succession but who knows

I mean, I don't think it's really similar to Succession all that much. Only Jesse is striving to take over for his dad, the other two kids just seem to be fighting for his attention more than anything else. And Eli has been pretty definitive, repeatedly, about the "I'm not going anywhere" and isn't like dangling the job over his kids' heads so they can fight over it.

yeah its a pretty obvious plot element to explore for a show about a powerful patriarch and his ambitious children. i cant imagine that when they set up the universe & all the characters in season 1 that they were thinking about succession, a show that had just premiered

First, I think this season may be funnier than the first. Second, at the same time it's really leaning into violence and gore (which has been a DGG/MCBride mainstay since at least Pineapple Express). Three, in the middle of the long God Squad segment, my wife, who likes this show more than I do, nonetheless muttered "I think the writers are having just a little too much fun," and then when the episode was over kind of grumbled "what a weird show."

No matter how over the top and ridiculous this show gets, Edi Patterson is a goddamn treasure.

I wonder how many takes it took John Goodman to very sheepishly recount the entire story of why he had blood on his pants

Tbh given his sleepy performance I'd say ... one.

Wait, did we ever find out why he was riding the rollercoaster? Especially after he supposedly seriously injured his nuts?

shooting b-roll for that ad where he’s a thumb

The difference in Eli’s reaction to BJ’s family and the way his kids reacted feels like it captured a generational difference pretty well. Eli’s kind of passive-aggressive about “oh, you’re secular, sure, we’re here if you need us” while Judy and her siblings act like saying “we’re secular” is an affront to their very existence.

Not that BJ’s family is completely normal, kind of dweeby (his sister is KJ!). But this nice family, with a loving stepdad, seem to genuinely work well together and their support for their son, mild riffing on how weird the whole baptism celebration is, was an excellent reminder of how far off the norm the Gemstones are. And the Gemstones reacting was o_O

Edi Patterson and Tim Baltz both absolutely killed it in this episode, just a joy to watch. This show usually has a pretty good soundtrack but last night's was particularly killer.

I havent thought much abt the show since 2019 and honestly forgot most of S1, so this season a few times I've found myself watching the characters and assuming that deep down they're not actually religious, since I'm so used to seeing characters like this eventually get exposed as fully nonreligious grifters. And then I'll catch myself feeling surprised when we're reminded that the Gemstones, or at least Eli, are believers who take what they imagine to be their religion seriously, even if they are also objectively amoral monsters. Like Eli is a hypocrite and grifter, but would still totally have been thrilled if BJs family ever decided to get baptized.

There are a few gems in this article that reminded me of the show:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/01/inside-jerry-falwell-jr-unlikely-rise-and-precipitous-fall

Well I mean Sherman's not hiding it!

On August 24, 2020, Falwell resigned from Liberty in the wake of a sensational tabloid scandal that could have been dreamed up in the writers’ room of The Righteous Gemstones.

Yeah, a little on the nose but I don’t know how you could publish this in 2022 and not say that!

I kind of wonder how many times “one of the kids watches someone in the hospitality business have sex with their spouse” has been rejected in the writing room as too easy. At least once?

although, wasn’t the investigative reporter’s line that he had questions about how Eli’s wife had treated servants? eek

it's probably not really that funny but I did hoot with laughter at "she was a toilet baby"

it was good. baby bill is always good

glad other people really want to find the closing credit song from righteous gemstones s2e4 pic.twitter.com/txLKvOtCde

— Doug Avery (@averyvery) January 25, 2022

amazing

I was halfway listening to that as I did the things you do as you end a show, stand up and stretch, gather up your bowl of popcorn, and paused as I noticed they were doing a bizarre credits song thing

songs that only exist in one instance, haunt your dreams, etc

BJ’s whole baptism party including the playlist & romper w cummerbund was outstanding

That’s wild, I thought that song might be a weird cover. My wife Shazammed it and it of course turned up nothing.

Holy shit did this episode take some turns.

The bit with Baby Billy explaining the “toilet baby” thing, it’s not quite an economic or social class difference, maybe oversharing and not judi g your audience, but BJ’s family going from awkward nodding to revulsion. And they’re not bad people for being revulsed because it’s just so weird and gross to have this stranger explain it that way, in that place. And oh god when she says she wasn’t a poop

haven't caught up yet, but the third episode of this season had me doubled over in tears. love this show.

i could watch a whole episode of nothing but the Gemstone kids ripping on each other at Sunday brunch

Eric Andre pulling out the guitar and soloing and then making everybody fall over.....dying

i could have watch 10-15 more minutes of just that

pretty sure that was him playing too, Eric Andre went to Berklee apparently (things I didn't know prior to today)

I’m only up to the first season flashback episode so maybe I shouldn’t click this thread but I just wanna say the actor for teen Jesse was almost too on-the-nose

Jesus christ last week's episode

Omg THIS week's episode.

Grandpa Roy killed Glendon Marsh!

ok just finished S1, one thing that was kind of bothersome/funny is that Jesse never figures out who is blackmailing him. you keep expecting him to have that Breaking Bad Hank sitting on the toilet moment but he doesn't get it until it's literally told to his face. its especially weird when they show the actual scene and it's clear that there's only ONE PERSON who could've actually filmed him...otoh the central theme of this show is that all of the characters (save for Eli) are pretty dumb

well, we found out the reason for the rollercoaster riding!

so there's really no chance that Junior didn't kill Thaniel Block, because he knows what happened to his dad somehow, and is out to destroy the Gemstones, right? that last scene of him flipping his gun was unsettling af.

also "EVERYBODY STOP SAYING 'PUSSY'!!!"

I didn't find it as funny as the last ep but still highly enjoyable.

most of it was disturbing and creepy rather than funny, but I found it compelling for that reason. some eps just go full on pathos.

yeah pretty mad tonal shift this week

I feel like the shift was necessary, the baptism party was so hilarious and OTT that trying to 1-up it already would be a misfire.

he could decided to run away from it at the last minute and just got hit by some shrapnel or whatever