'The Righteous Gemstones' Season Two Review: So much funnier than the first season

So I managed to binge through much of The Righteous Gemstones' second season within the span of about a week. While it has about nine episodes, these quickly went by as I found this second season to be much more engaging than the first. The first season being enjoyable but not all that humorous given it felt more like an introductory season that focused more in giving its characters a bit of depth and letting the viewer somewhat understand who they are. It was still an entertaining season but I feel it didn't generate as many laughs at it had hoped, with it having a bit more of a serious story to it that oriented itself around the concept of blackmail and how its main character (as well as his family) weren't as good as their general public image had portrayed them to be. The Righteous Gemstones is about an incredibly wealthy Christian family that thrives on creating massive events around church events. Where they'll set up entertainment and speeches around supposedly spreading the word of Christ to an audience in a huge arena. That gospel type of American culture that is almost cult-like while finding ways to be more and more ridiculous in its production value. Where the preachers are considered celebrities and blessed ones rather than the leeches and scammers they actually are. To no surprise, this show takes place in the south, where these sorts of events are more stereotypically known.

Danny McBride really managed to pull The Righteous Gemstones into new territory with its second season though. And much of that quality increase actually came from the previous season's finale though. With his character coming to terms with his previous actions with his friends, not being as righteous as they assume. The family is utterly broken, with the children of the family being selfish and in many cases pure evil. Though this tends to generate a few laughs despite getting them caught up in various antics. Judy being the most insufferable character of the family, just utterly disgusting while always promoting herself beyond others, taking advantage of BJ, her lover, who isn't even Christian and comes from a regular family that eventually see right through the family's insanity. Advising him against being with her. Jesse narrowly escaping the blackmail given Baby Billy's pregnant girlfriend ends up killing them by accident, leading to them stealing his cash and running off. This is soon discovered by the family to which Baby Billy inevitably manages to weasel himself out of the situation. Something he later does having ran off leaving his pregnant lover not knowing where he is and why he left. We get a bit more backstory on this situation given he's done it before, abandoning his lover and child in the mall. His excuse always ending up being that he's afraid of not being a provider for his family. Though it's always clear that he's just a truly awful person that's driven by exploitation and greed.

While the first season focused more on Jesse's chaotic lifestyle that is far from following the words of Christ, this season explores more of the general family in a way that gives far more context into each of them. It was a great season for that, and generated far more laughs as it navigated between characters. I really liked that it showed more on the father's side, Eli. Supposedly the most normal member of the family, the head of the whole operation that seemed to truly believe in spreading the goodness of Christianity to people. More humble than his children and understanding that money and status isn't everything, something that was implied to have been passed to him from meeting his wife and mother of the children, who had passed away, now leaving the family in this state. Though some backstory scenes showed that the children were always just nasty, while the parents had goodness in their hearts. Eli's backstory was interesting, coming from nothing but having grown up alongside a wrestling group, with its owner utilising the group for his own gain, sending them on violent missions. It showed that Eli had a rough upbringing and wasn't as good in the past as he now was. Though the arrival of his past friend brings back some of that violence in him, testing how much he had really changed. It was character exploration that I really liked, and showed that Eli had truly turned a new leaf despite his past.

I also really liked the silly character development of Kelvin, the youngest child of the family. His 'muscle men' group that he was turning into something of a cult, and his attempts to maintain control of them throughout the season. Leading to Eli having enough of his idiocies and actually breaking both of his thumbs in a fight. This whole story alongside Keefe was great, I really found his story in the season to be the strongest, and the funniest. The whole concept just being so dumb, but that's what this entire season was really about: the characters had been established and now it was time to really exaggerate and show how stupid they really are, all while upping the chaos and having them get caught in more killings, more crime and more corruption. While all of this idiocy is taking place, people are threatening and hunting down members of the family, and they have no idea who is orchestrating it. Meanwhile Jesse is attempting to surprise the family with a new investment into some Christian development of a resort by the beach, trying to find the cash for it. There's really a bit of everything here in this season, and it's so good for it. I do think I found it more enjoyable than the first, though I can see how the first wanted to establish its cast a bit more, while also showing a bit of a story at the same time. So I don't think the first was terrible for this reason.

I'm really looking forward to jumping into the third season. This was a blast and I have no doubts that the show will continue to increase in its idiocies. Having this family dive more into the violence and silliness as they attempt to maintain their empire in the supposed name of God. McBride is a genius for creating this show, and I really do recommend it. A great comedy that really is stupid, especially with Adam DeVine's character who also is a great strength to the cast. With Goggins as the horrible Baby Billy, and John Goodman as the good father with a troubled past.