‘The Righteous Gemstones’ Season 3, Episode 9 Review
by Frank Martin
The Righteous Gemstones has no limit of ridiculousness. It previously created man-made absurdity in its storylines. But it’s never quite elevated itself to a near-supernatural or mystical level. That changed to some extent with its season 3 finale. The human ridiculousness aspect involves the Family Feud rip-off game show Baby Billy’s Bible Bonkers. The fictional program was featured in an earlier episode where the Gemstones and the Montgomerys went head-to-head. The season now comes full circle as the show has reached its true form. But that ridiculousness gave way to something completely unexpected.
The finale also brought back a much earlier plot thread involving a dying race car driver (Shea Whigham) who was about to leave his fortune to one of two mega churches. In order to decide which one, Baby Billy (Walton Goggins) puts together an episode of Bible Bonkers featuring the Gemstones and this other church. Unfortunately, the airing was interrupted by an enormous swarm of locust that invaded the studio and attacked everyone in sight. It was a completely outrageous scene that only this show could pull off.
It’s unclear exactly what caused the locust swarm. Of course, locusts were one of the ten plagues. So the biblical relevance of the event and its symbolism can’t be overlooked. Still, the fact that it happened so randomly only makes it more hilarious. And this doesn’t even touch on the fact that Peter (Steve Zahn) still plans to blow up the Gemstone studio. And his son blew up the original bomb, allowing a lot of people to believe he died in the process. There was just so much happening this episode between the locusts, the game show, the Montgomerys, and also bringing the season full circle with characters and storylines that hadn’t been touched on in awhile. In any other show, this many elements all working together could be seen as a weakness in writing. But the way The Righteous Gemstones has developed, the story kind of demands it.
The Righteous Gemstones is now streaming on Max.
