S02.E01: I Speak in the Tongues of Men and Angels/S02.E02: After I Leave, Savage Wolves Will Come

[PrincessPurrsALot]

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As Jesse eyes a business opportunity with an Evangelical couple on the rise, the media cracks down on a fellow preacher. Meanwhile, Eli reconnects with a figure from his mysterious past.

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After doubling-down on their efforts to invest in Zion's Landing, Jesse and Amber scramble for the cash. Meanwhile, Eli's attempts to dodge a big-city reporter spell doom for the Gemstones.

Original air date 2022.01.09

[MMLEsq]

I think my favorite line was "Frank Stallone and Stephen Baldwin."  😆

And, I almost forgot:  Joe Jonas!

The actress playing Lindy Lissons was so familiar...I finally broke down and looked her up on IMDB:  she played Ginger in the movie Blended (plus she's been in a whole bunch of other things, but that's what I knew her from).

Edited January 10, 2022 by MMLEsq

[thuganomics85]

The Righteous Gemstones finally return with not one but two episodes!  Praise them!!

A lot going on here, I see.  So far, it looks like one of the biggest stories is going to be Jesse (and Amber)'s involvement with these Lissons folks: a power couple from Texas, who seem to have their own success in the religion "game" by trying to appeal more to a "hip" crowd, and it certainly seems to be working since they are apparently dominating the west.  And they have grand plans to build a Christian resort/amusement park in Florida, which I'm sure is going to be way easier said than done.  Eric Andre definitely brought his unique style of comedy to the role and played off the rest well.  Not familiar with the actress playing his wife (Jessica Lowe), but she seemed to fit her role pretty well too.  Curious to see how this plays out.

It also looks like we will learn more about Eli's somewhat shady and violent past, thanks to the return of this Junior character played by Eric Roberts.  Can't say I'm a massive fan of his, but this is probably the most lively Roberts has been in ages, so I'm a little more optimistic now.

Finally, Jason Schwartzman crashes the party as a journalist who has made a name for himself by bringing down corrupt religious figures and has set his sights on the Gemstones: especially Amy Lee.  But just when it looks like they're building up to something there, he gets murdered?  I couldn't really tell, but he was one of the bodies the Gemstone siblings found, right?  And now they wonder if Eli was behind it since he had blood on his clothes in the final scene.  Twist!

I can't wait to see more of Kelvin and his "God Squad."  I have to imagine that his based off of a real group or something.

As usual, some of the best parts were just watching the Gemstone family squabble and argue over everything.  Especially the dinner scenes where Amber and even BJ were getting involved.

Even though it was shown during all of the previews, I still cracked up over Judy and Kelvin's confused and angry reaction to "Bye, Felicia!"

[MrWhyt]

John Goodman better be immortal

[tennisgurl]

Its been so long, great to have this show back! Praise him! 

This season already is setting a lot up, exploring Eli's sketchy past in Memphis, Jessie and Amber allying with a Texan Christian supercouple (one of which is Eric Andre!) against Eli's wishes, a reporter trying to expose the families secrets, and of course, Judy being the hottest of hot messes. "Fuck Mickey Mouse!"

[patty1h]

I'm so happy this show is back - I laughed so many times.   

Random thoughts:  the meeting of the church heads was hilarious and the guy laying on the pavement with his legs destroyed had me cracking up.  I still wonder about Kelvin and Keef, and seeing his squad of muscle guys doesn't help.   Eli was a wrestler?   Eric Roberts.... uh, ok.   Eric Andre - cool casting.  I really thought EA's wife was Jamie Lynn Spears until I looked her up on IMDB.  Danny McBride must have good weed to come up with some of this stuff.  I see they're continuing the theme of showing men nude - funny for the shock value of it.  The one negative for me was the thing with his son's icky underpants - that was pure nasty.

[Beezella]

Well no wonder I was confused. I only recorded ep 2, and was thinking I don't remember what was going on season one, which was, what, 2 years ago?

[aghst]

Eli seems somewhat unhappy despite his success.  His children doesn't seem to give him joy, not like his old partner Junior, with whom he used to beat up people for money.

This show has the most entertaining depiction of sibling rivalry this side of Succession.  They go after each other in childish ways though, like this preoccupation with Amber's "played out pastrami" and refusing to kiss Jesse's ring because of where his finger has been.

Zion's Landing, an "all-inclusive timeshare" has to be the most blatant form of evangelical grifting there is.  Actually a streaming service to host these extravagant, ridiculous sermon shows, with lasers and arena rock pretensions from all these different megachurches seem like a good idea, getting with the modern times.

(BTW, isn't all-inclusive and timeshare kind of contradictory vacation concepts, never been to either.)

It's been so long in the first season, I forget what beef Amber and Jesse had and how they reconciled.  Maybe the reconciliation will be temporary.  I don't remember how they got Gideon back to the fold either.  Maybe he's running his own grift.

Judy and Kelvin are both in denial of course, Judy with her husband who's in the closet and Kelvin in the closet but can't resist surrounding himself with non-straight men.

Did they bring on Jason Schwartzman on just to kill off his character so soon?

No sign of Baby Billy in the first two eps but looks like in the season previews he will be back.

[Kenz]

Some of the stuff on this show may make me cringe a bit (the underpants and related activity), but it is the funniest thing on tv for me right now. One of the things I appreciate about it is that the southern accents are believable for the most part, and the production value is great. They really set up the Gemstone properties and audiences to look authentic. The casting is so good. I'm enjoying Eric Roberts and always look forward to Walton Goggins as that crazy rival preacher, Baby Billy. It helps that I'm not religious and can enjoy the depiction of the absurdities of Gemstone type preachers and their terrible hypocrisy.

Edited January 12, 2022 by Kenz
Walton Goggins, not Scoggins! Thanks patty1h

[patty1h]

21 minutes ago, Kenz said:

always look forward to Walter Scoggins as that crazy rival preacher, Baby Billy

Sorry, but that made me laugh and you can curse me for being that person, but it's Walton Goggins.

[Lunula]

Do the writers not have a map? The reporter is “nearby” in a cabin in South Carolina? Seriously. South Carolina to Texas is more than 1,000 miles…

Edited January 12, 2022 by Lunula

[bilgistic]

The Gemstones are in South Carolina. The Lissonses are in Texas.

[chediavolo]

I love this show  but some of the sexually related “ humor” , especially what comes out of  that wacko Judy’s mouth constantly, is starting to grate. Once in a while it’s funny but it never stops &  the juvenile humor is ruining the show for me. 

Edited January 12, 2022 by chediavolo
Spell

[aghst]

Juvenile humor is the point of the show.

Or one of the points.

Eastbound and Down was the same way.

[patty1h]

8 hours ago, chediavolo said:

wacko Judy’s mouth constantly, is starting to grate.

I felt the same way but let it go for the first 1-2 episodes, figuring they needed to establish/remind viewers that Judy is an annoying woman-child.  If she keeps being that exasperating, I will be muting a lot of her scenes.

[ahpny]

Nice choice to set the time-share investment location in Florida. For almost a century, investing in swamp land in Florida has been the quintennial scam that ends poorly for grifted investors. Indeed, there's an entire industry designed to get people out of times shares. How could the Gemstones, champions of grift themselves, fail to see that the Lisson proposal was more than a bit off? Kelvin's and Judy's apparent, mild skepticism seemed more a function of their rivalry with Eli than any arm's length assessment of the investment opportunity. And the primary reason Eli declined wasn't the pinging of his well-tuned BS detector, but his concerns about creating a higher profile what would attract the attention of the Jason Schwartzman character for a New York Times exposure piece.