... and I say that as somebody who has followed Goodman's career from "Raising Arizona" on. He has some of that jolly, out of control, over the top guy he was in Roseanne, but here he is mainly the patriarch of a prosperity gospel church family who is in deep mourning over the recent death of his wife.
Some people claim this show is making fun of Christians, but as one myself, I disagree. This is a well deserved shot across the bow at the prosperity Gospel movement whose overarching message seems to be "Give enough money to the church (specifically MY church) and God will make you rich too...somehow!". So it is no surprise when the Gemstones are more gawd than god, live on a compound of mansions, and have more security than Disnelyland. Actually, there seems to be a Disney like amusement park on the family compound, so I guess that makes sense.
The Gemstone family consists of patriarch Eli (Goodman) and his children Jesse (Danny McBride), Kelvin (Adam Devine), and Judy (Edi Patterson). Jesse is the oldest son, the heir appointed who has an oldest son who flew the coop at eighteen never to be heard from again, has another son who is threatening to do so, and a youngest son who is too young to be that self aware yet. Kelvin hates being in his brother's shadow, has a house filled with retro video game machines, and may have some kind of gay crush going on with an ex-Satan worshiper, but I doubt he even realizes that at this point. Judy seems somewhat lifted from Shiv Roy's character on HBO's Succession. She is an alpha female about to marry a very beta male and resents the fact that her talents are overlooked in this male-centric family culture she is in.
And into this prosperous family business comes a bombshell. Jesse is being blackmailed with a video showing himself and several other officers of the church partying with prostitutes and doing cocaine. And how he and his two siblings deal with this initial threat sets up the first episode. So, who are these blackmailers, and how did they get this video? Like they used to say in Batman, "Stay Tuned Next Week", and yet Batman was as wealthy as the Gemstones and never asked for a single donation that I recall.
I would have put this review under the general "Gemstones" entry, but I would hate to laud a show and then have it hit the skids. I can say that at least the first episode is very worthwhile.
Some people claim this show is making fun of Christians, but as one myself, I disagree. This is a well deserved shot across the bow at the prosperity Gospel movement whose overarching message seems to be "Give enough money to the church (specifically MY church) and God will make you rich too...somehow!". So it is no surprise when the Gemstones are more gawd than god, live on a compound of mansions, and have more security than Disnelyland. Actually, there seems to be a Disney like amusement park on the family compound, so I guess that makes sense.
The Gemstone family consists of patriarch Eli (Goodman) and his children Jesse (Danny McBride), Kelvin (Adam Devine), and Judy (Edi Patterson). Jesse is the oldest son, the heir appointed who has an oldest son who flew the coop at eighteen never to be heard from again, has another son who is threatening to do so, and a youngest son who is too young to be that self aware yet. Kelvin hates being in his brother's shadow, has a house filled with retro video game machines, and may have some kind of gay crush going on with an ex-Satan worshiper, but I doubt he even realizes that at this point. Judy seems somewhat lifted from Shiv Roy's character on HBO's Succession. She is an alpha female about to marry a very beta male and resents the fact that her talents are overlooked in this male-centric family culture she is in.
And into this prosperous family business comes a bombshell. Jesse is being blackmailed with a video showing himself and several other officers of the church partying with prostitutes and doing cocaine. And how he and his two siblings deal with this initial threat sets up the first episode. So, who are these blackmailers, and how did they get this video? Like they used to say in Batman, "Stay Tuned Next Week", and yet Batman was as wealthy as the Gemstones and never asked for a single donation that I recall.
I would have put this review under the general "Gemstones" entry, but I would hate to laud a show and then have it hit the skids. I can say that at least the first episode is very worthwhile.
