In The Righteous Gemstonesâ pilot episode, gazing out over his wife Aimee-Leighâs memorial pool, a distraught Eli Gemstone tells his children: âShe was the magic, and now sheâs gone, and the magic is gone too.â The three Gemstone children (and Big Daddy too) enjoy the trappings of their ultra-#blessed lifestyle, but the reason for the season, the fount of all that holy abundanceâtheir mother, the center of the ministry and the familyâhas left them for good, and theyâre all aimless and stranded.
Now, at the end of their journey, the luckiest wayward spawn of Strip Mall Jesus can now (kinda!) stand on their own. Each of the Gemstones, over four seasons of lurid storytelling, has crept at least a few inches closer to salvation. Theyâve drawn their flock closer in, and expanded it outwards. Theyâve sinned, been forgiven, and learned to forgive others for their trespasses. They have, against their own unflagging bad instincts and judgment, grown (again, kinda).
In constructing our final Righteous Gemstones draft board, we must consider where each character began, and the distance theyâve traveled to get here. More may yet be saved, yes. But only some clearly finish the series on an upward trajectory towards that big custom treehouse in the sky.
RISING
AIMEE-LEIGH GEMSTONE (Jennifer Nettles). In the beginning: Not present, but felt everywhere, to the detriment of everyone in her family. In the end: MAYBE ACTUALLY PRESENT?? If the Gemstonesâ matriarch has been a restless spirit this whole time, itâs certainly understandable. And if anything can finally bring her peace, the sight of her idiot children joining hands to pray over the son of her best friend might just do the trick.
Jake Giles Netter/HBO
KELVIN GEMSTONE (Adam Devine). Previously, in 2019: With the highest hair, the youngest Gemstone child was mathematically the closest to God on the outside, lonely and closeted on the inside. In 2025, heâs finally made an honest man of Keefe, and got off the fit of the episode at his wedding (no mean feat in this family). He also got himself shot, after executing the most harebrained sneak attack strategy ever seen in a show with many, many harebrained sneak attack schemes to choose from. Delivered the most moving passage of the whole episode, because as hinted in the previous two weeks, the baby of the family has turned out to be the only one who can flat-out preach. A true heir to Eli at lastâat least behind the pulpit.
JUDY GEMSTONE (Edi Patterson). Heart has grown at least one (1) size via putting BJâs needs ahead of hers in retrieving the exiled Doctor Watson. (Repossessed a service animal from a disabled veteran in doing so, so itâs not all Grape Job stickers this week, okay?) Displayed improved communication skills in lecturing a capuchin monkey about the futility of holding a grudge against someone you love. In a shocking upset, has somehow gone nearly four seasons without getting shot, despite multiple instances of public menace, embezzling from the family business, and engaging in extramarital near-affairs with unstable men.