The Righteous Gemstones Review: The Prayer of a Righteous Man (Season 2 Episode 8)
Without a doubt, this season of The Righteous Gemstones belongs to John Goodman’s Eli Gemstone. Even when Eli was laid up in the hospital, he was at the center of the plot.
On The Righteous Gemstones Season 2 Episode 8, “The Prayer of a Righteous Man,” the show finally accomplishes what it’s been promising to do. It gives Eli closure on the past.
After the full-throttle insanity of the previous episode, this installment is downright wholesome in how it brings all the family members back together. Despite all their many, many flaws, Eli starts to accept his children for who they are and see the good in them too.
That acceptance also means admitting some truths about himself. In his quest for success, Eli suppressed a part of himself instead of healing it.
With his past haunting him he has no choice but to face it. Hearing him admit to Junior that he has the devil inside of him, but doesn’t think that means it needs to win, is powerful stuff.
Instead of rejecting Junior again, he wants to stand beside him. Whether or not you believe in the same religious principles as the character, it still sends a nice message about not giving up on others or yourself.
Goodman may have risen to fame for his work on sitcoms, but The Righteous Gemstones knows how to best use his dramatic chops to add some gravitas to the show. It’s hard to imagine anyone in the ensemble better suited to own that kind of scene.
Eli may not get the flashiest or most sidesplitting lines, but the story wouldn’t be the same without him.
Bringing everything home is Baby Billy also making amends with his past. It may take a visit from Aimee-Leigh’s ghost (lest we forget The Righteous Gemstones likes to make things weird), but he finally goes to see Harmon (guest star Macaulay Culkin).
Despite how much the show stretched out this plot, the resolution is worth the wait. Harmon tells him the thing he needs to hear, which is that all he can do now is not make the same mistake again.
Even though Baby Billy is often a caricature, in this scene all of his regrets and emotions feel authentic. Baby Billy smiling after Harmon punches him in the face because he knows it means he’s accepted his apology warms your heart.
It would be a sin if Goodman and Goggins aren’t contenders for the next awards season. They successfully carry the weightier storylines while still keeping in step with the tone of the show.
Good thing Judy decides to not let Tiffany take a 15-hour bus trip back to West Virginia to live among the frackers. Judy treating Tiffany like the daughter she never had, despite being her niece, is as ridiculous as anything else on the show but also sweet.
Mushy feelings aside, the episode does end with one huge cliffhanger. As some viewers already suspected, Eli learns that Junior did not send the cycle ninjas.
That’s bad news considering someone breaks the apprehended assassins out of jail by blowing a hole through the wall. (I admittedly did not have “prison break” on my bingo card for this season).
Who wants Eli dead? That’s the big question going into the finale, leaving viewers on the edge of their seats until then.
Additional Thoughts:
- I could listen to a loop of Eric Roberts pronouncing daddy as “deddy.”
- Junior mentioning the reporter just reminds me we never found out what he actually knew. Surely this is going to come up in the finale.
- I’ve tried to refrain from too many Succession comparisons but Judy and BJ really are everything I wanted Shiv and Tom to be.
- Did anyone else tear up a little with Eli tells Jesse he’s proud of him? (Jesse is still a doofus, but he did help save his dad’s life.)
- The season hasn’t mentioned COVID much since the premiere but Baby Billy peddling bunk elixir that claims to cure COVID is sadly a little too realistic for comfort.
- “Poor people love money, y’all.”
- I can appreciate subtext as much as the next person but just let Keef and Kelvin get together already.
What did you think of this episode of The Righteous Gemstones? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Breeze Riley
Breeze Riley is a pop culture enthusiast who decided to turn her love of watching too much TV into a hobby writing about it. Although she's a convention-going sci-fi and fantasy nerd, she's just as likely to be watching an off-beat comedy or period drama. She is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic.