The Righteous Gemstones Made Its Best Decision Ever Just In Time For The Final Season

In the penultimate episode of "The Righteous Gemstones" season 3 — aptly titled after the Bible verse Isaiah 42:6 — "I Will Take You By the Hand and Keep You," Kelvin Gemstone (Adam Devine) and his longtime confidante Keefe Chambers (Tony Cavalero) finally admitted to each other what audiences (and the entire Gemstone family) have known for years, these two are in love and it's not worth fighting it anymore. Coming to terms with one's sexuality is difficult and can take many years for someone to come to terms with their truth, especially for someone like Kelvin who not only grew up in an extremely religious environment but also in the public eye since birth.

From the show's debut, Devine's performance as Kelvin has been arguably one of the toughest tightropes to walk (and not just because he insists on doing most of his own stunts) as the intentionally closeted youngest son of a world-famous megachurch pastor, where battling his natural urges manifest in strange, suggestive worship programs like Kelvin's beefy, fitness-focused Christian men's group "The God Squad," or the anti-porn crusaders, "Smut Busters" (No smut, no lust, no coconuts!).

"The Righteous Gemstones" is truly unlike anything else on TV, because it boasts the prestige of other HBO shows like "The White Lotus" or "Succession," but is so deeply unserious that Walton Goggins' Uncle Baby Billy ended season 3 by having a Y2K orgy with Shea Whigham's evangelical racecar driver Dusty Daniels while the Gemstone children were rescued from an alt-right compound thanks to some well-placed explosions and a monster truck. But at its heart is a series about how wealth, entitlement, fame, and religious dogma will boil your brain chemistry. Season 3 saw Kelvin struggling with the pressure of baseless accusations hurled at Keefe by "concerned" parents upset that he was the assistant pastor of the Youth Ministry (echoing the "Don't Say Gay" conversations happening in our real world), but season 4 has Kelvin and Keefe running Prism, the progressive and queer-friendly branch of the Gemstone Ministriesevangelical empire. It's also the best decision "The Righteous Gemstones" has ever made.

Kelvin and Keefe are finally able to open up with one another about their true feelings for each other, but they're still in the stranglehold of the conservative industrial complex. Following the retirement of Eli Gemstone (John Goodman), only one of the Gemstone kids' ventures has proven popular and profitable — Kelvin and Keefe's Prism. It's a way for more progressive young people and openly, visibly queer Christians to have a safe place of worship. As Kelvin explains on stage, they're more "open, understanding, and accepting." Sure, it's absolutely a way for the Gemstone family to exploit Rainbow Capitalism, but studies have proven that the overwhelming number of Americans (and a continually rising number of Christians) support gay marriage and millions of LGBTQIA+ people also identify as religious. Even if Kelvin's intentions with Prism aren't altruistic, he has created an invaluable space for countless people.

The success of Prism is so powerful that Kelvin even passes up older brother Jesse (Danny McBride) to nab a nomination for the prestigious Top Christ Following Man award. "It's for my bravery in starting Prism for centering individuals who are usually othered by society," he explains. Eli congratulates Kelvin for the honor but unfortunately, not everyone is as thrilled about Kelvin's rise to the top and it goes beyond Jesse's usual sibling insecurities. Rather than act as if "The Righteous Gemstones" exists in a world where Christians actually followed the teachings of Jesus Christ and loved thy neighbor, it doesn't shy away from the reality that anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiment is on the rise, and its legislative support is heavily funded by the religious right.

Jesse's rival Vance Simkins (Stephen Dorff) even weaponizes Kelvin's identity against Jesse to antagonize him during a meeting of The Cape and Pistol Society, the private social club of religious leaders. Simkins is also slated to be a nominee for Top Christ Following Man and tells Jesse, "I thought I'd at least be going up against you but I guess your homosexual brother is the one with the juice." He then compares the Gemstone churches to bathrooms because of the "filth" he claims Kelvin is preaching. Perhaps it's because Jesse hates that Vance got under his skin, or because Vance spoke so poorly about his brother's sexuality, or perhaps it's a little bit of both, but that night Jesse's closest friends burn one of Vance's mini-mall churches to the ground.

If I were a betting woman and there was a line on this in Vegas, I'd lay it all down 4 to 1 that Simkins finds a way to blame this act on the Gemstone church preaching acceptance and amplifying an openly gay preacher.

Despite the success of Prism, Kelvin knows better than anyone how to navigate the murky waters of his family's megachurch monopoly. When Keefe hints at wanting to get married to "set an example" for the congregation, Kelvin declares that Prism's success is because the two "keep it right down the mids." He even compares their relationship to Las Vegas entertainers Siegfried and Roy, joking that audiences know deep down "they were licking each other's wieners just like me and you do," but that by keeping that behind closed doors, anyone was free to show up for the white tiger show. And the heartbreaking reality is that Kelvin is absolutely right.

If I had a dollar for every time someone told me, "I don't mind you being gay, just don't shove it down my throat," I'd be as wealthy as the Gemstone family. It's the same bumper sticker religious ideology as "love the sinner, hate the sin" which is not only completely hypocritical as it condemns the "sin" of the judged as worse than the sins of the one passing judgment, but as even non-religious people know, "only God can judge." In the comfort of Kelvin and Keefe's in-person Prism worship sessions, they'd be surrounded by joyous, affirming followers. But the Gemstone Ministries are international, live-streamed, and accessible by anyone willing to pay for it. It doesn't matter how many times it's proven that anti-LGBTQIA+ religious leaders are legitimately dangerous, the stigma against LGBTQIA+ people is still very strong.

This storyline is the best decision "The Righteous Gemstones" has ever made because while it still allows room for plenty of hilarity (Keefe telling Jesse that Gay Reddit is calling his Prayer Pods "Squirt Yurts" killed me), it also leaves space for the show to tackle very real issues impacting people all around the country. I can't say that the average person has had to deal with the Gemstone family's other problems like blackmail, redneck militia cults, or whatever fresh hell Baby Billy Freeman has wrought this week, but there are millions of Kelvin Gemstones out there just trying to be themselves who shouldn't have to face the wrathful hatred of strangers who refuse to actually embrace the teachings of their God.

New episodes of "The Righteous Gemstones" drop on Sunday nights, and seasons 1-3 are available to stream on Max.