Let’s go ahead and start this with a very important statement: Every sibling inThe Righteous Gemstonesis an absolute dumpster fire.
It may seem strange to start this article off with such a bold statement, but it’s the truth. Jesse, Judy, and Kelvin Gemstone aren’t meant to be good people, at least not to us. They are selfish, crass, and far from the charitable and kind image they portray in front of their congregation. Of course, that’s the point of the show, isn’t it? It’s a criticism of televangelism and megachurches and the way they squeeze money out of their congregations to fund their own lavish lifestyles. For us, the Gemstone siblings are funny because of how spectacularly awful and hypocritical they are. However, it’s worth noting that despite being amused by their bad behavior, they aren’t supposed to belikedby the audience. Except that one of them is somewhat likable — and that one is Kelvin Gemstone.
To understand why Kelvin is the most likable Gemstone sibling, it’s important to look at each sibling individually.
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As the eldest, Jesse Gemstone (Danny McBride) is poised to take over the church after his father Eli (John Goodman)’s retirement. He’s self-aggrandizing, ruthless, and hot-headed, especially towards his siblings, and he’s often rather petty and selfish. Because of these qualities, he doesn’t want to wait to take control of the church; he is constantly coming up with schemes to get his way against Eli’s wishes. He is also known to partake in rather questionable activities, like taking drugs and partying with women, and this causes the major conflict of Season 1. Despite his antics coming to light, Jesse doesn’t really see any great consequences for his actions, nor does he seem to learn anything. Despite his poor treatment of his son Gideon (Skyler Gisondo) and his infidelity, he still manages to keep his family together and live relatively happily. While he may not end up in charge of the church, it’s still obvious that Eli is preparing him for that goal.
Middle child and only daughter Judy (Edi Patterson) starts out as the secretary of Gemstone Ministries, though she is very unhappy in the position and feels underestimated. She’s immature, neurotic, and often incredibly crude and snippy towards her siblings and her partner, BJ. She is in constant competition with her brothers to be seen, and she becomes even more competitive with Jesse in the second season as she begins to gain more responsibility and chances to preach in the church. Her abrasive personality brings about a major conflict in the first season when it causes BJ to break up with her, though she is able to win him back after telling him a story about how she assaulted one of her professors in college. While Judy does face some adversity in her family, such as her father underestimating her abilities and Baby Billy downplaying her talent in singing and dancing, she, like Jesse, still ends up with what she wants in the end for the most part. She still marries BJ and gets a place in the spotlight at Gemstone Ministries.
Kelvin (Adam Devine), the youngest of the siblings, takes the role of the church’s youth pastor and can’t seem to break out of it. He’s often immature, overly vain, and while he is usually at odds with his siblings, he will join in on their antics, though it’s usually to tell them how stupid they are. He also has a strange Messiah complex that’s revealed at the end of Season 1. This complex is only exacerbated by his friend Keefe (Tony Cavalero), a newly converted Christian that sees Kelvin as his savior. This results in Kelvin’s major conflict in Season 2 when he creates the God Squad, a fitness-obsessed religious group that he runs with an iron fist. His harsh rule and power hunger eventually lead to him being cast down from his position of leadership to face the torture he was inflicting upon his followers and to his thumbs being broken by Eli during a heated confrontation. After earning back the role of leader in the group, he disbands them altogether and returns to youth ministry.
There’s a very important difference to note between Jesse, Judy, and Kelvin: Jesse and Judy don’t seem to face consequences for their actions, or learn their lesson. Of course, they receivesomeconsequences; Jesse is shot after admitting to his debauchery, and he has to travel to Haiti and dig ditches to get Gideon back, but he still does earn back his happy family, and he doesn’t seem to improve as a person from the experience. Judy loses BJ and is berated by Baby Billy (Walton Goggins) due to her attitude, but she manages to win BJ back and marry him despite admitting to assault and continuing to be rude to him and his family, and she receives a better role in the church. Kelvin, however, seems to receive hefty punishments and learn from his mistakes. The best example of this is when Eli humiliates him in front of the God Squad and breaks his thumbs. This forces Kelvin to struggle with being cast to the lowest rung of status in his group and with feelings of hurt and betrayal towards his father. While Judy and Jesse faced similar obstacles, neither of them used them to better themselves like Kelvin did. Kelvin ends the second season by disbanding the God Squad and dedicating his time to instilling healthy habits in his young congregation, having taken his father’s advice and grown up over the season.
However, one important aspect that’s worthy of note is how the siblings interact with each other. Jesse and Judy, despite their fighting and competition for control of the church, do seem to honestly love each other. Because we know that they were originally meant to be the only two Gemstone children, it makes sense that they are rather close since they grew up close in age. Kelvin, however, was an accidental pregnancy, born over a decade after his siblings. Jesse and Judy resented him from the moment they knew about him because they didn’t want another sibling. Thus, we spend a lot of time seeing Jesse and Judy gang up on Kelvin, belittling and bullying him. This isn’t to say they don’t love him, though; there are moments where they are all together and seem to get along, and they will often all jump into each other’s issues to try and help. However, it is clear that Kelvin is always the odd one out, always doing his own thing.
These are the qualities that make Kelvin likable: he pays for his actions, he learns from his mistakes, and he is very obviously an outcast in his own family. These traits make him far more sympathetic than his siblings; the audience is better able to relate to him and see him as the more grounded of the group, despite him being far from a good person. Of course, the characters ofThe Righteous Gemstoneswill never be good people. They literally can’t be. But it just so happens that they can manage to be a little more bearable if they are like Kelvin, who remains absolutely awful while still managing to grow from each bad decision.
