With a story of repressed homosexuality & plenty of male nudity, ‘The Righteous Gemstones’ is gayer than ever
Succession, one of the “peak TV” era’s best shows. So if you’ve been looking for another HBO series about toxic, spoiled siblings fighting for control over the lucrative family empire to fill that Succession-sized whole in your heart, look no further than The Righteous Gemstones.The dark comedy series—which just wrapped up its third season—follows the conniving Gemstones, a family of evangelical pastors who operate an extravagant megachurch.
The great John Goodman plays the patriarch, with comedic scene-stealers Danny McBride, Edi Patterson, and Adam DeVine as his quibbling adult children.Now, much like Succession, The Righteous Gemstones isn’t necessarily a quote-unquote “queer show” on its surface.
However, it has long relied on bawdy humor and homoerotic tension to both comment on the hypocrisy of the church and—*mild spoilers ahead*—tell a surprisingly nuanced tale of repressed homosexuality.Oh, and did we mention there’s lots and lots of male nudity? (More on that in a minute.)In a show about awful people being awful to each other, one of its most genuine and non-toxic relationships has been between the youngest Gemstone, Kelvin (DeVine) and his loyal friend and follower Keefe (Tony Cavelero), an ex-Satanist he took under his wing.
Since the beginning, these two have been close—and we mean close. They live together, they’re one another’s confidantes, and they clearly can’t stand to be apart.
