Heartwarming / The Righteous Gemstones

"You got this."

For a show about a family of self-righteous, money-grubbing hypocrites, there are a surprising amount of genuinely touching moments.

Unmarked spoilers ahead.

Season 1

• Keefe encounters some former Satanists he used to hang out with and when they want him to rejoin he refuses and wants to stay with Kelvin. For the Satanists part, they're pretty chill and nice, and even help Kelvin, Dot and Keefe escape the club when cops show up.
• After helping Dot, daughter of a major donor, Keefe says that is an impressive success for Kelvin. Kelvin insists that his converting of Keefe is his biggest success.
• Eli and Aimee-Leigh are walking around some land they own and Eli expresses a desire to build houses on the land for each of their children so the family can remain together forever.
• Even Eli can't help but tap his foot as Aimee-Leigh and Baby Billy perform for the crowd, happy to see his wife doing what she loves.
• After Jesse thinks the blackmailers pose no threat, he reconciles with Gideon and spends time with his family. They all appear to be happy, even Pontius who was antagonizing Jesse every chance he got.
• Despite Eli's misgivings over Judy performing with Baby Billy he still goes to see her and smiles, reminded of Aimee-Leigh.
• When Gideon tries to confess his involvement in the blackmail scheme to Jesse, his father misunderstands him and thinks he's coming out to him. Considering all the prejudices we've seen the family exhibit up to this point, this could have been an equally dangerous confession for Gideon. Instead Jesse just tells him that he loves him and doesn't care about his sexuality. This is repeated when Gideon tries to clear the misunderstanding, with both his mother and father accepting his "bisexuality."
• Keefe returns to his Satanist friends, and when Kelvin finds out he rushes off to save him.
• After getting fired from the church, Jesse, Judy, and Kelvin all sit down together for a movie night where they vent and comfort each other.
• After Eli accidentally destroys Baby Billy's Jesus bobblehead, he and his children work together to repair it, a rare scene of them doing a normal family activity.
• After Baby Billy is revived after being struck by lightning, he talks at length about what he had "seen". The Gemstones get bored with his repetition quickly, but Kelvin still seems compelled by his vision.
• In the first season finale, when Eli is delivering a Sunday sermon, the camera cuts to various people watching him. As Eli mentions nobody understanding the power of forgiveness better than Aimee-Leigh, We see Aimee-Leigh and Scotty sitting together looking on among the crowd.
• The Final scene of season one is a massive heartwarming culmination of the seasons events. Jesse takes the only action that could win back his son: He returns to Haiti and, straight off the bus and only exchanging a glance and not even a word, gets right to work digging ditches for the mission by his sons side. Roll Credits.

Season 2

• Along with houses for his children, we learn in the first episode that Eli had a house built for his father, which Jesse and Amber want to gift to Gideon.
• Despite all the ridicule BJ gets from the Gemstones he stands by their side when his sister puts them down.
• After Kelvin has his hands broken and taken away in an ambulance, Keefe chases after the ambulance.
• BJ has a talk with Eli about Judy, defending her behavior and respectfully saying to Eli's face that the family is dysfunctional. Here he earns Eli's respect, who shakes his hand and thanks him.
• During "Interlude II," Granddaddy Roy clearly has some form of dementia. In a brief moment of lucidity, Roy tells Eli that he is proud of him.
• After Kelvin prays for Eli’s survival, his father wakes up from his coma, and the first thing Eli does is tell Kelvin he loves him. Then, once he's up, Eli thanks his family for running things while he was in the hospital.
  • He even gives a special mention to Keefe for helping care for him when he returned home. Granted, he calls him "Queef"; but it's still sweet to see him appreciative of somebody he mostly ignores.
• After Kelvin bears the cross and casts his God squad off the compound, the men accept but say Kelvin didn't need to be all "weird" about it. Keefe, ever his biggest and most loving supporter, insists that "yes, he did."
• After receiving a well earned punch to the face, Baby Billy cannot help but sit in his car and laugh along with the ghost of Aimee-Leigh. It is probably the first time you see the man in such a genuine state of happiness, and with a bloody nose no less.
• Jesse actually calling BJ family after he gets shot by the Lissons, while Eli bargains for his life so he doesn't bleed to death.
• At the beginning of the second season, Kelvin tells Keefe that he can't sit with the rest of the Gemstones at lunch after church. At the end of the season, Keefe has a seat at the family table along with Tiffany, despite Baby Billy not being in the picture.
• While he was Out of Focus for most of season two, Gideon started the season working within the church to fulfill his filmmaking ambitions. By the finale, both Jesse and Amber respect and welcome Gideon going back out to work on movies in his own right, while he in turn takes part in church affairs without second thought when asked.
• When Tiffany leaves for West Virginia, BJ and Judy stop the bus and convince her to stay. In typical Judy-fashion, her speech is filled with insults and backhanded compliments but it's still sweet by her standards.
• After telling his kids that Glendon is buried under the roller coaster, he promises not to confess to Junior so long as the family promises to treat each other better. His kids agree and they do a Team Hand-Stack.
• Judy and BJ have a very sweet exchange at the end of the season where she praises him for being a kind person and lets him in on a little secret about religion....
  Judy: Everybody goes to Heaven. Even science guys.
• The second season makes clear that, for all their craziness, the Gemstones really do believe in what they're doing, love each other, and are willing to forgive each other's wrongs and come together as a family.
• In the closing montage of season two, most of the named characters appearing in the season are shown in the congregation, joining in song and dance with the title family. Surprisingly among them are BJ's Hollywood Atheist family, singing along in a state of bewilderment, but present nonetheless.

Season 3

• Jesse manages to find Gideon a job that suits his skills and snaps him out of his depressive funk.
• Jesse and Kelvin have gone from disliking BJ to being offended on his behalf when they find Judy kissing her guitar player.
  • Kelvin even puts a sympathetic hand on BJ's shoulder when Baby Billy makes a crack about Judy's affair that BJ doesn't understand.
• Eli immediately goes to his nephews' rescue when May-May asks him to. Whatever bad blood there is between May-May, Eli and Peter, he clearly doesn't hold it against Chuck and Karl and will do what it takes to help them.
  Karl: Hi, Uncle Eli!
• Karl genuinely thanks Eli for letting them stay at his house, in sharp contrast to his needy and ungrateful cousins.
• When Peter tortures a random militia member for Chuck and Karl's perceived betrayal, Karl snaps and stops him.
• Kelvin stumblingly invites Keefe to Cousin's Night, earnestly praising his cooking and his fire dancing.
• Baby Billy earnestly calls Tiffany "The prettiest girl I know" when telling her she'd be involved in his game show.
• Judy says goodbye to Aunt Tiffany after Baby Billy's pitch. For the most difficult person on the show to be so openly affectionate with her aunt is very sweet.
  Judy: Love you, Aunt Tiffany
  Tiffany: Love you, baby.
• Eli helping May-May clean up the church where she's been living.
• Cousin's Night culminates in the crew working together to save Karl from choking and putting their animosity behind them, finally. The episode ends with Amber and Jesse howling at the moon along with Karl and Chuck after cutting between all the couples happily heading home for the night.
• Even though he's still a baby, Uncle Baby Billy insists that Lionel spend Cousin's Night with the Gemstones because he is a first cousin.
• All of the Gemstones are willing to shoot Peter on sight in defense of their cousins.
• Judy does not back down from her rejection of Stephen, reaffirming that she loves BJ and regrets what happened on tour.
• Eli arranges for Chuck and Karl to play May-May's favorite song for her after she tells him they haven't played for her in years. It's a sweet moment intercut with the Downer Ending of the episode, but her joy and pride in her sons is obvious for a brief, nice moment.
• "Interlude III" includes a montage of the kids (Jesse, Amber, Judy, Chuck, Karl and Kelvin) playing with the Redeemer monster truck, all genuinely having fun and goofing off like normal teenagers/young adults, despite the turmoil their parents are embroiled in.
• Young Jesse describes Amber as his "one true love."
• Jesse goes to Judy's school to teach the boy who cut her hair a lesson, proving that no matter how much they irritate him, Jesse looks out for his younger siblings.
• Jesse gives Chuck and Karl The Redeemer, which he immediately regrets, but the gesture is still nice.
• The Gemstones prove wholeheartedly that they actually do love BJ in their own way.
  • Jesse sees him upset and tries to help him learn how to fight so he can strike back against Stephen. It's maybe not the healthiest way to deal with the issue, but instead of mocking him, he earnestly tries to help, giving him ideas for one-liners and complimenting the ones BJ comes up with that are good. Chad, Levi, Gregory and Matthew all give BJ a bro-ish razzing but join Jesse in helping him.
  • Eli is far more concerned with BJ's feelings on the "no-sex affair" than offering Judy any advice or absolution.
• Martin sets up Judy's apology to Kristy so that her brothers are not there with her and is the only person in the family who offers her a little bit of sympathy for what she's going through (even if it is her fault,) hugging her as she breaks down.
• Keefe makes Kelvin a rocking chair with his name on it.
• May-May, who once attacked Aimee-Leigh with a wrench, is just as horrified at the ghoulish exploitation of her image that Baby Billy and Jesse are trying to concoct as Eli is, calling the kids out for how horribly they treat their father.
• Kelvin immediately tries to find Keefe after he quits the church. Of course, this leads to him getting kidnapped, but later dialogue makes it clear he intended to apologize for being a crappy friend.
• Martin, usually The Unfettered, calm, collected one who will do whatever it takes with little complaint, is outraged that May-May suggests not paying Peter, emphasizing that the "children are in danger," cementing his unconditional love of his surrogate niece and nephews.
• Tiffany makes some truly bizarre little dolls representing her niece and nephews after their abduction, but Eli is sincerely touched, holding the Kelvin doll tightly as they try to figure out what to do.
• BJ declares Keefe part of the family and asks him to stay while they deal with the abduction of their partners.
• Karl betrays the Montgomerys to save the Gemstones when it becomes clear his father means to hurt them, unwilling to kill his cousins.
• Each of the siblings have a scene of them getting right with their mistreated spouses after they're rescued.
  • BJ and Judy share a bubble bath and she effusively rebukes his deprecation, telling him that he's the best husband she could've ever asked for.
  • Kelvin apologizes to Keefe for their fight, saying it was his fault.
  • Jesse apologizes for being insecure and angry about Amber's success with The System, calling it a hit and telling her that she made him the man he is.
• Kelvin's Big Damn Kiss with Keefe before their first church sermon after their kidnapping. Surprisingly, Jesse, Judy and BJ are all visibly delighted rather than condemnatory. The final scene of the season shows that the whole family is supportive.
• Chuck and Jesse have a moment of sincere bonding after he returns, both of them simply the oldest son who wanted more than they got from their fathers, finally able to go back to being cool cousins.
• As a plague of locusts descend upon the church, the Gemstones prioritize finding their loved ones over running to safety. Jesse even braves the bugs to find his daddy, despite them fighting for the entire season.
• Gideon tells his Granddad that he wants to learn to preach from him, after spending a whole season feeling purposeless.
• The ending montage of everyone playing with Redeemer, cheering each other on and clowning around while Aimee-Leigh's spirit watches over them, happy to see her family together.