YMMV / The Righteous Gemstones

• Adorkable: Taryn, a volunteer (and later Assistant Youth Pastor) who helps with youth group events; she's dorkily enthusiastic about things like tumbling and nice to everybody. Her and Kelvin sharing enthusiasm about putting cheese on broccoli in particular is really cute.
• Award Snub: Many critics praised Eric Roberts’ performance as Junior in season 2, with some fans even hailing it among the best of his decades-long career, but he didn’t receive an Emmy nomination for it.
• Awesome Music: So many examples. Not only are there original gems like "Misbehavin'" and "Sassy on Sunday" but the soundtrack frequently goes hard, with excellent versions of classics like "Sinnerman" accompanying the credits.
  • In a nod to The Godfather, Season 2 ends on Jesse, Judy, and Kelvin performing a cover of Don Williams' "Some Broken Hearts Never Mend" accompanied by the church choir, while the Cycle Ninjas gun down the Lissons in Alaska.
  • Baby Billy's cover of Red Sovine's gospel standard "There'll Come A Payday" at Zion's Landing certainly qualifies as well.
  • Season 3 ends on a very heartwarming moment where Dolly Parton's cover of "Shine" by Collective Soul plays while the whole Gemstone family gets to let loose driving The Redeemer. Even Aimee-Leigh is looking on in spirit with a smile on her face.
• Crosses the Line Twice: The first episode ends with the Gemstones, after a blackmail exchange gone south, accidentally run over one of the blackmailers, with the Gemstones appropriately horrified. Then they see one of the other blackmailers is still there, with the camera panning to her attempting (and failing) to avoid being run over by the Gemstones car moving in reverse, setting the stage for the Black Comedy to come in subsequent episodes.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • As predicted, Walton Goggins steals the show as the grotesque yet tragic "Baby" Billy Freeman. Critics frequently single the character out for praise due to Goggins' performance, his creepy appearance and the character's complexity.
  • Taryn in season 3 is starting to gain fans for being a grounded, but still goofy, Nice Girl in a church full of assholes and idiots.
• Fandom Nod: Many people thought that Kelvin was Jesse’s son, so the writers included a line about that.
• Friendly Fandoms: With Succession, since both are Black Comedy Max originals that satirize the scandals of wealthy No Celebrities Were Harmed families who made their fortunes in Conservative-leaning media, and both with highly regarded character actors in the role of the family patriarch.
• Harsher in Hindsight: That jolly little song "Misbehavin'" sure is a toe-tapper, isn't it? That line in the last verse, "Daddy, won't you listen, don't go missin', I'm behavin'" sure hits differently when season two reveals Baby Billy has abandoned his wife and child twice.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Season 1, which came out in August in 2019, centers on the son of a famous televangelist being blackmailed with evidence of a sex scandal. In 2020, this happened to Jerry Falwell, Jr.
• Ho Yay:
  • Kelvin and Keefe, to an extremely heightened degree. By the end of season 3 it's no longer subtext.
  • To a lesser extent, Eli and Junior. They're Mistaken for Gay by Judy when she visits Eli after Junior slept over. Junior seems a bit like a Stalker with a Crush when he tries to reconnect with Eli, especially when we find out he has no desire for revenge or blackmail and genuinely just wants to reconnect with an old friend. Junior's petty and disproportionate reaction to Eli trying to end their friendship seems like a lover scorned.
  • Lyle's "I did this for us" routine also comes off a little Stalker with a Crush towards Jesse.
  • Baby Billy and Dusty Daniels partied together on New Years YTK, which included alcohol, drugs, and a big orgy with lots of women. Baby Billy admits that they might have directly fucked each other, though there's no way to know.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Eli Gemstone is a Holier Than Thou Hypocrite who is clearly into religion more for profit than for genuine spirituality, is a ruthless and opportunistic businessman, and dominates and bullies his children mercilessly. But he also clearly loved his wife Aimee-Leigh and is genuinely heartbroken and grieving over her death. Episode 5 of the first season also suggests that he used to be a lot kinder and more sincere, but age, ruthlessness and bitterness have warped him.
  • Baby Billy Freeman is a selfish snake-in-the-grass for whom lying is second nature, but he leads a pitiable life as he tries to reclaim his glory days and return to the stage. Like Eli, he's also grieving for Aimee-Leigh.
  • Jesse is a bit less this trope, as he's probably the biggest jerk in the show and we're not really supposed to view the difficulties he gets into as much more than him receiving his comeuppance. But for all his faults he does love his family and appears to have been genuinely hurt and betrayed that his son Gideon left the family for Hollywood (though the show also makes it clear that Jesse had plenty of responsibility for the hard feelings between them as well).
  • Judy is one as well, especially in Season 3. She did have a "no-sex affair" with the guitarist in her band, but she's absolutely wrecked by guilt over it and her and BJ end up reaffirming their love for each other. In "Interlude III" it's also shown that she struggles with mental illness, which Eli and Aimee-Leigh never took seriously when she was a kid.
• Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales: The show has a lot of Christian fans; both because a lot of Christians agree with the criticisms of corrupt megachurch leaders, and because it actually gets little details about church culture spot-on.
• Narm Charm: "Misbehavin'", the song from Baby Billy and Aimee-Leigh's career as child singers, is preachy Christian music where two adults sing from the POV of two kids, but it has its charm.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: "Interlude III" wants us to sympathize with Judy feeling unloved and cheer when Jesse gets revenge on a "bully". (Whose only crime was retaliating after she sexually harassed him). This is despite the fact that her actions earn every ounce of scorn she gets, and everybody she lashes out at is insanely patient with them.