'The Righteous Gemstones' finale sees Eli fire Jesse, Judy and Kelvin from church positions after all truths come to light
Spoilers ahead for 'The Righteous Gemstones' Episode 9
In the finale of 'The Righteous Gemstones' Season 1, Eli (John Goodman) finally learns the truth about Jesse (Danny McBride), Judy (Edi Patterson) and Kelvin (Adam Devine) and as a result fires all three of them from their posts in the church. Eli also finds out about Scott's death after a visit from the cops and with Jesse, Judy and Kelvin's help, he also figures out that Baby Billy and Tiffany are the ones who are hoarding his money.
In the previous episode, it looked like Eli was breaking down under pressure. After Gideon (Skyler Gisondo) came clean about plotting the theft with Scotty (Scott McArthur), Eli was hurt that one of his family members would harm another to such an extent and this made him vulnerable.
He even told his son Kelvin that he will not be able to go on anymore without his wife Aimee Leigh (Jennifer Nettles) by his side. It seemed like Eli's hold over his family would weaken, but contrary to this, in the finale, Eli took a stand.
Once he heard about Jesse's video, the blackmail, Judy siphoning money from church funds and Kelvin not opposing any of this despite knowing how wrong all of this was, he took the drastic step of firing them. After the three figured Scotty's death was brought upon by Baby Billy (Walton Goggins) and his wife Tiffany (Valyn Hall), they went to their father with hopes of being forgiven, yet Eli did not budge.
Instead, he took them along on a ride to Freeman's Camp, where Baby Billy and Tiffany ended up after skipping town. The Gemstones have a standoff with Billy about the money and about the murder.
Billy points at Tiffany and tells everyone she did it and in that tense moment when Tiffany confesses that she did not intend to kill him, Billy is attacked by lightning. The family then came together to save Billy, but they definitely do not put aside their differences to live their lives happily ever after.
Once Billy wakes up, he claims he saw Aimee Leigh and tells Eli she asked Billy to forgive Eli. Billy even thanks Eli and goes to the extent of returning the money he took from Scott.
Instead, we see Jesse, Judy and Kelvin face the truth about themselves and who they really are. Judy sits down for a conversation with BJ, not to patch things up with him but to make him understand why she did the things she did in the past.
She understands relationships cannot be based on lies and comes clean about her inexperience to BJ which in turn helps her accept her flaws a little bit. Jesse's wife Amber (Cassidy Freeman) tells him that the only way the two of them can remain together is if Jesse convinces their son Gideon to return home.
After realizing his mistakes, Gideon is volunteering in Haiti as a worker on a construction site set up to get clean water access for the people of Haiti. When Jesse visits Gideon to try and convince him, his son is adamant and also points out to his father that nothing would change if he were to return.
He tells his father to find a different route to make his problems go away. As a result, Amber and Jesse are separated by the end of the episode and he even moves out.
Finally, for the most entertaining journey of self-realization, we have Kelvin don the avatar of Satan and announce he will no longer be the youth minister of Gemstone Church. His rebellion is futile and only lasts a few minutes because he is soon made aware that his one true follower, Keith, has returned to worshipping Satan.
Like the flip of a switch, Kelvin returns to his true self and sets out to help Keith get back to the path of life because that is what he was meant to do. The finale has no major open endings that can be developed further for the second season except for Amber and Jesse's separation.
Even the Gemstones' rivalry with John Seasons (Dermot Mulroney) comes to an end when Eli offers Seasons the position of Reverend at the Gemstones' Locust Grove church. So what will the second season of the show concentrate on? We will have to wait a while and watch out for it.
