The Surprising Profundity of <em>The Righteous Gemstones</em>
This article contains spoilers through the Season 3 finale of The Righteous Gemstones.
Though it uses the register of low comedy rather than moody character study or tragicomic caper, HBO’s , which follows a family of materialistic and vaguely corrupt religious showpeople, is prestige TV in the classic mold. Like or , it centers on a richly flawed antihero as he builds his empire, and, in the process, studies the workings of . The popularity of these shows has led some critics to suspect that closely attending to such protagonists—especially when they are lent the glamour of handsome, high-budget production values—doubles as a form of subtle approval. In applying this storytelling model to a specifically Christian milieu, though, upends it. Its characters are also flawed, and also vividly rendered. But for their bad behavior, they expect—and are granted—absolution, a worldview that foregrounds how strange and arbitrary the act
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