Understanding the Season 4 Ending of ‘The Righteous Gemstones’: Breaking Down the Shocking Conclusion of the Show

Wait, is this The Sopranos or The Righteous Gemstones?

**Spoiler alert for the series finale of The Righteous Gemstones**

With four seasons under its belt, the HBO series created by Danny McBride that follows the antics of a morally questionable televangelist family has officially wrapped up its run. The finale, which aired on Sunday night, left viewers stunned with its explosive conclusion that exceeded expectations. Fans who may have anticipated a light-hearted farewell for characters like Jesse (played by McBride), Judy (portrayed by Edi Patterson), Kelvin (acted by Adam DeVine), and Eli Gemstone (portrayed by John Goodman) were taken by surprise.

While the Gemstone brand is known for its flamboyant style, the final episode pushed the boundaries even further with its intense and dramatic storyline. Whether you are still processing the shocking events or are simply curious about how it all played out to avoid spoilers online, here is a breakdown of the thrilling finale of The Righteous Gemstones.

Following the events of Episode 8, titled “On Your Belly You Shall Go,” where Corey Milsap (played by Seann William Scott) sacrifices his own father (portrayed by Michael Rooker) to protect Eli and Baby Billy (portrayed by Walton Goggins), Corey returns with a vengeance, demanding $7 million. In an attempt to lift his spirits, the group invites Corey, Jana (played by Arden Myrin), and Lori (portrayed by Megan Mullally) to the lakehouse for some recreational activities, but things quickly take a dark and unexpected turn.

After giving a performance as Michael Jackson with the jacket referenced all the way back in Episode 4, Corey practically begs the Gemstones for the money to buy his dad’s gator park from the bank, saying it’s the least they can do since he did save Eli by killing his own father. He even ends up screaming at Jana, causing her to walk out and announce that she wants a divorce. Trying to get the weekend back on track, Jesse suggests the rest of the group head out on the boat while the siblings play a round of cornhole with Corey to talk sense into him.

During the game, Jesse and Judy make fun of Kelvin as they notice a dark brown spot on his shirt, joking that it’s poop, even as Kelvin assures them it’s chocolate. This is unimportant but we did see Keefe (Tony Cavalero) feeding him Hershey Kisses in the last scene so I’m inclined to believe Kelvin is telling the truth here. Nonetheless, he decides to go change his shirt which is when Aimee-Leigh (Jennifer Nettles) steps in.

Call it divine intervention because as Kelvin goes upstairs to change his shirt, he sees the ghost of his mother guiding him into the room where Corey is sleeping. Curious, he follows the phantasm and stumbles upon the missing gold-plated Bible, first held by the OG Elijah Gemstone (Bradley Cooper). Kelvin just barely manages to get away with the Bible behind his back as Corey confronts him in the bedroom.

The youngest Gemstone sibling rushes outside to tell Jesse and Judy what he found, which is when Corey walks out and confirms that he has been in possession of the Bible for some time. While we found out in Episode 8 that Cobb Milsap was responsible for kidnapping and harming Lori’s ex-boyfriends, what we didn’t know was that Corey was a willing accomplice to his dad’s crimes, going back at least a decade and starting with covering up for him the night of the break-in at the compound.

In a dramatic monologue, Corey explains to Jesse, Judy, and Kelvin that he felt the need to protect his father, even as he turned him into the same kind of monster that would kidnap and even kill his ex-wife’s new love interests. Corey begs the Gemstones not to tell his mom about his role in the incidents and does his best to look depressed, leading the siblings to worry that he may not have anything to live for anymore after killing his own dad and his wife walking out.

Just as the sibling trio walks inside to try and help Corey — or more accurately, try to get him not to kill himself inside their beloved lakehouse — they are met by a hailstorm of bullets with Judy being shot in the chest and falling to the floor immediately. Petrified, Jesse and Kelvin flee from Corey who is firing shots recklessly, so much so that Gideon (Skyler Gisondo) even asks the rest of the group on the boat if they also heard a sound coming from the house. The sound of gunshots is quickly drowned out by the stereo system, however, as Corey turns up “Red Red Wine” by UB40 as he menacingly searches the house for the two remaining Gemstones.

Corey then makes his way upstairs and finds Kelvin in a bedroom, shooting him directly in the stomach as Kelvin attempts to charge at him with a fireplace poker. Honestly, Kelvin might have had a chance too if he didn’t scream as he approached Corey from behind, giving him plenty of time to whip around and pull the trigger. Kelvin quickly falls to the floor and passes out, leaving Corey with only Jesse still to find and kill.

It doesn’t take long for Corey to suspect Jesse’s hiding spot — the inside of a closet with a thick wooden door — and he fires three shots, hitting Jesse in the leg and seemingly the chest. Just as Corey apologizes and goes to fire one final shot into Jesse’s head, he runs out of ammunition and tells the eldest Gemstone that he will “be right back” as he has something “extra special” to send Jesse to the pearly gates. It’s always darkest before the dawn, though.

As Corey heads outside to grab more ammo, Jesse crawls into the hallway using only the strength of his arms, encountering Kelvin also pulling himself through the halls and leaving a bloody trail behind him. The pair share relief that they are alive but take a moment to acknowledge that Corey “killed Judy,” which is when we see her also pull herself into the hallway and give her brothers a “fuck that noise” response. As the trio lay together dying, Jesse says that his gun is just upstairs if one of them can run and get it, giving us one of our final A-plus Judy lines of the series, “We ain’t doing no steps, homie, we leaking.”

Exasperated and seemingly out of options, Judy remembers that there is a doctor in the house who can help… Dr. Watson, that is. She rings the bell and asks the monkey to go grab Jesse’s purse — not without a tiff over the use of the word “purse,” though — which he thankfully does just in the nick of time. Just as Corey walks back into the house, Jesse is able to fire a shot at him, hitting him right in the temple and causing him to stumble, fall over and bleed out as he makes one final (in my opinion, unreasonable) request that the Gemstones pray with him. Reluctant, they agree to send him off with words about the imperfectness of human beings, saying “He may not deserve it, but maybe he’ll make a better angel than he did a man.”

We flash ahead to Kelvin and Keefe’s wedding where the entire gang is celebrating love and their survival, minus one Lori Milsap, who has been MIA from their lives after losing both her son and her ex-husband at the hands of the Gemstones. Can’t blame her but also cannot say they didn’t deserve what they had coming. Eli ultimately decides to just give her some time to come to terms with the loss, reading the letter that Aimee-Leigh wrote Lori amidst her divorce. The series closes out sometime in the future and “somewhere in Florida” with Lori finally meeting back up with Eli and announcing that she’s ready to be his first in command.

All four seasons of The Righteous Gemstones are currently streaming on Max.