WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for the first five episodes of The Righteous Gemstones, now available on HBO.
In Season 2 of HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones, fans have been privy to shocking insight that showed what Eli (John Goodman) was before he became a pastor. It revealed his dad, Roy, aka Grandaddy Gemstone, was not the senile old man fans saw in the first season, and there were many skeletons in Eli’s closet before he built his holy empire. Things got even darker, though, when a shady journalist, Thaniel, came in years later and tried to shake the church down, which led to infighting and a swath of deaths. However, in one key history lesson, while it turns out Eli is no killer, the same can’t be said for Roy.
Many thought Eli had that lethal instinct in him from his Memphis wrestling days as the Maniac Kid, where he ran with Eric Roberts’ Glendon, aka Junior, and his dad, Glendon Sr. The boys were enforcers, helping a corrupt Senior get rich, beating up those indebted to him and participating in criminal endeavors. Fast forward to the present, Thaniel’s investigation had Eli’s kids — Jesse, Judy and Kelvin — thinking Eli eventually killed Thaniel, because when they visited the writer’s AirBnb, they found the reporter dead and a bunch of other thugs. However, Eli was on a date, accidentally cutting his testicles while shaving, so the blood on him that night was his, not Thaniel’s.
All this pushed Eli to spend more time at the family’s theme park, riding the rollercoaster solo to meditate. It turns out, this was a burial ground for Senior. He tried to get the family to launder money in the ’90s, but when Eli turned him down, he got violent and showed up with a gun. By that time, Roy had dementia and was in his final days, resulting in him pulling a shotgun and blowing Senior away outside the mansion.
Only Eli and his new aide, Martin, were there to witness the horrific death, so they covered it up by placing Senior in a ditch and burying him with cement in what’s now the rollercoaster site. Eli ushered his dad back to his room, thankful for the save. It spoke a lot to their relationship because while Roy abused him verbally as a youth, he confessed he loved his son in this one vulnerable moment.
As such, the rollercoaster represents a mixed bag of emotions for Eli, reminding him about his ethics and moral compass, and the idea of family loyalty, but there’s danger to come because while Junior initially visited and had fun, he was rebuffed by Eli for being too rowdy. Now, it seems like he knew something happened with his dad and has secretly been to town to play a nasty game.
Junior might even have killed Thaniel as a twisted way of trying to join the family, only to now realize Eli betrayed him the same way he betrayed Senior. It might even be a long-con to frame the Gemstones. Either way, Junior’s arming himself for one last visit, which might push Eli to follow in Roy’s footsteps to keep his loved ones safe.
New episodes of The Righteous Gemstones air Sundays at 10pm ET/PT on HBO and HBO Max.
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