How ‘The Righteous Gemstones’ Premiere Surprised Fans
March 17, 2025
The premiere episode of the fourth and final season of The Righteous Gemstones has a lot of people talking.
The episode, titled simply “Prelude,” doesn’t feature any of the series’ regular cast. It also takes place during the Civil War, and not during the show’s present-day setting, as it follows an ancestor of the Gemstone family: Elijah Gemstone (played wonderfully by Bradley Cooper).
One of the main reasons the episode has created such a buzz is how much of a departure it is from the rest of the show. Cowritten and directed by Gemstones creator and star Danny McBride, “Prelude” is highly cinematic and carries far more gravitas than a typical episode of the comedic series.
There have been tonal shifts previously in The Righteous Gemstones, largely due to the acting chops of John Goodman (playing family patriarch Eli Gemstone), as well as the occasional dramatic-leaning turn. The same can be said for McBride’s other HBO series Eastbound & Down and Vice Principals. Whether it’s a shocking burst of violence or a cathartic moment set to an evocative piece of music, McBride’s comedy — alongside frequent collaborators Jody Hill and David Gordon Green — has always been offset by not only a cinematic flair, but also a willingness to embrace different tones.
Dark Comedy Amid a Bloody and Brutal War
Even within the framework of “Prelude,” there are subtle and masterful tonal shifts throughout. Yes, the humor is more restrained than usual Gemstones fare, but there’s still plenty of dark comedy, especially whenever the episode focuses on Elijah’s lazy masquerade as “a man of the cloth.”
However, these comic moments are grounded by the supporting characters, and the carnage that surrounds Elijah and the Confederate division he’s serving as a chaplain. Realistic depictions of wounded and dying soldiers are periodically shown, never allowing the tone to get too frivolous.
Another reason the overall tonal shift worked is because Danny McBride made the smart decision to not jump back to the present and the more overtly-comedic main cast during “Prelude.” To go from the horrors of a bloody and brutal war to the Gemstone siblings trash-talking each other and jockeying for attention would have been tonally jarring and undermined the magic of Elijah’s story.
Creating the right tone is akin to casting a spell, and McBride has proven himself — as both a writer and director — to be an extremely skillful spellcaster.
The Power of Tonal Shifts in Film and Television
A tonal shift can be an impactful and memorable part of any movie or TV show. Because of this, screenwriters should become familiar with this technique and have it in their creative arsenal when writing a feature screenplay or TV pilot.
Whether it’s a humorous bit in a Hitchcock thriller or a dramatic revelation in a John Hughes film, many classic movies are filled with tonal shifts. Even TV sitcoms of the past would occasionally tout a “very special episode” (in which a typically lighthearted series dealt with a heavier or controversial subject matter).
Modern tonal shifts aren’t as obvious or signposted: they organically manifest in a movie or TV show episode, especially the more complicated ones. This approach can be traced back to the films of Martin Scorsese, David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino: each of these filmmakers created tonally fluid films that balanced drama, comedy and suspense — sometimes within a single scene!
These filmmakers influenced cable series during the “Peak TV” era, including groundbreaking shows like The Sopranos, Mad Men and Breaking Bad. These series featured complicated characters and narratives that were always one twist of fate away from laughable folly or heartwrenching tragedy. As a result, viewers were on the edge of their seats, not knowing what to expect next.
These days, tonal shifts are everywhere in the content we watch. From dark comedy series like The Righteous Gemstones and The White Lotus to A24 produced films like Ari Aster’s Midsommar, Sean Baker’s Red Rocket and Ty West’s X Trilogy, the tone of our times is constantly teetering between the dramatic and the absurd.
Thus, it can be argued that a screenplay or pilot without any tonal shifts will not connect with today’s readers: it’d likely come across as flat and inauthentic.
That being said, there are dangers to a major tonal shift, if it’s not properly executed.
How To Execute a Tonal Shift in Your Script
If mishandled, a tonal shift can be jarring for a reader or viewer, and take them out of the story. There’s an art to introducing a different tone into a narrative and like many writing techniques, the more you do it, the better you’ll get at it.
Knowing your world and characters and doing what feels right for them at a certain moment is key to balancing tone. Even if it’s a fantastic or unfeasible scenario, if your character’s reaction seems realistic, it’ll create an emotional connection between the reader and your character. The more substantial this connection, the more you can play with tone. Readers will be willing to laugh and cry with them and go along with any tonal curveball you throw their way.
Life is both funny and tragic, and sometimes all in the same day. Think of how the mood can suddenly shift between two lovers, or during a Thanksgiving dinner with family. Half of writing is paying attention to human behavior and using it in your work. If you mimic the rhythm of real-life human interaction, it’ll be easier to pull off a tonal shift in your screenplay or pilot.
Bringing it back to The Righteous Gemstones and “Prelude,” another reason the episode worked was because, whether it was comedy deriving from Elijah’s masquerade or pathos from his spiritual conversion, it always felt authentic.
The art of tone is ultimately the art of reflection; reflecting real people in your characters, and reflecting our collective experience in your writing.
