The Righteous Gemstones, like all of us trapped on this mortal coil, was never meant to last forever. Which is why creator Danny McBride is ending the HBO comedy with Season 4, and it’s going out with one last burst of comedic anarchy. This includes more than one flashback episode, some wild moments of violence, a slew of remarkable guest stars, and no shortage of full-frontal nudity from Walton Goggins.

The titular Gemstones, a wealthy family running a megachurch empire in the deep South, have always been a complicated group to love. The core siblings — rough-and-tumble Jesse (McBride), high-strung Judy (Edi Patterson), and baby-faced Kelvin (Adam Devine) — are a loud, often uncouth bunch, while patriarch Eli (John Goodman) might be described as a little withholding, emotionally. Yet in Season 4, the characters feel both sharper and more human, perhaps because many of them have reached a more mature place in their respective journeys. Kelvin in particular, having embraced his sexuality on a whole new level, is a lot easier to emphasize with.

This means the squabbling between siblings takes a back seat to the Gemstones’ wars against others, such as the rival church enterprise run by Vance Simkins (Stephen Dorff). Vance does end up being a big pain in the Gemstones’ tuckus this season, especially as Vance and Kelvin find themselves in competition for the illustrious Top Christ-Following Man of the Year award.

The concept of a Top Christ-Following Man of the Year competition is one of the many absurd yet charming touches that have always defined the Gemstones universe, which operates just enough outside of our own world to feel like its own special alternate reality. It’s also a factor in the show’s ability to make so many jokes about the commercialization of Christianity without pissing off the religious right — perhaps its greatest achievement.

(During a press conference on Tuesday, March 4th, McBride said that from the beginning, he always wanted the Gemstone family to “be the butt of the joke,” as opposed to religion itself. And by at least one metric they succeeded, because McBride shared that he recently spoke with a minister from the mega-church world, and “he came up to me and whispered in my ear that I nailed it.”)

This season dwells more on the past than before, with some help from its most prominent new guest stars: The fourth season focuses on a thread of the series that’s been present from the beginning — the death of matriarch Aimee-Leigh Gemstone (Jennifer Nettles) — by introducing Megan Mullally as Lori, Aimee-Lynn’s best friend, and Seann William Scott as Lori’s son Corey, who was also a childhood pal of the Gemstone siblings.

Pointing out that Mullally is great almost feels like a redundant statement, because if there’s one thing in this world you can rely on, it’s that Megan Mullally will nail her punchlines. However, Scott proves to be a real surprise, slipping so seamlessly into the ensemble that it’s hard to remember he wasn’t there from the beginning. The rest of the supporting cast proves solid, with Goggins deserving special recognition for the wide range of absurdity he’s asked to perform. Just the scenes involving his newest TV project should earn him serious Emmys consideration.

While past seasons of the show have featured a degree of darkness that felt at conflict with some of the sillier moments of humor, Season 4 feels particularly well-calibrated this time around, balancing its more deliberately comedic elements with some real pathos and the occasional shocking moment of violence. Perhaps that’s a side effect of the gravity that comes with any final season, but this particularly stands out in the series finale, which doesn’t descend into sap, but brings some very welcome emotional closure along with its more bonkers moments.

To the very end, The Righteous Gemstones remained true to itself — while never forgetting that it’s a comedy, going balls-out with its humor at the right moments. (Sometimes quite literally, thanks to Goggins.) The only difference with these final episodes is that like its characters, it grew up just a little bit along the way.

The Righteous Gemstones premieres Sunday, March 9th on HBO and Max. Check out the trailer below.

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