Walton Goggins is an actor’s actor, slipping from one genre to the next. There seems to be no shortage of his range. From Fallout to The White Lotus, Goggins easily disappears into each role, despite being recognizable. He’s the kind of actor that has a knack for knowing just how to tap in, even when — and sometimes especially when — the material is absolutely bonkers.
Goggins and Danny McBride are no strangers to collaborating, either. Their HBO comedy Vice Principals deserved more flowers for its off-the-wall antics involving school staff, but at least it paved the way for another HBO comedy collaboration.
The Righteous Gemstones follows the Gemstone family. Eli (John Goodman), the widowed patriarch, is everything to be expected from a preacher, though even he is not without his demons. The rest of the Gemstone family, however, could not be further from Eli’s virtuous ways. It seems as if never having to work for anything in their lives has corrupted them, leaving Jesse (McBride), Judy (Edi Patterson), and Kelvin (Adam Devine) as living reminders of what not to do.
Goggins portrays their uncle, Billy “Baby Billy” Freeman. Thanks to a singing career with his sister and the departed Gemstone matriarch, Aimee-Leigh (Jennifer Nettles), he was one popular in his own right, but now those days are long gone. Now he’s a grifter, selling fraudulent supplements during COVID-19 and relying on financial assistance from his in-laws, while also using the Gemstone name to boost his own name.
Goggins is Every Bit As Committed to Stealing Any Scene He’s In
The thing about Baby Billy is that any time he’s on-screen, it’s impossible to look anywhere else. With the combination of his exaggerated Southern drawl and charmingly large white teeth, Baby Billy fits right in with this family of professional grifters. It helps that he has some of the most memorable lines of the show, too, like the iconic “I’m just asking for an eight-ball and two million dollars.” And who can forget Teenjus, the doomed teenage Jesus prequel Baby Billy worked so hard on?
It doesn’t seem like Goggins meant to steal the show. If anything, it feels effortless, because that’s the kind of actor that he is. It doesn’t matter if he’s performing a cover of “There’ll Come a Payday” poolside with a clam suit on, or hosting the Bible-themed game show Baby Billy’s Bible Bonkers. He’s doing the absolute most, which is saying something when he’s in a cast that includes McBride, Patterson, and Devine. Goggins just possesses a magnetism that most actors dream of.
In fact, sometimes it’s difficult not to root for Baby Billy. Is he perfect? No, but neither is the rest of the family. Are his ideas good? Not always, but at least he’s trying! Despite the title, The Righteous Gemstones never led viewers to believe that there is anything at all righteous about these characters. “Deplorable” may be more apt at times. But for Goggins, that’s the sweet spot.