Amber Gemstone is one of the main characters in the T.V. series, The Righteous Gemstones. She is portrayed by Cassidy Freeman.
Background[]
As Jesse’s doting wife and a mother of three, Amber always stands by her man. She isn’t afraid to speak her mind, as long as Jesse gives her permission. In season 3 episode 5 We get to meet a 19 yr old Jessie Gemstone and a 17 yr old Amber in the year 2000 when they first start dating .
Season 1[]
Amber is Jesse Gemstone's devoted and loving wife. She and Jesse have three children together: Gideon Gemstone, Pontius Gemstone, and Abraham Gemstone. Before the events of Season 1, their oldest son Gideon Gemstone had been estranged with his family in favor of moving to Hollywood to pursue a career as a stuntman and actor. Amber is very loving towards her family, and a supportive spouse to Jesse. She defends him regularly during the Gemstone family meals where Jesse feuds with his siblings and father.
Amber becomes involved in Jesse's blackmail scheme when fellow wives are alerted to possible tomfoolery. Chad's wife, Mandy, snooped on her husband's email account and found messages between Jesse and Chad referring to the night in question where Jesse and his friends participated in drug use and solicitation. Chad originally suggested his email account was hacked, and Jesse plays the email off as a nothing burger. Amber states that she didn't believe Chad or Mandy that Jesse would be caught in such a compromising position.
Later, Amber sets up a prayer session with herself, Jesse, Chad, and Mandy. Jesse admitted (untruthfully) that the emails were real, but just joking in reference to a movie called "ATL". Amber seemed to accept this explanation until things escalated with her son Gideon returning to the family.
As Jesse had exposed his blackmailers and ran them over with his vehicle, it forced the blackmailers, which were actually her son Gideon, his friend Scotty, and Scotty's girlfriend, Lucy, to change their plan. Gideon and Scotty later hatch a heist plan once Lucy leaves them, deducing they could abscond to Thailand with $3 million in cash stolen from the Gemstones' Easter Sunday collection. Gideon then uses a ruse of reconciling with his family to be the point man for the heist.
Amber and Jesse welcome back Gideon into the family with open arms, not knowing Gideon's true motivations for returning to Charleston and his family. Gideon then requests a position with his family's church, being shown the behind-the-scenes operations such as the cash storage following Sunday services. Gideon has a fight with Scotty later, who appears at the Gemstone compound saying he's a friend of Gideon's. Gideon allows Scotty in and Scotty is welcomed into the family as well. As Gideon had been trained by church administrator, Martin Imari on how the cash is moved within the sanctuary to their vault, Scotty and Gideon then try to execute the heist. Gideon gets cold feet and leaves Scotty hanging, which leads Scotty to force Gideon, Jesse, and Dr. Eli Gemstone at gunpoint to open the vault. Scotty would leave with the cash and leave Gideon inside the vault tied back to back with his father.
Upon confronting Gideon, Eli learns from Gideon that the heist was his idea. Instead of throwing his father under the bus, Gideon takes the fall and states it was all his idea and that his reconnecting with his family was a ploy to abscond with the money to Thailand alongside Scotty. Amber, upon hearing this from her son, banishes her son from the family permanently. This leads to Jesse's guilt overwhelming him, after which he decides to come clean to his wife and the other wives about the blackmail video.
Upon showing the wives the blackmail video, Amber goes off the deep end. Amber begins smashing items in their house, and throwing them at Jesse. As Jesse tries to calm Amber down, Amber heads for their firearm vault and picks out a sniper rifle. Jesse then tries running away through their backyard and into the woods behind their house. Amber calmly walks to the front door with the rifle, sights it in, and picks Jesse off near the edge of their front yard; her bullet passing through Jesse's buttocks and anus. Amber then forces Jesse to move out indefinitely.
Later, Jesse comes back to the house when all the wives are present again. Jesse begs Amber to take him back and she agrees to do so on one condition: that he return their estranged son Gideon to their family and reunite them. Jesse tracks Gideon down to a church mission in Haiti, where he was working voluntarily as a way to pay off his debts for committing grand larceny against the church. Jesse goes down to Haiti himself, and confronts Gideon. Gideon refuses to come back, believing he wants to continue volunteering as a way of clearing his conscience for his role in the heist. Unbeknownst to Gideon, is the fact that the money was eventually tracked down to his uncle, Baby Billy Freeman, with the vast majority being returned to Gemstone Ministries. Gideon also calls out his father for not really wanting to do the right thing, but just the bare minimum to make his problems go away. Jesse returns back to Charleston empty handed. Upon meeting with Amber and telling her about Gideon's refusal, Jesse is denied his return to his house and wife until Gideon comes back home. Amber is last seen at the end of Season 1 being driven away in a Gemstones vehicle, with Jesse remarking that Amber seemed immature by "storming off" in her vehicle.
Jesse eventually comes to his senses, and in an effort to reunite his family, he goes back to Haiti and joins Gideon in manual labor at the church mission.
Season 2[]
At the beginning of season 2, it is shown through a video montage that the Gemstone family had a rough going during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jesse is revealed to have protested government restrictions, and later shown to have contracted the virus himself. He and Amber are shown touching each other through a sheet of plastic. In the interim, Jesse and Gideon have returned from Haiti and their family is reunited, but still dysfunctional. Jesse and Amber's marriage has been mended, and they lead a church group with aims to assist members in failing marriages or relationships, like Jesse's friend Chad and his estranged wife, Mandy. Gideon is living at the Gemstone compound, where he is residing at his former Great-Grandfather's house, the Grandaddy Roy Manor. While Gideon seems to have turned a page, their middle son Pontius is having typical teenage boy attitude issues. The youngest, Abraham has discovered self-indulgence, and leaves his evidence (tissues, soiled underwear, etc) throughout the house. Jesse and Amber enlist Gideon to address this behavior with his brothers, and Amber is very uncomfortable even thinking about the issue.
In the meantime, Jesse and Amber begin a business relationship/friendship with Lyle Lissons and Lindy Lissons, two fellow megachurch pastors from a similar community in Texas. Lyle and Lindy begin seeking funding and investors for a beach resort property called Zion's Landing. Zion's Landing was intended to be a timeshare resort, akin to the failed tower project at Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's Heritage USA, which was located in nearby Fort Mill, South Carolina outside Charlotte. The still-incomplete timeshare tower is visible from highways in South Charlotte.
Amber and Jesse attend a church session that the Lissons preach at, and are impressed at their modern yet opulent service that had a distinctively Texas flair. They would also attend a fundraiser at the Lissons' ranch in Texas, where they would meet fellow investors such as Joe Jonas. Lyle would eventually tell Jesse and Amber they needed $10 million to secure their spot in the project. Obviously, neither Jesse nor Amber had that kind of money, so they would need Eli and/or the church to float them. Jesse was going to submit a proposal alongside Amber at a post-Sunday service family lunch, and Jesse had Amber wear a specifically-flattering dress, focusing on Amber's chest. When Amber jumped in to try and convince Eli to fund the project, Judy immediately called her out for her clothing choice, pointing out that she wore a more flattering outfit when she was trying to get something out the family, which clearly embarrasses Amber.
As the season progresses, the Lissons try and turn the screws on Jesse and Amber. Meeting them independently, Lyle and Lindy reveal their shallowness and pretentiousness, stating that they look down upon acquaintances less wealthy than them, and even believe they're better friends with people they engage in business with, than those they don't. This makes Amber and Jesse nervous as they keep delaying, thinking of ways to try and secure the funding to keep their status with the Lissons. Amber and Jesse pressure Eli constantly, until he eventually relents but refuses to give them access to his or the church's coffers for their project. Coincidentally, a group of assassins, dubbed the Cycle Ninjas attempt to murder Eli on more than one occasion, with one even being an ambush on Jesse and Amber when they abscond with Eli's personal bus. Amber and Jesse were not hit during that attempt, and Amber was able to even hit one of the Ninjas from far range, proving how excellent of a shot she was.
After that, Jesse had Amber and the rest of his family join their comatose grandfather at a secure location inside the Gemstone compound. Jesse and Gideon would stay at the hospital to try and spring the trap Jesse concocted for the Cycle Ninjas. In true Gemstone fashion, the plan goes completely awry, but Gideon would eventually chase down each of the Ninjas and force them to crash or lose their motorcycles, leading to their arrest.
Gideon would approach Amber and Jesse about leaving South Carolina again to perform as a stuntman, speaking candidly that the life he was living at home and to the approval of his parents felt contrived and unnatural. He wanted to go to Atlanta, which was a major film and TV production area to do stunts. Amber overtly disapproved of this given the events of the prior season, and bullied Jesse into agreement. Jesse seemed to be on the fence because he witnessed Gideon's impressive motorcycle skills, which would benefit him in his career as a stuntman.
After Eli returns from his convalescence, he has a new lease on life and attitude. He blesses Amber and Jesse's investment into Zion's landing, securing the $10 million in funding they needed to go into business with the Lissons. At the Resort's soft opening, Jesse and Lyle discuss the events prior, and Lyle admits to Jesse that he hired the Cycle Ninjas and was behind the gruesome scene at the cabin journalist Thaniel Block was staying at. Lyle and Jesse fight, wherein Jesse gains the upper hand and knocks Lyle unconscious. Thinking Lyle is dead, Jesse forces his siblings and BJ to assist him in disposing of Lyle's body. Lyle would wake up and continue fighting the Gemstones, until Lindy appears with a gun in tow. She threatens the Gemstone family, before kneecapping a hapless BJ. Lindy forces all of the Gemstones, including Amber, into the ocean where they make an escape. Later, it is shown the Gemstones had acquired complete control of the Zion's Landing property/project.
Outside the project with the Lissons, the group that Jesse and Amber founded proved to be a success, as Chad and Mandy decided to reconcile and rekindle their marriage/relationship. Throughout the entire season, Jesse and Amber were largely on the same page and got along well as husband and wife. Amber even seems to push Jesse to be more of a leader and risk taker, suggesting at one point during Eli's leave of absence to use their newly bestowed powers as acting pastors to secure the $10 million for Zion's Landing. She seems to enjoy the spotlight and being the power behind Jesse's throne, so to speak. It is clear Amber is ambitious and has plans for bigger things in future seasons of the show.
Season 3[]
When Season 3 starts, Amber has continued to be more involved in church leadership, expanding her couples ministry into a full-fledged relationship therapy/assistance program. She and Jesse create "The System", which was a program for struggling couples to reignite their Christian relationships. Her family is together again, as Gideon returns home after suffering a spinal/neck injury while doing his stunt work in Atlanta. While not enthused that Gideon got injured, she is happy that he returned and was out of show business for the time being. After being discovered by Jesse and Kelvin, Amber finds out about Judy's affair with her guitarist, Stephen. Once she finds out about Judy's infidelity, Amber drops off a box set of "The System" to BJ, who then watches the videos and tries to follow along with the System's steps involving putting plastic "Gemstones" in wine glasses. Judy comes home to BJ watching the videos, and then confronts Amber at the end of one of her program sessions, throwing a ripped up System box at Amber.
Amber and Jesse are continually dismayed by how church attendance seems to be falling, and they differ as to how to stem that tide. Jesse believes he should do something regarding his deceased mother, whereas Amber believes she should play a larger role and that they need to move forward with younger, more up with the times church leadership, moving away from Eli. Amber continues her couples ministry, eventually featuring Judy in a session after Judy requests Amber's help when Judy is blackmailed by Stephen and his wife. Amber basically gets Judy to admit in her session that Judy was the guilty party in her betrayal of BJ, and that Judy has to "eat shit" until BJ feels he can move on.
Amber's history with Jesse is revealed in the Interlude III episode. It is not entirely clear how old Jesse and Amber are as of that episode's timeline (1999-2000 period), but a young Amber is shown already dating Jesse at that time. Amber reveals she grew up poor in Kentucky, but recognized Jesse's worth. She has some tensions with Judy, who confronts her about why she's mingling with her family and brother. Amber holds her own and calls Judy out for her nonsense, which motivates Judy to steal one of the few valuable things Amber owned at the time, her grandmother's ring. Jesse and Kelvin figure out that Judy stole the ring, and force Judy to return the ring. Judy does so in an indirect fashion, but later comes to respect Amber as Amber sticks up for herself and starts to show that she genuinely loves Jesse, and is not just using him for access to the family's wealth and power. However, Judy displays a great deal of envy toward Jesse and Amber's relationship, lamenting if she will ever find someone like Jesse was able to, believing Jesse to be an idiot and not worthy of love like she (Judy) is. Young Amber was portrayed by actress Keely Marshall in this episode.
Later, as Jesse becomes more heavily involved with his cousins and Baby Billy's idea to pitch an AI version of Aimee-Leigh to his family, Amber feels increasingly sidelined and ignored, with Jesse paying little to attention to her or her leadership, which was proving to be successful among the attendants to her program sessions. However, once Jesse is abducted by his cousins and uncle, she shifts gears and tries to figure out what happened to Jesse. She along with Gideon, BJ, and Keefe, deduce that the three siblings were abducted and it likely had to do with the Montgomery Cousins disappearing too. Gideon then decides to sneak into the Montgomery's militia compound, hoping to assist in the rescue of Jesse, Judy, and Kelvin. Karl Montgomery reaches out to his mother May-May to help save his cousins, and so she goes to the compound hoping to escape with the three Gemstones and Karl. Peter tries to have Chuck shoot them in May-May's car, which he refuses. Gideon eventually sneaks into the Redeemer monster truck and destroys most of the militia's compound and equipment, allowing his family to escape. Gideon takes the Redeemer back to the Gemstone compound, where the family has a reunion with Jesse returned.
Once Jesse returns from his captivity, he has a heart to heart with his family where he admits his neglect of Amber and her ambitions. Jesse finally validates Amber's efforts and work, and notes that Judy and BJ did figure out a way to resolve their issues, however unorthodox. Amber witnesses Kelvin kissing Keefe in the hallway tunnel of the Gemstone sanctuary, where she can be seen in the background being excited for Kelvin finally acting on his love for Keefe. Amber is also present in the television studio where Jesse and his relatives compete on Baby Billy's Bible Bonkers against the Simkins family, in competition for a large donation from Dusty Daniels. As the studio is attacked by a plague of locusts akin to the Book of Exodus, Jesse assists in saving each of his family members including Amber. Amber is seen at Daniels' funeral with the Gemstone siblings, confirming the Gemstones' bequest from Daniels and beating the Simkins. In the final scene, Amber joins her husband's extended family enjoying rides and views of the Redeemer being driven by everyone. Amber is seen driving the Redeemer once herself, and is genuinely happy with both her nuclear and her extended families.
Quotes[]
I think you better mind your manners at church lunch. Everybody's trying to have a good time and you are steppin' way out of line.
Photos[]
References[]
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