Lyle Lissons

## Summary

Lyle Lissons is a megachurch pastor from Texas. Presumably the ministry was started by his father, who retired due to his old age. In actuality, Lyle had had his father put in a house with round-the-clock medical care. Married to Lindy Lissons, he favors the same extravagant, over-the-top style as the Gemstones. His church ministry features a mix of Contemporary Christian Rock and some country elements with their liturgical music. They live on a large ranch somewhere in Texas, where most of their vehicles feature horns of steers on the front, as is popular in Texas. Regularly wearing his cowboy hats, Lyle is a self-confident and pompous man, using his wealth and resources to further line his pockets and expand his ministry. His latest venture is the Zion's Landing timeshare resort project, where he tries to recruit Jesse Gemstone and Amber Gemstone into investing a large sum of money into the project ($10 million). However, Eli is less than enthused about the project and refuses to fund Amber and Jesse. The character is played by Eric André, and his father is played by John Amos.

## Season 2

Lyle and his wife, Lindy, appear at the beginning of Season 2, having approached their counterparts at Gemstone Ministries in Jesse and Amber Gemstone. Lyle and Lindy have been approaching investors for their new timeshare resort on the beach, Zion's Landing. Zion's Landing appears to be a waterpark/beach/hotel resort, with the concept art resembling Atlantis, which is a real-world resort in the Bahamas. However, from the get-go, most outside of Amber and Jesse are skeptical of the Lissons and their true motives with the resort. Upon visiting the beach site where the resort would be located, the rest of the Gemstone family express wariness of the Lissons and the project, with Eli deciding not to use church funds to assist Jesse and Amber.

Earlier, Amber and Jesse visit Lyle and Lindy's ranch in Texas. There, they learn that the seed investment amount the Lissons are asking for is $10 million. Having nowhere close to that amount of disposable income, Amber and Jesse continue to press Eli for assistance, which Eli resists. Lyle and Lindy have even enlisted Joe Jonas as an investor, which impresses Amber and Jesse. However, the more Amber and Jesse continue to try and work Eli for the money, Eli resists. When Amber and Jesse are forced to admit they don't have the money, Lindy and Lyle are infuriated. However, rather than simply sign off the deal, the couple encourages Jesse and Amber to take a larger role in the church and force Eli out, thus making Jesse the lead pastor for Gemstone Ministries. This is exactly what Lyle and Lindy did to Lyle's father at their own church.

Lyle and Lindy display traits of arrogance and pretentiousness, stating that they think differently of their friends and colleagues that aren't wealthy like they are. They also believe going into business with friends like the Gemstones makes their friendship deeper on a personal level, which makes Amber and Jesse nervous, as they do not have the funds to invest in the property at the level the Lissons want. They also seem to throw tantrums when receiving bad news, which is a trait also observed in Judy Gemstone.

The Lissons aren't present for some of the season, until later when the Cycle Ninjas make an appearance. The Cycle Ninjas attempt to murder Eli on three separate occasions, having first mistakenly ambushed Jesse and Amber in Eli's personal Gemstone bus, ambushing him a second time at a rural crossroads but he survives the shooting, and finally attempting to finish the job at Eli's hospital, but falling into a trap set by Jesse, Gideon Gemstone, Martin Imari, and BJ. The Cycle Ninjas would eventually be chased down by Gideon and later arrested, where none of them would give info about their identities or backgrounds. Eventually, the Ninjas would be able to escape from prison in South Carolina.

In the season finale, it is revealed via flashback that Lyle was behind the murder scene at Thaniel Block's cabin Airbnb in the second episode. Lyle is revealed to be Thaniel's source for taking down Makawon Butterfield and their megachurch. Thaniel presses Lyle for dirt on the Gemstones, who refuses due to his ongoing business negotiations with Jesse. Thaniel then threatens to investigate Lyle and his church. Lyle then admits that four of his pastors were caught skimming to buy houses for themselves and then departs the residence. Lyle then gets in a car where the four pastors he just sold out are waiting inside. Lyle orders them to attack Thaniel, but none of them have firearms. One man says he has hand grenades. This man then pulls the pin of one of the grenades, terrifying Lyle and the other three, but stating it will only detonate if he drops or lets go of the grenade. As they get ready to confront Thaniel, Thaniel comes out with a gun which startles the men. The man that had the live grenade then drops it, which leads to his and one other man's death, sending their earthly remains flying into a tree and elsewhere about the property, which were the corpses that Kelvin Gemstone later discovered outside the cabin. This leads to a mass of shooting from Thaniel, whom accidentally kills himself when a ricochet of one of his bullets goes through his head. Lyle then hides in a closet, watching Jesse, Kelvin, and Judy Gemstone slip on Thaniel's pool of blood. One of Lyle's remaining henchmen then witnesses the Gemstone siblings struggle getting into Judy's Tesla, revealed to be the man with the flashlight in the earlier episode. Lyle then proceeds to torch the entire property, including the dead bodies, which covers up his and the Gemstones' involvement in the scene.

It is also revealed that Lyle and Lindy executed a takeover of his family's church, having wrestled control from his father, the founder of said church. Lindy and Lyle taunt Lyle's father about Zion's Landing, and Lyle's father (name never revealed), disapproves of how Lyle and Lindy are running their ministry. This leads Lindy to slapping Lyle's father, who is in a house that the church bought, for his around-the-clock care. It is not entirely clear whether or not Lyle's father is demented/suffering from Alzheimers or is even needing said care. Lyle and Lindy both show the utmost contempt for Lyle's father, which explains why they were so keen on pushing Jesse and Amber Gemstone to do the same. However, when Eli awakens from his coma he agrees to invest in Zion's Landing due to his near-death experience, with Lyle somewhat succeeding in this as he was ultimately able to get the money from the Gemstones.

Later once Zion's Landing kicks off, Lyle and Jesse have a discussion on the beach. Lyle reveals that it was he and his henchmen that were at Thaniel's house the night of his death, and that Thaniel accidentally killed himself. Lyle reveals he saw the Gemstone children at the property, and subsequently torched it to save everyone from legal scrutiny. He also reveals that he was the one that hired the Cycle Ninjas to assassinate Eli, thinking it would result in Jesse becoming head pastor of Gemstone Ministries and then being able to invest in the Zion's Landing project. Lyle tells Jesse that the Cycle Ninjas were boys from his own church's orphanage. This leads Jesse to attack Lyle, knocking him unconscious (Jesse believes Lyle was dead, but Lyle did eventually wake up). Jesse enlists his siblings to help him dispose of Lyle's body, who then wakes up and attacks Jesse and his siblings. Lyle's wife Lindy eventually shows up with a gun to break up the fight and threaten the Gemstones. Lindy eventually kneecaps BJ, and forces them into the ocean where the Gemstones make their escape.

Months later, Lyle is shown to be living in exile with Lindy in Alaska. Martin Imari had tracked both of them down, having revealed their location to the Cycle Ninjas. The Ninjas then approach the cabin where Lyle and Lindy were hiding, having been spurned of payment for their attacks on the Gemstones by Lyle. Due to the terrain they are using snowmobiles instead, albeit with the same neon trim as the motorcycles they used before. Lyle and Lindy had been watching the 1988 film, *Young Guns*, and attempted a gambit from that movie: Lyle pushes Lindy (whom was inside a wooden chest) off the balcony of the cabin, thinking she would burst out shooting like Emilio Estevez did in the film. However, the chest disintegrates upon falling to the ground, where Lindy is then showered with bullets by the Cycle Ninjas. Lyle attempts to escape, wearing only sweatpants and a tank top in the bitter cold. He freezes to death a la Jack Nicholson's character in *The Shining*, where he is devoured by a pack of wolves. The Gemstones seize control of Zion's Landing thereafter.