Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Preacher: Season 1, Episode 2: See



I give up – I can’t deny it, I think I’m REALLY going to love this show. It’s just so much damn fun.

And since I’m going full on “no shame” I also has to say Cassidy managers to be very sexy in his evil naughty self. But then this is exactly what Joseph Gilgun does so well.

He and Jesse have a fun relationship – perfect drinking buddies; Cassidy is all the fun evil that Jesse is trying to turn his back on. I can see their friendship – he’s everything Jesse is trying not to be but just can’t really let go. Also Cassidy is immense fun even if he is wrong in all ways. He’s one of those characters you’re trying desperately not to like but can’t help it. Emily can, Emily hates him

That’s this show entirely

Anyway, in between talking theology (with surprising moments of depth: including Cassidy’s assertion that his selfish life is very honest and Jesse hitting back at the idea that Boring is such a bad thing to be), Cassidy also tells Jesse that he is, indeed, a 119 year old vampire from Dublin on the run from hunters. Jesse doesn’t believe him of course but yes, Cassidy is honest.

Jesse still has that weird alien thing in his head giving him powers – and two goons are still watching him. Goons that, on discovering Jesse unconscious after unwisely drinking Cassidy’s booze, finally decide to a) play a music box at him (which… ok? That was random) and when that doesn’t work then decide to use a chainsaw. Cassidy assumes that the hunters are caught up with him and, besides, he objects to his drinking buddy being chainsawed (Cassidy shows he does care by not stealing Jesse’s stuff. Yes, this counts as caring from Cassidy). After a brutal fight in which Cassidy gets a little mauled, he then beats one to death with a Bible (of course) and uses the chainsaw on the other. Of course he uses the chainsaw.

That was the end of that storyline… yes? Except both guys appear alive again afterwards. Despite being chopped up and buried by Cassidy. Ok so we can expect the spooky music box in the future.

Meanwhile Jesse’s church has had a real turn around after last episode with the shiny speech powers he now has. He’s baptising people, he’s doing outreach and visiting the sick… including an absolutely devastating scene where he goes to try and offer some comfort to the mother of a comatose girl. And she brutally, heart rendingly tells him exactly how useless his prayer and comfort is (even an absolutely excellent comforting speech). There’s also an exceptionally difficult scene when Jesse takes the confession of a paedophile struggling with his feelings towards children.


…ok, I didn’t expect this fun and whacky show with lots of gorey violence to hit such difficult emotions and topics. That’s a hard edge I didn’t expect this show to bring.

Along the way we have Tulip who continues to be great fun – and continues to tormenting poor Jesse and determined to get him on side for her job. She’s very very determined. She also continues that theme of harsh commentary with a harsh, to the bone take down of someone laughing at her alcoholic uncle.

We also have Eugene return – we learn he is scarred because he tries to commit suicide with a shotgun to the face… and he is shunned because someone calls him a “murderer”. He despairs at ever feeling better about himself, especially after baptism failed and he asks Jesse the very poignant question: what if this is what god wants me to be?

Which pretty much collapses Jesse who has been struggling so hard to be a different person (as Tulip reminds us quite often) and he finally cracks. His desperate, gentility collapses and he rages to the paedophile’s house, demanding he forget about the child he’s obsessing over. He tries a new baptism – this time with waterboarding. That doesn’t work – but the new compulsion voice does. And Jesse finally realises he has this new super power – compulsion and decides to put it to the test. He goes to the comatose girl and orders her to open her eyes….

What happens with that comes next week – but we also have some random scenes. We have a flashback to 1881 and a man travelling from his isolated homestead to get medicine for a sick girl. Along the way he finds some happy pioneers telling him what a wonderful paradise settling America is… and it contrasts bleakly with a graphic and brutal depiction of how Native Americans were tortured and massacred. The contrast between the settlers calling it paradise and the brutal “cost” of that paradise is powerful – but I’m not sure what this is.

Similarly we have some people moving around and buying property. I have no idea who they are, but the guy with a broken arm is super strong.