It’s a new season of Preacher
and this is where I sit on my fence with eyes narrowed and arms folded and a
general air of “you’ve got something to prove, show”
Because season 1,
with all its wacky hijinks and zaniness was extreme fun and I loved it. Season
2 was dull dull dull dull dragging dull angsty dull pointless dulllllll.
Season 3, pick a
side.
The side so far seems
to be creepy and very very very very atmospheric. I’m intrigued.
So many many years
ago we got to see Jesse’s family. They lived in a plantation which rand
plantation tours (and had improbably Black visitor) and Grandma Maureen sold
spells - including to important people. We see one sober spell apparently for
curing alcoholism which doesn’t look bad
Except we also
apparently have people who are ragged and desperate trying to run away and
asking for “it back” whatever that is. I can only assume something bad like a
soul.
We have TC who seems
to be a general dogsbody for Grandma, Jody who is huge and strong and tough who
is muscle. And we have Chrstine, Maureen’s daughter who hates them all and
wants out
Her escape ploy is
foiled by Jody who also tells Maureen about a photo she’s hiding - a photo
Christine is willing to eat rather than let her mother see it. Which is foiled
because Grandma doesn’t play around and is willing to cut her own daughter open
to see it - a picture of Jesse as a child
So, happy families
all!
And in the present
this is where Jesse and Cassidy bring Tulip. But first they fight because
Cassidy is super pissed Jesse didn’t let him turn her into a vampire and
generally these two have it out over who loves Tulip more with Cassidy
revealing he and Tulip had sex and Jesse then attacking him
Because the body of
this woman they both love deeply is right there and they’re going to fight over
who she belonged to. Zombie Tulip should eat their brains.
Instead Grandma
appears and it’s time for negotiations.
She isn’t especially
happy that lil’ Jesse abandoned them and they’ve clear come upon hard times
since he left. He begs her for help but it’s always awkward to ask for help off
someone who doesn’t have any reason to help and has every reason to hate you.
So Jesse offers
“anything”. Which is apparently met by him bleeding onto a cloth for her. I
take it as pledge or deal of some kind
This means it’s time
for resurrection - which has Cassidy going to the shops to gather some of
Tulip’s favourite things (and an argument between Cassidy and Jesse over what
her favourite things are because the two are going to push this love triangle
to the end. This is going to get very very very irritating).
Doubly so when
Grandma clearly tries to tempt Cassidy with a love potion which tempts him
(even though her description should be a warning- a love potion that made
someone love her so much she grew thoroughly tired of him).
During this Tulip is
trapped in Purgatory - which is a combination of her memories turned into a
sitcom. It’s disturbing to see the utter tragedy of her life set to a laugh
track - and I have to give all power to the writers for this: to set the older
Tulip in the same scene as her young self, to have the chaos and awfulness of
her childhood covered with canned laughter. From her mother who had nothing but
contempt for her, her father and spent most of the time having sex with her
clients within ear shot. To her father who couldn’t stop fighting, left prison
and ended up in a shoot out with the police to finally having child services
come collect her.
It’s an excellent
scene and really jarring.
Back in the real
world, Jesse has to get a last ingredient from Jody the improbably big, strong
and tough. Jesse calls him the man who killed his father. Which is awkward. But
it seems Jody has issues with Jesse as well. But he still greets Jesse with a
hug and agrees to go help him get his ingredient which involves beating up a
small army of men alone (without Jesse since he’ll apparently enrage them more:
because Jesse has bad history with everyone)
Of course that isn’t
enough and Jody decides to have a fight with Jesse anyway. And we know Jesse is
impossibly skilled and incredibly vicious - but Jody is as vicious and stronger
and tougher and only Grandma intervening stops Jesse being crushed under a
truck. Methinks Jody may not be entirely human.
The spell can now
begin and we have an excellent scene of Tulip being grounded and stipped by her
favourite things until she finally manages to break out of Purgatory (for an
extra surreal touch, her child self says she works there as a re-enacter and I
don’t know why this made me laugh out loud but it did). As she’s about to leave
she sees God… in his dog-fetish suit. Because Preacher. He has chosen
Tulip for a vital mission…
Shame she wakes up
before she hears what it its
So Tulip is back with
us. Jesse and Cassidy are in full love triangle. And Jesse owes his evil
grandmother something… he briefly considers killing her… but she’s all “try it”
so I think that’d be a bad idea.
