Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Preacher, Season 3, Episode 5: The Coffin





Tulip wants to kill Marie and save Jesse  but she does belatedly realise that Marie is Jesse’s grandma and he may have an issue with this murdering of kin thing so she checks in with him first

But this also is when TC and Jody realise that Cassidy has escaped and realise who is behind it - so it’s time for a fight. I’m surprised that TC lasted as long as he did against Tulip - but eventually she wins and she ends up pointing a gun at Jody’s head (Jody has easily defeated Jesse) - but then Marie arrives with her magic and forces them all to stand down. This ends up with Jesse locked in a coffin at the bottom of the bayou - reminding us just how utterly hellish Jesse’s childhood was. And Tulip is chained up by Jody who guards her and thwarts her attempts to escape.

While TC and Marie think about what to do with Tulip - and Marie is all for soul nomming but TC wants to distract her from this as Jesse loves her and is likely to be a little annoyed by all this soul eating stuff. His distraction involves Confederate soldier sex play… which… I’m just going to file under “Preacher.” But Marie loses her temper when it’s apparent TC isn’t that into it and it’s time for soul eating

Except Tulip is Tulip and Jody’s attempts to guard her end up with her escaping and him chained to a radiator - and she goes to murder Marie. Marie is quite strong for her age but eventually Tulip strangles her to death

Jesse manages to escape his coffin (in which he is having weird wild west dreams which may be escapism his way of dealing with the horrific trauma of being in their or, y’know, Preacher) my Mcgivering (really spellcheck? This is a word?) his clerical collar some cigarettes and a lighter. He arrives just in time to a) realise Tulip is no damn damsel and needs no rescue and b) see Tulip is dead

While Marie resurrected Tulip she also took hair and fingernails to bind her life to Tulip’s - kill Marie, you kill Tulip

This is a great failsafe

It would be a far better failsafe if she’d advertised the fact before Tulip tried to murder her. Oops.

Which means with them both dead, Jesse then uses CPR and adrenaline to bring Marie - and Tulip back


But things aren’t perfect… Marie is an old woman and dying after her experiences. She may be alive but she will die soon… and when she does Tulip will die. Jody and TC say to save Marie they need a soul - and nominate Tulip. Time for another fight!

My money’s on Tulip.

Time to catch up with the Grail again - yes they’re still around. And without Jesse on side it’s Herr Starr’s job to get Humperdoo ready to become the messiah. He is… obviously unqualified to be a world leader and he despairs

But The Allfather, apparently head of the Grail, calls and demands Starr make plans for the messiah right now - because with god missing this is the time to do it. Starr shows off Humperdoo’s tap dancing skills which the Allfather takes as proof he is ready. Because he has low standards.

Ok I get that Preacher is just a manic collection of complete random weirdness a lot… but… it’s usually faintly amusing? While this isn’t - it’s cringeworthy. I mean, Humperdoo being incapable to rule is a plot point, but you can represent this without making such a complete mockery of developmentally disabled character. And I don’t get any point of the Allfather other than “look fat person.” Can we not.

This coming trainwreck makes Starr doubly dedicated to getting Jessie back on side to be his messiah. Which is when Lara reveals she has a plan (and I love that everyone snaps at her for her dramatic pause).

There’s also a moment when Starr mocks Lara for being beaten up by Tulip so beaten up by a woman. Which I could analyse and parse as Starr being both misogynist and seeing women as weak  but also not seeing Lara as a woman because she’s earned his respect. But I don’t think Preacher is this layered

Lara’s plan is to kidnap Cassidy and use him to lure Jesse into a trap. And by capture, i mean wait until Cassidy passes out due to drugs and alcohol

Which he does

Cassidy isn’t in a great head space; he’s taking carfentanil and drinking and trying to date other vampires on a dating app. There are so many dating apps. Soooo many.

But not so many vampires - and his date turns out to be a human wannabe who he duly intimidates with his very real fangs which is more than a little terrifying.

Cassidy passes out, is captured by the Grail who manage to make him mumble his kidnapping video. But then he is rescued - by a cult of vampire wannabes called Les Enfants de Sange. Children of blood. Really.

Cassidy is going to be SO SCATHING about these.



Ok… now I know some people aren’t thrilled by this series of Preacher because it’s been a little… slow? And I can see that. We’re 5 episodes in and we’re still largely where we started, I agree. But I don’t think the slowness is necessarily a bad thing here, thematically. The gang is held by Marie and her followers and the theme here is, I think… slow. They’re stuck in this decaying, sluggish, faded, lazy, clinging to existence but utterly stuck in a rut Angelle plantation. I think it’s supposed to be slow and sluggish because everything about this place is - Jesse and Tulip are stuck, Marie & her followers are basically just slowly fading into decay. It’s all about being slow, being stuck, waiting for a way out and generally being mired

However, that said, it’s time. The whole Marie storyline has reached a head and it needs to close with the Grail closing in with the obviously far more a-list plot line swooping in: I think marie & co need closing by the end of the next episode