Preacher is at its best when it knows what it
is. Like Z Nation, it’s a show which can have odd moments of depth and
introspection and meaning… but ultimately it’s camp, schlocky zany fun and it
needs to remember that and hold that close to it’s silly cartoony, god-in-a-gimp-suit
heart.
So opening in hell
with the Saint of Killers being picked up from his hell cell, taken down the
most rickety ridiculous lift ever to -9 where we see the most hyper-dramatic
hellscape ever CGI’d in cheesy goodness. And then we see Satan who is both
wearing the cheesiest rubber suit ever and behaves like a complete used car
salesman
It’s perfectly
perfectly Preacher.
So Satan is hyper
pissed that The Saint of Killers escaped because that’s totally against Satan’s
policy especially now he has big plans with god out the picture. So before he
discusses any business he decides he needs to have the Saint of Killers
brutally flogged by an angry Angel of Death. Which will apparently increase his
reputation again because the Saint is dead but you do have to wonder about
torturing people in Hell since they’re already facing their worst days over and
over so they’re already kinda suffering as much as they can. The Saint is also
so badarse that even though he’s flogged until he’s flayed down to the ribcage
(because Preacher is so over the top) and not flinch once
Formalities out of
the way, he can now do Satan’s missions - hunt down Hitler and Eugene who
escaped hell last season and bring them in… alive. I don’t know why - surely
killing them would send them back to Hell? But apparently alive
And if he does this
he can then get his weapons back and go hunting for Jesse
Back in reality we
have Tulip and Madame Boyd, Sabina, who has Tulip trapped and mocks her that
she’s not going to get out.
Tulip responds being being Tulip and shooting an escape route through the floor with a machine gun. Because she’s Tulip and Sabina has no idea who she’s dealing with but she learns awfully quickly as Tulip captures her
Tulip is still all
torn and conflicted over what exactly she wants and what she’s doing, but she
does want Jesse out of the contract with his grandma. Which is a shame because
Sabina wants Jesse to rot in hell because he’s the “worst man she ever loved”.
Oooooh drama.
Time for some flashbacks!
(Jesse’s also having these to remind us how bad things were when he lived back
with the Angels). Way back when he was the ring master of the Tombs where
helpless imprisoned people fought in gladiatorial combat, desperate because
winning against one of their own and then Jody was the only chance of these
people actually getting free. Of course they fail and many of them die horribly
or are pit back in the pit to fight another day. It’s clear young Jesse has a
fair whack of responsibility for this on account of being both the master of
ceremonies and being the one who lures most people into making the deals in the
first place. He clearly feels guilty and even tries to discourage one man from
gambling any more as he knows his debts are getting unmanageable
He’s also dating
Sabina. (Who is also his age - not, as I thought, some ancient witch who has
magically extended her life) but he’s not being subtle about it - TC knows what
he’s doing and Jesse realises Sabina may end up actually being locked in the
Tombs herself. So he brutally shoots her down in an extremely insulting and
demeaning fashion. Yes it’s a classic “I need
to be an arsehole to protect you” trope. Every male love interest has to do it at
least once. It’s a rule. It’s in the code.
Tulip hears this
recounting and isn’t overly impressed that Sabina is all stompy over a kid
breaking her heart when she was also a kid. But there’s more
So Sabina’s brother
decides to confront Jesse during Tombs night for being an arsehole to his
sister, he attacks Jesse and Jesse strangles him to death and makes it part of
the show
To which Tulip
responds “HE WOULD NEVER!” which kind of confuses me because the last three
seasons make me think, uh, Yeah? He would?
In the Tombs of the
present, Jesse presides over a battle between Cassidy and a paedophile and
after much shenanigans with a chainsaw, Cas wins. Jesse points out to Jody that
they’ve got an ultimate selling point here - they can fight Cass night after
night, abuse him constantly and all it takes is a little blood to get him back
together again. He makes a point of how much Cass isn’t his friend and is happy
to abuse and hurt Cass to prove it
When he’s left alone
with Cass, he seems to go on with the beating
Except what he’s
really done is chopped Cass into little pieces to mail to New Orleans, helping
him escape. Cass isn’t happy about this at all, because he’s obsessed with
Tulip and this damned love triangle and he thinks Jesse is just trying to get
rid of him. He also adds that there were many ways Jesse could have helped him
escape (he suggests wearing someone else’s skin) that didn’t involve awful
dismemberment
I’m both happy
because the snarking banter is exactly what makes these two work and annoyed
because of the damned love triangle
Of course Cass
refuses to go along with this - and manages to escape. Who knows how.
Finding Cassidy gone
the Tombs gang isn’t thrilled - and Jesse takes the chance to make a big speech
about god being missing probably left in disgust because everyone there is
juist the utter worst and terrible sinners and…
...and then Cass
walks in. Of course he does. Jesse abandons his speech about how everyone needs
to redeem themselves and instead he and Cass fight. And Jesse wins because a)
better fighter and b) Cass is held together with duct tape. Though he does keep
reaching for something
As Jesse is poised to
stake Cass, Tulip arrives, looking at Jesse in utterly horrified. Because Jesse
being violent is surprising now. He angrily declares himself to be Jesse
L’Angel and this is who he is so she better get used to it because it’s going
to happen night after night
Tulip leaves. And
even rescues Cassidy with his skin suit idea (yes really.) And she takes
him to the bus stop to New Orleans… but she’s not going with him. Cassidy pleas
in the name of love - but she is clear she doesn’t love him. For a second it
looks like Cass is going to use the love spell.. But he stops. And he gets on
the bus
He is definitely going to come back.
While Tulip goes back
to Jesse because she knows he’s playing the whole “drive me away for your own
protection” nonsense and finds it very annoying. She is Tulip: she most certainly
does not need protecting from anything or anyone so he needs to cut that out.
She does demand to know the truth about murdering Sabina’s body
Jesse’s version of
this memory is that Sabina’s brother tried to kill him and Jesse begged him to
stop but was forced to strangle him to death. I find this somewhat implausible,
I mean I’m not experienced in strangling people to death but I presume cutting
off someone’s oxygen would result in weakness and unconsciousness before you
actually have to go for full on death
Still Tulip believes his version and they have sex
The next day she
belatedly remembers that Sabina is still locked in her boot, but she’s very
chill about this. And instead she finally reveals how she can break the spell
and free Jesse: by killing the caster. Yes she has no reason to trust Sabina
but she does believe that Sabina hates Grandma even more than she hates Jesse
I admit to looking
forward more than a little of the zany elements of things like the Saint of
Killers returning because it could very much be Preacher at its most
zany. But I’m concerned because Tulip is now definitely getting her mojo back
and being all awesome. The problem is that the Saint tends to send her into a
terrible depressed terrified funk… I don’t want her to fall back into that
I am a little bemused
by the whole “Jesse would never” thing we have going on now
