Preacher - "He Gone" - Season 1 Episode 7 Review

July 11, 2016

Procedurally, this episode deals with Eugene’s disappearance and Quincannon’s ruthless jurisprudence and more specifically, the unintended consequences of how Jesse approaches “the Word.” As he silently grapples with the idea that he’s just sent a kid to Hell, a place he wasn’t sure existed until the night before, he backs off on his plan to save the rest of his congregation. As the day wears on he becomes more sullen and withdrawn, as it seems that he isn’t quite the savior he thought he was. Having Quincannon back out on their earlier bet was salt in the wound. Saying one will serve god and actually serving god are two different things, and it looks like Genesis’ power of persuasion only lasts so long.

This is also the most we’ve seen of his childhood with his father and Tulip and it really sends the point home that he’s conflicted. On one side he has a near unbreakable bond with Tulip but his strict Christian upbringing and love/hate relationship with his father, and a promise he made to him pulls him in another direction. Add Emily and Cassidy to the list of people in Jesse’s life and they might make the oddest compass by which Jesse navigates his life.

Sheriff Root’s visit to ask about Eugene brings things to a head when he lies in front of two of his friends that know the truth. Jesse Custer the criminal and remorseless killer rears his head in this moment, and the apathy toward what he’s done is striking. Not even Cassidy can call him out on what happened, and we find out exactly what happened to Tracy Loach and Eugene. Jesse the judge appears, assigning everything to god’s will with no small amount of hubris. Ever the loyal friend, Cassidy forces Jesse to rethink his beliefs by stepping out into the sun. It’s a sad moment between two friends, and one may or may not be willing to meet the other halfway.

Of all the weird and gory shit this show has shown us in barely seven episodes, seeing Jesse alienate the people that care about him has been the hardest thing to watch. Tulip, Emily, Cassidy and his father all want something from Jesse even if that is for him to just be a better man than he thinks he is. But some dark thing, whether it be Genesis or his own past, has spilled over and he wants nothing more than to be left alone with it. Twice he has damned someone and twice they’ve met a cruel end. The ties that bind him to Annville were JUST about to be loosened, the promise to his father fulfilled, and there might have been absolution for Jesse on the horizon. Just as he was about to escape Sodom, his own works have left him with destruction raining down on him.

As the episode draws to a close, he frantically digs beneath the floorboards of the church and invokes Genesis to bring Eugene back. We see yet another flashback of his father’s execution, just as Quincannon’s demolition team approaches the church.

The tattoo on the forearm of the man who shot Jesse’s father looked rather familiar, didn’t it?

Written by A Play On Nerds contributor, Jerry Herrera - Lover of horror, sci fi, and fantasy in that order. Semi-permanent Disneyland resident. I'm at least one of the droids you're looking for. Twitter: @FrankenJerry - Instagram: @GeraldoPedro

Preacher - "Sundowner" - Season 1 Episode 6 Review

July 11, 2016

Picking up where we last left them, Fiore and DeBlanc were explaining to Jesse that his power doesn’t come from god, and upon further exposition (a lot of “so you’re saying” to spell it out for us) that it’s something very complicated and perhaps more powerful than plain ol’ god. But before they can peacefully remove Jesse’s power and sneak back to Heaven without being noticed, Fiore and DeBlanc are harrowed by a seraph and once again Preacher demonstrates some of the best fight choreography on television, full of savagery, pitch black humor and creativity that explores the absurd nature of its world. Fun fact, the silenced revolver the seraph uses isn’t a gun goof that other shows (cough TWD cough) are guilty of, it’s a Nagant M1895 produced for Soviet use. The old phones used to communicate with Heaven seem to also be of Russian design.

Awkward moments abound as Fiore brilliantly uses the word “disarticulated” in a sentence, Jesse decides to keep what he now knows is called “Genesis,” Emily and Tulip meet officially, Eugene doesn’t know how to respond to actual kindness, and two dudes drink a beer together in their underwear. Even still, despite the carnage Jesse has directly and indirectly caused since receiving Genesis, an odd peace binds together otherwise strange bedfellows. A priest and a vampire, two women that are interested in the same man, and a town of people who are each terrible in their own unique way come together under the roof of the church. Even Eugene, in the most nerve wracking scene in the episode, seems to have made friends. Only the Mayor seems to be having some trouble with his conscience.

It’s Jesse’s mission to save the town and he does seem oddly focused on it, even to the dismay of Emily and Eugene. Both have noticed a change in him and it’s hard to tell if he is being corrupted by Genesis or his own self-made demons. Towards the end of the episode, it’s apparent just how far he’s willing to go to be a savior. There’s a loudspeaker outside the church and his biggest turnout yet awaits and it’s then that we see the surly but likeable guy with a dark past become a man drunk with power and willing to abuse something he barely understands to achieve a goal.

As the episode draws to a close we see both Eugene and Mayor Miles acting on things Jesse has told them, and if the rest of the town is to receive Genesis’ odd brand of salvation, things in Annville are about to get way messier than they’ve been.

Written by A Play On Nerds contributor, Jerry Herrera - Lover of horror, sci fi, and fantasy in that order. Semi-permanent Disneyland resident. I'm at least one of the droids you're looking for. Twitter: @FrankenJerry - Instagram: @GeraldoPedro

Preacher - "South Will Rise Again" - Season 1 Episode 5 Review

June 28, 2016

The opening of the fifth episode of Preacher takes us back to 1881, the town of Ratwater and our old nameless friend. He’s put in the order for the medicine and needs to only wait until morning and be on his way. But this world weary stranger sees ugliness in Ratwater: rape, murder, disgusting characters of all stripes living without consequence. We don’t know much about this cowboy, but we get a hint that he used to be a bad man, but one with a strong sense of justice. This well of anger contained within gets him into a bit of trouble, and the ripples of his actions reach all the way back home. Things might have gone differently for him if he were armed, and when he returns back home he makes sure he grabs his guns before he heads back to Ratwater. A man with a dark past, wounded by the events of his present, seeks to change a town whether they want to or not. So begins this week’s episode…

Sheriff Root and Eugene have to deal with intruders on their property, ones that may have given them some trouble in a previous episode. They have a message for Eugene in particular, leaving a shotgun in his room and encouraging him to try the whole suicide thing one more time. As the episode goes on we start to see the connection between Eugene, Tracy Loach and his suicide attempt. It’s also apparent just how much this weighs on Sheriff Root.

Cassidy and Tulip get better acquainted and she takes the whole drug addicted vampire thing pretty well. It seems as if she’s still stuck on Jesse and can’t get revenge on Carlos without him, but Cassidy’s loose morality may make him a worthy substitute and we see how quickly Tulip moves to get her hooks in him, and how hell bent she is on revenge, but at what cost?

DeBlanc and Fiore spend another day bumbling around but this time, they sit and practice what they’re going to say to their (literal) higher ups who have not stopped calling them on their Soviet celestial dream phone. Once they nail their script, the phone stops ringing, which probably means Heaven decided a face to face meet is in order. Their time to fix this problem is running short…

Perhaps the person most in trouble here is Jesse. After making Quincannon see the light he’s become the town hero overnight. We met him as a stuttering, stammering drunk who commanded little respect but now people gather around to listen to his contrived platitudes (made new by his power) and he’s all too happy to dish them out. Even a simple “forgive him” patches things up between Eugene and Tracy’s mother, who moments ago was about to kill Eugene, clearly blaming him for Tracy’s current state. It becomes clearer now that Eugene also blames himself for what happened. But just like that, years of hatred are forgotten, and for quite a few eyes to see. All Jesse can do is beam with pride at his works. Whether he’s truly changed or has just found another intoxicant remains to be seen, but both Emily and Tulip are troubled by this new man before them. He doesn’t seem too concerned about the consequences of his actions (his first saved sheep gutted himself in front of his own mother, something that didn’t seem to bother Jesse much), only that they work and he gets praised for it. Interestingly, one could argue that’s how God works, salvation in exchange for praise, but while athletes are scoring winning touchdowns, marriages are saved, and little Billy makes honor roll, flood and famine devour the Earth. So long as things are going well in your tiny bubble, God is indeed good, and prayers are said and churches are full on Sunday.

To put a point on just how volatile Jesse’s powers are, and how wildly oblivious he is to it, DeBlanc and Fiore pay him a visit at the diner and spell out for him who they are, and more worrisome than that, his power is NOT from God. Quincannon’s peculiar way of serving the Lord is a darkly hilarious example of that.

Things may start to unravel for Jesse in the coming episodes. Tulip seems to have found a backup (haha) plan with Cassidy as her new partner in crime. And oddly, why hasn’t Jesse revealed his power to her? Why spare her the voice after all she’s put him through to get him to go after Carlos with her?

Donnie is starting to see something strange happening too. Between Quincannon’s conversion, Linus’ amnesia and his own moment of divine intervention, there’s something about the Preacher. Donnie is thus far the only “arch enemy” Jesse has, from his defeat in the bar, his troubles at work, and Betsy’s threat to cuckold him if he doesn’t get his shit together, he has a lot of stock invested in the downfall of the Preacher.

For the next episode, it seems as if our cowboy friend has begun a journey that might take him further than Ratwater perhaps, and further than 1881 as well.

Written by A Play On Nerds contributor, Jerry Herrera - Lover of horror, sci fi, and fantasy in that order. Semi-permanent Disneyland resident. I'm at least one of the droids you're looking for. Twitter: @FrankenJerry - Instagram: @GeraldoPedro