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

Preacher - "Monster Swamp" - Season 1 Episode 4 Review

June 21, 2016

If one were to visit Annville, one would see some interesting nightlife. Drunk mascots, Tulip’s uncle passed out on the sidewalk, and some weird Running Man type shit where prostitutes try to outrun Quincannon’s armed goons. Lacey almost gets away but Clive tags her, and that would mean game over but Lacey accidentally falls into a sinkhole. Fracking is dangerous, and here’s yet another example. So begins another episode of Preacher…

This is a fairly Jesse-lite episode but that doesn’t mean we don’t gain insight into his character. There are several flashbacks that give us glimpses of his life as a boy with his father, who was a stern and moral man, but a father who always kept his son close. The third flashback is the most telling perhaps, because it shows a late night meeting with none other than a younger Odin Quincannon.

A crowd has gathered by what is surprisingly not a crime scene and it seems that the hole poor Lacey fell in is directly related to Q.M.&P.’s business practices. She’s dredged up and hosed off unceremoniously, and to say that Tulip is not happy about everyone’s lackadaisical attitude would be a severe understatement. Her angered sense of justice comes to a head and she thinks she teaches Clive a lesson, only to find the man she beat so senseless he fell out of the brothel’s second story window was Cassidy. He lets Tulip drive him to the ER, where plenty of blood is to be found, and this is how Tulip officially meets Cassidy.

Cassidy could only afford such a night of fun by bamboozling Fiore and LeBlanc into thinking he was going to bring them Jesse. It’s definitely funny to see supposed heavenly beings bumble around so much, and their complete misunderstanding of humanity is painfully obvious. Still, they are pressured to recapture Jesse’s power and take it “home” and Fiore thinks they need to contact whomever is above them in the celestial management hierarchy. They even have an emergency phone for such occasions, but LeBlanc wants no part of it. Indeed, it seems that they are on Earth unofficially.

This whole episode is built around life in Annville and how Quincannon either directly or indirectly affects its citizens. He takes whatever land he needs for his cattle, he ruins the local environment, and his employees are free to be asshole whoremongers, all because he provides electricity to Annville. Any mention of sustainable practices or alternative energy quite literally pisses him off. It would also seem that there is a connection to him and the murder of Jesse’s father.

So it’s a bit strange to see Jesse helping him paint and place miniature soldiers around a model of the Alamo. But there is a method to Jesse’s madness. He mentions how much Quincannon wanted, and still wants, Jesse’s father’s land. If Jesse can’t make him a religious man on Sunday, then he’s welcome to it after all these years. It goes without saying that Jesse uses his power to bend Quincannon’s knee in service of God, but it seems that this newest “miracle” has caught the attention of certain beings, because Fiore and LeBlanc’s “Oh Shit” phone starts ringing.

And while it’s obvious that Emily has a crush on Jesse, and Jesse is dickishly oblivious to it, is she sleeping with the goofy little mayor dude?

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