Preacher Feature is a weekly analysis of the AMC show Preacher based on the comic book of the same name by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. In this column, we will give a breakdown of the events from the previous night’s show, including how they relate to the comics, and speculate as to what’s going on and what might be coming up. This is to say that there will be spoilers, both actual and potential. If you have not yet watched the episode in question or are watching the show without reading the comics and don’t want to have any foreknowledge of what might happen to Jesse and company, then you would do well to stop reading this now.
Looking to get caught up? Here’s a link to last week’s article.
Closing Time
Eugene is still in Hell’s version of a prison cafeteria, gettin’ swole and trying not to be so nice that he gets noticed by the guards. He can’t really deny his helpful personality, though, and so gets sent to “The Hole”. Instead of mere solitary confinement, this hole contains a device called an extrapolator, which seems to cause the victim to live out their worst fears. Eugene ends up back in the bedroom of a suicidal Tracy Loach. However, instead of reliving his last few minutes before becoming Arseface, he lives an alternate reality in which Tracy reveals she likes Eugene back, but has promised herself to none other than Jesse Custer. Eugene’s greatest fear seems to be his preacher, to whom Eugene looks up, getting a handy from his crush. After a dose of the extrapolator, Eugene seems primed to accept an offer of help from his bunkmate Adolph Hitler, who has his own plans to escape Hell.
Meanwhile on Earth
The gang on Earth is not doing much better. Cassidy is torn trying to decide whether to bite his terminally-ill son Denis and turn him into a vampire. Tulip is still trying to get over her brush with death. Getting shot in the chest for money only goes so far, so she decides to patch holes in the apartment’s walls left by The Saint of Killers’ gun. While doing so, she meets Featherstone, a Grail agent who is surveilling Jesse. Featherstone has once again taken on the disguise of a woman on the run (this time from an abusive ex) and she and Tulip bond over Boo Berry cereal (PSA – Boo Berry will turn your poop blue).
Jesse is still trying to find God and to do so he travels to his local electronics store and asks some tech dorks to enhance the audition tape to see if they can find a serial number on the gun (you know, like on “the shows”). The too-helpful clerks think Jesse is the one holding the gun and that he wants them to get rid of the evidence, so they scrub the footage, leaving Jesse with no leads. As the clerks are shredding the disc, we see it is marked Property of Grail Industries.
Hopefully this means we will be seeing more of Herr Starr in the next episode. It was disappointing not seeing him after such an awesome introduction last week. The show falters when they focus too much on strictly emotional conflicts. With The Saint trapped in the bottom of a swamp, it needs a villain to drive it.
Easter Eggs/Connections to the Comics
Cassidy reveals his first name, Proinsias (which I’ll admit I have read for years in the comics and never knew how to pronounce) while on the phone to someone named Seamus.
Questions/Theories
Will Eugene ever get out of Hell?
Who is this mysterious Seamus on the phone with Cassidy? Do we have another Irish vampire on our hands?
Best Line
“You ever put on a bullet-proof vest and get shot in the chest?” – Tulip O’Hare
