Preacher opens with The Cowboy – Saint of Killers back at the town of Ratwater after finding his wife and daughter dead. After a short moment where the insufferable horse killing preacher evangelizes, the reverend asks what The Cowboy wants. The vengeful killer shoots the holy man, nearly before he can finish his question and answers to the singer, “I want you to finish the song.”
The opener then concludes with a bloodbath of epic proportions in the saloon. It ends with the killer sipping a drink as what seems to be a tornado approaches. It is not a tornado it could well be the Angel of Death coming to collect the gunman.
In this episode, Jesse escapes from Sheriff Root, who took him in custody last week. Fiore and DeBlanc book tickets to Hell. When the ticket seller asks for their occupations, DeBlanc says “serial killer” and Fiore says “architect.”
Tulip calls Emily to help with Cassidy’s healing. She explains to Emily that he is a vampire and that he needs blood to heal. So far, she says, he is not healing properly. When Emily tries to tell Tulip about Jesse being in trouble, Tulip says that Emily can have him.
Emily reveals that she has a boyfriend; the mayor Miles Person (Ricky Mabe). As she listens to Cassidy growling and thrashing around in his locked room, Miles calls. The mayor tells Emily that he will look after the kids and he invites himself over for the night.
Tulip goes to Albuquerque to kill Carlos and tells Emily to shove a live animal into Cassidy’s room when he needs it.
Fiore and DeBlanc head back to their blood-soaked room at the Sundowner Motel. They decide to call heaven on their phone, rather than go to Hell, and they find it has been stolen. As they realize that they will be going to Hell after all, it is revealed that Jesse has the special phone.
Emily calls Miles to come help her after Cassidy screams out for more “food.” Miles arrives and gets shoved into Cassidy’s room by Emily. She locks the door after him. At the Sundowner, Sheriff Root finds the partially dismembered angel that Fiore and DeBlanc left in their shower.
The Seraphim asks Root to kill her. After a moment, Root takes off his hat and begins strangling the “woman.” As the sheriff strangles the life from the angel, tears well up in his eyes. The Angel, once she dies, stands behind Root as a few tears roll down his cheek.
Fiore and DeBlanc board the shuttle to Hell and have to leave their big trunk behind”No carry-ons” says the driver. Fiore is upset about leaving his comics behind.
Oddly at peace with her decision to kill her boyfriend, Emily releases the guinea pigs. As she leaves, Emily tells Jesse that his “mate” is inside. Custer finds a very hurt Cassidy and after a couple of tense moments the two make up.
The two men help each other to clean up the carnage at Tulip’s uncle’s place. Later they dig up the remains of Fiore and DeBlanc for an angel hand so Jesse can call Heaven.
In Hell, the Saint of Killers relives his last days on Earth over and over. Finding his dead family and returning to Ratwater to kill all those he feels caused the deaths. This then is Hell, reliving one’s worst moment repeatedly for an eternity. Fiore and DeBlanc interrupt the cycle and ask the Cowboy to kill a preacher.
Obviously Annville was built over the remains of Ratwater, as the spot where Cassidy buried Fiore and DeBlanc is right by that “Native American” hanging tree. For those who are not aware of the comics, this alone seems to signpost a Jesse Custer and Saints of Killers conflict.
In the comic verse, The Cowboy initially killed the occupants of the saloon and then returned to kill off the entire town. He is so good at killing that he replaces the Angel of Death and kills the Devil. It is God who recruits him to kill Custer.
Jesse has a couple of allies to help him against both Quincannon, who has gotten even crazier, and The Cowboy. Cassidy and Tulip will be on his side and maybe even Emily, whose cold-blooded act of murder against the mayor was shocking, to say the least.
Preacher has a wonderfully odd and eclectic cast of characters but none are as compelling as The Cowboy Saint of Killers. With his impossibly long barreled guns and never ending supply of hate and ammunition he tops the bill. This foe to Jesse, since being hired by Fiore and DeBlanc, looks to be more than formidable.
On the other end of the spectrum, there is Emily. She was the “normal’ one. What ever prompted her to feed Miles Person to Cassidy? Was it his innate pushiness? The annoying laugh? Or did she act for some other reason? She does not even like Cassidy and never has. Her decision to hurry the vampire’s healing process with a bit of Miles is puzzling.
One disturbing thought… It took very little urging from the Seraphim for Root to take her life. Sure he cried while killing the angel but his decision, while not split second, was made pretty quickly.
This was the penultimate episode of Preacher with the series finale being aired next week on AMC. With the angel hand for his heavenly phone and the Killer of Saints on his trail, things should really heat up for Custer and his allies next week. This will be interesting.
MAIN CAST:
- Dominic Cooper – Jesse Custer
- Ruth Negga – Tulip
- Joseph Gilgun – Cassidy
- Jackie Earle Haley – Quincannon
- Lucy Griffiths – Emily
- Tom Brooke – Fiore
- Anatol Yusef – DeBlanc
Guest starring Graham McTavish as The Cowboy – Saint of Killers
Rating is for mature audiences only due to content.
Mikes Film Talk 