This week’s Preacher was a bit of an odd duck of an episode, its main focus was on Jesse’s desire to emulate his successful preacher daddy and get the pews at Annville Congregational full again and it seemed to stall the pacing that had started to build up over the last couple of episodes. In See we got introduced to the Saint of Killers and last week in The Possibilities we got a glimpse of what looked like Herr Starr. Things were starting to come together but this episode felt like it slammed on the brakes because they forgot something.
Jackie Earle Haley was wonderfully awful as Odin Quincannon, a man so morally bankrupt that his speech after the death of a whore (she fell headfirst into a sewage filled sinkhole) during a paintball game with his employees merely advises the whores to watch where they are going.
Jackie Earle Haley as Odin Quincannon – Preacher Season 1, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Lewis Jacobs/Sony Pictures Television/AMC
Flashbacks make it clear that even Jesse’s successful preacher father couldn’t get Quincannon to come to church so Jesse sets his sights on the meat mogul, since convincing this wayward sheep to return to the flock is bound to bring the rest of the town running right? Of course, Jesse has a trick or two up his sleeve that no-one else knows about that really stacks the deck in his favour when he makes a bet with Quincannon that he will convert and be a regular at church.
I think this is where this episode lost me. In the preceding episodes I have been quite content to make allowances for the changes that have been made from the source material since I’ve been having fun with what the characters have been up to but this was a step too far. As a fan of the comics from way back I have done my best to realise that no adaptation is 100% faithful, and that while they have made changes, the essences of the characters were still there. But the changes that have been wrought in Jesse’s backstory are so fundamental, and the fact that this episode focused so heavily on those changed elements kept me from being able to engage this week.
For those who are unfamiliar with the comics I will try and sum the changes up as best (and as briefly) as I can. Jesse’s father was not a preacher, he was a Marine who saw combat in Vietnam. He had a VERY unpleasant family that he was escaping from. Jesse’s grandmother wanted his father to be a preacher as per family tradition but he rebelled, as did Jesse. The second collection of the comics, titled Until the End of the World, sees Jesse have to face those skeletons in his family closet, and his refusal to follow the family tradition is central to who he is.
Once again Cassidy is the single most fun thing in this show (that line about attic insulation had me in bits), although DeBlanc and Fiore are growing on me (and hey Fiore, I can totally relate to sitting in a crappy motel room with orange fingers from eating Cheetos, that’s how I spent last summer).
Anatol Yusef as DeBlanc, Tom Brooke as Fiore, Joseph Gilgun as Cassidy – Preacher Season 1, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Lewis Jacobs/Sony Pictures Television/AMC
In a case of mistaken identity, Tulip beats Cassidy right out of the whorehouse window, and her badass act goes right out along with it when she is terrified that she’s killed him. This is their first real encounter and Cassidy seems to fall head over heels for her, asking for a kiss as they rush him to the hospital with a large piece of glass sticking out of his neck. She kisses him, thinking he’s going to die, and then seems less than impressed when she finds him soaked in blood, drinking a bag of O neg in the hospital blood bank. I think that might cause a few ructions next week, but it also might help to finally convince Jesse that Cassidy is, in fact, a hundred plus year old vampire!
Joseph Gilgun as Cassidy – Preacher Season 1, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Lewis Jacobs/Sony Pictures Television/AMC
Hopefully next week things will get back on track again, which seems likely given the trailer, but I will not be taking anything for granted with this show any more.
I’d love to hear what you guys think about this one, hit us in the comments with any thoughts you have on the show so far, or where it might be headed.
