Welcome back brothers and sisters to our weekly feature, the Preacher Book Club, where we talk about the latest episode of AMC‘s Preacher, dissecting the episode at hand, annotating the changes made from the Garth Ennis/Steve Dillon comic book series and attempting to predict about what will be coming next. So let’s dive right into our thoughts and annotations on Preacher Episode 2.04!
Viktor
We’re going to go ahead and jump to the end of the episode with this bombshell, because holy crap. I wasn’t sure where the series was headed with old Viktor (appropriately played by The Wire‘s Paul Ben-Victor) but I have to say they shocked me here. Tulip certainly had other lovers before Jesse in the comics, but she wasn’t married before and especially not after she met him. It seems likely that this development means they’re not leaning into what I thought they might be doing: Tulip was a former hitman who messed up big time. It’s an interesting twist that I really want to see play out.
Hell
Back in hell, we see more of Eugene’s neighbors who range from an old gypsy woman to a caveman and, naturally, some frat douche. Again, Hell has a pretty traditional depiction in the Preacher comics and it’s worth pointing out that The Devil himself isn’t explicitly metioned in any of these scenes (big red dies at the hands of the Saint of Killers in the comic).
Munich 1919
Worth pointing out again that Hitler wasn’t a part of the comic, but I would expect nothing less from a Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg-produced series than to mess with him.
Hoover in disguise
The Grail followed Jesse after his long night and they’re posted up outside Dennis’ house. Speaking of which, anyone that speaks French would like to translate his lines that would be great. Back to the man outside though, this is Agent Hoover of The Grail, a character whose defining trait is that he is just about the most unlucky person alive. I fully expect to see that sort of comedy play out over the series with some departures that make the cruelty of the comic seem tame.
Fake god is a local actor
This is also an interesting departure from the comic. There never was a fake God on a TV in the comics, but this is a good way to build on the first season which seemed to close out in a very consequence free way. The best part about actor Mark Harelik is that that is his actual name. Some of his other credits include The Big Bang Theory, Boy Meets World, and Jurassic Park 3. He is still alive.
Also worth pointing out that the lines he delivers in his audition to play God are nearly identical to what God says in the Preacher comic when he returns to Heaven.
Jesse’s fight
Jesse arriving at Viktor’s home and kicking ass isn’t a scene from the comic but has the same heart and tone of something you would see in the series, and not least of all because they’re fighting around a corpse to a pop song. -chef’s kiss-
Check out the previews for Episode 2.05 below!
