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 the Preacher Season 2 finale!
Young Jesse
This opening scene, which ends up serving as a nice set-up for the closing of the episode and the next season, is really great. Nothing in this scene is depicted in the comic books, since the idea of Angelville as a tourist trap is an invention for the series. Also the idea being planted here of Marie L’Angelle being able to revive people or things from the dead is an invention of the series.
Jody and TC
These two characters have previously been teased in the series as well, and still never actually shown on screen. These two tormented Jesse for his entire childhood and into adulthood to the point that they become huge antagonists for him in the series. Their downfall will probably be a big payoff next season.
“Don’t call me that”
As I said last week, Jesse flat out agreeing to work with The Grail to be the new “Messiah” seems so wildly out of character, but I’m glad they already paid it off here in this episode. None of this comes from the source material, but the sequence of Jesse saving a group of school children from Albanian terrorists is so awesome on its own.
Les Enfants du Sang
Cassidy finds on Denis’ computer a web page for “Les Enfants du Sang” (“The Children of Blood”), a group directly lifted from the source material. In the comics, this group was at first allied with another vampire by the name of Eccarius, and was composed primarily of yuppie kids that just wanted to be vampires too. In a one-shot story, Cassidy meets Eccarius and is stunned because he’s the only other vampire he’s ever met before, and is horrified when he finds out that he uses these kids as his personal feeding troff. That explains what happens next, as Cassidy pushes Denis out the window and to his death, he had forgotten what other vampires are capable of and was seeing those signs in his own son. It’s worth pointing out that the Les Enfants du Sang do return in the comics, in an attempt to kill Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy in an act of revenge, and it does not go well.
Tulip and Cassidy
I love this development of Cassidy, by hammering home what a lonely bastard he is, the show is really getting him right. Sure he has a good time and cracks jokes, but at his core, his miserable. So seeing him act that way in a number of scenes in the finale is on track with comic book Cassidy.
Bats out of hell
The long-awaited escape from Hell is filled with plenty of surprises. I understand why it took this long, since it’s a season-long arc but the ending was so much more interesting than much of what preceded it. Also, it’s pretty hilarious that Hitler is running around out there now as another threat for the series. Again, none of this comes from the comics, but I think it’s in line enough with Preacher’s overall tone that it’s worth seeing it play out.
Two showdowns in the apartment
The two fights in the apartment, between Tulip & Featherstone and Jesse & Cassidy, have been a long time coming. The Cassidy/Jesse dynamic, however, seems to have been fast tracked for where it ends up eventually, which makes me worry the show won’t hit as many episodes as the creators have planned out.
Tulip
What is interesting about this development, which did surprise me, is that Tulip in fact DOES die in the Preacher comics, though it comes at the hand of T.C. and on the order of Marie L’Angelle. The set up of her dying and Jesse taking her to Angelville to be resurrected is handled pretty perfectly, and I have no doubt she’ll be brought back because she gets brought back in the comics as well. In fact, I’ll predict that she will get killed again after dying, and will be brought back like how she was in the comics. Or rather, she will be resurrected but not by Miss L’Angelle’s powers but by God himself.
God
Speaking of, so he was the Man-Dog, huh? That’s funny. Also worth pointing out that the bright light after he opens the bathroom door is consistent with God’s appearance in the comic, where he has a body but in fact radiates a stupid amount of light.
