Sometimes I struggle with the fact that much of what I read is because I feel obligated to read it. Whether it’s a classic like The Aeneid or Paradise Lost. Much of the Star Wars EU (Legends) fell under that dark umbrella. Crystal Star anyone? Yea that’s what I thought. In my early days of reading I read anything from Edgar Allen Poe to Stephen King, without giving too much thought to the way it was written.

I read Poe because it was dark and dreary. It fit my personality most of the time (you could say that I wasn’t the most talkative person ever). I read Stephen King because, as a teen, I liked being scared to turn the page (and as a native New Englander, it’s somewhat of a requirement in the manual of life). I distinctly remember my English instructors at Dean Jr. College despising King. Telling me how amateurish his writing is. I didn’t care. As a 19 year old I enjoyed it regardless of how he wrote. He spoke my language; tapped into a budding wannabe writer of horror/suspense. I enjoyed it; not for the writing, but for the way it made me feel. It was exciting, suspenseful, and at times terrifying. I was also impressed with the way King used specific dialects and speech patterns to inform the reader of where the story took place and to make it more believable to the reader.

As a reader it’s so important to be able to forget that you’re actually reading a story. I want it to be so believable that I get lost in the journey. It’s all about details. I like details. 

Jumping ahead to the present day, I was recommended Preacher, written by 4 time Eisner Award winning comic writer Garth Ennis, with art by Steve DIllon. After putting it off for quite a few months, I finally dove into the first trade paperback, To say it blew me away would be a gross understatement. I’m going to attempt to portray my giddiness over reading Preacher on “paper”, which isn’t easy to do without pictures and a few strategically placed 4-letter words, but I’ll try.

As a creative writing student at Southern New Hampshire University, I’ve taken my fair share of writing workshop classes in which it is instilled with a jackhammer, to “show don’t tell” and “write dialogue the way it’s actually spoken” (minus the umm’s and aah’s of course). John Dufresne once said, “Scene is at the heart of the story, and dialogue is at the heart of the scene.” This explains why I was so enthralled in the story of Preacher. I don’t want to get into the story of the comic too much, I’ll just say that it is comprised of three main characters; Jesse Custer (The Preacher), Cassidy (Jesse’s friend and hard drinking, hard living vampire), and Tulip (Jesse’s girlfriend and general kick-ass female protagonist).

The story generally takes place in Texas, and to make the story that much more believable, Ennis has masterfully written Jesse’s dialogue with a southern dialect perfectly.

“Me an’ Cindy get on real well. We sit up ‘til dawn drinkin’ an’ talkin’. I like her, she likes me. She all but invited me home a couple times but she’s waitin’ for me to make the first move.”

That’s by no means Shakespeare, but it’s not supposed to be. It’s true to the character. My point is as a writer, to write well, is not to “write well”, it’s to be true to the story; to the characters. If this happens, everything else will fall into place. As the series progresses, Ennis creates backstories for each of the main characters. Most notably is Tulip, who was brought up by her widowed father, after her mother died giving birth. Before Tulip was born, her father thought the idea of his wife giving birth to a girl ridiculous, and even laughed at the thought with his beer guzzling buddies down at the local pub.

His mentality took a complete 180 when the nurse told him his wife died giving birth to a girl. One look at his new born baby daughter and he was smitten. He brought her up as he saw fit in rural Texas–hunting, shooting, fishing, even teaching her how to defend herself while being teased for not being “girly” enough by the girls in her school, or for trying to do “boy” activities with the boys. That baseball bat came in handy.

Cassidy. I got two words to describe him. Irish. Vampire. Garth Ennis, hailing originally from Ireland was able to use his knowledge of the Irish dialect and speech inflections to give Cassidy an air of authenticity. “Writing what you know” is another one of those lessons every writer hears every second of every day. I can’t dispute it. It works great here.

To me this is what makes a good story. When you get so caught up in the dialogue, that you don’t even pay attention to the plot until you notice that you’re in love with some of the characters and want to drown the rest. That’s a good story. One that makes you feel. Whether it’s anger, frustration, sadness, joy, disgust, or relief. Preacher made me feel a lot of things.

Eric Onkenhout

@EricOnkenhout or @WritingEric

facebook.com/eric.onkenhout

‘Preacher’ Episode 1.10 “Call and Response” (7.5 out of 10) Developed by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg & Sam Catlin; Starring Dominic Cooper, Joseph Gilgun & Ruth Negga; Sundays on AMC.

I have some conflicting feels about the season 1 finale of “Preacher.” Of the entire show thus far, this episode has come closest to capturing the anarchic satire of the comics—it pulled some seriously ballsy moves tonight. I liked tonight’s episode for that, but didn’t like it for the same reasons. I’ll need a bit of group therapy, but maybe we can figure it out together. SPOILERS AHEAD!

The Part Where God Shows Up

Let’s start with the deity in the room. For the past few episodes, Jesse (Dominic Cooper) has been planning on placing a direct call to God using Fiore’s (Tom Brooke) and DeBlanc’s (Anatol Yusef) old-timey cell phone and one of their hands. Not only is he going to get answers for himself, but he’s planning on showing the whole messed up town of Annville that when Jesse Custer says he’s bringing God to a party, then by damn, God’s showing up.

The scene is…weird. Not weird like Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) slicing through two angels with a chainsaw, but weird like watching a bunch of hicks yell at God via Skype. God appears seated at a golden throne, and he’s all beardy and white-robed—he looks like how pretty much everyone would assume that he looks, which I suppose is part of the punch line. See, after Jesse uses Genesis on God, we learn that the people of Annville weren’t really talking with God. Before he’s pulled off screen, the God-impostor reveals that God has left his post and that nobody knows where he is. While this revelation (heh) merely provides Jesse, Tulip (Ruth Negga) and Cassidy with an excuse to skip town and get French fries, it causes the people of Annville to freak out and debauch the hell out of the place. Mascots hang themselves from the trees, Mrs. Loach (Bonita Friedricy) smothers her daughter Tracy (Gianna LePera) while her son takes a selfie, and Odin Quincannon (Jackie Earle Haley) cradles a meat effigy of his daughter (a bit of a relief considering what the Quincannon of the comics likes to do with meat effigies). It all culminates with the methane plant that provides Annville’s power to explode, leaving all of our supporting characters at the bottom of a cow-shit crater.

So here’s the problem. While I feel like this episode really dug in and gave us a taste of the “Preacher” that Ennis and Dillon created, it kind of made the audience the target of its own joke.

Throughout the TV series, the show has managed to maintain the comics’ critique of organized religion without necessarily taking it as far as the comics did, and I thought that came through again tonight. The idea that angels didn’t want mortals to see that God was AWOL, so they dressed a dude up in a robe and a beard and had him play the role is pretty hilarious. It sums up the lack of respect that the heavenly hosts have for mortals, and it managed to give the main three characters the kick in the ass that they needed to begin their quest to find the real God.

While this scene was truly a memorable piece of television history, including it in an episode that tries to disguise an elephantine McGuffin with what we’re supposed to see as “edgy” storytelling wasn’t the best idea. Just like the heavenly hosts thought that they could hide God’s absence behind an angry wizard, the writers of “Preacher” tried to use a methane explosion to hide the fact that none of season one’s subplots really went anywhere. Case in point—Tulip and Jesse finally had Carlos (Desmin Borges), the author of all their pain, trussed up and ready to accept their sweet vengeance only to have their billionth argument about the morality of the situation and let him go with a sound beating.

Verdict

As I watched Tulip, Cassidy and Jesse eat French fries and discuss their upcoming road trip to find God, I found myself wondering why this didn’t happen in episode one. We basically spent ten episodes slogging through half-assed subplots, and building relationships with characters like Emily (Lucy Griffiths) and Sheriff Root (W. Earl Brown) only to see it all get blown up? I can’t help but feel like we’ve been swindled in some way. Here’s hoping that season two spends more time on its storytelling—blowing up a town and starting over only works once.

‘Preacher’ Episode 1.9 “Finish the Song” (8.5 out of 10) Developed by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg & Sam Catlin; Starring Dominic Cooper, Joseph Gilgun & Ruth Negga; Sundays on AMC.

Okay, “Preacher.” We can still be friends. Tonight’s episode was just what we needed to get us stoked for the season finale. Spoilers ahead!

The Cowboy is a Murder Machine

In addition to Jesse’s (Dominic Cooper) shenanigans in present-day Annville, we’ve been getting snippets of a particularly dark moment in Ratwater, Annville’s old west predecessor. We’ve seen the Cowboy (Graham McTavish) get the crap kicked out of him, watch his horse get shot and then return home only to find that his family has perished from disease. The scene in which we get to see him exact his revenge on the denizens of Ratwater is one of the series’ most visually striking. Until now, we’ve seen them as mostly trash humans, but when the Cowboy arrives with an American flag filled with the heads of Ratwater’s children during an almost religious observance of a tavern goer’s singing, it’s hard not to feel bad for what happens next.

We see the scene unfold from the Cowboy’s perspective, peripherally watching every man and woman take a bullet while the focal point remains fixed on the singer, whom the Cowboy commands to finish his song as he sows death and destruction. This scene drips with elegantly staged violence—we see this man who the comics call the Saint of Killers execute each person with orchestral precision. It’s a scene that is replayed from many different angles within the Cowboy’s mind as Fiore (Tom Brooke) and DeBlanc (Anatol Yusef) arrive in hell to bust him loose so he can kill Jesse Custer.

I figured that the Cowboy would have a grudge against preachers in general since one killed his horse and, by extension, his family. The real question will be whether or not the Cowboy is going to be a willing tool in the hands of Fiore and DeBlanc, or pursue his own path of death and destruction that leads him to the throne of God Himself. Either way, I’ve loved seeing Graham McTavish take this role into some dark places.

Keeping Cassidy Fed

Tulip (Ruth Negga) and Emily (Lucy Griffiths) had another great interaction tonight, and it showed us that Emily, who has been a bit of a sideline support for Jesse, definitely has the stomach for the weird world that is rising up around her. After she has a revelation about her relationship with Miles (Ricky Mabe), she decides to trick him into becoming a meal for Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun), since groundhogs and goats haven’t seemed to help him heal from his massive sunburn. Also, I felt more sympathy for the small rodents that Tulip and Emily were feeding Cassidy than I did for the mayor of Annville—something might be wrong with me.

On one side, this action doesn’t seem very congruous with Emily’s character thus far. She’s tough as hell, but crossing the line to murder seemed a bit out of her moral code. In a show like “Preacher,” however, it’s a very appropriate way to show how Emily has chosen to side with Jesse and his crew instead of the town of Annville. Plus, it doesn’t hurt to endear oneself to a vampire.

Planning for Jesse’s Sermon

We know that Jesse has stolen Fiore’s and DeBlanc’s celestial telephone, and we also know that he’s planning on placing a direct call to God and using the power of Genesis to command him to appear before his congregation. It’s a bit of batshit craziness, but sounds like the perfect setup for the season finale. Jesse’s scenes had a quiet sort of restraint to them—eating breakfast with two vagrants paints a very biblical picture, and his reunion with Cassidy is tinged with a melancholy sort of acceptance of the road ahead of them.

Verdict

Based on tonight’s episode, next week is fixing up to be quite the showdown. Odin Quincannon (Jackie Earle Haley) is planning on facing off with Jesse as the Preacher plans to summon God Himself. Plus, we have the added intrigue of the Cowboy’s release from hell to look forward to. Oh! And let’s not forget that time when Sherriff Root (W. Earl Brown) finds the dismembered-yet-living body of Susan the angel (Juliana Potter) and decides to pity strangle her, thus throwing her machinations back into the mix. Until next week, friends!

‘Preacher’ Episode 1.8 “El Valero” (7 out of 10) Developed by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg & Sam Catlin; Starring Dominic Cooper, Joseph Gilgun & Ruth Negga; Sundays on AMC.

For some time now, I’ve kicked around the idea that “Preacher” is a modern retelling of the 1989 film “Road House.” Both stories feature a powerful entity with a mysterious past that arrives to clean up a podunk town, and both stories feature an uncharacteristic absence of law enforcement when a rich supervillain decides to shoot up the place. I’m still on the fence as to whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, however.

The Standoff

Picking up from last week, Jesse (Dominic Cooper) has holed himself up in his church while Quincannon (Jackie Earle Haley) has amassed an army of employees at his meat packing facility just outside. It turns out that my theory about Quincannon’s idea of God was correct—when Jesse told the old codger to serve God back in episode four, Quincannon took that to mean service to “the god of meat,” which is the god to whom Quincannon has pledged fealty.

We’ve been getting little bits and pieces of how Jesse’s failure to consider the semantics of his language when using Genesis have gotten him into trouble, but this is his biggest screw up to date. It even causes him to allow Fiore (Tom Brooke) and DeBlanc (Anatol Yusef) to sing Genesis out of him so they can take the being back to Heaven—but Genesis seems to like being housed inside this hard-drinking man of God, and breaks its coffee can prison in the process.

There’s no question as to whether or not this episode is fun to watch. It’s cool to see Jesse go all John Wayne on Quincannon’s Meat Men, and the morbid realism that Jackie Earle Haley injects into Quincannon is darkly funny. It does, however, exhibit a level of camp that doesn’t quite match up with the tone that “Preacher” has set for itself—which brings me to “Road House.” Both Annville, Texas and Jasper, Missouri seem to exist in this weird universe where the town billionaire has somehow made local law enforcement completely impotent. When Quincannon whips up his meat packing cronies into a makeshift militia to bring Custer out of his church, I can’t help but think of how ridiculous it was when one of Brad Wesley’s goons drives a monster truck through a car dealership in “Road House.” Don’t get me wrong, I love “Road House” for taking its campiness over the top, but it’s something that feels tonally off in “Preacher.” There was a point in the show where it could have veered into “Road House” levels of camp, but it chose a path that was a bit darker instead. The town of Annville, with its population of garbage-humans that set up lawn chairs to watch a gunfight, is meaner than Jasper. Camp doesn’t work if it’s mean.

Tulip and Cassidy

Last week, Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) set himself on fire. Tulip (Ruth Negga) is once again tasked with taking care of him, though it’s important to note that she was not responsible for mutilating him this time. There’s a metaphorical grab bag behind her scenes, which were focused on a stray hound dog that she eventually feeds to Cassidy so he can regenerate. Does the dog represent her feelings for Jesse? Is she just keeping it alive for a short time so it’s complacent when she feeds it to someone else? Or does she feel some sympathy with this stray animal since its life bears some tragic similarities to her own? Regardless, these scenes of forced melancholy are a little hard to take seriously—can we start giving Tulip something to do? Please?

Verdict

Not a bad episode, but a definite step backwards. All of the problems with the show thus far—stalled plotting, uneven use of characters and an uncertainty about whether it wants to be funny or gritty—are present. We’ve got two more episodes left this season, and I hear tell that the Cowboy (Graham McTavish) is back next week. Here’s hoping that he can give the show a proper kick in the ass.

‘Preacher’ Episode 1.6 “Sundowner” (8 out of 10) Developed by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg & Sam Catlin; Starring Dominic Cooper, Joseph Gilgun & Ruth Negga; Sundays on AMC.

Even though it’s taken about six episodes to do so, “Preacher” is finally starting to get somewhere. It’s still a bit rough around the edges, but tonight’s episode resurrected some of the freneticism of the pilot. Spoilers ahead!

Showdown at the Sundowner

“Preacher” outdid itself with this opening scene—it was violent, funny and ruthlessly inventive. After Fiore (Tom Brooke) and DeBlanc (Anatol Yusef) confronted Jesse (Dominic Cooper) about the force inside of him—they’re calling it Genesis, as it is named in the comics—they meet an angel named Susan (Juliana Potter) who is much less sympathetic to their cause. In the bureaucracy of Heaven, Fiore and DeBlanc are considered AWOL, and Susan is one of the heavenly hosts that have been dispatched to bring them in. Not only does this new wrinkle make Fiore and DeBlanc more endearing—they’re essentially babysitters who have lost track of the most powerful force in existence—but it led to one of the most brutally creative fight scenes in recent memory.

In earlier episodes, when Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) killed Fiore and DeBlanc, they came back to life even though their corpses were buried. Fiore explains that this is a normal process for angels—when their current body dies, they just come back in a new one. Of course, Jesse doesn’t know this when he cuts Susan’s throat in the parking lot, causing her to follow them back to the Sundowner Motel. Her arrival heralds a maniacal bloodbath as these three angels continue to murder each other and resurrect, leaving a pile of identical bodies behind—imagine an episode of “The Three Stooges” where they stab, shoot and electrocute each other. There are some brilliant camera angles that manage to capture the scene’s comically gruesome violence while maintaining basic cable standards—one shot finds us viewing the battle royale through a hole that Susan punched in the motel room wall. This is no doubt thanks to the episode’s director, Guillermo Navarro, who shot most of Gullermo del Toro’s films.

As much as I loved this opening scene, I couldn’t help but wonder why Jesse didn’t get himself killed in this bloodbath. Obviously Fiore and DeBlanc wouldn’t do it, but what was stopping Susan from pulling homeboy’s head off? I made a few arguments in my head—maybe an angel wouldn’t murder a priest? Maybe Fiore and DeBlanc were sacrificing their bodies to protect him, since killing him could release Genesis? Anyway, it was a small thing to nitpick amid such unexpectedly funny carnage.

Jesse Has a Tulip Tattoo!

I’ve been a bit disappointed in Tulip’s (Ruth Negga) role in “Preacher” lately, but I liked what I saw tonight. Last week, we saw her barge in and scream at poor Emily (Lucy Griffiths, another Brit who does a great Southern accent) while she was on the toilet. Tonight, the two made amends, presumably because Tulip learned that Emily wasn’t moving in on Jesse—at least not yet. Griffiths and Negga have a few nice scenes together, and I liked seeing the contrast between their two characters. Sure, this episode might not pass the Bechdel test, since the two leading ladies meet because of their connection to Jesse, but the episode makes a point to show that their potential friendship is based on mutual respect and not their relationship with Jesse. Tulip sees the effort that Emily puts into being a single mom, and Emily sees Tulip’s inner compassion when she agrees to help her with church stuff. I smell yet another love triangle a-brewing, which brings us to our first love triangle, which I am still pissed about.

Tonight’s episode makes a noble effort to illustrate the fact that Cassidy, Jesse and Tulip don’t really know that they’re in a love triangle. I get why they went that direction—it’s going to be an awkward, possibly violent conversation when Jesse confronts his friends about this—but Cassidy’s feelings for Tulip don’t make any sense to me. He tells Jesse that he met a girl and fell in love, but I just don’t buy it. This clumsy attempt at creating a love triangle is even more infuriating now that we’ve seen the possibility of Emily and Tulip vying for Jesse’s attention. If a love triangle happens organically in a story, that’s great. This one feels a bit shoehorned in, and I think Jesse and Tulip have enough emotional baggage to make their relationship interesting—they don’t need a heartsick Irish vampire in the mix.

Verdict

Storywise, we’re seeing Genesis exert a greater hold on Jesse—the episode ends with him affixing a megaphone to the top of his chapel, and sending Arseface (Ian Colletti) to hell in a fit of rage. Now that we’re seeing this side of him, the main conflict of the story seems much more clear. It’s easier to see that the show is going to focus on Jesse’s internal conflicts—giving a beaten down preacher the power to make anyone do what he wants is a moral quandary that continues to be interesting. For the remainder of the season, the show needs to pare down the cable TV tropes, and focus on the story. Also, I’m curious to see how Arseface gets out of hell.

‘Preacher’ Episode 1.5 “South Will Rise Again” (8 out of 10) Developed by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg & Sam Catlin; Starring Dominic Cooper, Joseph Gilgun & Ruth Negga; Sundays on AMC.

After last week’s lukewarm episode, tonight was a bit more reassuring. It didn’t quite match the intensity of the pilot, but there were some pivotal moments that made me stop and say, “Whaaaat?” It will probably get more spoilery than usual since some major stuff went down—consider yourselves warned.

The Return of the Cowboy

It’s possible that opening the episode with a flashback to Ratwater, circa 1881, set the right tone for the episode for me. We got to see the conclusion of the Cowboy’s (Graham McTavish) journey tonight, and it’s about time since it kicked off back in episode two. It’s a tragic tale, gruesomely adapted from the comics to capture the precise moment when the Saint of Killers is born.

While the death of his family is enough to push anyone over the edge, there was something desperate and hopeless about the way these first few scenes portrayed the evil of humanity. Ironically, it’s the town’s preacher (Justice Leak) that seems to be the lynchpin of the Cowboy’s misfortune. Leak’s preacher is a dark shadow of what our Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper) could become—he’s charismatic and the town of Ratwater seems to love him, but he’s an evil sumbitch.

Watching the Cowboy resist his darker nature to help a family that he believes to be walking into extreme danger only to see that they’re part of the nastiness that has infected Ratwater reiterates one of the show’s primary themes, and it’s something that we’ve seen Custer himself deal with early on in the show. While it’s pretty clear that Custer will cross paths with the Cowboy after he has become the Saint of Killers, the potential for these two characters to work together is intriguing—although there’s no way that’s going to happen right off the bat.

The Church of Custer

Back in the present town of Annville—which could be the modern resting place of Ratwater, as we see Custer standing next to Ratwater’s hanging tree—things are going pretty well for our preacher. He’s got the youths bickering about which book of the New Testament is the best, and he’s helping folks get over their insecurities and become better people. Again, the implications of a preacher who is forcing his congregation to walk the straight and narrow are very tongue in cheek, and this episode makes Custer’s acceptance of this gift more convincing than it did last week.

Particularly powerful is the subplot involving Eugene “Arseface” Root (Ian Colletti), a character who I have foolishly failed to mention. Arseface is at the center of a slowly unraveling tragedy that involves his own botched suicide and the current catatonic state of Tracy Loach (Gianna LePera), and we get a bit more insight into that situation tonight. First of all, Colletti deserves some serious credit for delivering emotional performances with a butthole-shaped prosthetic attached to the bottom half of his face. He brings this sense of pitiful innocence to every scene that he’s in, and the less we know about his backstory, the more painful it all seems.

Tulip and Cassidy

These two were a mixed bag tonight. The show fast-tracked the love triangle among Jesse, Tulip (Ruth Negga) and Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun), and it didn’t quite work. For starters, in the comics, Tulip and Cassidy hook up during an extremely emotional period in which she thinks that Jesse has been killed, and the whole thing becomes a painful mess that never quite gets sorted out. Tonight, Tulip hooks up with Cassidy to what, make Jesse jealous? And Cassidy’s pitch about falling for Tulip, charming as it was, came way too far out of left field to be believable. This was something that needed to happen much later in the series, and I’m a bit pissed that they went there halfway through the first season.

Verdict

Honestly, I was freaking out a bit too much about that opening scene. It’s essentially the origin story of a spectacularly imagined villain, and I can’t wait to see him wreak terrible vengeance across the heavens. Jesse’s plans appear to be working—except the part when Odin Quincannon (Jackie Earle Haley) murders the executive team of an environmentally friendly company that the mayor has brought in. Did Quincannon do this because he thought he was serving God? If so, does that mean that Jesse is indirectly responsible for the murder of four innocent people? Or were these people also evil? It was a hell of a way to end the episode, regardless of the reason.

‘Preacher’ Episode 1.4 “Monster Swamp” (7.5 out of 10) Developed by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg & Sam Catlin; Starring Dominic Cooper, Joseph Gilgun & Ruth Negga; Sundays on AMC.

Tonight’s episode has taught me something very important about AMC’s “Preacher:” It’s at its best when the three leads share screen time. Watching Jesse (Dominic Cooper), Tulip (Ruth Negga) and Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) shoulder their own storylines is all good and well, but would it be too much to ask to give such fine actors more to work with? Let’s discuss!

The Cruel Tutelage of John Custer

We got one glimpse of Jesse’s father John—right before he got shot—in an earlier episode, and we know that Jesse has taken up the mantle of Annville’s preacher in order to pick up where his father left off. Tonight, we see bits and pieces of young Jesse’s upbringing, and it didn’t seem too great. When young Jesse sees his father fail at converting a young Odin Quincannon (Jackie Earle Haley), we start to get old Jesse’s rationale for making the self-pronounced atheist the focal point for his plan to use his new power to make his congregation more obedient.

Jesse’s storyline raises some interesting questions about a preacher who can make people do whatever he wants—especially when he’s got some unresolved father issues himself. When does his quest to make better people out of his congregation become less about God and more about himself? Does making the right choice count if someone is quite literally forcing you to make that choice? How can I get my ecclesiastical leader to come and help me build a model Alamo?

Thematically, watching Jesse Custer use some pretty underhanded manipulation to con his flock into becoming better Christians is hilarious—I’m sure God would have a thing or two to say about his methods. The problem with this scenario is that it doesn’t seem to jive with Jesse’s moral compass. Thus far, he’s come across as a more violent version of Atticus Finch—the kind of guy who sees something morally unethical about using an unfair advantage against an opponent. It’s tough to buy the idea that Jesse would resort to such methods, no matter what his goals may be.

Angels and Vampires

Cassidy also did a fair amount of conning in his portion of the episode. He’s gotten a bit closer to Fiore (Tom Brooke) and DeBlanc (Anatol Yusef)—and their money. As their only human (kind of) link to Jesse, the two naïve celestial beings find themselves strangely compelled to rely on Cassidy’s intel. I was unsure of Cassidy’s motivations last week, but after tonight, it’s clear that he’s using his powers of bullshittery to keep these two off-worlders on the hook for as long as he can.

This was a fine opportunity for Cassidy to get some extended screen time, which is always welcome. Gilgun’s Irish motormouth is charming, no matter how many lies that it happens to be spinning.

While Cassidy is always fun to watch, Fiore and DeBlanc have become mysteriously impotent. Here are two immortal partners that have managed to track whatever has taken residence inside Jesse Custer all over the world, and they’re relying on a dude like Cassidy to help them achieve their goal? I’m not quite sure why these two aren’t just getting the job done themselves, but I’ll gladly continue to watch as Cassidy continues to swindle them.

Tulip’s Living in a Brothel I Guess

The biggest problem this evening was the fact that Tulip seemed like little more than an afterthought. Yes, she’s part of a weird storyline that involves employees of the meat packing plant chasing half-naked prostitutes all over town and shooting them with paintball guns, but the writers seemed to shoehorn her into a series of “girl power” rants.

The upside of her storyline was seeing her accidentally beat Cassidy’s ass while he was mid-coitis and throw him out of a window—that was amazing. They shared a “Reservoir Dogs” style backseat ride to the hospital, and she saw him wolf down a few blood packs. Again, the show is at its best when the lead characters get screen time together.

Verdict

Despite the few glaring consistency issues and a criminal underuse of Ruth Negga, this episode was okay. It will be interesting to see Jesse grapple with the ramifications of his power—everything that he tries to accomplish with his compelling words seems to come with a terrible consequence. I’ve got a suspicion that, when Jesse tells Quincannon to serve God, the old codger will continue to serve himself because he thinks that he’s God.

I’m ready to see something that drives the main narrative forward next week. We’re getting there bit by bit, but at four episodes in, it’s disappointing to see our characters continue to basically do what they’ve been doing since the pilot.   

‘Preacher’ Episode 1.3 “The Possibilities” (8 out of 10) Created by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg & Sam Catlin; Starring Dominic Cooper, Joseph Gilgun & Ruth Negga; Sundays on AMC.

As “Preacher” is evolving, we’re starting to see the toll that Jesse Custer’s (Dominic Cooper) newfound abilities are taking on him. Right now, he’s somewhere between Uncle Ben Parker’s philosophy that “with great power comes great responsibility,” and Lord Acton’s notion that “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Being the flawed but good man that he is, Custer is starting to show us that the true test of a person’s character is seeing what they’ll do when they get a little bit of power.

Jesse (Almost) Goes With Tulip

In keeping with the show’s breadcrumb-like storytelling, we get a few little tidbits of info regarding Tulip’s (Ruth Negga) and Jesse’s history. Tulip secures an address of a past associate, who apparently left her and Jesse at the scene of a violent crime, which persuades Jesse to forget his better judgment and hit the road with her. Before we get into this storyline, it’s a moral imperative to mention the brief glimpse that we got of a man in a white suit towards the beginning of the episode. While I was thinking that the two blokes that Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) carved up with a chainsaw last week were going to be the show’s version of the Grail, Tulip’s contact mentions Grail Industries right before she meets the aforementioned man in a white suit, who is most likely Herr Starr. Once again, the show has done a great job of placing these small, introductory scenes to its main villains—we first see him seated in a dark, makeshift theater where, from the sound of it, attendees are watching a snuff film. With all three of the series’ nastiest of bad guys introduced, it’s starting to look bleak for Jesse Custer, but oh so good for everyone watching the show. Now, back to the road trip.

At Tulip’s mention of a man named Carlos, Jesse finally gives in to her demands. From the flashbacks that we get, Carlos’s decision to leave Tulip and Jesse behind resulted in things going south between them. The more we see Tulip and Jesse together, the more their chemistry starts to spark and sizzle. Tulip’s attempts to pull Jesse back into the life that they once lived together are motivated by her sense of survival—every time she tells Jesse that she needs him, it goes much deeper than reclaiming a partner in crime.  

The turning point of this road trip comes when Donnie Schenk (Derek Wilson) corners Jesse in a gas station bathroom, looking for a bit of revenge on the man who broke his arm and made him squeal like a bunny. Jesse makes Donnie put his own gun in his mouth, but doesn’t go through with what could have easily been construed as a suicide. Again, we’re seeing a side of Jesse that proves he’s no saint, but that he’s not a cold-blooded killer. After this encounter, Jesse bails on the whole trip, leaving Tulip behind. This scene was a great indicator of Jesse’s chaotic good alignment. He’s fine with breaking this guy’s arm and forcing him to put a gun in his mouth, but at the end of the day, he can still find value in the life of a scumbag.

Cassidy Kills Some Angels

Before Jesse takes off with Tulip, he uses Cassidy as a guinea pig for his mind control powers. After Jesse makes him hop around on one foot, admit that he likes Justin Bieber and fling himself into a wall, Cassidy establishes that Jesse has become a Jedi, and sees a future of unlimited possibilities. While we love Cassidy, and he seems decent enough for a bloodsucker, it would be too hard to imagine him trying to take advantage of Jesse’s power.

We see hints of that already starting to develop as he tells Fiore (Tom Brooke) and DeBlanc (Anatol Yusef) that he’ll try and help them in their quest to remove the paranormal presence from Jesse. At this point, Cassidy is either trying to get these two celestial cops off of Jesse’s back, or he’s really looking to sell his friend out. The delivery of this sudden alliance felt forced—almost like the writers were worried that not enough was going on. After Cassidy has killed them twice, it’s hard to believe that Fiore and DeBlanc would trust him, and if Cassidy was really interested in helping them, it would mean that he would lose access to Jesse’s powers.

Verdict

This episode didn’t feel as tight as the past two. The performances continue to be spectacular, however, so it’s not that big of a problem. The show’s teases to the bigger conflicts that are in store have created a huge sense of anticipation. We have no idea what will happen next week, and that’s one of the reasons it’s been so fun to watch “Preacher.” It’s not really playing by any rules, so each week holds the promise of something completely new.  

‘Preacher’ Episode 1.2 “See” (8 out of 10) Created by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg & Sam Catlin; Starring Dominic Cooper, Joseph Gilgun & Ruth Negga; Sundays on AMC.

Even though the second episode of “Preacher” brought us a chainsaw murder right out of an “Evil Dead” film, writer Sam Catlin showed a surprising amount of restraint tonight. We got a few sneak peeks at Odin Quincannon (Jackie Earle Healey) and a cowboy (Graham McTavish) who may or may not end up becoming the Saint of Killers. These are two of the most terrifying characters in the history of comics, and I must say I’m impressed with the casting. Healey is perhaps best known as playing Rorschach in the film adaptation of “Watchmen,” and “Outlander” fans will recognize McTavish as Dougal MacKenzie. Let’s have a spoilery discussion, shall we?

Seeds of Evil

The inclusion of Quincannon and this mysterious cowboy in the televised adaptation means many things. While I doubt that the show will go into the horrific meat sex that Quincannon is known for (who knows, though), the few scenes involving Quincannon and his cronies have definitely set him up for something sinister in the show’s future. It was a surprise to see an actor like Jackie Earle Healey just pop up—it took me a few moments before I could tell it was him. Casting him as Quincannon is brilliant, and I’m looking forward to whatever nightmares he has in store for our heroes.

It was a surprise to see an actor like Jackie Earle Healey just pop up.

The inclusion of a surly cowboy circa 1881 might cause those who aren’t familiar with the comics to scratch their heads, but for those who know the name Saint of Killers, it’s not too hard to predict this guy’s role in the show. Catching a brief glimpse of his face, you’ll see the angry, bearded mug of Graham McTavish, who happens to play my favorite Scottish warchief from Ronald D. Moore’s adaptation of “Outlander.” Another great casting choice for the second of these two new threats to Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper) and his do-goodery.

Friends Like These

Both Tulip (Ruth Negga) and Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) continued to steal the show tonight. Tulip is still trying to bring out Jesse’s dark side—after Jesse baptizes her as a member of his congregation, she replies, “Thanks for gettin’ me all wet.” Classic. We didn’t get much more about her storyline tonight, however. We know she’s got a map that leads somewhere awesome, it’s somewhere that she doesn’t want to go without Jesse, and that’s about it. I’m hoping we get a little closer to this next week, though one must admire Jesse for his ability to resist Tulip’s charms so far.

“Thanks for gettin’ me all wet.”

Cassidy was once again the solo act for the episode’s most violent moment—ripping apart the two blokes that are after Jesse with a chainsaw, to be exact—but he also owns the night’s best comedic moments. I could watch him and Jesse drink and complain about the local populace all night, even though he thinks “The Big Lebowski” is overrated.

Verdict

Thanks to Catlin’s tight script, tonight’s episode had a very “Breaking Bad” feel to it. The small droplets of Quincannon and the cowboy were chock full of impending doom, and watching Jesse start to understand his newly received powers is a great entry point for the audience, since we’re all trying to figure it out along with him. I’m intrigued by the two dudes that are after Custer—especially after the last scene of tonight’s episode—they’re extremely creepy, and their quiet zealotry makes the sudden appearance of a chainsaw in the middle of a church seem like a natural progression of their characters. So far, the show is building a tone that is somewhere between “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Dead Alive,” which is something that I will always be able to support. 

‘Preacher’ Episode 1.1 “Pilot” (8.5 out of 10) Created by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg & Sam Catlin; Starring Dominic Cooper, Joseph Gilgun & Ruth Negga; Sundays on AMC.

Anyone familiar with “Preacher’s” imaginatively demented source material had many reasons to be skeptical about a televised adaptation for basic cable. Written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Steve Dillon, the “Preacher” comics delve into territory that can shake even the most thick-skinned of readers. The premise involves a disenfranchised priest named Jesse Custer who, upon being possessed by a being that allows him to use God’s power to control the will of others, decides to pack it up and hit the road to find the Almighty and hold him accountable for ditching mankind. Along the way, he gets help from his tumultuous ex-girlfriend Tulip O’Hare, a hard-drinking, nihilistic vampire named Cassidy, and a teen whose failed suicide attempt indirectly resulted in a successful career as a metal singer—folks just call him Arseface. When news that comedy screenwriters Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg were teaming up with “Breaking Bad” writer/producer Sam Catlin to bring this twisted tale to AMC started buzzing around online, I was intrigued to see what they came up with. I had my doubts, but, based on the pilot, we just might have something special on our hands.

Spoilers ahead!

Don’t Mess With Texas

Within five minutes of screen time, “Preacher” firmly establishes itself as a true exercise in “WTF just happened?” Opening with a scene that depicts outer space as interpreted by Ed Wood, we see a wailing ball of light plunge itself into an African priest in the middle of his sermon, causing him to promptly explode all over his congregation. Kicking off a pilot with an exploding clergyman feels like the showrunners have thrown down a gauntlet, daring us to keep watching. The frenetic introductions to Tulip (Ruth Negga) and Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) double down on that dare—we find ourselves hopelessly attached to these two violent, yet undeniably charming characters. Negga, who fans of “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” will recognize as Raina the Inhuman, pretty much steals the show. Whether she’s holding her own in a knife fight that takes place in the back of a moving vehicle or showing farm kids how to make a homemade bazooka, Negga makes us fall in love with Tulip—from a safe distance, of course.

Negga makes us fall in love with Tulip–from a safe distance, of course.

Cassidy’s intro is equally visceral—he takes down a squad of vampire hunters aboard a private plane before throwing himself from the airborne vehicle like he’s Captain America. Gilgun’s got a great, crackpot screen presence and the thought of seeing him and Negga play off one another has me very excited.

Casting-wise, my biggest concern with “Preacher” was having Dominic Cooper play Jesse Custer. Don’t get me wrong, I love the guy—he was great as Howard Stark in “Captain America: The First Avenger” and equally great as Willoughby in the BBC version of “Sense and Sensibility.” My initial reaction was that he was a bit too baby-faced to play Custer, who I always pictured as a younger Clint Eastwood. Once again, any doubts I had were obliterated as the show progressed. Cooper shows us glimmers of all the darkness, rage and frustration that is just itching to rise to the surface of Custer’s psyche, giving us a character that could give Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes a run for his money. On that note, why is it that British actors have such great Southern American accents?

Executing the Executions

The thought of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg helming a paranormal genre-bender like “Preacher” made it difficult to know what to expect. With films like “This is the End” in mind, I worried that the pair might veer too closely to something overly farcical, leaving out the grit and drama that made me give a crap about the story and characters. Once more, I was pleasantly surprised with the end result. Goldberg’s and Rogen’s comedic experience actually helped out with a story that, in the hands of a screenwriter like David S. Goyer, could have become a cynical, anti-religious slog. “Preacher” still maintains some dark storytelling elements, but not to the extent where we feel like they’re slapping us in the face for 90 minutes.

In the hands of a screenwriter like David S. Goyer, “Preacher” could have become a cynical, anti-religious slog.

On top of that, the pilot’s many fight scenes look to have taken a cue from Netflix’s “Daredevil” series. The audience is shoved right into the middle of every brawl, making each fight feel bruising and personal. In between the action, the show’s pacing does have some bumps along the way, but it feels like these are a result of setting up what appear to be the series’ multiple storylines—Arseface’s reconciliation with God, the mysterious duo investigating all of the exploding religious leaders, Tulip’s map, Cassidy’s vampire hunters and Jesse’s newfound ability to control the actions of others. It’s a lot to pack into one episode, but it makes me think that this was done in order to get right to the weird stuff, which I can support.

Verdict

Based on how systematically this adaptation addressed and destroyed my previous concerns, I can’t help but be impressed. As a huge fan of the comics, I felt like I was watching an adaptation that was created by people who love “Preacher” as much as I do. I’m sure it’ll get its share of nerd rage for making adjustments to the storyline, and it might be too weird for mainstream audiences to invest in to the extent that they have in “The Walking Dead” but thus far, it’s definitely the kind of show that we’ve come to expect from AMC. With the evolution of the comics-to-film medium, creators need to keep ahead of the curve—watching one-dimensional superhumans throw each other into buildings for an hour and a half just doesn’t cut it anymore. This is why “Preacher” succeeded as a comic book, and why I think it will succeed as a show. There’s nothing quite like this on TV right now, which makes it worth your time.