Title: Preacher: “He Gone”
Network: AMC
Air Date: July 10th, 2016
Genre: Black Comedy, Horror
Preacher returned with an all new episode titled “He Gone” which picks up immediately after the end of last week’s episode “Sundowner.” As far as we can tell, Jesse has unintentionally sent Eugene to hell. What we find out this week is that Cassidy saw the whole thing go down. Dominic Cooper does a great job at the opening of the episode in showing the dual sides he has in him. At first, he is concerned with Eugene just disappearing. You can see him wondering what just happened. Did he really go to hell? Then as if a switch was flipped, he goes on to start his church service as if Eugene was never there.
This episode of Preacher was nonexistent of action, minus a fire extinguisher to the face, and heavy on the drama. A number of flashbacks to Jesse’s time as a child with Tulip and his father explain the source of Jesse’s guilt. Jesse’s father essentially views Tulip as a type that’s guilty by association in terms of the trouble in her family. When he sends her away, this does not sit well with Jesse who then prays to God for his father’s death. One of the things that just bothered me slightly was that we’ve never seen any real negative emotion between Jesse and his father. I think that’s why it felt slightly off for me that one night we see Jesse thanking God for helping his father do the right thing and then a short time later, he’s praying for his death.
How about the madness that is Odin? One of my kids stuck their head in during the scene where he was listening to those horrid screams on tape and asked, “What are you watching??” At first, I thought he was just listening to cattle being slaughtered but if you listen, I think you can hear the faint screams of a person. Odin coming to collect on the bet he and Jesse made a few episodes back was a surprise for him. Preacher has unintentionally created a monster when it comes to Odin and that monster was not something he expected. Using his power on Odin to only then have him come to collect his father’s church was a subtle wake-up call for Jesse. We did see Jesse flat out say no on giving up his father’s church but that cliffhanger at the end spells trouble. Odin riding up the path to the church in the middle of the night on a bulldozer was a pretty intense visual to end on. I think, however, that the speaker that Jesse had installed on the church will be of great use when it comes to Odin and his men.
A big moment in this episode of Preacher was the conversation between Cassidy and Jesse. It’s in this conversation that we also find out the back story with Eugene and Tracy. I really expected the injury to Tracy to be the result of some type of accident involving Eugene. As it turns out, Eugene actually took a shotgun to her head for turning him down when he professed his love. As with the Walking Dead, I expected the series to stray from exact material from the comics but I was not expecting that dark of a turn. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing; it just caught me off guard. When I got rejected by a girl in school I usually just dumped a bag of crickets in their purse or book bag. So I think it’s interesting to see Jesse sort of argue that perhaps hell is where Eugene belongs. It certainly makes one question themselves. If it were me, I couldn’t offer forgiveness for something like that.
We also see Cassidy finally reveal what he is to Preacher. Now, even though we don’t see the outcome of whether Jesse decided to save Cassidy or not, I believe he did. Hopefully, he did because at this point Jesse has pushed all of his closest friends away. Cassidy gave it to Jesse straight about how he’s been acting and sending a kid to hell. I feel this conversation is a turning point for Jesse and he may finally begin to realize that his way may not be the right way. While this may be the case, we can still expect some pretty heavy fallout from Jesse’s actions up until this point.
While this episode of Preacher was heavy on the drama side, it provided a solid emotional episode for our main characters. Usually, when we have an episode light on the action, the next one that comes along makes a bang. With all of those men with Odin carrying rifles heading to the church, we may see quite a standoff. I also expect to see more of the Saint of Killers soon, although I think we may see more of him in season two.
Did you catch tonight’s Preacher? Is so what did you think? Did Jesse save Cassidy or let him burn? Be sure to let us know in the comments below and check back next Sunday for our review of the new episode”El Valero.”
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae0bFKmtEZQ[/embedyt]
- Characters: Tulip and Jesse were the focus with flashbacks
- Story: Jesse is pushing away those closest to him
- Cinematography: Ominous shot of Odin heading towards the church in a bulldozer
- Acting: We saw a more dramatic side to Cassidy along with some emotional flashbacks
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