If you were curious about the Grail, this is the episode for you. Our pre-credits scene is an extended sex scene between a Jesus who says cool and bro and an unnamed married woman. I can almost feel my Sunday school teacher saying a few Hail Mary’s at the thought. This scene is the kind of excess that has been plaguing this season. It’s unnecessarily long and could have been replaced by a much shorter scene or a couple of lines of dialogue.
Back in the bar, Herr Starr, in his usual cavalier style, drops the bomb that he called the hit on Jesse. He then proceeds to lay out what the Grail is and its ties to heaven. Even brings out a couple of binders. Not one for patience, Jesse beats him with the binder and uses Genesis to ask him where God is. Jesse finally figures out they hired fake God and killed him. Something that would have been obvious if Jesse noticed the their logo on the dvd and then perhaps, we could have reached this point episodes ago.
Starr takes Jesse to Grail headquarters where he introduces him to the Bishop of Canterbury and the Pope. They all sit down for a little tete-a-tete about the missing deity. The Bishop of Canterbury explanation is a political thriller involving a heavenly coup and God on the run from angels. The Pope’s is fantasy involving a disappointed God abandoning his creations to create something better. Ultimately, the consensus is that no one knows what’s going on. The only person who might know is the boy. What boy? Good thing Jesse has truth serum voice.
We flashback to 9 months after the pre-credits scene. The woman has given birth to the child of Jesus. The apostles surround her as she is then beaten to death. From that moment, the Grail has been protecting the linage of Christ in preparation for the Armageddon. Then they will reveal the last descendant who will become leader of the world. Several trains, planes and automobiles later Jesse gets to meet him. He’s not quite what you expect when you hear descendant of Christ. He is no Audrey Tautou. On the other hand, he is exactly what you would suspect after centuries of inbreeding. And is name is Humperdoo.
Starr never meant to help Jesse find God. The trip to see the present messiah was all a ploy to get Jesse to realize how futile that avenue is. He wants Jesse, with the power of Genesis, to step into that role. Jesse might be an awful preacher but he’s still a God fearing one. This is blasphemy to him. Jesse refuses Starr’s offer and his help. After all Jesse has his friends there to help him. He says this just as a happy Denis comes walking down the sidewalk, holding an umbrella with his face covered in blood. In the apartment Tulip waits to confront him about his latest deception.
Speaking of Tulip, we are still in the midst of her PTSD subplot. Her dreams of the Saint still plague her. It seems like the writers weren’t quite sure what to do with Tulip this season. This story has dragged on with little progress. Gone is the capable and deadly Tulip from season 1 or even the first couple of episodes from this season. As last episode revealed, she’s more of a liability now.
Jenny, aka the agent who’s spying on them, comes over to retrieve her gun. Maybe it speaks to her mental state but I was surprised by Tulip’s sincere breakdown in front of a stranger and then oversharing with that stranger. She told Jenny everything – Jesse, the search for God, the Saint. Jenny takes advantage of Tulip’s state to erode her faith in Jesse. After a slip almost blows her cover, Jenny figures out a way to gain back Tulip’s trust and then some. Kicking ‘abusive boyfriend’ ass seems to patch up their ‘friendship’. After encouragement from her friend, Tulip goes to fix the tile in the bathroom. The tile over the hole Jesse hid the Saint’s guns and sabers. She then lays them out on the kitchen table waiting for the dramatic confrontation with Jesse. I can’t wait to see how that turns out.
As for Cassidy, he’s having fun being a dad. Taking his son to the arcade, buying him a sex worker, telling him to stay safe. Unfortunately, Denis is turning out to be a creepy dude and a dangerous vampire. Cassidy should’ve listened to his friend when he said not to turn him.
We learn about the Grail in this episode but even that isn’t enough to completely save it. It’s mainly exposition and set up. Little action or progress happens. Herr Starr was introduced as a villain and is turning out to be more of a disappointment. He’s a watered down version of the comic book character as is this Grail subplot. The closer we get to the finale, the more I wonder what this season will have to show for itself.
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