Let’s get done to business, to talk about this Preacher finale. It opens on young white suit wearing Jesse working the entrance of his family’s strange occult plantation. He kills a chicken in anger and brings it to his grandmother to save. “Everything has a price,” she says menacingly. Hmmm. I wonder if this will this play a part later in the episode?
In the present, Jesse is now the messiah and Starr has a media tour planned, starting with a stunt at Jesse’s first speech. Starr chose a class of Catholic school children for that momentous occasion. The reason soon becomes clear. Unbeknownst to Jesse, Starr arranged for a group of armed men to storm the classroom. Jesse was supposed to use Genesis while Starr recorded it. Unfortunately, the voice isn’t working. Instead, we get to see Jesse single-handedly take them all down to George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord.” Not quite what Starr wanted it but still worked. The posted video goes viral and they get a spot on Jimmy Kimmel.
Tulip and Cassidy are preparing for life without Jesse. Cassidy goes through Denis’ laptop and finds a gruesome video filled with a woman screaming. There’s something going on Cassidy’s face but it isn’t all horror and disgust. This being Cassidy, he starts smoking crack to deal with it. He also has a vision about ripping out Tulip’s throat.
Cassidy as a vampire seemed mostly benign. He makes bad decisions, he’s self-centered at times and definitely has a drug problem, but he’s not killing people for fun or food. Apparently, that was more of a struggle than he or the show let on. Cassidy is concerned about what Denis will do without him around watching. He asks Denis to be a good lad. Denis replies in English ‘Can you be good?’ Alone Cassidy has been fine; however, Denis is bringing his worst tendencies to the surface. His solution to this problem is to throw Denis out the window and let him burn alive.
I have two issues with this. First, I thought it was another vision because it came out of nowhere so quickly. Second, it would have made more sense if they seeded Denis influencing Cassidy a few episodes ago. It feels abrupt but then again maybe I missed it.
Tulip goes shopping for the trip to the beach and knocks out the convenience store attendant for being an asshole. I missed this version of Tulip. While she waits to say goodbye to Jennie, she finally realizes Jennie has been lying and that she planted the cameras in Denis’ apartment. Tulip pulls out a blade and Jennie/Featherstone fires a gun. They cut to black before we see what happens.
Eugene and Hitler break out of hell and end up somewhere that looks a lot like one of the sets of Lemonade. Hitler leaves Eugene of the shore. Eugene is so close to leaving when the Warden shows up. The boatman has jurisdiction over the area and is determined to let Eugene leave but the Warden kills him. Since God is gone, all rules that governed heaven and hell are now in flux. Hitler shows up just in time to knock out the Warden and get Eugene on the boat. Eugene, idiot that he is, asks Hitler to come with him. And actually, takes Hitler with him. Hitler. Mass murdering Hitler. Back into the regular world. After the bus drops them off. Hitler immediately takes off. Didn’t see that coming *stares into camera*
After receiving a voicemail from Cassidy, Jesse immediately leaves Starr. As Jesse takes off, Starr tells him he has to come back, Starr has his soul. He also cancels the ambulance headed to Denis’ apartment. Tulip was shot and is bleeding out on the floor. Jesse tries but can’t use Genesis to make her breathe. Might have something to do with part of his soul being in a vial but who knows. Cassidy is desperate. He thinks the only way to save her is to turn her. Jesse pulls him off her and they start fighting. Once again, Tulip is bleeding out on the floor and they’re fighting. Not calling 911 again or trying to get her in the car. Fighting. Cassidy begs Jesse but Jesse just holds him and says ‘let her die’ softly over and over again. He is entirely too calm for this situation.
Later in the car, Jesse and Cassidy sit next to each other with Tulip’s dead body in the backseat. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you for a long while,” Cassidy says. After all this time, I thought he finally was going to tell Jesse he slept with Tulip. Instead, he says he hates him. Jesse replies, “You hate me now. Just wait.” The episode comes full circle as Jesse drives them down that same road to his family’s plantation.
The episode ends with an extended shot of the God’s dog outfit panning to a drug covered messy bed. The bathroom door opens and light explodes out. It took 13 episodes, but God finally makes his entrance.
This season, for the most part, has been lukewarm. The sets, use of color makes it beautiful to watch and the actors are engaging, but the plot is like watching molasses drip. Unfortunately, the finale didn’t fix any of that. Yes, plot lines were wrapped up but it took so long to get there that the endings didn’t feel as satisfying. Tulip most likely won’t stay dead for long which takes away from the impact of her death. As of the close of season 2, she’s still dead though. I only watch three shows on AMC and a black woman died in the finale of all three. That’s not a good record, AMC.
Overall, this wasn’t an awful season. All of the episodes were at the very least decent and some were great. It would have made for a better season if they managed it to condense the plot down to half as many episodes. I am hoping Preacher season 3 finds a way to course correct and fix their pacing issues.
