A moment of intense action followed by a long period waiting for the other shoe to drop is the basic plot of this week’s Preacher.
Herr Starr orders the Grail soldiers to kill Jesse. He doesn’t believe Genesis is an issue and wants this taken care of so he can enjoy his date. That poor girl. What follows is something straight out a first person shooter game as we watch through a soldier’s night vision goggles as they storm the apartment building. Of course, the biggest thing that struck me was the Grail wearing white assault gear. They’re doing a nighttime raid in ultra white clothing. That solidifies my theory that they value style over substance or common sense. Cassidy throws himself into the fight and the soldiers have a great time attacking him. Jesse ends up using Genesis to make one of the Grail soldiers execute the others. Before he can interrogate the one left alive, Denis pops out of nowhere and starts sucking the guy’s blood. That answers the question of whether or not Cassidy turned him.
There’s something almost comical about Herr Starr’s version of evil. I’m not sure if that’s intentional or not. He lacks the menace of the Saint of Killers. Maybe that’s because he’s not a soulless being pulled from hell. While Starr finds something missing from his life, I find something missing from his performance. Was I supposed to find it menacing when he rolled out a tarp and threatened to kill his agents for failing? If so, it was undercut by first the gun misfiring and then by him being so easily manipulated into giving them another chance. The female agent came off better in that scene. Both men were veering too close to idiocy. The good thing, at least for the plot, is that he decides to start investigating Jesse.
Then comes the hurry up and wait. Jesse uses Genesis to take over a group of police officers. He has them investigating the attack and setting up a perimeter around the apartment. He even calls up a crime scene cleaner, who Tulip then shoots out of paranoia.
Friction seems like the default state of this group. Cassidy was annoyed with Jesse for refusing to help Denis. Jesse was frustrated enough with his lack of results to start looking for God on YouTube. Not helping that frustration was Cassidy and Tulip’s unwillingness to help him. Tulip couldn’t tell him why she spends all of her time at getting shot at rather than sleeping and Jesse opted to use Genesis to make her sleep rather than forcing the conversation. These two are so great at communication.
Thankfully now they have this brush with death and a mutual enemy to focus on to bring them back together. Jesse is surprisingly fine with Cassidy turning Denis. They’re talking again and Jesse is willing to listen to him about Tulip. Jesse actually sits down to have a real conversation with Tulip. In moments like these, I can almost remember why they’re a couple.
Spoiler: the retaliatory attack Jesse expected never happens. The Grail decided to send a drone named Brad to destroy them rather than send more troops. During the completely unnecessary rape fantasy that turned into actual rape, Starr finds the missing puzzle piece in the Custer case. ‘He calls off the drone. Since it’s already airborne, the agents are forced to reroute it and they choose Harry Connick Jr.’s house.
A week later, Jesse is still waiting for the attack he already narrowly missed. The episode ends with Herr Starr sitting next to Jesse in a bar offering to help him look for God.
We opened on a flashback to the death of Papa Custer. Immediately, I had a good feeling about this episode. I was only partially right. Pacing has been a problem this season. It seems like there’s been more hurry up and wait than progress. This episode personifies that perfectly, which takes away from my overall enjoyment of it. I sympathized with Jesse staring out of his window for days waiting for something to happen. That’s how it’s been this season.
