Chris Bryant | On 26, Jul 2018

Warning: This contains spoilers. Not caught up with Preacher? Read our spoiler-free review of Season 3’s opening episodes here.

“God ain’t gonna kick his own ass.”

Having freed himself from The Tombs, Jesse spends most of this episode of Preacher in The Coffin, after a failed escape attempt goes from bad to worse.

Written by Mary Laws (The Neon Demon), and directed by Millicent Shelton (30 Rock), AMC’s theological rollercoaster takes some big steps in the fifth episode of its third season, catching up with The Grail and Herr Starr’s relentless quest to recruit Jesse as The Messiah.

While the secret organisation are keeping a close watch on Jesse, they’ve also been busy teaching a deformed descendent of Christ to dance – so audiences can rest easy that after a few weeks of intense character study, Preacher is still as sickeningly wacky as ever.
Cassidy, having escaped Angelville, does what any lonely, sensible supernatural being would do, and loads up on horse-tranquillisers and gets reacquainted with Vampire Tinder. Joe Gilgun’s heartbroken comic-relief is welcomed in an episode of threats and curses, even including the final shot – where Cassidy gets himself into a somehow more peculiar spot of trouble.

The body of the episode is spent with Jesse and Tulip, as they decide how to flee Angelville – unsurprisingly, they stick with what they know, and try to fight their way out. This is where The Coffin gets interesting. Flitting between cowboy delusions, resourceful escape manoeuvres, and murder with a twist, Preacher ensures that the couples’ entrapment becomes a puzzle to be solved, rather than a prison to be broken out of.

It’s a steady episode, balancing Tulip’s torment at being imprisoned, Dominic Cooper’s ability to be likeable without smiling, and a rewarding top-up of total insanity, in the form of The Grail’s leader, a fake vampire cult, and two closing scenes that suggest that things are only going to get weirder.

 

Preacher Season 1 to 3 is available to watch online in the UK exclusively on Amazon Prime Video, as part of a £5.99 monthly subscription. New episodes arrive weekly on Mondays.

 

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