UK TV review: Preacher Season 1, Episode 3
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8Joe Gilgun
8Chris Bryant | On 13, Jun 2016
AMC’s Preacher continues weaving mysteries among the supernatural shenanigans, answering some of the bigger questions and laying the groundwork for some new ones. Including the discovery that Cassidy likes Justin Bieber. (That question may never be answered, we suspect.)
It is finally revealed in Episode 3 that the two resurrecting, largely non-verbal cowboys are, in fact, angels. Having realised the powers of Genesis escaped the coffee tin, they snuck out to reclaim them. With chainsaws. A little insight into the motivations of Fiore and DeBlanc rounds out their characters greatly, with both Tom Brooke and Anton Yusuf doing extremely good jobs with quiet, stoic figures, as trained in menace as comic relief.
The titular preacher himself moves forward with the understanding of his new powers, testing them out on Cassidy, who greets mind control with a face of inimitable glee. Of course, it isn’t long before Jesse’s powers are needed in a more serious situation: his feud with Quincannon’s right-hand man, Donny Schenck, re-emerges, as Schenck seeks revenge for his embarrassing loss in the barfight. Schenck is a troubled, but interesting character, allowing Derek Wilson to give a good performance across some difficult scenes. Now that he is imbued with the powers of God and Satan, Custer has little problem dealing with Donny, but it’s an interesting match-up nonetheless, if only to see how Custer handles his phenomenal abilities.
Preacher is beginning to establish an enviable pattern: deep philosophical discussions between characters who really have no right to be debating such notions (no disrespect intended). Cassidy begins negotiating with the angels regarding Jesse’s power, while still holding a hammer he was going to kill them with. Each scene seems a little more surreal than the last. Preacher’s black comedy stems entirely from having a brilliantly rounded cast of freaks, criminals and misfits at the centre of the most important struggle in the history of the universe.
Preacher is available to watch online in the UK exclusively on Amazon Prime Video, as part of a £5.99 monthly subscription. Episodes arrive every Monday, within 24 hours of their US premiere.
Here be spoilers…
– Cassidy strikes a deal with the angels to hand over Genesis, without any chainsaws involved. Whether he’s capable of convincing Jesse to hand over the power of God is unclear, but with The Boss breathing down their necks, it’s clear that Fiore and DeBlanc are willing to do basically anything to reclaim the preacher’s new talents.
– Tulip is up to something. Even more so than usual. A sneaky pre-credit deal suggests Tulip is being pressured into controlling Jesse by some very serious forces indeed…