Chris Bryant | On 03, Aug 2018

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

Preacher is firing on all cylinders this episode, creating a cacophony of genre-mashing brilliance that proves Preacher is not only different to every other show, but it’s often better too.

Smirking its way through a bank heist, brooding through a vampiric initiation, and sweating through a meeting with the ultimate religious fanatic, Les Enfants du Sang does it all. Laura Belsey’s direction compliments the writing perfectly, bringing life to the colourful proceedings, while the script from former writer’s assistant Rachel Wagner gives depth and emotion to a show where chaos and shock come as standard.

Joe Gilgun’s lonely immortal is given the spotlight and doesn’t waste a second of it, emotively building a world for Cassidy outside of Jesse and Tulip’s compromised feelings for him. Thrust into a hitherto unseen world where vampires can be more than undying pain-hoarders, Gilgun’s comic timing, aided by his contrast to new friend Eccarius (a spectacularly inviting Adam Croasdell), is a powerful weapon in a story where his isolation is laid bare.

Preacher finds relief from the dissection of everlasting life in the form of a vivid and witty bank heist. Bright, smooth, and littered with humour, Preacher is casually demonstrating a huge growth as a series. We are no longer exploring the brutal and blasphemous annals of this world so much as bringing larger-than-life characters into situations usually dealt with by Soderbergh and Shyamalan. AMC’s graphic novel adaptation, as wild and odd as it has been so far, now has the feeling that any situation could be targeted, and improved, by this trio of travelling misfits.

Les Enfants du Sang is packed with style, and ends with intrigue and tension, but also finds time to check in with a newly freed Eugene. Fresh out of Hell, ‘Arseface’ finds himself marginally better off – for about 90 seconds. Collected effortlessly by The Saint, his short screen-time is confusingly compatible with a relationship between the two, especially if their next stop is Adolf Hitler.

Herr Starr and his childishly funny new scar round out the episode, showing Pip Torrens’ merciless fanatic as never before – scared. Confronted with the idea of failure, and the disgustingly death that may follow it, the last thing any characters need now is Herr Starr being reinvigorated by threats.

A masterful episode, blending thrills with wackiness, and torment with witticism, Preacher’s scope and willingness to patiently build character amidst the mayhem is proving that combining the expertise of the A-list creators, a rock steady cast, and newcomers in the directing and writing roles, has produced a show truly unlike any other.

 

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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