Sundowner – After discovering that the entity inside him is an angel/demon crossbreed named Genesis, Jessie leans that Foire and Deblanc aren’t the only ones after it. Eugene makes new friends at school while Emily and Tulip strike up their own unlikely friendship.
The episode first 10 minutes are not only the best action the show has produced to date but also one of its funniest sequences as the angels smack down in the hotel room takes a turn for the epic. The idea of angels quickly re-spawning (yes, they called it something different but we’re a gamer generation so it’s bloody re-spawning!) makes it good but top that with the old bloody bodies sticking around, and it's brilliant. By the time they’re down the room as if they've been dropped into the Battle of the Bastards and remind us that we’re in firm dark humour territory. It’s all excellently staged and shot too. From the slow build up of the first couple kills to establish the premise, to the still tension in the mid-fight, and hw the camera disappears through a hole in the wall once the madness really kicks in, is terrific. It leaves our imaginations perfectly filling in the blanks egged on by the odd passing glance or genius little sound bite, “Ahh she’s got an axe!”. It’s like Ash Vs Evil Dead without “groovy” (there was even a chainsaw in the room), and it’s definitely something we want to see more of before the season finishes. A bonus mention also to the hilarious, “It’s a bit like Pulp Fiction”, aftermath scene.
Once things calm down, there’s a really good dramatic work taking place across the cast. At their first confrontation, Tulip and Emily’s encounter smells like filler but quickly becomes very interested as the two slowly transition from shouting at each other to becoming BFFs over a kitchen table. Just like with Emily’s sexual relationship with the Mayor, we understand the value that such companionship means to her when her life is a non-stop juggle of work, kids and keeping the church running. Similarly, we know Tulip has been through the ringer recently with her feelings for Jessie and the mutual need for empathy comes across well. Speaking of the Mayor, he gets a few comedy gems in as he deals with last week’s fatal business meeting.
Then we have Eugene’s, and his story really proves how well he works as a character as he becomes the key to a pivotal theme within the show. He’s grotesque but endlessly sweet and sincere. He’s been through hell, leads a life of loneliness and abuse yet still only thinks of others. His school scenes play onto that fantastically as to his great surprise, and finds himself with a friend, Owen Lorch, thanks to Jessie’s forgiveness whammy on their family last week. Ian Colletti does some stellar work to still get his happiness across under all those facial prosthetics to make us feel how much such simple acts of kindness mean to him. This makes it all the more powerful in his final scene with Jessie as he talks about wanting to take it back because despite having what he’s always wanted, he doesn’t feel he’s earned it, and even judges it as cheating God to be receiving forgiveness he does not deserve. It even goes as far as challenging the base concept of Jessie’s actions in believing he can save the people of Annvile with his powers because.... <insert Architect voice> “The Problem is choice”. Righteousness without conscious decision or the capability to do wrong is not salvation it is slavery. Putting a serial killer in a prison cell doesn’t stop him being a killer, it just stops them killing. Choice is everything and Eugene, acting as Jessie’s voice of reason, becomes the first to understand this, and it’s only though him that we finally see the demon inside Jessie and much as the angel which looks to become a big feature of the remaining episodes.
This is without doubt Preacher’s best episode so far, delivering superb action, humour and at several points, becoming unnervingly creepy (who didn’t think Eugene was going to get it in the tunnel?) while still managing to surprise its audience. When any season reaches its second half, you always want to it shifting up a gear, to make us feel like things are escalating, and Preacher has definitely done that this week. Amen to that!