Title: Preacher: “El Valero”
Network: AMC
Air Date: July 17th, 2016
Genre: Black Comedy, Horror
Well I’m just about a week late here on my latest review for Preacher due to a family vacation to the Finger Lakes with very limited internet access. You know, a vacation with kids is a lot like going to prison… just in a nice place. Since a new episode is already airing tonight I will keep things as short and sweet as possible.
The god of meat. I mean really, how can you beat the god of meat? Groan or roll your eyes but I’ve been waiting a week to write that line. Jesse is finally beginning to realize the unintended consequences of using Genesis. Odin, like many of the different people of the world, is serving his own God. While Jesse assumed that Odin would immediately fall into serving God by being a good Christian, it just isn’t so. Given that crazy flashback with Odin’s entire family plummeting to their death on a ski trip, you can’t blame the guy for losing it. Cutting up a cow and his own daughter to compare the parts and look for a soul was incredibly disturbing.
I have to say, Donnie’s plan in this episode was pretty sweet. All day members of Odin’s goon squad had been storming the church to no avail. In one instance a member… actually ended up losing his member. Initially, I thought Donnie had shot himself or given up and resigned himself to such a fate. As it turns out the whole head in the trunk business was just to shut his hearing off. When I finally saw him confront Jesse with his bleeding ears, I had one of those “Ohhhh” moments. Donnie knows what Jesse is capable of and seeing him go to an extreme to sidestep his power was pretty solid.
With the exception of a few scenes Ruth Negga had little part in this week’s episode of Preacher. Despite the brief scenes, they did ultimately allude to the fate of Cassidy. What stuck out to me here was how Tulip went about finding a dog and her actions following picking out Brewskie. She found a stray and then proceeded to play with him throughout the day. Tulip knew the eventual fate of her newly adopted dog and chose to do what she could for Brewskie to have an enjoyable day. Now I was pretty confident that Jesse was going to save Cassidy but it appears Tulip is the one who stepped in. I expected Cassidy to come in and help Preacher with the church siege but Tulip is the one assisting in his recovery.
Arseface made an appearance here but still remains in hell as far as we know. Initially, I thought Arseface had returned but Preacher seems to be losing his mind or Genesis is playing tricks on him. I did think a few of the initial lines of Arseface were powerful but they lost some of their luster when we knew the whole business was fake. The one thing that did irk me some was how Preacher called Sheriff Root to tell him he found Eugene. Then at the end of the episode, Sheriff Root just rides off as if he knew just as we did that Eugene was imaginary. I felt there should have been more to that since Eugene has been missing for so long and Sheriff Root has been diligently trying to find his son.
In an attempt to get Eugene back, Preacher called in the angels to give them Genesis back. It hasn’t been revealed to us yet why Genesis has picked Jesse or how he can wield it without exploding. Even after the extraction, Genesis jumps right back into Jesse. This leads the angels to discuss “the other option” which is most likely the Saint of Killers. Could the Saint of Killers somehow be tied to the emergency venting we see at the end of “El Valero?”
One other thing I wanted to touch on was Miles. Miles has certainly turned into a different character from when we first saw him. With him now being an accessory to the murder of the Green Acres folks, he is fully backing Odin. He has a moment where he discusses with Emily about choosing. Choosing has been discussed by a number of different characters now. It feels like Miles fully embraces what he is telling Emily when it comes to saving the town. Tearing the church down and going against Jesse may not be legal. To Miles however, it’s what’s best for the good of the town. I’ve found it intriguing to see how his character has changed since he was first introduced.
There’s only two episodes left in this season and I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of action and additional character developments they can pack into them. Did you catch this episode of Preacher? If so, what did you think? Be sure to let us know in the comments below and check out some of my other reviews here.
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