Title: Preacher: “South Will Rise Again”
Network: AMC
Air Date: June 26th, 2016
Genre: Black Comedy, Horror
Talk about an ending for this episode of Preacher, “South Will Rise Again”… Odin just blasting away with that shotgun right in front of the Mayor. Just like I said last week, there’s going to be a catch with Jesse using his power. We all knew from the Pilot episode when a member of Jesse’s church cut out his heart and gave it to his mother that using this power was going to have dire consequences. Jesse does not yet know the negative impact his power has had and continues to use it carefree, which will without a doubt cause more issues.
The opening flashback that showed the Saint of Killers was another big point in the show. The Saint of Killers is very much like Clint Eastwood’s character in Unforgiven. He was once a very bad and brutal man but now he has a wife and a daughter that have… suppressed his ways. When he heads to Ratwater initially for medicine for his family, we saw him leave his gun to seemingly avoid getting himself into any trouble. Even so, he does find himself in some trouble in this episode that ultimately leads him to get beat up. By the time he made it back home, his wife and child were dead from sickness. This flashback is similar to the comics and we can all certainly assume he’s heading back to Ratwater for revenge on those that held up his journey.
Arseface received a good chunk of screen time here as we were shown more of the fallout that both he and his father deal with from his attempted suicide. Sheriff Root, the father of Arseface, is a pretty bad guy in the comics. We saw a little of that come out here, telling his son, “Maybe you should finish the job.” Arseface is certainly in a tough place dealing every day with how people look at him. Not to mention he is somehow responsible for Tracy being in her comatose state. Arseface seeks out Preacher because he does love his dad and he hates to see him have to deal with the consequences of his actions. While Preacher does use his power to make Tracy’s mother forgive Arseface, we can only wonder what potential problems may follow here.
Cassidy is unknowingly stirring the pot with his attraction to Tulip. She has told Cassidy about her “boyfriend” but she has not alluded to the fact that it’s Jesse. So of course Cassidy is playing with Tulip’s emotions which lead her to eventually confront Jesse. One of the things I really liked here was the duality in Tulip. Part of her wants to listen to Cassidy but another part wants to listen to Jesse. Ruth Negga does a fantastic job displaying the subtle emotions of Tulip in both instances of listening to Cassidy and Jesse. The lies Cassidy told with Fiore and deBlanc have now caught up with Jesse as well. Tulip does end up being with Cassidy but it seems that her interest is only for the purpose of potentially getting his help in killing Carlos.
Fiore and deBlanc found themselves facing a very worrisome situation last week when their line to heaven began ringing. In this episode of Preacher, we saw them spend a bit of time practicing how to answer the phone. Cassidy is typically the comedy relief in Preacher but this was the funniest scene of the episode. While this scene is serious in a sense, it is also rather humorous especially to those of us who are familiar with being in trouble as a child. That really is how the scene felt – two little kids who have gotten caught and they are doing whatever they can to limit the trouble they’re in. They finally end up approaching Jesse in a diner and revealing their identity. Now with Jesse being a follower of God, it’ll be fun to see how the story plays out with the Angels.
Donnie had more time in this episode as well, eventually revealing to Betsy what happened with Preacher. Donnie also discovers that Odin had gone to church and now gets the idea that his strange behavior is likely the result of Preacher using his power. I imagine the fallout of Odin wiping out all of the folks from Green Acres right in front of Miles will be an issue. Openly killing four people in front of the town Mayor certainly will have some sort of consequence where we may see Jesse have to step in to try and repair the damage.
This was another solid episode of Preacher and we are finally fully realizing the negative impact that Jesse’s power can have. Jesse has become increasingly confident, knowing he can get people to do whatever he wants. While he has viewed this power as a tool to help people, he has not yet directly seen how it can massively backfire. After this episode, I think Jesse will become privy to that knowledge and it will play a significant factor in the future episodes.
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Have you seen the latest episode of Preacher? If so, what did you think? Be sure to let us know in the comments below and check back for our next review this Sunday.
- Characters: More on the Saint of Killers and we see an all new Odin
- Story: Multiple characters got plenty of time here
- Cinematography: Saint of Killers’ flashbacks continue to be incredibly well shot
- Acting: Dominic Cooper and Ruth Negga were great. Also a solid performance from Jackie Earle Haley
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