Hey Y’all! Alejandra here! I’m back to Trashtalk Season 1 of “Preacher”! I’ve never read the comics and thus haven’t really been following the press. That said, it’s pretty impossible to ignore everyone losing their damn minds over it, so I wound up perusing the Wikipedia one night. 30 seconds in, right around “hard-drinking Irish vampire named Cassidy,” I emailed Flipit and demanded this recap. Now that I’ve actually watched it, I’m so, so very glad I did. That said, you will be getting noob-ish perspective in these recaps—I don[’t plan on reading the comic until later. Been a long time since I’ve written about a show with virgin eyes. Should be fun! Here are things I thought while I watched the first four minutes:
1. Is this “Star Trek”?
2. Seriously, what’s with the weirdo 1960s sci-fi feel? I wonder if this is the moment in the credits where “we let the audience know that this used to be a comic book.”
3. What’s with this little guy?
4. Is he some kind of invisible… baby… comet…?
5. Oh, I just realized that the score sounds like a heartbeat from inside the whom – birth metaphor! Nailed it!
6. What a vibrant shade of purple this man’s shirt is!
7. Ugh. EVANGELISTS.
8. Uh-oh, why’d the doors jiggle?
9. OH SHIT!
10. I’ll bet that is definitely NOT a miracle.
11. OMG, he’s gonna explode!!
12. Oh, or not…
13. OR YES!!
14. Oh shit, crucifix falling down. That usually means Satan.
15. Aaand we’re in America, probs TX.
16. Hello, ripply back muscles.
17. Dominic Cooper always looks like he’s two seconds away from purring.
18. Gross. Cheap whiskey. Vomit emoji.
19. An important letter is on the floor.
20. It’s the time of the Preacher, I get it, SOUNDTRACK.
21. It’s over?!
Typically I favor comic adaptations, but the tv/film landscape is overpopulated with them and it’s all getting a little formulaic. I wasn’t sure what to expect from “Preacher,” but I should’ve known AMC wouldn’t disappoint. This is one of the most unique pilots I’ve seen in a long time. It’s pretty traditional in structure – lots of high-stakes character introduction, hero’s journey accepted and all that. But a third of the way through every well-trod path the story takes (disillusioned holy man, abusive husband, demonic possession), it zags into something completely unexpected. As someone who imbibes a LOT of content, it is a rare treat to be so surprised, so often by a story. Hats off to you, “Preacher”! Read on to see what I mean.
Turns out I was right, we are in Texas. A rural West Texas town called Annville. It just so happens to be Sunday, and we cut to the titular preacher delivering a sermon to a tiny congregation. This church is BADLY in need of Sister Mary Clarence.
Also, air-conditioning.
The preacher, Jesse Custer, fumbles with his notes and before he can finish, the organ player starts right up and cuts him off like he just won the Oscar for Best Animated Short. She just did you a favor, Preach. He looks dejected, so instead of joining in the Texas BBQ that was of course more exciting than his homily, he sits in a lawn chair and pout-sips a beer. At least he picked the right brand of Christianity. If he can drink, I’ll bet he can have sex.
A nerdy gentleman bends Jesse’s ear about an overbearing mother, and Jesse looks miserable. I was miserable, too, until a little kid walks up and tries to put a hit out on his abusive father. Oh, word about town is that the Preacher has a bit of a checkered past – the kind of past that makes him useful to 10-year-olds looking to teach their parent a lesson he won’t soon forget, see? I like shows that feature children asking priests to beat up their dads. Jesse “did things” in the ominous way that people say that when the “things” usually refer to extreme violence or sex with kids. He refuses to help the boy off his dad, but not before giving us a deliciously yearning monologue about what could hypothetically happen if he did decide to beat up Donny. It’s clear whatever he was in his past life, he enjoyed it more than preaching, and I’d wager he was better at it. But Jesse is clearly trying to turn over a new leaf, so, in the place of violence, he offers a few useless religious platitudes. The kid’s peeved bringing a beer to the preacher didn’t fix his broken home, and sulks off snapping, “Pray for me.” Jesse mutters that he would, if anyone were listening. This will come up again, the God not listening bit. That said, I’m willing to bet that there’s an infant comet thing that’s listening or that prologue was random as fuck.