Preacher – Dallas

By: Kelly Kearney

This week’s “Preacher” gives fans a look back at Tulip (Ruth Negga) and Jesse’s (Dominic Cooper) early days and how Viktor (Paul Ben-Victor) came into the picture. Jesse has come a long way from mullet sporting couch potato to man of God, but what made Tulip stray and marry into the New Orleans mob? In Dallas we find out that things between Tulip and Jesse aren’t as cut and dry as crime sprees and passion, but filled with heartache and dreams of a family that was never meant to be.

FLASHBACK DALLAS

After Jesse finds out that Viktor is Tulip’s husband and she is not ready to let him murder the crime boss over some misguided jealousy, we flashback to the early days of their relationship and where these two crazy kids went wrong. Jesse is what some would call a lazy bum, sitting on the couch with his friend Reggie (Robbie Tann) while ripping out pages of the bible to roll joints with. Tulip, on the other hand, is trying to find herself outside of their life of crime and it’s pretty evident she is growing out of their relationship. After telling Custer to take a shower because all of America would be grateful, Tulip prepares a peanut butter roast for their dinner guest and friend Dany (Julie Dretzin). Dany is not only a friend, but a former co-worker and wants her two best criminals back on the job. Too bad for Dany because Tulip is trying out a new career as a realtor’s assistant and wants nothing to do with her former life. Dany, who didn’t seem to come for the peanut butter pot roast, ignores the fact they want to start a new life and hands them some files with job offers. One is an insurance scam, another is a plea to kill her husband and, finally, some contract work for a New Orleans crime boss who we soon find out is Viktor. Tulip tries deflecting Dany’s offers with questions about Carlos’ (Desmin Borges) whereabouts, but Dany tells her it’s time to move on and sell houses if she’s not interested in any of her offers. Unfortunately for Tulip, moving on from Carlos is impossible since he was the reason she lost her baby and from the looks of things, destroyed her relationship with Jesse. Much like Eugene’s (Ian Colletti) endless Hell loop, Tulip and Jesse are on a depressing loop of booze, depression and loveless baby making that leaves the woman regretful of her life choices with the man she promised to love to the end of the world. A promise that might come sooner than either of them ever expected.

COOKING WITH CASSIDY

Kids and murder just don’t mix. That’s why Tulip takes her step-daughter Allie (Stella Allen) to Dennis’ (Ronald Guttman) while Jesse has her father strung up and waiting to be slaughtered like a prize pig. Allie is completely aware of the fact dear old Mom’s new boyfriend is planning on killing her father so of course, hanging out with Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) is the better alternative, even if he thinks little girls eat dry lentils out of a box. Cassidy might not be a culinary guru, but he is a loyal friend so when Tulip punches him for Telling Jesse where she was, he’s shocked. The Irishman explains that he was worried about her when she didn’t come home and he hates keeping secrets from his best friend. For a vampire, Cassidy is a good man to have in your corner and Tulip knows this but she’s taking her frustrations out on the tattooed blood sucker since Jesse is otherwise tied up with murder plots. Murder plots that Cassidy feels responsible for since he pointed the preacher in Viktor’s direction. Being the stand-up guy he is, Cassidy leaves to go find Jesse before he does something he will regret and Tulip can never forgive.

Back at Viktor’s, Tulip’s estranged husband is waiting to find out his fate and offers some insight into Tulip and Jesse’s relationship. He tells the Preacher that Tulip is the strongest person he’s ever known and when they met, she had come out of some intense Hell she wouldn’t speak of. Now Viktor knows that Hell was life with Jesse. The Preacher can’t see it, but Viktor’s right – their endless depressing loop was not fulfilling and it leads her right to her husband’s doorstep. Tulip claimed she married the man because he was rich and had two pools but it seems to be more compilated than that. Viktor was an escape from a life of couch surfing, Reggie the third wheel and a boyfriend who lacked guidance and a path. She wanted more and Jesse was unable or unwilling to give it to her, which made the decision to go back to work for Dany, very easy. Of course, Tulip was hiding this decision from Jesse and when he finds out he feels betrayed. The betrayal doesn’t stop there because not only is Tulip lying about her job, but she’s also lying about wanting a baby. Jesse found her birth control and the two fight about their idea of a perfect life. The life that Jesse wants doesn’t sit right with Tulip and, thanks to Carlos taking their happy chance from them, she’s not sure they can ever get that back. Jesse wonders if she even deserves it and those words cut through Tulip like a knife.

THE INSPIRATION OF BOB ROSS

After their fight over Tulip’s betrayal, Jesse takes out his anger on Reggie by beating him to a bloody pulp followed by some mood stabilizing TV with Bob Ross. Painting, “happy little trees” inspires Custer to head to his family church in Annville and leave Tulip to her life of crime. Perhaps the path he’s been looking for is in his father’s church and with how things were left with Tulip, there’s nothing holding Jesse back.

Back in the present, Cassidy makes his way to Viktor’s and sneaks in through a side door searching for his homicidal friend. The guards are in a trance thanks to Genesis, which makes Cassidy’s job of finding Jesse much easier. The vampire finds him in Viktor’s bedroom and tries out some friendly banter to gauge Jesse’s mood. The irate Preacher, on the other hand, isn’t talking thanks to Viktor’s speech about the Hell Jesse forced Tulip to live through. Cassidy must’ve missed his calling as a hostage negotiator because, his soft-spoken pleas for Jesse to get a grip on his rage, start to sink in. He pleads Tulip’s case in the most caring of ways but Jesse isn’t sure he can trust his friend whose been lying and covering for Tulip since they left Las Vegas. Does Cassidy actually care or is he in this for an upgrade from side-kick to hero? Questioning his loyalty to his friends is tough for Cassidy to swallow, but he admits that he’s not a good man yet will stand by Jesse no matter what he decides. That decision of whether to kill Viktor weighs heavily on Jesse knowing Tulip would leave him if he followed through with his plans. He screwed up before and lost his true love. Is Jesse willing to do it again?

Cassidy leaves Viktor’s allowing Jesse to make up his own mind on whether murder is something he can live with.  Jesse heads to the torture room where his victim is still hanging out waiting for the final verdict. A verdict that would go in his favor if he stopped telling Jesse things like Tulip married him because Jesse treated her like garbage. In most scenarios that would be the dying words of a man facing an angry ax wielding Preacher. Luckily for him, the thought of losing Tulip is far worse than letting Viktor live. Jesse, not wanting to incur the wrath of his beloved, allows Viktor to live and heads back to Dennis’ to tell Tulip and Cassidy it’s over. Not only did he let Viktor go, but he also brought Tulip a packet of signed divorce papers ending this whole drama with her husband. Everything seems back to normal, Jesse isn’t in an angry trance. Tulip isn’t a widow and Allie gets to go home to her father. Definitely not a bad way to end a hostage situation.

THE END IS COMING

Now that Viktor is no longer hanging from a meat hook, he reminisces over his relationship with Tulip. The two seemed happy, that is until Dany calls. The woman offers Tulip information on Carlos which forces her to bail on her marriage and head to Annville in search of her ex.

Back in the present, Viktor is just happy he made it out of his encounter with Jesse, alive and able to see his daughter again. Father and daughter sit in a dimly lit bedroom reading a story when the sounds of gun shots ring out through the mansion. Allie runs to hide in a closet and The Saint of Killers (Graham McTavish) bursts his way into the bedroom, killing Viktor with a blast from his hand cannon. He searches the room until he finds Allie in the closet and demands to know where Jesse is. The little girl offers the killer cowboy information and promises to take him to the Preacher if he spares her from the blasty end of his gun. It seems the Preacher is about to find out Fiore (Tom Brooke) didn’t cancel that heavenly hit and now every time he uses Genesis, the killer gets one step closer to fulfilling his orders.

Can Jesse and Tulip overcome their past and build a future? Will Cassidy ever come clean about his crush on Tulip now that he’s seen how far his best friend will go? Will the Saint of Killers find Jesse and the gang before they can figure out where God ran off to? Find out the answers to this and more on the next episode of “Preacher.”