Preacher – Holes

By: Kelly Kearney

This week’s “Preacher” episode offered up a jam-packed episode of Hell mates, Grail spies, strained relationships and a dying son’s last request for immortality. Holes catapulted fans into a world of loss, love and lies like no other episode this season.

Hell has been infiltrated by goodness

Ever since Jesse (Dominic Cooper) condemned the good-natured Eugene (Ian Colletti) to Hell, things in the underworld have been on the fritz. The sweet young man has been trying to fit in with his fellow Hell mates but things are quickly turning into a fraternity pledge party gone wrong. Apparently, someone landed in Hell that doesn’t belong there and the warden Ms. Mannering (Amy Hill) promises she will throw any good deed doers into the preverbal Hell-hole. Of course, this threat whips up the Hell mates into an extra evil frenzy hoping to avoid a fate worse than their current damnation. To prove they earned their spot on the Hell-block, they duct tape a screaming cave man (Jamie Bernstein) to a TV that only plays 24 hours of burning Yule logs. Obviously, the caveman doesn’t understand how TV works and fears the flames, which just adds to the hazing these Hell boys are going for.

While Eugene is adjusting to his new surroundings, Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) is going through his own personal Hell. Last week Denis (Ronald Guttman) told his father that he was dying and his one wish was for eternal life, something Cassidy could grant him. This decision sends the vampire into a flashback to 1946, the day Denis was born. Cassidy, armed with a flask and a lullaby about scarlet haired harlots, welcomes his baby boy into the world. He promises to be a good father, but as we know that didn’t actually happen and now Cassidy is living with regrets.

Returning to the present, Denis is really struggling and Cassidy is doing his best to care for his elderly son. Communicating through a translator app, he tells Denis he knows he’s dying but he won’t turn him into a vampire. Obviously, Denis doesn’t want to hear this when he’s vomiting up blood and sitting on death’s doorstep. So, Cassidy goes to talk it over with Tulip (Ruth Negga), who’s currently sleep deprived and looking for a distraction.

Tulip is still reeling from the after effects of that death grip the Saint of Killers (Graham McTavish) put her in and trying to find an outlet for her fear. Last week, she was spending time in the Hurt Locker, catching bullets for cash but the thrill of that game is waning. Cassidy offers up some advice that worked for his brother, but Tulip is too busy with their broken refrigerator to care about his rat poison sleep aids. When the cowboy shot up the apartment complex looking for Jesse, their fridge took a bullet and it’s just another reminder of her deadly encounter with the cowboy. Obviously, Cassidy is worried about his friend and her apparent attitude change. Tulip is an aggressive kick to the crotch on a good day, but since the Saint she’s mellowed to the point of being unrecognizable. Cassidy tells her to get some sleep, but the minute he leaves to deal with Denis’s demands to “bite me” she bolts to the Hurt Locker, the last place she felt anything other than numb.

THE ALL-KNOWING EYE OF THE GRAIL

Jesse, much like Tulip and Cassidy, is struggling with his task to find a God who doesn’t want to be found. We know this because of Lara Featherstone (Julie Ann Emery) and her white suit, fascist minions of God. They have Denis’ apartment bugged and are watching them all from a monitor next door. Lara, who previously came off as a sultry lounge singer, is more like a brainwashed fat shamer who doesn’t understand the delicious brilliance of Boo Berry cereal. She’s drinking more than her fair share of the Holy Grail Kool-Aid and, along with her chubby partner (Malcolm Barrett), has been diligently working to stop Jesse from completing his mission.

Speaking of missions, Tulip agrees to tag along with Jesse to Circuit Works (think a cheesy version of Best Buy) where the IT guys can enhance the fake God audition tape. If they can read the gun’s serial number maybe Jesse can track down who owns it. This idea came from Cassidy and before Jesse leaves, Cass asks him to use Genesis to help Denis. Jesse turns him down because he doesn’t think that’s what Genesis was meant for – saying this after he carelessly used it to force a cop into spraying mace on his genitals for laughs seems heartless, even for Jesse. Cassidy is crushed, but offers his support with finding the clue on the video.  As for Tulip, she has no interest in playing amateur sleuth and she just came along for a new fridge. There is more than a wedge between these two love birds and it keeps pushing them further and further apart. Jesse is so consumed with finding God that he barely notices the people closest to him are falling apart.

Is dying worse than the pain of eternal life?

With an intruder in Hell making things glitchy at the prison, Ms. Mannering promises to find the interloper and get the place up and running again. For now, the inmates have a reprieve from their worst days. Mannering asks for a show of hands to see who doesn’t belong in Hell and predictably everyone, but Eugene lies saying it’s them. Hitler (Noah Taylor) notices Eugene is not like the others and the two speak about how he ended up there. Eugene admits to taking advantage of a girl but not like his fellow rapists in prison, he kissed her when all she really wanted was a friend. Hitler warns Eugene that Mannering will never let him out, sending him to a far worse place than this because he knows too much. Seizing an opportunity to out Eugene, Hitler kicks a woman to the floor knowing Eugene will help her up. He does and it’s all caught on camera. Eugene can no longer pretend he’s an evil doer any more than Hitler can keep up his nice guy act.

In a truly touching performance by Joe Gilgun, Cassidy is beginning to crumble under the pressure to save his son from his own mortality. He mulls over what he should do with Tulip and she says the fact nobody can hurt Cassidy is a definite plus to the whole vampire thing. She changes her mind when he explains the reality of eternal life. Being a vampire means every joke is overdone, every drug no longer works, every minute is drowning in endless boredom and every person you love will die – all the while you’re stuck living with the loss. Eternity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and while Cassidy debates what to do, Tulip is on her own mission to patch up the building’s bullet holes, maybe patching herself up in the process. One by one she enters the blood-soaked apartments and spackles the holes.

Meanwhile, Jesse has no luck with the gun’s serial numbers and it’s possible the Grail had something to do with it. He’s at a loss of what to do and prays to a God that’s not even listening for some hope and guidance. Jesse might see this fruitless mission as his own personal Hell, but he has no idea what real Hell is.

Eugene, on the other hand, knows all too well what Hell has to offer when Ms. Mannering throws him into the extrapolator, which is just a fancy word for the bowels of Hell. Hitler warned him that there were worse places than the prison and he was right. Eugene winds up in his worst day loop, but with an alternate ending that he didn’t see coming. Everything on that fateful day is as usual until he kisses Tracy (Giana LePera). Instead of her freaking out and killing herself, the two sing a duet and Eugene thinks she returns his feelings. Finding love doesn’t really jive with Hell and that’s when Tracy drops the bomb that she can’t love Eugene since she’s already dating God AKA Jesse Custer. Eugene freaks and tells her the Preacher isn’t God, but Tracy and Jesse start making out and things turn sexual. Eugene can’t take it and grabs the shot gun and just as Jesse climaxes, Eugene blasts himself in the mouth and ends up back in Hell. He climbs onto his bunk bed and Hitler apologizes for outing him, but says the boy wouldn’t believe it unless he saw it firsthand. Eugene wants to know why Hitler cares and he says he wants to help him escape. No doubt that escape plan is set for two and Hitler plans to leave Hell and spread his evil on earth.

Patching holes with Tulip O’Hare

Tulip’s managed to patch all the holes except for the apartment that’s housing Lara and her Holy Grail spy kit gone wild. Lara quickly changes her appearance with a shoddy wig and lets Tulip in, to spackle the holes. Observant as always, Tulip spots a gun on the table and notices that the apartment lacks furniture but has plenty of video equipment. Lara, who claims her name is Jenny, says she’s hiding from her abusive boyfriend and the gun is for protection. Tulip seems suspicious but then asks Jenny if she’s ever put on a bullet proof vest and taken a bullet for money. Of course, Jenny says no and Tulip asks if she would like to. Jenny says yes and Tulip smiles like she just made a friend or maybe she’s just getting closer to her enemies, you can never tell what con Tulip is playing.

Back at Denis’, Cassidy calls a man named Seamus and asks him what he should do with Denis. Seamus says to let Denis die, it’s the right thing to do but as the man is gasping for air and choking on his own blood, Cassidy is faced with a harrowing decision. Does he disappoint Denis and let him die or should he give him the one thing he swore he wouldn’t, eternal life? The episode ends on a cliffhanger, with Cassidy struggling to make the choice no vampire father should ever have to make. As Denis chokes on his final breaths, the vampire leans in and starts to sing the lullaby of the scarlet haired harlot.

Next Week…  Will Cassidy turn Denis into a vampire? Does Tulip buy Lara/Jenny’s story? Will Jesse take a break from God searching to fix his relationship with his girlfriend? Find out next week, on an all new “Preacher.”