Preacher – The Light Above

By: Kelly Kearney

The season three finale aired, and it was spectacular! Chocked full of soul sucking grannies, vampire buffets and fights that would make Kung-Fu theater look like a weekend stroll through the park. The episode closed out the wild season on a Grail-centric cliffhanger that’s left fans begging for a season four.

Granny, I’m home

What started off as a flashback to young Jesse’s (Will Kindrachuk) inability to kill his murderous Gran’ma (Betty Buckley) segued into the Preacher’s (Dominic Cooper) arrival to drive the final nail in Miss Marie’s coffin. For decades Jesse’s been haunted by Angelville and the villainous L’Angelles and now he’s ready to make them pay for all the horrors they inflicted on him and his loved ones. As a boy, he tried to stop Marie before she could destroy any more lives, but the young teen didn’t have the courage to end the miserable hag’s life. Luckily for him, Jesse’s not a killer because if he had sent Gran’ma to Hell where she belongs he would have sealed his fate and burned in the flames right along with her. It pays to make a deal with the Devil (Jason Douglas) and Marie L’Angelle knew her grandson would make an excellent bargaining chip. Now armed with Genesis and fueled by the predicament Marie put Tulip’s (Ruth Negga) soul in, Jesse’s back and ready to end this once and for all.

As the Preacher enters the plantation T.C. (Colin Cunningham) stands guard, ready to protect his mistress from her deadly grandson by any means necessary. Although, he hopes it won’t come down to violence. Jesse has other ideas and uses Genesis to order T.C. to shoot himself in the foot, keeping him occupied long enough to work/kill his way through the farm house. Next on his list of take downs is Jody (Jeremy Childs), the man who mercilessly killed Jesse’s father right before his young and traumatized eyes. Custer demands the fight take place in the tombs and the gimpy T.C. offers to play referee. The fight is brutal, with both men trading skull crushing blows as the battle see-saws between the angry Preacher and his extraordinarily powerful opponent. The tides turn when Jody reminds Jesse of the night he killed his father and after that catapult down memory lane Jesse is unstoppable. Wrapping a chain around Jody’s neck, Jesse slams the man’s head into the tomb’s concrete walls and doesn’t let up until Jody’s brains are trickling down his beaten face. With Jody’s last breath he says, “I’m proud of you, boy,” and collapses to the floor in a heap of bloody relief. One down, one to go. With the voice of Genesis, Jesse orders T.C. to get a can of gasoline and sprinkle it over Jody’s body and then he grabs his father’s zippo lighter and sparks a cigarette. Jesse might be on a path to vengeance, but he isn’t completely heartless as he gives T.C. a chance to flee the tombs before he turns Jody to ashes. Shockingly, the simple man declines. Angelville is all T.C. knows so he chooses to die in the tombs alongside Jody and who he assumes will be Miss Marie. Without so much as a pause, Jesse flicks the lit cigarette, setting the tombs and both men ablaze and then heads to the main house in search of Gran’ma.

Nazis Vs. Hellraisers

When last we saw Tulip her bus ride to Hell was cut short when Hitler’s (Noah Taylor) wannabe Nazis attacked them with a tank. Once the smoke clears, the Saint of Killers (Graham McTavish) and the Angel of Death (Erinn Ruth) square off with Hitler’s henchmen and it’s a fury of bullets, flames and decapitating whips from Hell that find the two Hell beasts victorious. While Satan’s sidekicks are mopping the floor with the tank Nazis, Tulip and Eugene (Ian Colletti) are in a brawl on the overturned bus. Hitler tires escaping the bus through a window, but Eugene drags him back and the two trade blows with Arseface giving as good as he gets. On the other side of the bus is Tulip kicking Nazi ass with a broken windshield wiper until she steals her attacker’s Luger and shoots him dead.

Outside, the chaos clears and Sidney the Angel of Death (“AOD”) asks the Saint of Killers (“SOD”) if he thinks the crows pecked his daughter’s eyes out before or after she was dead. Not really the best question to ask a man who went on a killing spree after his daughter died. The cowboy’s eyes morph into black pools of nothingness and while Sidney recaptures a fleeing Tulip, SOK plots her punishment. From under the Nazi tank, SOK uses his fiery breath to ignite the tank’s cannon and blast Sidney back to Hell – only God (Mark Harelik) steps in and freezes time. Knowing that Tulip is the key to his big and unknown plans, God pauses the cannon fire long enough to give Tulip a choice. He will erase the O’Hare curse if she convinces Jesse to stop searching for him. Knowing that even God wouldn’t change her fate without wanting something in return, Tulip declines his offer, especially after he admits he has no interest in helping Eugene. The suspicious woman was never impressed with God to begin with and she calls him a dick just as he releases his freeze on the canon. It’s not long before a totally unscathed SOK reemerges from the flames of the explosion to rip the eyes out of AOD’s skull, a definite payback for her incessant ramblings about crows and his dead daughter.

It’s a Dead Man’s Party

While his friends are busy plotting and killing, Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) manages to avoid his own death when Eccarius (Adam Croasdell) gives him one more chance to choose the vampire cannibal life. At first Cass is resistant to his offer, but when Eccarius reminds him that death means no more smoking drugs out of unicorn pipes it’s all too much for Cass to refuse. He agrees to Eccarius’ deal to eat their vampy children and Mrs. Rosen agrees to be the first to “take flight.” Cassidy needs nourishment to heal from his pool table crucifixion, but he doesn’t want to eat alone. He asks Eccarius if he’s cool with a threesome buffet and as the two men lean down to take their fist sip, Eccarius notices Mrs. Rosen already has bite marks on her neck. In an instant he realizes he’s been set up and Cassidy turned the elderly woman when she realized Eccarius was killing members of the group. Not only did Cass turn the old woman, but she turned all the group members into actual blood sucking children and they immediately attack Eccarius. Staked to the same pool table he crucified Cass on, the group of new vamps devour Eccarius and tear him to shreds. When it’s all over, Cass gets a call from Tulip who was worried about him after God mentioned the vampire might be in danger. He assures her the danger has passed, but she wants to see it for herself and heads to New Orleans. It’s clear Cassidy missed his friends as the tears start flowing with anticipation of Tulip’s arrival.

Later, as the group cleans up from their dinner, Hoover (Malcolm Barrett) pops in to inform his new friends that he’s left the Grail for good. He even brought a thank you gift for Cass, a huge umbrella that he tells him to open immediately. At that point, it’s clear Hoover never left the Grail because the roof of Mrs. Rosen’s house is ripped off by an army of Herr Starr’s helicopters. One by one the new vamps sizzle in the sun only Kevin (Nathaniel Woolsey) and his grandma make it to a coffin for cover. When the dust settles, Cassidy looks up in time to see Featherstone (Julie Ann Emery) shoot him with a tranquilizer gun fit for a whale. After all, Cass eats horse tranquilizers for breakfast so Lara had to improvise and the whale dart works.  Cass hits the ground while Herr Starr (Pip Torrens) and Featherstone rejoice in their success.

Jesse Risks it All

When Tulip arrives in New Orleans she finds Cassidy’s hide out in shambles. All that’s left is the destroyed basement and the Rosens in their coffins with a clue to who vamp-napped her Irish friend. Mrs. Rosen says it was a man in white and Tulip, who has God on the brain, immediately thinks this whole thing is the holy man’s fault.

Back in Angelville, Jesse comes face to face with Gran’ma and with him her suitcase of souls. The case contains enough souls to keep her alive for the next one hundred years! In return, Genesis orders her to release Tulip’s soul, which she upchucks into her spittoon and demands that his debt be paid in full. It seems like Jesse got what he wanted but leaving Angelville with Gran’ma still alive doesn’t sit right with Custer. The Preacher is all set to kill Miss Marie when she reminds him of her deal with Satan. If Jesse kills her, he’s cursing his soul to Hell when he dies. This truth pauses Jesse’s murderous rage long enough to order Gran’ma to throw her souls into the fire. There will be no more century of terror for her and she screams in horror at the fate she knows he’s dealt her. As he pulls away in the family truck, Jesse’s younger self can’t get over the fact the Preacher let the old woman live. It’s enough to send Jesse back to the farm and strap Gran’ma into her own soul sucking machine. As the life drains from her body, Marie wails about Jesse’s hellish fate, but the future doesn’t seem to bother him as he just wants to put the past to rest.

A New Prince of Darkness

After ripping Sidney’s eyes out, SOK drags Hitler and Eugene back to Hell as promised. The Devil is delighted and even knocks Eugene around a little just to remind everyone how he’s truly bad. The red horned beast gives the Saint back his weapons and is thrilled to find out that the cowboy’s next victim is none other than the Genesis wielding Jesse Custer. Before the cowboy hits the road, he’s reminded of the fact the Devil was the one who ordered the crows to snack on his daughter. In a split second, the Saint shoots the Devil dead and grabs Eugene, realizing the boy never belonged down there in the first place. This leaves the throne to Hell empty and, no big surprise, Hitler slides into the role like it was made for him. Even Sidney and her barren eye sockets jump at the chance to bring her new boss his favorite plum cake. After all, Hell knows the kind of torment this man is capable of if he doesn’t get his pastries.

Back in Angelville, Tulip arrives at the plantation just as Jesse’s leaving his dead Gran’ma and his entire sorted past behind him. The two take off in search of Cassidy who is currently stuck in a prison pit somewhere in Masada. Herr Starr is done trying to convince Jesse to take on the Messiah role and plans to use Cassidy to lure him into a trap. Standing atop a mountain and looking down at an army of white suited fighters, Herr Starr is interrupted by Hoover and his new umbrella hat. Ever since Jesse demanded Starr skip the fashionable head wear, he’s sensitive about hats and assumes Hoover is mocking him. Without a thought, he knocks the umbrella off of Hoovers head, burning the man to a crisp in the desert sun. Featherstone enters and Starr orders her to get a new Hoover and she barely blinks over her dead partner because she’s elated over Starr’s revenge plan for Custer. As the army marches and the Grail fighter jets fuel up, it’s clear The Grail is gearing up for world domination but not before Starr tortures Jesse for all he’s put them through. The scope of their power is massive and with his fate already sealed in Hell Jesse has his work cut out for him next season.