Preacher – The Possibilities

By: Kelly Kearney

When we last saw Jesse (Dominic Cooper) he was using his powers of suggestion to help a comatose girl named Tracy open her eyes. In this week’s episode, Tracy (Gianna LePerla) did just that, but Jesse and his powers are being sought after by two men who have an uncanny knack for immortality and finding the Preacher. Can Jesse get a handle on his new powers before these two men can cut it out of him?

Tulip’s Quid Pro Quo

Tulip (Ruth Negga) is having a secret meeting with one angry head band wearing housewife. The two are trading information and it seems the wife wants payment for her info to the tune of one dead husband. Tulip declines, but the woman forks over the information regardless. Whatever she was looking for has something to do with her plans to lure Jesse back to their life of crime. Speaking of crime, Sheriff Root (W. Earl Brown) is interviewing the two “government agents,” that Cassidy (Joe Gilgun) killed and then burned their remains. It seems these “agents” are not agents at all, but some kind of immortal spirit hunters after Jesse. After a very cryptic and dark speech from the sheriff about monsters living amongst us, it appears that Root isn’t as gullible as he might seem. He can tell something is off with these two, but he leaves them to their own devices. As for Annville’s resident monsters, you don’t have to look any further than the pedophile bus driver Linus (Ptolemy Slocum) and Donnie (Derek Wilson) the wife abuser. Both men are wearing the scars of their encounters with Jesse and neither seem aware that the local Preacher inflicted the other’s wounds. Donnie in particular is angry and wants vengeance on Jesse, but with his powers that quest seems unlikely.

Vampire Fashion and Jedi Mind Tricks

In what can only be described as “vampire chic,” a poncho wearing Cassidy dissects his new friend Jesse’s dilemma surrounding his powers. His first theory is that Jesse is reliving the movie Phenomenon and, just like John Travolta, has a brain tumor giving him telekinetic powers. His second theory is that Jesse is the new Jason Bourne. His final theory is that the Preacher is some kind of Jedi wielding mind control. My theory is that Cassidy has spent a lot of time binge watching action films. Jesse doesn’t seem to be paying attention but honestly, what kind advice are you going to get from a drunken vampire wearing a poncho? The guy is a self-proclaimed Bieber fan all the while hating the film The Big Lebowski. This man cannot be trusted with important advice. Ponchos and stout recommendations, sure, but powers imbued by an unknown entity probably not. None of these ideas are helpful albeit entertaining, but Jesse is still at a loss to the why’s and how’s of his powers. Tulip, on the other hand, knows what powers Jesse can control and that’s the power to turn back to his former life of crime. She shares her information from the homicidal housewife with the Jedi powered holy man and It seems she holds the location to a man named Carlos. Apparently Carlos and Jesse have a history and the preacher has been searching for this, “rat bastard child-killing life- ruining son of a bitch.” Tulip offered up the ultimate temptation and Jesse took it hook, line and sinker. He leaves with Tulip to go find Carlos, but not before running into Donnie in a gas station bathroom. Donnie has been reeling ever since Jesse’s beat down and now he wants revenge. While quoting the most disturbing movie in American cinema, Donnie tells Jesse to “squeal like a pig.” He holds a gun on the ex-criminal current holy man, but Jesse is in no mood for Donnie’s games. He uses his powers to force Donnie to put the gun in his mouth and cock back the hammer while claiming he will make his death look like a suicide. He then goes a step further and squashes Donnie’s ego by saying that suicide is better because the whole town doesn’t need to know Jesse, “… beat you like a bitch twice.” Jesse seems to be in a trance and the powers are trying to take over his choices, but in the end the preacher wins. He overpowers the urge to force Donnie into suicide and something changed him during their interaction. He decides to bail on Tulip and their path to vengeance and heads back to his life of servitude and righteousness.

When the Saints, Come Marching in…

Back with Cassidy (who’s now without his poncho), he is trying to wrap his mind around the two dead men he killed that are now very much alive and looking for Jesse. In typical Cassidy fashion, he assumes they’re clones because, through his moonshine haze, he specifically remembers chain sawing them and burning their bodies. Cassidy, an immortal vampire, cannot figure out that these two are also immortal. Finally, the bolo tie wearing men come clean. They’re not clones or government agents like they previously said, but they’re immortal saints that were sent from heaven to remove the spirit from Jesse and shove it into a coffee can where apparently it’s been since the dawn of time. At first, Cassidy isn’t buying it and questions their tactics since the last time they tried to extract Jesse’s spirit with a chainsaw. Eventually, Cassidy convinces the two heaven sent spirit surgeons to allow him to bring Jesse to them. After all, Jesse is Cassidy’s best friend so of course he can convince the Preacher to allow these two to rid him of this bothersome power. Wasn’t Jesse just complaining to Cassidy that he didn’t know why he has this in him or how to control it? So, really, having it removed would be doing the preacher a solid. Right?

We will find out next week if Cassidy can keep his word and if Tulip can convince Jesse to join her Carlos plot for vengeance. We also will find out if the Saints can remove a spirit without Cassidy comparing the extraction to the movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre.