'Preacher' Episode 1, Season 1 Review

Image from Screen Rant

By Darian Scalamoni

If I told you that a violent, bloody comic book adaption was being brought on screen by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg would you be interested? Well, you should be. Last night was the series premiere of the new AMC series, Preacher. The show follows a preacher named Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper) who is starting to have a real crisis with faith in the small town that is Annville, Texas. Along with that, his ex-girlfriend Tulip (Ruth Negga) is asking for him to help out on a big score and the town’s newest resident is that of an Irish, binge-drinking vampire named Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) is looking for trouble.

            The show blasts onto your television screen (literally) as the opening scene shows a baby comet hitting an African preacher which promptly leads to him exploding as his blood spews all over his congregation. The fact that this was the first real death scene in the show, one should be able to tell it’s going to be gory. A comet very similar to the one that hit the African preacher then hits Custer and possesses him giving him the ability to make anyone do what he says to them.

            The show gets underway quickly by showcasing the town of Annville making it a character all its own filled with plenty of colorful personalities to keep an eye on. Whether it be Emily, who wilts for Jesse; the town sheriff (played brilliantly by W. Earl Brown) or his son Eugene, or better known in the comics as “Arseface” in which he has a face similar to that of an anus. Eugene actually gets the best scene within the pilot episode talking to Jesse about God and how he doesn’t forgive him. He gets a great amount of emotion across through a thick make-up job.

            Cooper does a fantastic job at conveying Jesse and his discouragement towards faith, but the title character might have been overshadowed by his co-stars, Negga and Gilgun as they glide onto the screen with amazing introductions that are filled with action. Negga is introduced as she battles two men in a car through a corn field just to get her hands on a map that leads to that score we touched upon earlier. While Gilgun battles vampire hunters thousands of feet in the air on an airplane.

            This show is filled with graphic violence, as well as humor but it’s definitely a thrilling ride until the end of the episode. I was extremely impressed by the launch of this new AMC series and looking forward to future episodes.

9.6/10