'Preacher' Season 1 Finale Review

Image from AMC

By Darian Scalamoni

            We have talked about Preacher all season long and though the series started off in a great direction, I had my doubts down the line. The last three weeks leading up to the finale were not the best and even almost turned me off…until this season finale. I told myself going in that if this episode hooked me back in, I’d be tuning in to watch Season 2 and it does just that.

            There’s a lot to cover within this episode so we should start with the flashback in which we see Tulip and Jesse as bank robbers back in the day along with Carlos, who we see is tied up and in the hands of Tulip at the end of episode 9. This is one of the finale’s three biggest moments and it’s definitely the most satisfying as well. Though the scene with Carlos is not necessary for the season but it provides satisfaction and it is crucial to help build the relationship between the preacher and his girlfriend, Tulip. Throughout the season, it was thought that Tulip was the way she was because she was nursing a broken heart, when in reality, not only did she lose Jesse, she lost a baby too. This is even more alarming because Carlos didn’t betray the couple for greed, but because of jealousy of their relationship. Tulip does deliver Carlos to Jesse though and as he’s about to pull the trigger he decides that him and Tulip can think of a worse way for this man to suffer for the consequences of what he did. This led to a beating unlike any other, so bad that even on a show like this, wasn’t shown for the viewer.

            Another big moment this episode is the interaction between Cassidy and Sheriff Root. Root is still searching for his son Eugene since Jesse sent him to Hell and he believes that if he talks to Cassidy, he’ll get to the root of the problem (no pun intended). We see within this sequence that the sheriff is much smarter than we could’ve imagined as an audience. Root leads a small, ragtag town like Annville, its right to underestimate his abilities but after what he does to Cass, I will no longer look at his character the same way. Root truly presents himself as the man of the law who is desperate to find answers on where his son is located. He actually identifies Cassidy as a vampire, and he is the first to do so this whole season. This is top notch acting from W. Earl Brown as he conveys a distinct tiredness that shows he’s seen so much with his time as sheriff. Cassidy provides his own snarky questions as he points out the irony of Root’s sudden concern for his son with an ass for a face after he was dubbed by local media as a freak. Root becomes enraged and lights up Cassidy with a stomach full of bullets before he returns to form.

            The craziest moment of the season finale though had to be Jesse summoning God at his church. It’s hilarious because the whole scene feels off for some reason and that reason is that he is not the lord and savior that everyone believes him to be. It does take the preacher a little while to actually figure out it is not God but when he does, all hell breaks loose. As the other guy upstairs asks, “God is missing, is he there?” It’s alarming for Custer yet, there’s little to no reaction other than silence for the civilians of Annville which shows just how desperate the town is for miracles to save themselves. It’s even shocking to see Odin clinging on to every word as “God” tells him that his daughter is with him in heaven. After the after-effects of seeing the fake lord dragged off, everyone in the church is shocked and once the curtain is pulled back, the effect on a godless existence on the town is immediate and alarming. The results become full blown anarchy that includes suicides, mercy killings and even Odin cradling a ground beef “baby” dressed in his dead daughter’s clothes. Insanely disturbing but not out of the ordinary for Preacher.

            All in all, the Season 1 finale does a good job of essentially wiping the slate clean and even gives us a glimpse of our cowboy from Hell stepping foot on Earth taking out the clone from way back when. It’s cool to see the trinity of “heroes” in Jesse, Tulip and Cassidy riding off into the sunset and with a finale like this, I’m back on board to see what will happen in Season 2 of the AMC comic book adaptation.

8.4/10