Preacher, Season 1, Ep. 1 recap for “Pilot”
Posted by Fetchland Editor | TV[For Preacher “Pilot” or any other recaps on Fetchland, assume the presence of possible spoilers.]
AMC Summary:
Pilot. Jesse’s past slowly catches up to him and he struggles to escape it; a mysterious entity arrives on Earth, causing a wave of destruction.
“What kind of Preacher are you?”
AMC needed some help. After losing both Breaking Bad and Mad Men the last few years, they really didn’t have much in the prestige drama pipeline. So instead, they doubled down on their graphic novel fetish with both Fear the Walking Dead and Preacher. Fear the Walking Dead is basically an excuse for them to start off from scratch with their most successful brand and try and squeeze some more juice out of the zombies they’ve been living off of for the past 6 years.
Preacher on the other hand is something different.
Preacher was the brain child of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, and it initially launched in the 90’s. It’s a comic all about a hard drinking preacher with a tragic past who’s imbued with powers from some cosmic source and uses them to fight for redemption. He’s also friends with a vampire. So clearly this is the type of fanboy source material Hollywood thought they could work with, but it took them a while to figure out how to make it work (which is usually code for Kevin Smith was involved at some point). Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg stepped in as executive producers (they also directed the first episode) and being their first foray into television, they enlisted the help of Sam Catlin as their show runner, who was a producer and writer on Breaking Bad. The three of them have managed to create one of the best pilots for a show I have ever seen (maybe right behind Lost). In a pilot you usually want to be able to introduce the core characters as well as imprint your visual style on the audience, and they managed to do both very well.
The show opens in space, as we have a POV shot of some force travelling towards Earth and eventually busting through the doors of a church in Africa and colliding with a priest mid-sermon. At first it appears as though the force might provide the priest with some sort of power, but instead he explodes in a bloody mess among his congregation. This trend continues throughout the episode, as we see this force travel to different churches throughout the world and causing similar havoc. We also see two unidentified men appear at each site investigating the incidents.
The rest of the episode is spent introducing us to the three main characters. The preacher himself, Jesse Custer (played by Domenic Cooper, aka young Tony Stark’s father), is introduced to us giving a piss poor sermon in a church in Texas. We come to learn that this is his father’s church and he’s returned (after presumably doing some very sketchy things) to take it over after his father’s passing. Rogen and Goldberg do a good job of showing how Jesse is conflicted about being a preacher, in that he clearly wants to help people, but he just doesn’t know how to go about doing it. He goes through the motions, he listens, and tries and give advice, but he also realizes that it’s somewhat hypocritical to preach forgiveness and understanding given his past. Now, we’re not given much information about what he did prior to landing back home in Annville, Texas, but there are some scenes in particular that give you a hint. One scene involves him confronting a father of one of his parishioners he knows is beating both his wife and son. He takes a beating from him, and tries his best to avoid violence, but he eventually succumbs and does what he clearly does better than preaching, and that’s kicking ass. So now we’re made aware of what an actual bad ass Jesse Custer really is, because for most of the episode he was just a sad sack who drank a lot.
The second (and best) character introduction was of Tulip, played by Ruth Negga. We first see Tulip fighting with a man in the back seat of a car that’s plowing through a corn field. This is really the first scene where we see Rogen and Goldberg’s visual style really stand up and grab our attention. The fight sequence was fantastic, and they managed to use the space really well, similar to how the fight choreography is done in any great Korean movie you see (which we all know has the best fight scenes). She manages to kill the guy and then stop the car in front of a farmhouse where she’s greeted by two kids. She enlists them to help her build a homemade bazooka, then sends them down into the storm cellar as she finishes off whoever else is chasing her. They used a great technique where you don’t actually see the action, but rather the kid’s reaction to the sounds that are happening outside. It’s a great way to save money, but it also builds suspense and just a cool way to convey the action in a concise way. This introduction was great because we learn two very important things 1) Tulip is a bad ass and 2) she stole something very important/valuable from some very bad people. This sets her off on her trajectory right away, which eventually leads her back to her home town of Annanville to meet up with her old friend Jesse.
The third main character introduction was of Cassidy (played by Joseph Gilgun). Now some may say his introduction was actually the best, and I won’t fault you for that as it was pretty great. We meet Cassidy on a private jet drinking and telling a story to some men. Now, Cassidy is wearing a flight attendant’s vest and everyone is laughing, so you can’t tell right off the bat who he is or what’s going on. However after a few seconds Cassidy notices the plan is flying in a different direction than expected and that’s when all hell breaks loose. The men he was chatting up start pulling weapons from every section of the plane and a brutal brawls takes place. Similar to Jesse and Tulip, Cassidy can clearly fight and makes short work of his attackers. He also pops a bottle off in one of their chest cavities and starts drinking their blood. That and his concern for the sunrise clearly indicate that he was a vampire, but if you weren’t positive, he proceeds to jump off the plane without a parachute as the plane just so happened to be flying over Texas.
Both Tulip and Cassidy happen to meet up with Jesse and key moments when we learn a little about his past. Tulip tries and enlist him into whatever job she’s working, which lets you know that she was part of his (likely) criminal past and probably what he’s trying to seek redemption for. She clearly knows Jesse really well, and indicates that he’s wearing a mask of a preacher and not his true self. These words ring true later in his scuffle in the bar where he’s also introduced to Cassidy, who helps him out during the fight. The two end up in the same jail cell after the fight to which Cassidy asks, “What kind of Preacher are you?” That will be the question that Jesse will struggle with the whole series, and one that I don’t think he really understands yet.
The show then comes full circle, as the cosmic force we saw at the beginning of the episode comes plowing through Jesse’s church at night and slams into him, throwing him against the wall in the process. He awakes three days later, right before his Sunday morning sermon. He was planning on leaving town after succumbing to violence and being thrown in jail, but suddenly he feels differently. He gives an impassioned sermon about being “the preacher his congregation deserves” and vows to be better. Then the episode ends with the same two men who were investigating the other church incidents landing outside Jesse’s church.
The pilot really did a great job of both creating a rich and vibrant world, as well as outlining all of the journeys and challenges these characters are going to have to face in the episodes ahead. I’m not sure if the show will be able to keep up with the quality of the pilot, but I’m certainly going to watch and see.
—Osyp Lebedowicz
We open as Dromgoole shuts down Angela Burr’s whole deal. He’s punishing her for using the mole at MI6 and having troops raid Roper’s trucks at the Syrian border; trucks that carried merely agricultural equipment and supplies. Thus Burr’s office and operation close down. But then just as she says farewell to the office, Angela gets a call from Pine. Now she knows Roper and his crew are in Cairo for the final deal and thus her mission continues. Having never really been well-supported anyway, Burr doesn’t let lack of resources restrain her now that she’s finally in a position to succeed.
Next we see Pine reunited with Burr and meeting Steadman for the first time at the Cairo hotel. They tell him they have no resources beyond the two of them, a cowboy and pregnant lady, and this suggest that maybe Pine wants to pull out of the operation now. But of course our hero says no way. He’s come this far, etc. Then Pine approaches his old friend in the hotel kitchen (remember from the Part One?) and finds out he’s head chef now. Thanks to his old buddy, Pine’s got the local hookup again.
Meanwhile shit-faced, drunk Hamid has Pine for a driver and caretaker. Uh oh. Pine takes him home and promptly slips a mickey into Hamid’s drink. After Pine hands him the drugged whiskey, he asks Hamid if he remembers having a girlfriend named Sophie and did he kill her? Hamid then recognizes Pine as The Night Manager and thus they tussle by the side of the pool with Pine strangling Hamid before gently placing him in the center of the pool for a round of dead man’s float. Did he really have to drug the guy first? Clearly he doesn’t have the best upper body strength but c’mon, Pine, you’re not that much of a weakling.
At the last arms deal transaction out in the desert, Pine finally keys those numbers he memorized earlier into the phone. This sets all the trucks of arms afire with explosions. The munitions are gone so, the buyer immediately says he wants his money back. But Pine has transferred it out of the Tradepass account so Roper can’t return the buyer’s money. The buyer then threatens him and Roper screams back furious, calling him a “little brown rat” and saying he’ll give him the money back when he’s good and ready. Roper then pulls a gun on Pine and says he’ll have to return the money to the Tradepass account or Jed dies. “You’re paying $300m for the girl,” he says. But we never find out if this transaction actually occurs.
Vanessa and Dracula: “Just Like Heaven” by The Cure
Dr. Seward and Vanessa: “Back to Black” by Amy Winehouse
Renfield and his fly: “Maps” by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Malcolm & Kaetenay: “Someone Like You” by Adele
The Creature: “Portions for Foxes” by Rilo Kiley
Jekyll and Frankenstein: “Stitches” by Shawn Mendes
Dorian, Lily and Justine: “Nothing Compares 2 U” by Sinead O’Conner
Part Five turns out to be an extended version of the trixter game cups. As the game begins Pine and Roper are headed to the Haven, a refugee camp in Kasimli (Southeast Turkey) and “a safe haven for the wretched of the Earth” as Roper calls those he helps philanthropically. Roper greets the refugees for photo op purposes then exits quickly to conclude his Tradepass arms deal. Turns out the Haven really serves as more of a military haven; packed with Roper’s troops, ie. ex military mercenaries. Roper tells Pine he’s aware that Angela Burr somehow has his classified documents about Tradepass. So, when Pine says uh oh, maybe you should delay this final transaction then, Roper replies that he’ll “plug the leak” whomever it is. But when Roper says plug the leak he really means, “kill the bastard”. He only said it the more polite way because he’s British.
Roper has Pine familiarize himself with the weapons manuals right away so that night he can lead the arms demonstration for the buyer, Mr. Barghati. It’s an impressive display that creates a spectacle of orange on the pitch of the desert sky and Pine’s quite knowledgable and confident considering he only spent one day learning the stuff. His sad sunburnt face in the glowing light of napalm is our only hint that Pine’s still on Burr’s side at this point. The next morning the buyer leaves after completing the transaction and Pine writes down the license plate numbers on his trucks – another clue that he’s still true blue.
In the next scene Burr gets home after a long day at the office only to get a call from Dromgoole who’s in a car just outside her apartment. So, then he comes to the front door and they chat in the doorway. Dromgoole asks where she got the Tradepass papers and accuses her of having someone on the inside. She simply must tell him who it is. Then he recites his philosophy treatise on Ayn Rand, the greater good, the whole wide world, “your own safety” etc. to try to convince her. But Angela Burr cannot be enticed and shuts the door in his smug face. Whether you like The Night Manager or not, the villainous character name Dromgoole simply demands acknowledgment for its glorious and apt repugnance.
Jed then arrives at Haven with Corky and we soon see the Roper relationships of yore unravel to unrecognizable. Roper confronts Jed about being the leak and in the process smacks her hard across the face. Then he gets called away before doing further damage and Pine slips in to help Jed. He even tells her why he’s really doing all this – British intelligence etc. Pine then promises to get her out of there and they smooch longingly just before he exits. Roper comes back into the tent then and Jed tells him she took a photo of his list with her phone. She implies that Corky was the leak saying that he told her not to leave her phone lying around. Roper appears to believe Jed and they exchange creepy ice cold “I love yous” to seal their alleged newfound trust.
Next Pine wire-cuts and slips outside a fence surrounding the Haven; just barely passing the armed guards on duty. Once free, he slips into a waiting cab and gives the guy 200euros to hand a note to the woman from Istanbul Hotel room 314. When Pine gets back to the fence Corky awaits him there with fists of fury clenched and ready. But Pine ends up taking the power position in their fight so that when Roper comes out to investigate the ruckus Pine has the upper hand and says he caught Corky trying to sneak back inside the fence. The cab driver then arrives at the Istanbul Hotel and asks for the woman from room 314. He gives her the license plate notes from Pine and she immediately sends them to Burr. Angela sends the numbers to Steadman and tells him to bring the info straight to the military with no Langley involvement. Steadman does exactly as she says, so the US military stops the buyer’s trucks at the border to investigate.
Meanwhile we see Roper and Pine watching those same trucks via satellite video tracking their progress to the border. Roper even brings Jed in to watch too. They then see the trucks are actually filled with agricultural equipment and supplies – the very stuff Roper claims to be dealing on the face of this whole deal. He quips to Pine “They didn’t watch the cups did they?” referring to the three cups magic trick. Then Steadman asks a baffled Angela if she’s ever thought that Pine may be a double agent, or is at least working both sides. When Angela gets home that night her place has been ransacked and her husband bludgeoned. It’s not her finest hour… and she’s still got childbirth on her imminent horizon.
The next morning Roper tells Pine he knows now that Corky was his Judas and now that he’s gotten rid of him he can finally finish and fulfill the Tradepass deal for real. The Brits and Yanks investigators are officially off his tail now – it’s all clear for takeoff. So, Roper gets on the phone with Mr. Hamid from Cairo and the whole story’s coming full circle now. In fact, they’re staying at the same hotel where Pine was The Night Manager not so long ago in “Part One”. Of course the memories flood back as soon as he walks through the archway entrance. His lady love/one night stand lies dead like a ghost before him in the very same suite where Jed and Roper now stay. Bereft and romantically inclined Pine is back with a vengeance.
This was the best part of The Night Manager thus far and just in time too. It’s all coming to a crashing climax in the next episode as every single character (other than that schmuck, Langbourne) seeks personal revenge; Angela Burr most of all. She ends the episode bursting with baby, foiled in the Roper mission yet again, and with a bludgeoned husband to boot. This woman seethes with righteous anger and the only thing that can quell her rage is taking down Richard Roper. She’s got Steadman, Pine, and Jed on her side. Unfortunately, Burr’s not really aware of the Pine/Jed support. She currently has no military backup and her baby’s coming any minute. If anybody’s sipping a cool drink on the white sands of an island paradise at the conclusion of this thing, we hope it’s her.
This episode revolves around the idea of the remake. Contracts, algorithms, deals, and even incubators and attitudes are rewritten and remade in this episode. The engineers do a reboot on their attitude toward the box, almost against their own will. The four of them wanted to hate it and slack off but can’t help themselves. Working on it gets them so excited that they invest their best efforts and improve the box by a ton, despite strong intentions to phone-it-in. Each remake story in “Maleant Data Systems Solutions” has a winner and loser. It’s no surprise when this reboot of the Pied Piper team’s attitude propels them, finally, into the winners circle.
Meanwhile at Erlich’s place he’s trying to sell a new incubator tenant on the concept of hallway-as-bedroom when Jared comes in to discuss their rat problem. Because of this pathetic salesmanship Erlich’s potential tenant joins a different incubator. Out of pure envy, Erlich checks out this new incubator, and who answers the door but our dear old friend Big Head. It’s his house and unwillingly, out of loneliness, he’s started his own incubator as a way to have people around. Cut to upset Erlich standing on Big Head’s welcome mat. He huffs and puffs, indignant, to his car but when it won’t start in Big head’s driveway Erlich changes his tune, remaking yet another attitude in the episode and decides to team up with Big Head, who merely shrugs and says OK. Thus, when faced with a better, faster, sexier remake of his incubator funded by Big Head’s clueless $20m Erlich did what any loser-with-a-clue does – he switches sides and joins the team that beat him.
This is exactly what Gavin does in this episode – but on an even grander scale. When Hooli guru, Denpok pokes Gavin’s insecurities about “rumors circulating at Hooli,” Gavin holds a Hooli board meeting and his intense disdain for bulldogs flares up so that he asks questions like, “Kindly pet? …or humanity’s cruelest mistake?” and then uses the “grotesque creature” as an analogy for the Nucleus project. His claim: both are a result of too much inbreeding and naval gazing. Gavin then purchases EndFrame for $250m “to branch out of the Hooli network” and as a result changes the entire course of Pied Piper’s story, just not the way he’d hoped. He thinks he’s screwing the engineers but Gavin’s actually saving them. His remake of Nucleus using Endframe really is just a redo with the exact same engineers, although Gavin acts like they’re a completely new team; welcoming them to Hooli as if they’ve never met before. “You represent fresh blood,” he declares and just like that, Gavin’s rewritten Hooli history.
Jack then tells them Pied Piper lost their deal with Maleant because they went with another company but Richard points out there’s is much faster now so they can beat out this competition easily with their now-upgraded box. He’s right and they get a new Maleant deal. But then Monica points out that Maleant wants five years of rights to the underlying algorithm. That would mean Pied Piper couldn’t build the platform in the next five years. Richard is screwed; his plans and whole compromise down the toilet. The board then votes on this contract with Maleant and Monica ends up the deciding vote. She votes to not make the deal with Maleant unless they change this language. Thus Monica fulfills her promise to use her board seat to help Richard. Maybe they will smooch soon.
Richard gets a call from Gavin Belson telling him Hooli just acquired EndFrame for 250m. This sets a standard for a compression platform market value and thus Pied Piper is technically now valued at least that much and can win their fight for the platform after all. The team goes into work at Pied Piper the next day to find Jack gone. In his place is an empty office with prim Laurie sitting behind his desk looking like a librarian, as always. Laurie tells them she “exited” Jack and they’re going to build the platform now with no CEO. He said either they did it his way and make the box or it would be the end of his tenure as CEO. So, Jack’s chair will remain empty “henceforth” and Gavin’s move with EndFrame really did save their platform.
So, even our five heroes get a remake in this episode. At the onset they’re utterly dismal and depressed. All is lost. But by the end of the episode things are completely flipped and they’ve got a whole new set of challenges. This great writing is what keeps Silicon Valley fresh and invigorating each and every week. It’s like the Breaking Bad of sitcoms. The characters start out unbelievably screwed with no possibility of overcoming their challenges. Then by the end of the episode that issue’s resolved but there’s a whole new and much bigger challenge. It’s high level stakes-raising done well. At the onset the Pied Pipers were nearly fired in Jack’s office and feeling disheartened. But then in the final scene of “Maleant Data Systems Solutions,” they find themselves in the exact opposite position. Jack’s a mere memory and they’re free to work on the platform. No more Jack means no more box. Shouldn’t this be bliss? But it never is… their challenged now is racing Gavin and EndFrame because the very thing that saved them now faces them with a hardcore battle. With Pied Piper valued at a minimum of $250m, our five heroes suddenly have a whole lot more to lose in this war between compression algorithms.
Bedlam: Officially London’s Bethlem Hospital, it’s notoriety for inspiring “lunacy reform” in the psychiatric movement earned this institution the nickname Bedlam. What a perfect place for Dr. Jekyll to conduct his research – the corrupted bowels of a lunatic asylum. Although Bedlam was a real place, it certainly felt like hell to its many inhabitants and thus the painting by Hieronymous Bosch, “The Garden of Earthly Delights – Hell” portrays just the sort of pandemonium that the occupants of the infamous Bedlam experienced. A catastrophic scene of mayhem employed by the great master of macabre, “Hell” depicts every particular agony of the damned. From what we learn of Jekyll’s work in its basement, Bedlam too housed the damned. Bedlam inhabitants’ only hope lies in the twisted experiments of a mad scientist. Some of which cause them great agony indeed.
Dr. Henry Jekyll Henry obsesses over the duality in each person throughout “Predators Far and Near”. Jekyll is, of course, the main example of a predator lying “near” considering that his beastie lies within himself. Being both monster and man, he’s been the exemplary literary archetype of this precise duality for the past two centuries. Jekyll believes the pull between light and dark/angel and devil not only energizes us, it is the meaning of life itself. This is why “Gustave Courbet’s “The Wave” perfectly captures Dr. Jekyll. The painting conveys the mutual battle between the tossing emotion of the sea and the wild fury of the sky. Courbet also admires the dignity with which the water and air maintain their individuality. It’s perfectly parallel to Jekyll’s work. Especially in this episode where we see his use of the beast-taming antidote for the first time. The beastie and the man who remains after the injection are two separate entities locked in an eternal battle over their one body.
Kaetany & Sir Malcolm: Both of these men follow a higher calling as they engage with Ethan in what they believe is their duty to help him. They’re aware of his murderous rages but still, Kaetany also makes it clear in this episode that Ethan is just the Apache he needs. So, it’s an interdependent situation much like in Jean-Baptiste Oudrey’s painting “The Dead Wolf”. The two hounds represent Kaetany and Sir Malcolm, aware that they are in the presence of greatness next to the tremendous symbol of courage and violence beside them. While Ethan is, of course, the wolf. By all appearances this beast is down for the count – much like the perpetually handcuffed Ethan. So, why do the two hounds look so scared? Because you can never be too careful around the truly wild. Just when you begin to lament their death, the untamed rise again to fight the next battle with ferocious resilience. 
Vanessa & Dr. Seward In Vanessa’s second session with Dr. Seward she lets her freak flag fly at full mast. First Vanessa warns the doctor that if Seward believes what she says it’s likely she’s had her last restful night’s sleep. Then Vanessa plunges into the depths of her torturous past while Seward intently records the session. Edgar Degas’ “Melancholy” suits this part of the story with its classic repose of suffering and the feeling of inertia grief often brings. Vanessa has reached the depths of her despair in this scene. So, Dr. Seward recommends she go out and do something she believes will make her happy. This, of course, points Vanessa toward the charming Dr. Sweet.
Dr.Sweet/Dracula The title of this episode, “Predators Far and Near” forewarns that evil lurks all around, even in the most unexpected places. The most shocking and, admittedly kind of thrilling, part of this episode rolls out with a terrifying revelation at the end. After a delightful date with Vanessa, the modest and seemingly oblivious zoologist, Dr. Sweet, turns out to be Dracula himself. His whole dismissive-of-Vanessa-thing is an utter charade. Max Ernst’s “Celebes” portrays just this sort of alluring facade. Ernst presents a mechanical-pseudo elephant as a headless figure, eerily reminiscent of a mannequin, entices us to encounter the beast behind it. Nothing in this painting is at it seems. Dracula seduced Vanessa so easily with his apparent disinterest because up until now she’s been constantly harassed, stalked, and tormented. Thus Dr. Sweet seems like a refreshing change for the better. The man can’t even remember her name… little does Vanessa know he’s just more of that same old evil she can’t seem to shake off.
Lily The opening scene of this week’s episode holds us spellbound as Lily slits the throats around a circle of men with the finesse of a figure skater dancing on ice. She’s truly an out-of-this-world phenom, taking down the men who paid top dollar to watch a girl tortured to death. While Dorian does help Lily quite a bit, he shoots his gun from a distance in a matter of fact way. Lily’s grace and obvious delight in the more intimate process of cutting throats seems mystical in comparison, as if she’s found her calling. Paul Delvaux’s painting, “A Siren in Full Moonlight” portrays just this sort of vision Lilly now exemplifies – a woman, but no longer a woman. Delvaux depicts a siren in the secret world of her unknowable mysteries, woman as alien. She is distanced from us, seemingly with a mixture of fascination and fear. Much like Lily, the siren’s also surrounded by symbols of luxury but looks only at her tail. Lily too, has no interest in opulence. Vengeance remains the only thing left that matters to her now.
Justine: We’re introduced to a new character in “Predators Far and Near,” the incomparable Justine. Naked, bound, and facing imminent torture and death, she spits in the face of her executioner. No ordinary girl, she’s a perfect match to James Whistler’s portrait “Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cecily Alexander”. Because Whistler made her stand for hours upon hours, Cecily has a rather disgruntled expression which reminds us of Justine’s testy reproach to her savior, Lily “You killed them!” she crankily accuses the morning after. But Lily’s resolute and bold reply shows us Justine’s vulnerability, her softer side. Whistler portrays this fragility of youth with the butterflies hovering above Cecily’s head. Justine is just a girl, after all, barely a woman. Although she’s no longer the chattel of men, Justine belongs to Lily now rather than to herself.
