The Possibilities
Posted by Fetchland Editor | TV

[For Preacher “The Possibilities” or any other recaps on Fetchland, assume the presence of possible spoilers.]

AMC Summary:
The Possibilities. Cassidy helps Jesse explore his newfound power and Tulip tries to convince him to seek revenge.

Three episodes into Preacher and I’m still getting most of what I liked about the pilot; great visual style and strong acting performance. However, episode 3 did get me a little concerned with how they’re pacing some of the storylines.

The primary arc was around Jesse continuing to understand the powers he discovered he had at the end of last week’s episode, and while he seemed to come to a conclusion towards the end of how he could use them, we really didn’t get there in a way that seemed organic. He spent most of the episode brooding, and when he finally revealed them to Cassidy, there wasn’t much time spent on what it meant, or how he should use them. There also wasn’t a great action sequence in this episode like we had in the prior two, so it would’ve been cool if maybe Jesse spent more time walking around town testing out his powers.

The second arc was around Tulip and followed up on the map she killed a man for in the pilot (he ended up with a stalk of corn in his skull, so it better have been worth it). Tulip is by far my favorite character on the show now (maybe on TV in general), so I’m glad they gave her a little extra screen time and went over her backstory a little. But the main problem for me so far is they keep introducing new characters and history without really giving us a sense for what drives these characters in the first place. Tulip basically risked her life getting a map just so she could trade it to a woman named Denise, who works for a man in a white suit who likes snuff films, for the location of a guy named Carlos who presumably screwed her and Jesse over years ago. Phew.

All of this just seemed a little rushed to me. I wish they spent this episode, and maybe the next, just focusing more on Tulip and Jesse’s relationship and helping us understand what they mean to each other and how their history is impacting each differently. Tulip appears to be driven by revenge, while Jesse wants redemption, but they barely spent any time helping us to understand why. I’m optimistic this will happen soon, and we won’t be left to guess why Jesse shot an armed guard (and had got rid of such a sweet mullet).

Overall the episode still kept me engaged and I’m glad that the show runners are starting to shed some light on a few things (i.e. the men who we Cassidy battled with a chainsaw last week appear to be employees of Heaven Inc. and are looking to return what’s in Jesse back to its rightful owner), I’m just hoping they figure out the pacing of the storylines for both Jesse and Tulip, because everything else really is window dressing.

A few thoughts:

  • We got to see two victims of Jesse’s violent streak (the pedophile bus driver and Donnie) continue to be impacted by Jesse, but this time by his newfound powers of persuasion.
  • Cassidy didn’t get to do much this episode but bury bodies, but we did get to see him make a deal with the Heaven’s gate agents, which will hopefully keep them off Jesse’s back for now
  • Quinn Quincannon made another appearance, and we learned that he loves the dulcet sounds of animals being slaughtered (and he doesn’t think much of Donnie)
  • The white suited man in Houston was clearly the red herring of the episode, but honestly, I just hope we see more snuff film festival posters
  • Cassidy finally addressed Emily’s clear infatuation with Jesse, which she skillfully dodged
  • W. Earl Brown (who I loved from Deadwood) got a chance to deliver a strong monologue at the onset of the episode, but didn’t do much after that


–Osyp Lebedowicz

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