[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Directors: Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen
Writer: Sam Catlin
Starring: Dominic Cooper, Ruth Negga, Joseph Gilgun, Graham McTavish.
Summary
In the premiere episode of its second season, Preacher returns to our screens and wastes no time embarking on the search for God. While our Unholy Trinity of Jesse, Cassidy and Tulip (Cooper, Gilgun and Negga) hunt down the few strange souls that might help lead them to the earth-bound deity, they struggle to keep their distance from the wholly unsettling undead gunslinger after his resurrection at the end of the last season. Now christened “The Saint of Killers”, the hellish hitman is after the Preacher and his sacred super power.
Positives
This was a brilliant episode and a very strong start to the hotly anticipated second season. The show wastes no time relaunching the bizarre story, picking it up right from where it left off and swiftly moving forward into the new adventure. The first season was centered around a small town; everyone knows each other and that very sense of familiarity seems to fuel all of the strange and twisted predilections of the seemingly average suburban Texans. Now we’re on the road, the circumstances have changed massively and it’s wonderful to see that the show still works out of the small town of Rattwater. They’ve replaced “Behind Closed Doors” weird with “Road Trip” weird, and it totally works.
This episode used a fair share of gore, both visual and implied. Personally, I feel like it was pretty well done, but to give some warning if you really like cats then you might get triggered by Cassidy. But it’s impossible to stay mad at Joseph Gilgun’s Cassidy, and almost all of the gore in the show is centered around his character, and it feels like this constant – and brilliant – oxymoron where everything this guy does and says makes you like him more and more, but at the same time he makes no attempt to conceal the fact he is a monstrous killer. Gilgun is well-known for his prominent role in the This is England film and following television series as well as the British teen superhero drama Misfits. Every time he gets in front of a screen he makes magic happen. And I admit, some of that magic is going on inside my head. But I’m the reviewer and I demand more screen time for Joseph, maybe his own channel even.
Negatives
It might be fair to say that a lot of this episode was re-hashing information from the end of the last season and that for a first episode of a returning show it would be pertinent to ensure the episode has the same kind of momentum the first season began with. But I don’t think that’s the case, and even if you really do feel like this episode didn’t contain enough fresh, new content then you’ll be delighted to know the second episode airs tonight (Monday, June 26th)! When it rains it pours, so sayeth Goldberg and Rogen.
Verdict
Preacher is back and better than ever! This season promises to be a good one with a brand new array of bizarre sinners and saints helping and hindering Jesse and Co. from meeting their maker.
