Preacher: Call and Response Books Included
July 31, 2016 11:52 PM - Season 1, Episode 10 - Subscribe
"It is the day the entire town has been waiting for, as Jesse tries to follow through on his promise to get answers from Heaven."
I guess Deblanc has died the true death, and the seraph at the end too. Is it because any weapon from Hell is lethal to angels, or are the Cowboy's guns special, like the Saint of Killers's Colts in the comic book (spoiler).
posted by homunculus at 12:06 AM on August 1, 2016
posted by homunculus at 12:06 AM on August 1, 2016
I guess Deblanc has died the true death, and the seraph at the end too. Is it because any weapon from Hell is lethal to angels, or are the Cowboy's guns special, like the Saint of Killers's Colts in the comic book (spoiler).
I'm betting it's the Cowboy - the Saint of Killers wasn't a concept in need of much tweaking for TV, and I think DeBlanc would've been more cautious if he thought just anything in Hell was potentially lethal.
I loved pretty much this entire season. It was not without flaws: I have some qualms about the pacing, and I feel like Tulip needed tons more screen time. (I still want a show that's entirely Ruth Negga killing people in increasingly improbable ways.) Also, the sheriff strangling the soccer mom Terminator felt like a weird thing to include.
However, this show got more literally laugh out loud moments than anything I've watched in ages. I had to keep pausing it during the finale to avoid missing anything to splitting a side, from Jesse saying hello to the little old lady mid-run before the credits to the poor woman in the ball gag desperately trying to prevent the reactor overload. Special extra credit for the Monty Python style visitation with Heaven, and the way they adapted Odin Quincannon's obsession with meat, (I was super curious how they'd handle that). Oh, and Tom Cruise's ashes being shot into space - that was genius.
I rarely see television that's so committed to just doing its own thing at the potential expense of an audience, and cannot wait for season two.
Oh: my memory of the comics is pretty dim at this point, but I like the link.
posted by mordax at 1:16 AM on August 1, 2016 [4 favorites]
I'm betting it's the Cowboy - the Saint of Killers wasn't a concept in need of much tweaking for TV, and I think DeBlanc would've been more cautious if he thought just anything in Hell was potentially lethal.
I loved pretty much this entire season. It was not without flaws: I have some qualms about the pacing, and I feel like Tulip needed tons more screen time. (I still want a show that's entirely Ruth Negga killing people in increasingly improbable ways.) Also, the sheriff strangling the soccer mom Terminator felt like a weird thing to include.
However, this show got more literally laugh out loud moments than anything I've watched in ages. I had to keep pausing it during the finale to avoid missing anything to splitting a side, from Jesse saying hello to the little old lady mid-run before the credits to the poor woman in the ball gag desperately trying to prevent the reactor overload. Special extra credit for the Monty Python style visitation with Heaven, and the way they adapted Odin Quincannon's obsession with meat, (I was super curious how they'd handle that). Oh, and Tom Cruise's ashes being shot into space - that was genius.
I rarely see television that's so committed to just doing its own thing at the potential expense of an audience, and cannot wait for season two.
Oh: my memory of the comics is pretty dim at this point, but I like the link.
posted by mordax at 1:16 AM on August 1, 2016 [4 favorites]
Oh, the questions put to God were pretty funny, but the series has left me overall pretty meh, despite some really good moments. It might be changing times, the '90s vs now, but a lot of the humor doesn't work as well and is downright nasty and cruel.
I do admire the show's decision to spend this first season in the town as opposed to immediately starting out on the road, but it didn't quite work for me, for the reasons cited in the above link. The show isn't Preacher, and that's fine, but comparing the two just doesn't work because they are so intentionally different.
Oddly enough, the portrayal of Cassidy doesn't work for me either. Yeah yeah, the character seems to be massively popular, but something about it reeks of lazy stereotyping. That and Jessie leaving him to burn was never really address I think, unless I missed something.
Loved the Angels and them trying to call Gensis home, that was beautifully eerie. The soundtrack on the show is really good. Tulip is pretty good, when she's not being an asshole and getting away with it. Jessie is pretty good. Love the larger letters announcing each setting. The photography is pretty damn great!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:36 AM on August 1, 2016
I do admire the show's decision to spend this first season in the town as opposed to immediately starting out on the road, but it didn't quite work for me, for the reasons cited in the above link. The show isn't Preacher, and that's fine, but comparing the two just doesn't work because they are so intentionally different.
Oddly enough, the portrayal of Cassidy doesn't work for me either. Yeah yeah, the character seems to be massively popular, but something about it reeks of lazy stereotyping. That and Jessie leaving him to burn was never really address I think, unless I missed something.
Loved the Angels and them trying to call Gensis home, that was beautifully eerie. The soundtrack on the show is really good. Tulip is pretty good, when she's not being an asshole and getting away with it. Jessie is pretty good. Love the larger letters announcing each setting. The photography is pretty damn great!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:36 AM on August 1, 2016
Oddly enough, the portrayal of Cassidy doesn't work for me either. Yeah yeah, the character seems to be massively popular, but something about it reeks of lazy stereotyping. That and Jessie leaving him to burn was never really address I think, unless I missed something.
Isn't the fact that Cassidy survived the burning evidence that Jessie put him out before marching back in with the fire extinguisher? (My assumption being if Jessie hadn't, then Cassidy would be a pile of ashes and not just in need of a lot of blood, okay, a huge amount of blood).
I enjoyed the ending. I've never read the comic, so I can't say a single word toward how well anyone or anything is adapted, but as a television show...it came to a good season conclusion.
I liked the context, fake God telling Jessie he'd saved the town, but because of his actions, he literally sent it to hell via a methane reactor explosion. Was I wrong to interpret his reaction to the city's destruction as kind of "Meh"?
Back to the final moments of the town...DANG IT WENT DARK...but in a kinda funny way.
posted by Atreides at 7:50 AM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
Isn't the fact that Cassidy survived the burning evidence that Jessie put him out before marching back in with the fire extinguisher? (My assumption being if Jessie hadn't, then Cassidy would be a pile of ashes and not just in need of a lot of blood, okay, a huge amount of blood).
I enjoyed the ending. I've never read the comic, so I can't say a single word toward how well anyone or anything is adapted, but as a television show...it came to a good season conclusion.
I liked the context, fake God telling Jessie he'd saved the town, but because of his actions, he literally sent it to hell via a methane reactor explosion. Was I wrong to interpret his reaction to the city's destruction as kind of "Meh"?
Back to the final moments of the town...DANG IT WENT DARK...but in a kinda funny way.
posted by Atreides at 7:50 AM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
The show isn't Preacher, and that's fine, but comparing the two just doesn't work because they are so intentionally different.
I could see why people feel that way, but I don't. It's sort of like The Walking Dead, show vs. comic - a lot of particulars have changed, even where I don't really see why, but it's easy to see the basics of the story in both.
I do think it's a point where people have room to disagree though. Sort of depends on what you think is important about the original work. Like, I'd actually argue Preacher's a closer adaptation because I feel the central premise of TWD is different between the show and the comic, (civilization bad vs. civilization inevitable), whereas both takes on Preacher are about dark comedy in a world abandoned by God. It seems to me that most of the changes they've made have been humanizing: the angels are better, Tulip is better. Odin was better. Cassidy can't possibly be as bad this go, though I guess they have time to prove me wrong. I'm expecting a little less Humperdido, next season.
It might be changing times, the '90s vs now, but a lot of the humor doesn't work as well and is downright nasty and cruel.
This was always true. Preacher is, IMO, Garth Ennis' finest work, but it's still Garth Ennis, the guy who brought the world things like Crossed. (If any of you don't know what that is, stick with Wikipedia.)
I think it is - like the lady writing the article suggested - more about all of us being older as we look at it again. I don't think I'd enjoy the comic as much anymore either.
That and Jessie leaving him to burn was never really address I think, unless I missed something.
They talked about it in the last episode: Jesse apologized. He said, "I should've pulled you out sooner," and Cassidy said, "All that matters is that you did it." Then Jesse offers to help him hide the Mayor's body, they get an angel hand from the fight with Fiore and DeBlanc, and wackiness ensues.
I felt it was another case of horrible ultraviolence used as character building for the two of them: Jesse wants to be better than he is, (which would be good, as he's leaning toward actual Villain Protagonist sometimes), while Cassidy is surprised to see any good in the world at all.
I liked the context, fake God telling Jessie he'd saved the town, but because of his actions, he literally sent it to hell via a methane reactor explosion. Was I wrong to interpret his reaction to the city's destruction as kind of "Meh"?
Looks like Jesse missed the news entirely. Like, it was on as he was distracted and leaving, which gets back to Brandon's point that this is all very mean spirited.
Many shows make it clear that only the protagonists matter, (I'm looking at you, Stargate Atlantis and Star Trek Voyager), but it's rarely spelled out in fifty foot tall letters like that.
posted by mordax at 11:15 AM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
I could see why people feel that way, but I don't. It's sort of like The Walking Dead, show vs. comic - a lot of particulars have changed, even where I don't really see why, but it's easy to see the basics of the story in both.
I do think it's a point where people have room to disagree though. Sort of depends on what you think is important about the original work. Like, I'd actually argue Preacher's a closer adaptation because I feel the central premise of TWD is different between the show and the comic, (civilization bad vs. civilization inevitable), whereas both takes on Preacher are about dark comedy in a world abandoned by God. It seems to me that most of the changes they've made have been humanizing: the angels are better, Tulip is better. Odin was better. Cassidy can't possibly be as bad this go, though I guess they have time to prove me wrong. I'm expecting a little less Humperdido, next season.
It might be changing times, the '90s vs now, but a lot of the humor doesn't work as well and is downright nasty and cruel.
This was always true. Preacher is, IMO, Garth Ennis' finest work, but it's still Garth Ennis, the guy who brought the world things like Crossed. (If any of you don't know what that is, stick with Wikipedia.)
I think it is - like the lady writing the article suggested - more about all of us being older as we look at it again. I don't think I'd enjoy the comic as much anymore either.
That and Jessie leaving him to burn was never really address I think, unless I missed something.
They talked about it in the last episode: Jesse apologized. He said, "I should've pulled you out sooner," and Cassidy said, "All that matters is that you did it." Then Jesse offers to help him hide the Mayor's body, they get an angel hand from the fight with Fiore and DeBlanc, and wackiness ensues.
I felt it was another case of horrible ultraviolence used as character building for the two of them: Jesse wants to be better than he is, (which would be good, as he's leaning toward actual Villain Protagonist sometimes), while Cassidy is surprised to see any good in the world at all.
I liked the context, fake God telling Jessie he'd saved the town, but because of his actions, he literally sent it to hell via a methane reactor explosion. Was I wrong to interpret his reaction to the city's destruction as kind of "Meh"?
Looks like Jesse missed the news entirely. Like, it was on as he was distracted and leaving, which gets back to Brandon's point that this is all very mean spirited.
Many shows make it clear that only the protagonists matter, (I'm looking at you, Stargate Atlantis and Star Trek Voyager), but it's rarely spelled out in fifty foot tall letters like that.
posted by mordax at 11:15 AM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
They talked about it in the last episode: Jesse apologized. He said, "I should've pulled you out sooner," and Cassidy said, "All that matters is that you did it."
Ah, thanks, missed that particular scene.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:12 PM on August 1, 2016
Ah, thanks, missed that particular scene.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:12 PM on August 1, 2016
My two favourite things about this episode:
* Emily's little smirk right before she starts playing "96 Tears" -- no cage!
* Emily's talk with her kids, which I feel like is the same talk all non-shitty atheist parents have with their kids
OK, three things:
* "God" looks like a guy with a fake beard and then turns out to be an angel with a fake beard
posted by tobascodagama at 7:41 PM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
* Emily's little smirk right before she starts playing "96 Tears" -- no cage!
* Emily's talk with her kids, which I feel like is the same talk all non-shitty atheist parents have with their kids
OK, three things:
* "God" looks like a guy with a fake beard and then turns out to be an angel with a fake beard
posted by tobascodagama at 7:41 PM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
Fourth favourite thing:
* The bus stop to/from Hell that's an obvious callback to Breaking Bad
posted by tobascodagama at 7:42 PM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
* The bus stop to/from Hell that's an obvious callback to Breaking Bad
posted by tobascodagama at 7:42 PM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
Man, that angel's face as he gets off the bus from Hell - in a show that's 99% gleeful camp, that was just brutally real. He lost his friend (love?), and will never see him again. Damn.
posted by Mr. Excellent at 9:38 PM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Mr. Excellent at 9:38 PM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm going to pretend Emily lived outside the blast radius and is now playing on a farm in upstate New York.
posted by Justinian at 9:53 PM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 9:53 PM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
Nope, she died with the rest of the sinners, whom Jessie & company have forgotten about.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:45 AM on August 2, 2016
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:45 AM on August 2, 2016
And that's the thing, she was an interesting character, along with other members of the town that we've spent the last 10 episodes exploring. Yet they don't matter. Sheriff Root, Donnie and wife, Clive, Tulips uncle, the whorehouse where Tulip was raised, etc, etc. But now they're just gone, with little impact on the the main characters, so it feels like we spent the first season goofing off, but not accomplishing a lot beyond making Jesse and Tulip into bank robbing assholes who bond over torture.
All that could have been accomplished in three or four episodes.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:20 AM on August 2, 2016
All that could have been accomplished in three or four episodes.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:20 AM on August 2, 2016
Ironically, being in hell may have saved Eugene from a fiery death, unlike the sinners on earth.
posted by Maecenas at 6:58 AM on August 2, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Maecenas at 6:58 AM on August 2, 2016 [3 favorites]
All that could have been accomplished in three or four episodes.
Joanna Robinson of Vanity Fair has already announced she will be arguing on the Storm of Spoilers podcast that Season 1 can be completely skipped when preparing for Season 2. I believe she comes from that based on the season and also as a Preacher reader. Their episode (which will undoubtedly contain spoilers for future seasons) drops today, I think.
Ironically, being in hell may have saved Eugene from a fiery death, unlike the sinners on earth.
Can't wait for the conversation with him about what happened to his family and everyone he knew if/when he's rescued from Hell.
posted by Atreides at 7:53 AM on August 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
Joanna Robinson of Vanity Fair has already announced she will be arguing on the Storm of Spoilers podcast that Season 1 can be completely skipped when preparing for Season 2. I believe she comes from that based on the season and also as a Preacher reader. Their episode (which will undoubtedly contain spoilers for future seasons) drops today, I think.
Ironically, being in hell may have saved Eugene from a fiery death, unlike the sinners on earth.
Can't wait for the conversation with him about what happened to his family and everyone he knew if/when he's rescued from Hell.
posted by Atreides at 7:53 AM on August 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
Joanna Robinson of Vanity Fair has already announced she will be arguing on the Storm of Spoilers podcast that Season 1 can be completely skipped when preparing for Season 2.
From the way that Jesse just ambled by the tv broadcast of the explosion, which they obviously never felt, she may well be right. It's one thing to walk away from the town you grew up in, it's another to be completely unaware that it exploded.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:04 PM on August 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
From the way that Jesse just ambled by the tv broadcast of the explosion, which they obviously never felt, she may well be right. It's one thing to walk away from the town you grew up in, it's another to be completely unaware that it exploded.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:04 PM on August 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
We will see... but Jesse's upbringing did come back to haunt him in at least one arc that I remember, when he found his mother. And Jody. Do we actually know who killed Jesse's father at this point? I forget.
posted by bq at 2:52 PM on August 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by bq at 2:52 PM on August 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
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posted by homunculus at 11:53 PM on July 31, 2016 [3 favorites]