Preacher: Monster Swamp   Show Only 
June 24, 2016 8:28 AM - Season 1, Episode 4 - Subscribe

Jesse makes Quincannon a bet he can't refuse, Cassidy works to fend off the angels, and Tulip tries to bring justice to Annville.

(from amc.com)

Lacey, a prostitute from Toadvine Whorehouse, flees through Annville and into a field in the middle of a foggy night. Clive, one of Odin Quincannon’s men, chases her with a gun. He shoots another prostitute who appears in the field. He finally catches up to Lacey and shoots her too: It’s just paint. But, suddenly, Lacey falls into a sinkhole.

In a flashback, a young Jesse prepares the All Saints chapel for services. He later listens to his father, John Custer, deliver a sermon to his congregation.

In the present, Cassidy tries to tell Jesse about Fiore and DeBlanc. Jesse barely listens as he prepares for his day. Outside, Cassidy advises Jesse to flee Annville but his advice falls on deaf ears. Jesse drives off.

Quincannon, his men, the Toadvine girls, and Tulip gather around as a truck hoists Lacey’s dead body out of the pit. Quincannon, who owns the property, warns everyone to be more careful. Tulip complains to Mosie about the group’s apathy toward Lacey’s death.

Jesse visits Emily at home and suggests they raffle off a flat-screen TV to attract more people to the upcoming Sunday service. He asks Emily to buy a TV after work and alludes to a scheme that he predicts will boost church attendance.

In a flashback, a young Jesse smokes with his friends, including a young Tulip. John admonishes him and whips him in front of his friends, emphasizing that the others look to him for guidance.

In the present, Jesse smokes in his church residence, lost in thought.

Cassidy visits Fiore and DeBlanc at the Sundowner Motel. In exchange for cash, he promises to convince Jesse to meet with them. After Cassidy leaves, Fiore expresses doubts about Cassidy and takes out a strange-looking old telephone. “It’s time to let them know what’s going on,” he says. DeBlanc forbids Fiore from making a call, saying they will be punished for coming down without permission.

At Toadvine, a prostitute pleasures Cassidy as he gets high on drugs purchased with his recent payment from Fiore and DeBlanc.

Quincannon plays Q*bert at his desk. Ms. Oatlash alerts him that Miles, the mayor, has arrived.

Miles sits across from Quincannon and asks why sinkholes are appearing in Quincannon’s fields. Quincannon evades the question and brings up Miles’s recent meeting with the Green Acre Group, a sustainable farming company. Miles gives Quincannon a Green Acre brochure and suggests he consider a partnership, given that local tax revenues have decreased 58 percent in 10 years. Without hesitation, Quincannon urinates on the brochure.

The phone rings in Fiore and DeBlanc’s motel room. They panic before realizing it’s just the hotel phone. Fiore answers and tells the front desk they’ll be checking out soon.

At the hotel front desk, Fiore orders a burger he just saw on TV and is informed that there’s only a vending machine.

Emily arrives home with the new TV for Sunday’s raffle and relieves Miles of babysitting duties. She agrees to have a drink with him when he points out how hard she works for everyone, especially Jesse. In her kitchen, Emily laughs at Miles’s stories but reminds him that she’s never going to be with him. She then removes her pants and warns him to leave before morning. “Kids almost caught you last time,” she says.

The prostitutes and Quincannon’s crew gather at Toadvine to remember Lacey. Tulip and Clive trade angry words. Mosie offers Clive a free hour on the house to ease the situation and advises Tulip to watch her temper. Tulip marches upstairs and whips a man who she thinks is Clive, causing him to fall through a window. When Clive comes to the bedroom door, Tulip realizes she attacked the wrong man. Down below, Cassidy grunts as blood spurts from his neck.

Tulip cradles Cassidy in a car as a prostitute drives them to the hospital. She apologizes profusely and chastises herself for having anger issues. Cassidy watches her speak and asks her to kiss him. She does.

At the hospital, Tulip urgently begs a nurse to get a doctor only to turn around and find that Cassidy is gone. She follows a trail of blood to a blood bank and discovers Cassidy slurping blood from a bag.

In a flashback, Jesse’s father John wakes him in the middle of the night and takes him to Quincannon Meat & Power. Jesse waits in the hall while John goes into Quincannon’s office. While waiting, Jesse steals an ashtray. Shouts are heard inside and John walks out. “Denounce him!” Quincannon yells after him.

Back in the truck, John tells Jesse that some people just can’t be saved.

In the present, Jesse visits Quincannon’s office where they’re building a model of the Alamo together. Jesse invites Quincannon to his Sunday service. Quincannon, who is an atheist, declines. Jesse tells Quincannon that if he comes to church on Sunday and does not leave a Christian, he’ll give Quincannon his father’s 20 hectares of land — the biggest plot in Annville that Quincannon doesn’t own.

On Sunday, Jesse stands before a packed house and tells the congregation that the world is turning to shit — and that it’s all their fault. “You’ve turned your back on the Lord,” he says. He vows to bring them back to God one by one and asks Quincannon to serve God. Quincannon refuses and starts to leave. As everyone watches, Jesse puts his hand on Quincannon’s shoulder and employs the Word of God. “Serve God,” he commands. “Of course I will, yes sir,” Quincannon says. The room erupts in whispers.

Fiore and DeBlanc wait in the motel room. The phone contraption begins to ring. They stare motionless at the phone as it rings and rings.
posted by jillithd (15 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
"What does God need with a telephone?"
posted by mordax at 9:43 AM on June 24, 2016 [2 favorites]


I don't like how they're building suspense with ignorance.
Things we don't know:
Anything about Jesse's past
Anything about Quincannon’s operation
What happened in the room with John when Jesse was waiting outside.
Fiore and DeBlanc's mission. (Though this is acceptable, they're tight-lipped, determined, and there's no alternative source for exposition besides the two of them)
Tulip's thing with the map
The sinkholes
Eugene and his previous relationship with coma-girl
posted by FallowKing at 5:42 PM on June 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


I don't like how they're building suspense with ignorance.

I'm personally cool with it, but it *is* my largest fear for the show keeping and growing a real audience - I worry that people will be put off by exactly what you're talking about. (It's my hope they start moving on at least some of those threads soon.)
posted by mordax at 7:02 PM on June 24, 2016 [2 favorites]


I thought that whole sermon was pretty gross and despicable. That doesn't really fit with his whole intention of being a good preacher. He's just being an asshole. For what? Showmanship?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 12:01 AM on June 25, 2016 [1 favorite]


I thought that whole sermon was pretty gross and despicable.

I thought that was very intentional. As in, while Jesse is trying to be a good preacher, he doesn't really know how and all that comes off is him being kind of a gross asshole. The marvellous tension is that we know he's a terrible preacher, but he is increasingly starting to believe he's actually good? Because his magic powers. Now we can sit with our popcorn waiting for the inevitable conflict between Jesse's self delusion and cold hard reality.
posted by selenized at 10:27 AM on June 25, 2016 [2 favorites]


I thought that whole sermon was pretty gross and despicable. That doesn't really fit with his whole intention of being a good preacher.

It was gross, but I don't know that it was out of character. *Most* of the show on the stuff is terribly mysterious right now, but we've been given a comparatively large amount of information about Jesse Custer: he was raised in an authoritarian environment, (beaten for smoking, etc.), and he was a criminal until quite recently.

Based on that, I'd guess a couple of things are going on here:
1) He has no idea how to be a good preacher, but is aping the most vivid memories he's got of what his father did, ie, probably the bad parts - he certainly couldn't give a 'nice' inspiring sermon the last time we saw him try, but it surprises me not at all that hellfire and brimstone would be easy.

2) He's engaging in some serious projection, here. If he thinks his congregation is guilty, it seems likely to me that it's because he *knows* that he has been guilty of all the things he's going on about.

Upon preview: I agree with selenized. He feels chosen by a greater power. (Which looks to be true, just not God.)
posted by mordax at 10:29 AM on June 25, 2016 [1 favorite]


(I mean, what does God need with a coffee can either?)
posted by mordax at 10:30 AM on June 25, 2016 [1 favorite]


The show is nicely shot and the characters are interesting, but yeah it feels unnervingly slow paced at this point. But it is intentional, so I can forgive them, especially with the great soundtrack they have.

But what they're doing is interesting in that Jesse is using his power to fulfill his own goals. Who wouldn't use that power in that manner? It's going to end badly, of course, but just how badly is what I'm sticking around to see.

It's great that Tulip and Cassidy finally met and how.

Preacher Custer's hair is still ridiculous though.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:33 PM on June 25, 2016


I don't like how they're building suspense with ignorance.

Ah.... LOST-syndrome.
posted by Fizz at 5:02 AM on June 26, 2016


At this point I still feel (or hope really strongly) that there are answers, and that Preacher won't be like Lost, where we learned the writers were just making it up as they went along. The pacing feels too controlled and deliberate.

I also get the sense that Jessie isn't supposed to be a 'good' preacher. He thinks he's doing good, but he's not. The earlier scene where the guy cut out his heart for his mom demonstrated that!
posted by kanewai at 10:45 PM on July 5, 2016


He thinks he's doing good, but he's not. The earlier scene where the guy cut out his heart for his mom demonstrated that!

Does he? Because he doesn't seem to have a problem with the fact that he essentially ordered that guy to kill himself.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 10:54 PM on July 5, 2016


Does he know that was a result of his command? I guess I could rewatch, but it didn't seem clear to me that he necessarily would have put that together.
posted by ODiV at 8:41 PM on July 7, 2016


Does he know that was a result of his command? I guess I could rewatch, but it didn't seem clear to me that he necessarily would have put that together.

He conducted the funeral, and everyone in town was gossiping about how he cut his own heart out.

You would think, that after he realised that he had the power, he might have reflected on that.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 11:08 PM on July 7, 2016


I guess I interpreted the whole thing as giving us a very obvious throughline of command to action so that we would make the connection, but that Jesse would not have remembered his exact words especially since he hadn't known at the time about any potential effect they might have. Could go either way though, probably. I'm interested in any other takes.
posted by ODiV at 11:32 PM on July 7, 2016


Jesse would not have remembered his exact words especially since he hadn't known at the time about any potential effect they might have

Well, he gave that same platitude - "Open your heart" - to that guy several times. The episode suggested that the guy kept talking at him about the same issue, and Jesse kept giving him the same advice. It would be odd if he didn't remember.

I think that Jesse just isn't very self reflective.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:50 AM on July 8, 2016


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