Preacher TV Show Television 

Five Thoughts on Preacher‘s “Pilot”

By | May 23rd, 2016
Posted in Television | % Comments

Preacher makes its debut on the small screen as Garth Ennis’s and Steve Dillon’s legendary 90’s comic gets adapted for TV. How faithful will the show stay to the comics? Will that matter? Is Arseface as weirdly adorable as ever? Check out our review below and watch out for spoilers from the comics and first episode.

1. Small Town Blues

The Preacher pilot does something really remarkable in how it balances the crazy out-there components of what will become Jesse Custer’s life with where he is now, as a priest in a crappy rural Texas town. On one hand, a lot of this issue has to deal with Jesse’s inability to serve as the moral pillar the town needs as he tries to help a boy with an abusive father at home. On the other hand, a half-demon half-angel entity from Heaven called Genesis is rocketing across Earth, possessing and accidentally exploding spiritual leaders including Russian satanists and Tom Cruise. Even though the pilot’s focus is on Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy and their meeting in Texas, the celestial story that fuels their upcoming quest is being woven in the background.

Speaking of the trio’s time in Texas, if you’re like me, you were probably worried by some of the previews for Preacher and how they focused on Jesse Custer, Tulip, and Cassidy living in Annville, Texas. As comic readers know, Annvile is destroyed before the first issue of the comic even begins, with Jesse getting possessed by Genesis and accidentally killing his entire congregation. Here, though with Jesse getting his powers in a very non-explodey way, it seems like he’s bound to stay in Annville for a while.

I saw the pilot at an advanced screenign at 92Y and Sam Catlin made it pretty clear that the intention isn’t for the entire series to take place in a small town. Instead, it’s a way for the creators to establish who Jesse is and what he cares about before we find out what’s going on with Genesis and Heaven. And considering how much depth Annville’s citizens have (like Sheriff Root who is a beauty of a character), it’s a blessing to not kill them off immediately. Catlin also gave a wink wink nudge nudge that the show wouldn’t be excluding key characters who haven’t shown up in promo material, so don’t feel too bad if your favorite murderer hasn’t shown up in a trailer yet.

Speaking of seeing this at 92Y…

2. Cheap Pops

The good part of seeing Preacher with a live audeince was being able to gauge people’s reactions to certain characters. And the three biggest pops of the night were Tom Cruise (RIP), Tulip’s introduction, and Cassidy’s introduction.

Ruth Negga talked at 92Y about how the word that was always used to describe Tulip was “badass” which shows here. Tulip kills two goons in a car while speeding through a corn field, meets some adorable children she gives exposition too, then takes some trinkets from around their house to improvise a rocket launcher to destroy a helicopter that’s coming after her. Considering that Tulip’s first appearance in the show is her awkwardly shooting a guy and almost getting killed, it seems like this Tulip has a lot more experience with being an assassin, which shows in her relationship with Jesse. Rather than being Jesse’s first love after he escaped from his family, Tulip is now his childhood friend who was the Bonnie to his Clyde when they were hitmen. It’s a solid change that brings the characters together more immediately, with Jesse having left Tulip for ethical reasons rather than because he was kidnapped by his swamp family (“Preacher” is a weird comic).

While Tulip had some changes to her character to fit the show, Cassidy seems to have straight up walked off the stage. Not only did his airplane fight scene garner the biggest reaction from audiences (“I wish I came up with that.” – Garth Ennis at the panel) but Joseph Gilgun is straight up Cassidy in everything he does. Not only was his character on the show dead on, but the dude is straight up Cassidy in real life. Seth Rogen even talked about how surreal it was to see this character you’d read about on a page for years show up and be a real person. Anyway, Tulip and Cassidy are definitely going to be fan favorite parts of the show for a while, even if Cassidy needs subtitles more than Arseface does.

Continued below

3. The Bigger Picture

While we’re talking about Arseface, his scene with Jesse was one of the most hilariously subdued part of the comic. Considering that Arseface is more or less the heart of Preacher, it’s assuring to know that Ian Colletti is bringing the warmth to a character who could very easily be a gross punchline. And his talk with Jesse about losing God’s voice in his head is a solid foreshadow with what’s going on in Heaven.

4. Staying Put But Not Slowing Down

So even though Preacher isn’t moving at the breakneck town murdering spree that the comic book did, it’s making appropriate changes without losing the insanity that makes “Preacher” such a unique comic. The perfect example of this is That Guy From The Sonic Drive-In Commercials (I refuse to find out his real name) who bothers Jesse with complaints about his mother not respecting him. After Jesse gets possessed by Genesis, he tells the guy to be honest with his mother and open his heart. He does, respectfully confronting his mother with his grievances about how he’s been treated and then literally opens his heart with a knife. It’s this kind of moment that reminds you how, even though Jesse’s quest hasn’t started as quickly as it did in the comic, this is still a world where anything can happen.

5. RIP Tom Cruise

I cannot wait for the Church of Scientology’s official response to that scene.


//TAGS | Preacher

James Johnston

James Johnston is a grizzled post-millenial. Follow him on Twitter to challenge him to a fight.

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