Open up your umbrella and hope you don’t burn alive – – it’s time for some more Preacher y’all! Here we are once again, barreling through season three. Nice to have you with me. In a world where god is a dalmatian man and the messiah is an inbred idiot, it’s good to have a pal to share some laughs with. This season is shaping up to be a hell of a thing and I’m with ya ’til the end of the world dear reader. The end of the world. Let’s see what’s in store for us in the season three finale, episode ten, “The Light Above.” Last week was rough, but I’m sure nothing bad will happen this week.
1. Jesse Fully Loaded
It all comes down to thus, Jesse versus his Gran’ma. But did we really earn that showdown? What has this season really been about? This has ostensibly been the Angelville season, but we’ve been all over the map. The most interesting conflicts involved the Grail, a heist in Japan, and Cassidy messing around in New Orleans. It’s ironic that next to the vampire conflict, this final battle feels a little toothless.
It is nice to have Jesse with his powers though. Right at the start, TC literally shoots himself in the foot. Sort of a metaphor that covers most of the characters in this episode.
2. Do whatever you want to do.
I’ve liked the Eccarius conflict this season, but having him turn into a full mustache twirling villain really removed his impact. For a moment in this episode he’s kind and he cracks his weird James Franco smile and it’s war scarier than the more overt villainy. Of course, Cass already outsmarted his vampire beau last week. He turned the old mom, who leads the sad goth wannabes in devouring Eccarius alive. It’s pretty freaky, but a fitting end.
Then my boy Hoover shows up! Don’t worry- he’s cool now! Oh no wait he’s not. He captures Cassidy, and kills most of the new fledgling vampires. It’s a surprisingly baller move for such a doofus. And how is he repayed? He burns. Starr kills him for a laugh. Oh well. We’ll never forget you Hoov.
3. The Road to Hell
I’m not sure what the point of the big Nazi battle was, but it was cool as big Nazi battles in Hell go. They were Nazis, but they weren’t, but they were, but it didn’t really matter. It’s a big ‘ol donnybrook. Eugene even punches Hitler, and joins the Captain America club.
The real highlight is the Saint of Killers, who still does a mean slow-mo walk. The dude is so bad, he scares and blinds the friggin’ Angel of Death. Just carves her eyes out. Oh, and then when he’s tried of the Devil’s BS, he kills him too. Yeah, you heard me, he murders the literal devil. Then he heads back to Earth to deal with the rest of his vengeance on Jesse and God. I don’t doubt the Saint for a second.
Oh, and now Hitler is in charge of Hell? Yeah, that tracks
4. “Looks like today was the day”
The first episode of the season threw down the gauntlet that Jesse was going to have to battle Jody to the death. The two of them have shared a few scenes since, but this final fight didn’t have the weight of inevitability it should have had. I mean, it’s a hell of a brawl, but lots of camera cutting making the whole thing look more like a TV fight than a real martial arts throwdown. As a comics fan, I was pretty thrilled to see such a classic scene interpreted on the screen, but as a reviewer of this show, it didn’t really land.
Sure Jesse wins, but he didn’t learn anything or grow in any way to win the fight. It just turned out today was the day. Jody says he’s proud, but this version of Jody is much goofier than the menacing father figure from the comics. TC decides to burn alive with Jody… and that did get to me. Man, a lot of people burn alive in this one huh?
Continued below5. Gonna kill Gran’ma BRB
Similarly, the final showdown between Jesse and his Gran’ma should have been like Batman facing down the Joker. This is one of the greatest conflicts in comic book history. And it was fine I guess. Gran’ma did some double dealing with the devil, Jesse thinks he’s not going to kill her for a second, but then he does in a suitably harrowing way. It didn’t have any of the epic romance of the comic. “Family is overrated,” Jesse tells Tulip, which is ballsy but lacks impact.
Starr on the other hand is done messing around. He’s in charge of the Grail, he’s got Cassidy and all of his resources are focused on killing Jesse. Featherbottom is excited for the chess game to continue, but Starr is sick of it. “It’s time to play some fucking checkers,” he says, closing out the season. There we go. That’s a line with some impact.
Anyway it’s been real friends. See ya farther down the trail!
