AMC’s Preacher, episode 101 “See,” adds more characters to the mix, creating intrigue and confusion.
A stranger to the comic series, I’m doing my best to make sense of Preacher’s genre-bending spectacle. From what I gathered on AMC’s interactive forum, Preacher Jesse Custer is host to what fans call “the entity.” The entity lies dormant until Jesse can’t control his rage.
When a pedophile parishioner confesses his urges to Jesse, Jesse’s true nature begins to emerge. He attempts to stalk the ill-intentioned school bus driver, but those efforts are steadily thwarted by Tulip, Preacher’s most compelling character.
As anticipation climbs, unbeknownst to Jesse, he too is stalked by two shady characters, Fiore and Deblanc. The creepy duo catches up with a passed-out Preacher, determined to extract the entity he hosts. When a bizarre lullaby and wind-up contraption fail to draw the entity into what looks like a coffee can, they resort to more macabre methods. Cue the violence.
A blood bath ensues when Preacher’s vampire-bestie, Cassidy, discovers Fiore, buzzing chainsaw in hand, hovering over Jesse. The violence is peppered with a bit of absurd humor as Cassidy quotes Scarface and Fiore’s severed arm (hand still clutching the chainsaw) slithers down the church aisle towards the still unconscious Preacher Jesse.
Cassidy seems to slaughter the two men. He mops up the murderous scene and heads out to bury the evidence, but is thwarted by pesky sunlight.
Viewers never actually see the bodies in the trunk Cassidy buried. Imagine my surprise when Fiore and Deblanc reemerge in an interview with Sherrif Hugo Root. Are Fiore and Deblanc another set of immortals like Cassidy? Or are they hosts to entities themselves? Or are they angels? Demons? Are they acting independently or are they an even creepier character’s henchmen?
And just how does this entity business work? If the two men were trying to extract it from Jesse, they must have plans to put it in a new host. So do the entities choose their hosts or vice-versa? The supernatural aspects are intriguing, but the ambiguity is a touch frustrating. Hopefully, some aspects are made clear as the series progresses.
Thankfully, Preacher ties up one loose end in “See.”
It isn’t until the end of the episode that viewers understand why Deblanc and Fiore are after the entity. Jesse catches up with the pedophile- bus- driver for an unscheduled bathroom-baptism. Preacher is, after all, an AMC series, so the protagonist is bound to be a tortured anti-hero.
As Jesse dunks the predator to “salvation,” he repeatedly seethes, “Forget her!” His rage builds and a new voice erupts from his throat. Abracadabra! The bus-driver is bewildered. He has no idea what’s happening or who Jesse is talking about. He only knows Jesse did something to his brain.
Mind control is a heck of a gift. In the wrong host, that power could bring civilization to its knees. Is Jesse the only person hosting an entity with this specific kind of power? Are Fiore and Deblanc the only two after it?
The end of the episode suggests Jesse will begin tapping into the entity’s power to repair his parish. Does he have the right to tamper with people’s brains for what he deems the greater good? What will be the repercussions for his continued use of this power?
What did you think of tonight’s episode of Preacher? Will you tune in next Sunday? You can leave your predictions, insights, and questions in the comment section.
