(Minor comics spoilers, to follow)
Through the first four episodes of AMC’s new series, Preacher, fans of Garth Ennis’ source material have expressed opinions ranging from skepticism to downright hostility toward the way that Sam Catlin and co. have adapted the comic to the television. In some respects, that skepticism has felt warranted. The pilot episode set up a series that at least translated the spirit of the comics to the small screen, but subsequent episodes have been unrecognizable from the comics.
That finally started to change this week, as characters and storylines familiar from the comics started to come into focus, and with “South Will Rise Again,” the series produced its best episode since the pilot. Here’s a few reasons why comics readers should feel excited for the back half of the season:
The Saint of Killers
We hadn’t seen Graham McTavish’s “The Cowboy,” since the cold open in the second episode, but this week, he came back in a big way. More importantly, Preacher told what appears to be the second part of The Saint of Killers’ origin story. He’s gone into Ratwater, where his horse was shot, making him too late to save his wife and daughter. Like his comics counterpart, we also learned that he was a deadly Confederate soldier.
In part three, we’ll see him get his revenge (among other things) on the townspeople of Ratwater and the preacher who killed his horse (Gumbo McCready, I assume, or his TV counterpoint). He should be entering the present-day timeline around the end of the season.
Sheriff Root
I wasn’t sure what to think of the television version of Sheriff Root, played by W. Earl Brown. There were moments, it seemed, where he was somewhat sympathetic, or at least, not nearly as terrible as his comics counterpart. So much for that after this week’s episode. After someone spray-painted “Finish the Job,” on Eugene’s wall (referring to his suicide attempt), the angry, violent asshole we know from the comics finally reared his head, telling his son that he should have finished the job. We also understand why the town thinks of Eugene as a murderer: He was apparently responsible for accident that left Tracy in a coma, which also may explain why Arseface tried to kill himself. The details behind how Eugene caused Tracy’s horse-riding accident are still fuzzy. It also remains to be seen whether Preacher’s little fix will turn Sheriff Root around, although given the state of his wife, it seems unlikely.
Odin Quincannon
There’s the psychopath we know and love from the comics: A guy who butters up members of Green Acre Technology, only to turn around and blow them away. More on Odin Quincannon’s motivations later, but the murders certainly puts the Chinatown theory back into play.
Cassidy and Tulip
This one is trickier. The show could be working one of two storylines, or both: The one where Cassidy and Tulip have an affair, or simply a new version of the story of how they met. In the opening scenes of the Preacher comic, Tulip and Cassidy are already traveling together when they see the Annville church explode and stumble upon Jesse Custer. This could be the television version of their meet cute, and Preacher might discover that the two of them are screwing after the Annville church explodes in the season finale (perhaps, a modified version of Odin Quincannon’s original plan in the comics to blow up Salvation, Texas).
Jesse Custer
Most importantly, we are starting to recognize the television Jesse Custer as the cocksure Jesse Custer from the comics, the one who’s reckless with his power. It’s that smirking self-assuredness that will ultimately cause Jesse some real pain. He also found out that he’s not actually channeling God, but something else. Soon, we’ll get more details on Genesis from Fiore and DeBlanc.
This was a fantastic episode, and without direct competition with Game of Thrones for the rest of the season, Preacher may start to attract the viewers it needs to be a weekly cultural event.
