'Preacher' Season 4 Episode 10 'End of the World': Slow and sweet ending subverts everything we had come to expect from the show
This article contains spoilers for 'Preacher' Season 4 Episode 10 'End of the World'
And the moral of the story is...
After four seasons of 'Preacher', the show's final episode is a commentary of the times we live in when everyone thinks they are the only ones who are right (and righteous). The characters who survive are the ones who make the best of the situations they are in, without holding on to a set pattern of thinking. The ones demanding all or nothing, die. Including God.
The episode begins in a vein that the 'Preacher's' audience has come to expect. Lines have been drawn, words have been spoken and it is finally time to let the fists, guns (and swords) to do their thing. Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper) and the Saint of Killers (Graham McTavish) square off in the chapel, with the Archangel (David Field) and his demon girlfriend (Sue Ellen Shook) providing Jesse some backup. Hitler (Noah Taylor) and Jesus (Tyson Ritter) square off in another corner when Jesus refuses to let Hitler harm the innocent Humperdoo (Tyson Ritter). Jesus doesn't want to be the Messiah that badly and he is a scrappy fighter when push comes to shove.
Tulip after being set free by Featherstone (Julie Ann Emery) goes after Humperdoo, only to find Cassidy (Joseph Gulgin) guarding him. They ostensibly start fighting each other because Tulip wants to kill Humperdoo and Cassidy wants to save him. But what is really at stake is their on-again, off-again relationship. They fight and make up as best friends do. In that moment Cassidy changes his mind (again) and when God's henchman comes crashing through the door, Cassidy shoots Humperdoo dead. Poor Humperdoo who demanded nothing becomes the proverbial sacrificial lamb.
Featherstone, after pouring her guts out to Tulip (and revealing her first name - Sarah), goes after Herr Starr (Pip Torrens) in righteous indignation against all "unbelievers". Starr has already had a frustrating morning with Adnan, the Indian tech support on call, in his quest to have a less destructive Apocalypse. So when Featherstone comes around, gun in hand, he has had quite enough.
He tries to sweet-talk her at first, selling her some philosophical gobbledygook about flying dust particulates before trying to convince her to run away with him for a life of eating, doing yoga, and indulging in anus-centric pleasure sessions. When she doesn't take his bait, he shoots her in the head. Poor righteous, duty-oriented Featherstone who wanted to live a harsh life and be rewarded in Paradise instead.
Herr Starr makes a quick escape, content to let the Apocalypse play out the way it has to. God, on the other hand, shaken by Humperdoo's death tries to rope in Jesus to be the Messiah. Jesus refuses, finally standing up to his capricious father. Knowing everything is unraveling fast, God makes his escape.
Meanwhile, Jesse, doing some sweet talking of his own, asks the Saint whether "happy family dinners and picnics" are what he really wants. Turns out, it is not. The Saint has cultivated hate like religion and now he is shaped by his faith in it. He lets Jesse kill him after confessing his sins so that he can lay in wait in Heaven for God to return.
Jesse then commands all the Grail operatives to "find God" because they still have that unfinished chat to complete.
The rest of the episode is a series of flashforwards. Two years later, Tulip and Jesse are doing their best Bonnie and Clyde impression with their daughter being looked after by Kamal (the Middle Eastern motel owner). Cassidy is zipping around the world, living it up, as lovers with unrequited love in their rearview mirror are prone to doing. Herr Starr with 'Goldilocks hair' plays golf and evades the law using his dirty little tricks.
And then God is found by the haggard Grail operatives. Jesse finally has that chat he has been waiting on since season 1. It ends with Jesse calling him a needy little bastard and refuses to say he loves God because he has never been a 'good loving child' to begin with. When God threatens to destroy him, Jesse tells him to go ahead and destroy humanity while he is at it and good luck in trying to find something better to replace it with. He releases Genesis to wander the earth and is finally at peace, content to return to Tulip and his baby.
God, in his impotent rage, realizes Jesse is right. He retreats to Heaven, only to find the Saint waiting for him, his hate distilled for revenge. In a Wild West showdown, The Saint kills God and sits on Heaven's throne. Theologically, I suppose it means it is better to hate honestly like the Saint than love dishonestly like God.
Cut to 40 years later, Jesse and Tulip are dead after having lived a long and happy life. Tulip's daughter is all grown up and looks like Tulip with longer hair. Cassidy finally drops in for a visit and then, after bidding a fond farewell to the girl, walks towards sunshine and death. Just like his life, he also dies on his own terms. Just like Tulip and Jesse did before him.
And so the moral of the story is... just that. Live as best as you can because it is all any of us can do.
