'Preacher' season 4 episode 6 review: The series gets its groove back as Jesse meets the Saint of Killers and God
At last, an episode we can get behind. A lot of fun is had with accents and between Cassidy's (Joesph Gilgun) Irish lilt, the Australian twang of guest actors, the flattened vowels of the New Zealanders and Tulip (Ruth Negga) and Jesse's (Dominic Cooper) lazy Texan drawl, this is the most 'international' episode of 'Preacher' yet. The contrast is played for laughs right from the start. Cassidy and Tulip barge into a Melbourne police station, asking to speak to the 'person in charge'. They are met with a man with a broad Australian accent explaining 'Red Tape 101' to meet "the Commissioner" aka the man-in-charge.
Both Cassidy and Tulip look utterly flabbergasted and do what all Americans do when met with a foreign accent. Repeat their question slowly before saying, "We are the Americans." Doors open and lead them to Eugene locked up for shooting Jesse. He is pretty sure he has killed him. But Tulip's intuition says otherwise and the role-playing duo hit the road and head for Jesse's last known location.
Meanwhile, Jesse and The Saint are getting better acquainted as The Saint digs Eugene's bullet out of Jesse and cauterizes the wound using a knife heated to red-hot intensity by his breath. It is cool to be the dead demon Cowboy sometimes. Jesse collapses to the ground shirtless after the 'surgery' at night and wakes up with his collar buttoned to the top, clerical collar in place, in the morning. Continuity has obviously stopped being an issue on 'Preacher'. Ok, yes, we are pointing this out because it would have been nice to see Dominic Cooper shirtless in the daylight. But also...Continuity.
The best part about the interaction between Jesse and The Saint is that it is the 'Badass-meets-the-other-Badass' moment. The 'Western hero' that Jesse represents in Garth Ennis land meets the demon Cowboy with vengeance on his mind. The Saint needs Jesse because he is the only one who can command God long enough to let him get his killing shot. But, Jesse doesn't want God dead. He just wants to know what it is all about - the noise, the commotion, the senseless death of good people. The war of wills is won when The Saint walks to the nearest house and strings its three inhabitants up by their necks to let Jesse know that refusal is not an option. Jesse reluctantly follows the Saint to the penis-rock which is in the 'Lost Apostle National Park'
God, after sentimentally rewatching reruns of Abraham nearly sacrificing his son for him on his dinky little TV in his caravan trailer, resolutely gets back to plotting the Apocalypse. It involves getting New Zealand to start the next World War by attacking Australia. The ludicrousness of this scenario, alone, is worth the price of admission. As is the SNL-like skit of Jesus and Hitler arguing about how to divvy up souls after the apocalypse.
Herr Starr rushes off to Australia to meet God who proceeds to punish him for misplacing Humperdoo. The punishment comes in the form of a dingo set loose on his man-parts. Starr is three strikes down now, with a scalp resembling a penis head, a foreskin ear, and no penis. Meanwhile, Tulip and Jesse, after finding the Saint's victims, regroup at a diner on the edge of the Outback. Tulip, ever the optimist, points out that "Some roads" is not the same as "No roads". Again, why roads suddenly became an issue for the car that apparently drove across the sea from the Middle East to Australia is beyond me. But that's 'Preacher' logic for you.
But the biggest revelation during the diner scene is that Tulip never read the letter Jesse left her. Putting on a face that is part bravado and part vulnerability, she tells Cassidy it must be bullshit. But then Cassidy offers to read it for her. The scene is pure gold. Tulip with her nervous fidgeting and wide, vulnerable eyes, waits for Cassidy to finish reading the letter and rip the band-aid off. Cassidy, with his wiggly expressive eyebrows and twitchy, mobile features, skims through the damning paragraphs. When he finishes, he is gentle, folding the letter before saying, "It won't help." His words tell Tulip that a) there are no clues in the letter about Jesse's whereabouts and b) the letter does damn her.
Tulip gets up in a hurry, needing fresh air. Cassidy left alone in the diner snaps at the genial waitress. Coffee doesn't quite cut it when you are a drug addict. He snarks about wanting the check unless the diner has some drugs handy or "household stuff" like paint thinners, disinfectants or industrial descalers. The waitress, after a brief contemplative pause, suggests he go out back where the fire retardant chemicals are. While Cassidy sarcasms his way to his next hit, Tulip finds God's trailer and a postcard of the 'Lost Apostle' penis rock. God peeks at her from behind a curtain, gleeful that she has taken the bait.
Tulip and Cassidy climb aboard the Providence-supplied aircraft to rescue Jesse from the Saint. Then it is off to rendezvous with God. As they near the destination, Jesse finds the postcard and asks how they found it. He quickly deduces God has laid a trap. But by then, they are too close and God hits the plane with all he has got. As the plane is flung about dangerously, Tulip agonizes silently about how she has screwed up, again. Jesse is thrown out but Cassidy manages to grab him at the last second.
Alas, his exposed hand starts burning up. Jesse commands him to let go, after telling him that he should ask Tulip to read the letter. Jesse plunges to his apparent death in the Australian outback. Given that Jesse's plot armor is strong, expect a miracle in the next episode.