'Preacher': From Tom Cruise exploding to the bus to hell crash, top 5 WTF moments
'Preacher', the comic book series, written by Garth Ennis with artist Steve Dillon, won its cult following because of the way it mixed dark humor, go-for-broke blasphemy and explicit violence. While AMC's 'Preacher' is not a faithful adaption, it shares its DNA.
Creators, showrunner Sam Catlin (Breaking Bad) and director-producer Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (Future Man, The Boys), have filmed quite a few WTF moments over the years that broke new ground when it came to what could be shown on TV. Here are the top 5 moments that won us over with their sheer inventiveness.
1) "Tom Cruise has died": Season 1, Episode 1
Announcing its shocking credentials right from the start, the season 1 premiere featured Tom Cruise exploding at a Church of Scientology service (off-screen) when Genesis, looking for a suitable host, enters Cruise and the star-actor explodes like the other unworthy hosts before him.
Genesis finally finds his perfect host in Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper), the perfectly equal mix of good and evil - a metaphor for humanity. Seth Rogen later commented on how AMC wanted them to remove the gag but they went ahead and just did it. It did end up upsetting Cruise and Rogen is still not sure if the actor has forgiven him.
2) A vampire walks into a plane full of vampire-killers: Season 1, Episode 1
The scene that introduces vampire Cassidy to the audience is still Joseph Gilgun's favorite scene of all the fight scenes he has ever done on 'Preacher'. The scene is set in a coke-and-weed-fueled private flight where Cassidy is the bartender, who realizes his guests are vampire-hunters.
The scene distills the essence of the character as he first jokes with his guests before launching into a blitzkrieg assault using golf clubs, wine bottles and serving trays while the hunters use assorted weaponry from axes, sabers, wooden stakes, guns and last and very least, the hilariously ineffective holy water.
The fight is a no-contest as Cassidy wins hands down. Then, he takes the time to tip the pilot over so he can collect the blood pouring from his sliced heart into a doggy bag, before jumping from the burning plane.
3) Angels never die: Season 1, Episode 6
Angels Fiore and DeBlanc, who have been tracking Genesis, finally arrive in Annville where they plan to extract it from Jesse's body. Only they are on an unsanctioned mission. Susan, another angel from Heaven is sent to hunt them down. So Fiore and DeBlanc team up with Jesse to capture her. The only catch? Angels can't die because they spontaneously respawn as soon as they die.
The premise gives 'Preacher' one of its bloodiest and funniest fight sequences as bodies pile up. They finally manage to restrain Susan until Cassidy walks in and shoots her not knowing angels respawn. And the bloody, merry fun starts all over again till the hotel room starts looking like a mass murderer's private playground.
4) The bad-good car chase: Season 2, Episode 1
This scene is not horrifying and nor was it the most controversial scene from Season 2. That prize goes to the "Jesus having sex" scene that got the most number of headlines about whether the show was going too far.
But this one encapsulates the 'Preacher' spirit better as our lead trio bop their heads to music while they try to evade the police. It is also one of the visually fun moments as it goes from a normal, glossy aesthetic to an old-time sepia-tinted film.
Rogen, asked about the sequence, said they had purposely made the chase look bad because they didn't have the production budget to film a good one. The scene also introduced the lead characters as a trio, which we didn't get all through the first season until the very last moment when they hit the road. It was a perfect beginning to a less than perfect season that saw the show trapped in New Orleans for most of its runtime.
5) The bus to Hell derails: Season 3, Episode 9
On the bus to Hell, Tulip quickly formulates a plan with Eugene, complete with stick figure drawings to illustrate how their plan of escape will go down. All of which goes promptly down the toilet with Hitler jumping the gun and you see the slow tumble of the pictures and the bus, as the Saint of Killers, Satan's deputy, Hitler, Eugene and Tulip roll about in a slow sequence of tumbling bodies, shattered glass and flying objects. And then some Nazis stop by to help them.