Preacher recap "Sundowner" S1E6)

The best thing about this episode is that I finally get names for those idiot angels: DeBlanc and Fiore.  No, I'm kidding, that's not the best thing - the best thing is the batshit crazy, gonzo fight scene in the motel room.  But still, I'm awfully glad to get names for them.

We pick up with Jesse and the angels still in the diner, with the angels trying to convince the preacher to give up the Voice and for hell's sake, stop using it.  So Jesse uses the Voice to ask them what this mysterious power is.  Turns out it isn't actually God but the progeny of an angel and a demon who hooked up in the middle of the eternal war between Good and Evil.  It's called Genesis (which isn't very original, something that Cassidy will comment on later).  It's a mistake and a weapon and any of the denizens of Heaven or Hell would want to have it, and that's why DeBlanc and Fiore want to get it back.  They are its caretakers and they let it escape.  Jesse tries to work this over.  Meanwhile, a tiny blonde woman comes into the diner.  She makes the angels nervous and when she goes out to her car, they follow her.  We watch Jesse as he watches them through the window, getting upset when the two angels start beating the crap out of the woman.  He runs out to her aid but she reaches out and grabs him by the throat.  DeBlanc (or Fiore, who knows) finally shoots her in the head and Jesse is all WHAT THE FUCK YOU JUST KILLED HER.  They're all, no, we didn't and then there's a flash of light in the diner and the blonde woman walks out, staring at them.  Jesse's all, holy shit and the three of them drive off in his truck.  As they drive, the angels exposit that the woman is in fact a Seraphim, an angel of the First Order.  She's after them for being down on Earth unauthorized but she doesn't know about Jesse and Genesis yet.  (And the flash and return is called revigoration.)  Jesse's mind is blown.

Meanwhile, the tiny blonde woman - she's wearing a cardigan, which is just excellent - tracks them to the Sundowner Motel where they are holed up in the angels' room.  She breaks down the door and then all hell breaks loose, so to speak.  It's the three of them against the tiny blonde angel and she basically kicks their asses.  Every time one of the angels gets killed, they revigorate back and soon the room starts filling with bodies: multiple DeBlancs, Fiores and seraphims.  DeBlanc/Fiore instruct Jesse not to kill the seraphim but to restrain it instead, so she'll stop coming back, but that's easier said than done.  I really wish I could adequately describe what's going on onscreen because it is just wonderful - one of the best t.v. fights I've ever seen.  Things get even more chaotic when Cassidy shows up.  Finally, DeBlanc/Fiore disassembles the seraphim in the bathroom (with his chainsaw), incapacitating her for a while without actually killing her, and keeping her from revigorating.  The angels tell Jesse that they need Genesis back and now.  But the preacher refuses, saying that it chose him and he feels that God wants him to have it.  The angels are apoplectic but when they chase after him, he uses the Voice and tells them to stay away from him.

Over at the high school, some kids are being nice to Eugene.  He's not sure what to make of it.  And over at Emily's house, one of her kids is sick when she's got a ton of church errands to run.  To complicate things, Tulip shows up and rages at her to "stay away from [her] boyfriend!"  But then Tulip sits for a bit, and thinks about what a dick she's being, and when Emily runs after her and confronts her, Tulip makes amends, offering to watch the sick child while Emily does church stuff or, since Emily isn't quite comfortable with that, offering to do the church errands for her.  (Also, the Green Acres people keep calling Mayor Miles, wondering if he's seen their people since they haven't checked in.  Miles will later go to Jesse, asking for advice on what to do - without actually explaining the situation - and then ultimately, will assist Quincannon in staging an auto accident and telling the Green Acres people that their people are dead.  But whatever.)

At the church, Jesse and Cassidy stand in their underpants while they launder their blood-stained clothes.  There's some talk, about each other's tattoos - Cassidy notices a tulip on Jesse's shoulder but doesn't make the connection quite yet - and then Cassidy's all, what are you going to do, man?  Jesse insists that he's going to keep it but Cassidy is worried.  Jesse says that nothing has changed and he's still going to save the town.  And then a little later, when he's setting up chairs outside the church and hooking up a loudspeaker, I'm thinking that whatever he's going to try is going to go really, really wrong.  Jesse says he's just doing God's will but it sure seems like he's on a power trip.

After school, the kids who were being nice to Eugene at lunch ask him if he wants to see something cool.  They all ride their bikes out to a remote culvert.  The other boys traipse in, Eugene following.  He is scared (I am scared for him, concerned that these boys are just luring him out to harm him) but forces himself onwards.  As it turns out, they just set off a bunch of fireworks in the culvert and grin at how beautiful it is.  Eugene's eyes open wide, in relief and in acceptance of the beauty in front of him.

When Tulip shows up at the church, with all the wine and paper towels, etc., that she picked up for Emily, she runs into Cassidy in the storeroom.  He is pleased to see her but then suddenly makes the connection that she's Jesse's Tulip.  When Jesse comes into the storeroom, Tulip hides Cassidy behind the door so Jesse doesn't know he's there.  And the look on the vampire's face is heartbreaking as he realizes the depth of their connection.

Sunday morning, Jesse waits in the church as the congregation gathers outside.  Emily finds him and tells him that Eugene wants to talk to him first.  He thanks her for all her work - hers and Tulip's, and at the mention of the other woman's name, her face falls.  Still carrying that torch for him.  She goes out and sends in Eugene.  Eugene wants Jesse to take back what he did, saying that he doesn't think that God wants him to be forgiven by the townspeople.  Not that way, not through Jesse's Voice.  Eugene says that it's cheating, doing it that way.  Jesse starts to get defensive; he's getting tired of people telling him what to do.  He gets up and walks towards the church doors.  Eugene cries out, "What are you going to do?"  Jesse:  "I'm going to save the damn town!"  This power has gone to his head and he actually says that once he saves the town, he will have fulfilled his promise [to his dead father] and then he will be free.  He heads again towards the church doors and Eugene is all, this is wrong, it's a sin!  Jesse gets pissed off and shouts, using the Voice:  "Go to hell, Eugene!"  There is a strange noise from behind him and when he turns around, Eugene is gone, the church program he was holding fluttering to the floor.  Holy shit, Jesse.  What have you done?

Previously on Preacher / next time on Preacher