THE SEARCH FOR GOD
DAY ONE
Our heroes - Jesse, Tulip and Cassidy - are on the road in Tulip's car, shooting the shit and talking about nothing the way you always do on a road trip. They now know that God is missing and they're off to find him. Around the time that "Come On Eileen" comes on the radio, Tulip has blown by a cop doing 97. The cop gives chase, a few others join him and Jesse suggests that maybe she outrun them, just for fun. Tulip notes that they're low on gas ... but okay. The show switches over to a grindhouse-film look - grainy, with scratches and skips in the frames - as Tulip easily ditches the cops. And just as they've gotten clear, her car runs out of gas.
The cops surround them and drag them out of the car. Cassidy insists that he needs his umbrella or he'll burst into flame. The cops are not inclined to believe him, of course, so he dashes across the tarmac and dives into one of their cars, smoking slightly and singed around the edges. As the cops menace them, Jesse asks Tulip if it's okay if he uses the Genesis voice. She doesn't like it but it's clear they aren't going to talk their way out of it. So Jesse uses the VOICE, telling the head cop to mace his own nuts, another one to recite "Yellow Rose of Texas," another couple to hold hands, etc. He's just getting into it when, from out of nowhere, massive bullets start flying, splattering cop bodies and heads into red slush and generally being terrifying. It's startling and gory and awesome. As Jesse fetches Cassidy, who has been hiding from the sun and/or shooter under a car, Tulip manages to siphon gas from one of the cop cars ... using a length of someone's intestine. Seems gratuitous, especially with the intestine flopping around behind the car as they drive off. Jesse and Cassidy peer out the back window as Tulip drives away, trying to make out who's been shooting at them. It's the Cowboy, obviously.
Some ways down the road, the kids stop at a convenience store. Cassidy instructs Tulip on how to get the taste of blood/intestine out of her mouth: hot sauce, followed by Yoohoo. Jesse uses the Genesis voice to tell the convenience store owner to just pretend they weren't there. They try to figure out why they were being shot at and finally deem it to just be an unlucky start. Cassidy: "Smooth-ish sailing from here on out." A little later, after they've left, Jesse's Genesis instruction works out poorly for the convenience store owner: the Cowboy walks up and inquires after "Preacher." The man is literally unable to give him any information and so the Cowboy reaches in and rips out the poor guy's tongue. Eeeuw.
Jesse has decided that they need to consult a religious scholar/family friend he knows, figuring that if anyone knows where God might have gone, it would be a man who studies such things. Tulip and Cassidy (mostly Tulip) are skeptical, then, when they drive to a rundown rural ranch. While Jesse goes to meet up with his friend alone - the man is apparently a little skittish around strangers - A still-smitten Cassidy tries to convince Tulip that they should tell Jesse about their hook-up. Tulip: "I'm going to try not to exaggerate here but out of all the stupid things you've ever said, that is the stupidest." Cassidy: "I don't think that's true." They are distracted from this conversation when they discover a girl locked in a cage in the garage. Before they can get her out, Jesse shows up with his scholar-friend, Mike. Mike gruffly explains that the cage is part of the service he offers his parishioners: cold-turkey cage cure for drinking, drugs, Internet (the current girl in there is an Instagram addict or some such).
They go into Mike's house and Jesse explains what's been going on. Mike is not surprised to hear that God has gone walkabout; he hasn't heard Him when he prays of late. He doesn't have any hard answers for them - and scoffs when Jesse wonders if there's anything in any of his books - but does say that one of his parishioners (Tammy) recently seems to have been scared straight when she saw God. Jesse's all, God is here? Mike gives him Tammy's business card and, after an uncomfortable night with all three of Cassidy, Jesse and Tulip in Mike's guest room, the kids head off to talk to this woman. It isn't long before the Cowboy is at Mike's doorstep. But Mike recognizes him (we have a name: the SAINT OF KILLERS) and is ready for him. Before the Saint of Killers can make him talk, Mike stabs himself in the heart with a small knife.
The kids go to a strip club that Tammy runs. An excellent jazz trio - not what you would expect in this kind of joint - is playing on stage. While Cassidy goes off to find himself a lap dance, Jesse and Tulip meet with Tammy in her office. She is not inclined to talk to them but eventually admits that yes, God was there. Behind Jesse and Tulip, on the video monitors, Cassidy is tangling with the club's security for having put hands on the stripper. Tammy doesn't want to tell Jesse and Tulip why God was there (they think it was for one of the girls) and so they discuss, in front of her, if he should use Genesis on her. She gets more and more fidgety; on the video monitors, the security guy and Cassidy are wrestling over the security guy's gun. A nervous Tammy stands up, pulling a knife. And then, through the wall, the security guy's gun goes off, striking Tammy in the chest. As she dies, Jesse uses Genesis to ask what girl God had come to see. She scoffs, calling him an idiot and telling him that God came to the club for the jazz.
That night, they go to a motel, Jesse and Tulip in one room, Cassidy in the adjoining one. To blow off steam, Tulip locks herself in the bathroom. It's a thing they do: Jesse knocks the door down and then they have surprisingly sweet, cathartic sex. Later, Jesse goes outside for a cigarette. He looks down the street and there, walking in and out of the patches of light from the streetlights, comes the Saint of Killers, implacable. Jesse shouts STOP at the approaching man, several times, using Genesis. The Saint of Killers does not, in fact, stop. Uh-oh.
Previously on Preacher / next time on Preacher
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment