Thursday, September 21, 2017

Getting ready for October

With Preacher done for the season and The Walking Dead several weeks away, I am using my time to get ready for the upcoming Eighth Annual FMS Scarelicious October Movie Series!  I have already started stockpiling movies, hoping to beat last year's record of seventeen scary flicks.  Stay tuned for that - and feel free to share your favorite horror flicks in the comments.  

As an aside, are any of you watching American Horror Story: Cult?  I'd kept up with most of the previous seasons: liked Murder House well enough, enjoyed Asylum for the most part, was sort of meh about Coven, and thought Freak Show had its moments, as did Hotel.  But I gave up on Roanoke halfway through, not able to get on board with the show-within-a-show conceit (although I think I read that it got better as it went along - can anyone confirm that?).  And I completely bailed on Cult before the first episode even finished: I just couldn't take the combination of current politics and killer clowns.

So now I'm off to give SyFy's Channel Zero: No End House a shot.  I liked the first season - Candle Cove - while a bit slow in spots, it was just SO WEIRD that I really dug it.  Fingers crossed for this latest installment as we all could use a little more WEIRD in our lives.

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Preacher recap S2E13 "The End of the Road" 9/11/17

Flashback.  Jesse Custer as a teenager, collecting money (and picking pockets) at the gate of Angelville, his family home, which does seances, Tarot card readings, divining and fortune telling, 'gator tours, finding lost pets, "gift shop closes at 5."  Around lunchtime, a truck comes out from the main house to give him his lunch and collect the morning's takings; when Jesse tries to hold out, one of the guys ("TC" and "Jody") grabs him and wrenches his arm.  After the truck returns to the main house, Jesse is so upset that he kills a friendly chicken that has been scratching around in the dirt.  He feels so badly about this that he runs back to the house and tearfully begs a woman - his grandmother, I presume - to make it right.  The woman reminds him that there is always a price for such a thing.  Jesse seems willing to pay it, whatever it is, as he gently lay the little carcass on the table in front of her.

Now.  Herr Starr has a plan in place to market Jesse as the new Messiah.  While Jesse isn't interested in wearing a fancy 11th century cloak, he is willing to give speeches in front of carefully selected groups.  In this case, a group of Catholic schoolkids.  When his speech is interrupted by "the Armenians" brandishing guns and knives, Jesse takes them all on.  First, he tries to use the Genesis Voice to get the men to drop their guns.  The Voice doesn't work - which takes him aback, and makes Starr raise an eyebrow - so he then resorts to fisticuffs.  Now, even though all the kids and nuns (and press, once notified) think he's a hero, the "Armenians'" guns were loaded with blanks and it was all arranged by Starr.  Jesse is displeased at being used but Starr is all, it went viral and now we're booked on Kimmel so this is how we get the word out about you.

In New Orleans, Featherstone and Hoover are packing up their apartment - they are no longer required to stake out the apartment since Jesse is on board.  Meanwhile, Cassidy is doing laundry (getting distracted by a thong of Tulip's in amongst his t-shirts).  When he puts away some of Dennis's clothes, he checks out a website on his son's laptop: it's a vampire site of sorts, with videos of screaming people.  He is transfixed for a moment before snapping out of it - it seems as though being good and not feeding on people is more difficult than he might have let on.  When Tulip comes back from shopping for their road trip to Bimini (lots of SPF100 and a value-sized jug of vodka), she sits beside him on the bed and talks to him about what's to come with the two of them.  It isn't clear that it's a fantasy until they start gettin' busy and Cassidy latches onto her neck, ripping out her throat with a big spurt of blood.  Seems as though Dennis's worse proclivities are getting into his father's head.  When Tulip REALLY comes back from shopping, she checks in on him and then goes to pack as he stares numbly out the window.  Something's gonna have to give here.

On the outskirts of Hell.  Eugene and Hitler run and run and run until they find themselves on the shore of a river.  Hitler tells Eugene to ask the ferryman (Charon) for passage out since he doesn't belong here, then get on the boat and cross over.  Eugene asks Hitler to come with him but the other man demurs.  A nervous Eugene approaches Charon who summons the boat and who generally seems like a nice guy.  So it's surprising when the Hell Administrator comes up to drag Eugene back to the cells and shoots Charon in the head with a (?) crossbow quarrel.  Then Hitler comes up behind her, knocks her out and clambers onto the boat with Eugene.  Blah blah blah  they get back to the world and when Eugene invites Hitler to come home with him and meet his dad, Hitler runs off and darts down an alleyway.  Because what this world needs now is Hitler on the loose.  Also, I am really not that interested in Eugene and Hitler's adventures.  I'm having a really hard time figuring out how this storyline connects with Jesse, Tulip, Cassidy et als.

New Orleans.  Tulip finishes packing (she packs pretty light) but on her way out to load the car, she notices one of the little spy cameras that the Grail installed in their apartment.  She shows it to Cassidy.  He wonders if they should tell Jesse but she's all, what difference would it make?  Tulip goes out to the car.  Cassidy grabs up the dog to leave but stops when Dennis finds Tulip's underwear in his room.  Dennis taunts him some and Cassidy is forced to admit that he doesn't think he can control himself with Dennis around.  So he pushes Dennis out the window, into the sunlight, and cowers inside as his vampire son dies a pretty horrible, burning death.  I'm not going to miss Dennis at all but that whole storyline just seemed a little pointless.

Cassidy and the dog join Tulip in the car, but then she gets out again and goes back inside to say goodbye to "Jenny," her only friend.  (After she goes, Cassidy lets the dog go.)  Jenny/Featherstone takes a few moments to get to the door and while she waiting, Tulip finds a trace of the same sticky gum that had been on that little spy camera.  When Jenny/Featherstone finally comes out, she's holding her revolver behind her back.  Tulip is also armed - but only with a screwdriver - and when the shit hits the fan, it's pretty obvious who's going down.

Jesse is about to board the Grail jet (to go to L.A., or wherever Kimmel is) when he gets a panicked call from Cassidy.  He rushes off - and Starr immediately gets on the phone to Featherstone and Hoover, calling them idiots and telling them to cancel the ambulance Cassidy has called.  Jesse gets back to the apartment to find Tulip bleeding out on the kitchen floor and Cassidy trying to save her.  The bullet went right through her and there is blood everywhere.  They can't stop the bleeding.  Cassidy begs Jesse to use the Voice and Jesse tries it, but it still isn't working.  A frantic Cassidy decides that the only way to save her is to turn her into a vampire but Jesse pulls him off her.  They fight, Cassidy nearly feral, as Tulip convulses and struggles to breathe.  Jesse holds Cassidy back and Tulip breathes her last as they watch.  Cassidy is all why? I could have saved her and she might not have been like Dennis.  Jesse, reluctantly, is all, there really is another way.

So then they are in Tulip's car, her lifeless body in the backseat, driving to Angelville.  The fear and sadness on Jesse's face is palpable.  Cassidy can't believe that Jesse let her die and says, "There's something I want to say.  Something I been meaning to tell you for a long time.  I hate you."  Jesse all but rolls his eyes: "You hate me now?  Just you wait."  And as they turn down the L'Angell driveway, that damn chicken runs across the road.

The tag: God is still alive, in a hotel room somewhere, jazz on the radio, dog costume hanging up, beer cans and pill bottles strewn across the rumpled bed.  We don't get to see Him, but when the toilet flushes and the bathroom door opens, the room is flooded with glory and light.

Previously on Preacher / next time on Preacher

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Preacher recap S2E12 "On Your Knees" 9/4/17

We start off back in Hell, where Eugene and Hitler have landed in the Hole.  As they go into another running of Eugene's personal hell, Hitler reminds him that he has to work his way out of it so they can get out the back door.  They run through a couple of iterations - Eugene kissing Tracy and her shooting herself; Eugene turning her down and her shooting herself; the two of them agreeing to just be friends, Tracy asking to see his penis and then her shooting herself - before Eugene figures it out and gets through a scenario that doesn't end with her shooting herself.  Hitler tries to open the bedroom window but it's still stuck, so Eugene hasn't worked through everything yet.  Next: Eugene's scout leader in a furry mascot suit (who apparently abused Eugene on a camping trip (unnecessary) so Eugene shoots him); and then Eugene's dad (with a ass-face from shooting himself).  When Eugene and his dad work through their shit and tell each other "I love you," Hitler finally can get the window open and he and Eugene scarper.  I'm just really not sure how all this Eugene in Hell with Hitler stuff fits in with the larger Preacher story.

Back in Louisiana, we spend a couple of weeks with the Saint of Killers as he's stuck in that truck at the bottom of the Angelville swamp.  In flashback, we get to see him happy with his wife and child, then their deaths that sent him over the edge, etc. etc.  In the now, eventually, the Grail hauls the truck out of the swamp - replacing it with an empty one which Jesse and Tulip found last episode - and takes it to an empty warehouse.  Hoover is in charge and he leaves the Saint in there for another week, until the killer is willing to listen.  The Grail says they can't get him what he wants (entry to Heaven for eternity with his wife and daughter) but he agrees to work with them anyway.

In the New Orleans apartment, Cassidy finds Dennis poking around in his bedroom, looking for something.  The older vampire kicks his son out, then opens the wardrobe, where he has hidden the chihuahua puppy.  He gives the puppy an ear rub and tells him he'll be safe there.  I knew Dennis would want to eat that dog!  Cassidy wanders out to the kitchen where (1) Tulip is moping about Jesse and (2) Featherstone and Hoover are watching them - bored - over the CCTV.  Cassidy and Tulip are developing a nice rapport, giving each other massive amounts of shit, although Cassidy does get a little distracted by the pulse of blood coursing through the vein in her neck.  Jesse finally comes back.  He doesn't want to talk about the search for God but he's looking for a drink.  Luckily, Cassidy has a homemade "potash" in his room.

The boys head to Cassidy's room while Tulip takes out the trash.  On her way back down the hall, the Saint shows up.  She quakes for a moment then regains her mojo and launches herself at him.  Unfazed, he swats her away, knocking her into the wall and knocking her out.  The Saint stalks through the apartment (you can hear Cassidy and Jesse talking from a couple rooms away), pausing to pick a knife out of a kitchen cabinet.  He takes a smaller one than you might expect.  He pulls down a blind, then stands in the shadows, observing his quarry.  Music is coming from Dennis's room, however, and he goes to investigate.

On the balcony outside Cassidy's room, the boys are sipping at a bright green concoction in a mason jar.  Jesse chokes down a mouthful, spluttering.  Cassidy: "What? Too much Neosporin?"  Heh.  They decide to switch to beer and go back into the apartment.  Jesse notices the adjusted blind.  Behind him, Cassidy squeals as he gets tossed down the hallway.  The Saint comes in and confronts Jesse but when Jesse tries to use the Genesis Voice on him, it doesn't work for some reason.  Cassidy attacks the Saint from behind and the killer nonchalantly throws him headfirst into the built-in bookcase.  Jesse holds his own for a while with some fisticuffs, then a reawakened Tulip goes after him with a fireplace poker.  He tosses her aside again, grabs Jesse and forces him to his knees.  The Saint is just about to scalp Jesse - yikes! - when the cavalry arrives.  It's the administrators from Hell, called in by Herr Starr, and here to take the Saint back to his Hell cell.  He doesn't put up a fight because they tell him his cell is empty and must be filled - if not by him, then perhaps by his wife or daughter.  "You can't do that," he growls but the administrator shrugs: "God is gone.  Who's gonna stop me?"

As the Hell wagon drives off with the Saint, Tulip and Cassidy go off to the hospital in an ambulance.  But the logo on the ambulance reads A DIVISION OF GRAIL INDUSTRIES and it takes them to Starr's office instead.  Starr tells him the situation: Jesse is in position to become the Messiah and they're just holding him back.  "Given that the fate of the universe is at stake, how shall we proceed?" he wants to know.

On t.v., the Pope tells the faithful that God is gone, really gone.  But the Messiah, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, is poised to step up.  Jesse shuts off the television and when Tulip and Cassidy get back, with WTF looks on their faces, asks them if they want to go get breakfast.

They go to a diner and after Cassidy spins some yarn about seeing a unicorn, they get down to asking Jesse WTF.  The problem is, Jesse thinks he can do it, thinks he can be the Messiah.  And Cassidy is all, I'm not really down with this - following you around and being all glory to Lord Jesse and all does not sound that fun.  Tulip is biting her tongue but can't stop rolling her eyes.  She looks at him sadly.  "I love you, Jesse, 'til the end of the world.  But you gotta be honest with me.  What do you need us for?"  And he can't answer her.

As the Saint walks into his Hell cell, he tells the administrator, "Tell Satan I want a word."  She replies, "He'll want a word with you as well."  So that could be fun!

Jesse leaves the diner - Tulip and Cassidy already long gone - and goes to Starr's office.  He asks Starr what happens next.  Starr gets up from behind his desk and kneels at Jesse's feet, placing the preacher's hand on his bald head in benediction.  Oh, that's just going to feed Jesse's ego big time.

Previously on Preacher / next time on Preacher