'Preacher' Recap: 'Damsels'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

The search for God, and the search for faith for that matter, have long been staples of fiction as a whole for one reason and one reason alone...it's a damn interesting idea. We are fascinated with what causes people to lose faith, and we are equally as intruiged as to what would drive someone to reclaim it, and just how far they'll go to find it, and while those stories are often inspiring and uplifting, leave it to a show like Preacher to take it the next level and make the search for God/faith as literal and wild as it can get, making Monday's episode of the show, 'Damsels', one awesome and thoughtful tale. 

It kept the intrigue and wonder that the plot has provided us with this season rolling and rolling hard and to top it off, it truly did make the search for God one wild and crazy event, in fact it seems that to some people, 'Finding God' involves a sex act with a man dressed like a Dalmatian. But rather just deliver us with a site to site search for God and nothing more, this particular episode went above and beyond and did some interesting new things with the characters, specifically...they're growing in ways we never quite expected, especially Jesse. But before we get to his journey this episode, let's take a moment talk about Tulip's, since her evolution took us to all kinds of interesting places.

If anything, what I liked most Tulip's arc this episode, is the sheer fact that it played out in realistic fashion. She was terrified and miserable when it came to the idea of returning to New Orleans. She knew full well that someone would spot her and that information would get back to Viktor and rather than quickly own up and let everyone know of what kind of trouble she's actually in with this guy; she shielded the truth from Cassidy and Jesse all in the hopes of sparing their feelings and to keep them out of trouble before outright owning up to the whole situation by putting herself in a position to get caught by Viktor's men, and seeing someone hide the truth from their friends and loved ones to spare them...is painfully real world and extremely relatable. But what I truly appreciated about this storyline, is that Tulip finally had enough when it comes to running from her problems and is facing them head on, regardless of the consequences, and that's some serious growth on her part. 

Which brings us back to Jesse Custer and his journey the other night. Because it would seem that he too is growing into something more. When we first met this character, he was lost, angry and dejected and he only served a greater cause because he felt he had to. But in this episode, something clearly changed as his Holy search progressed. In-between the consistent failures in his search to find God, which were often hilarious I might add, he finally found a hot lead regarding a singer who had potential information on the Lord's whereabouts and well...while her intel wasn't that great, it led Jesse to run into a couple of big surprises. Because the singer, named Lara, was kidnapped shortly after Jesse confronted her about what she knows and it turns out there's a super secret organization hell bent on world domination out there, and they seem to know God's missing and Jesse...is starting to become a bonafide hero. He was selfless in helping her, he seems to be getting a command on Genesis and has a better idea of how and when to use it and it is simply awesome to see him finally become something more in this story and embrace this power for good. 

Of course, it stinks that Lara is involved with this evil group, since her exploitation of Jesse has no doubt revealed truth to the fact that God is missing and of course, made Genesis public knowledge in the evil doer community, and to make matters worse...it would seem God's favorite jazz song relates to the end of the world. So despite the good character growth this go round, there's definitely an ominous cloud hanging over the story now...but hey, at least we know that Eugene is relatively safe in Hell, and it would seem he's about to get a rare perspective on the place since his Worst Memory Generator is down...so that's a plus, right? Either way, this was another wonderful episode, and I love the fact that this season is giving us just enough to keep us hooked and that the story seems to be building to something quite epic, so it should be interesting to see what surprises we are in for next week, since I'm certain a dual search for God and Tulip is coming up...and I am dying to learn more about Herr K. Smith and his evil organization. Until next time.  

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