‘Preacher’ Recap: ‘Fear of the Lord’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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​There are a great many elements that go into making a quality television series. For starters, it needs to feature a unique premise, and it also needs a quality cast that we love to watch and above all else, it needs to feature some magnificent writing, the kind that blows us away with some compelling storytelling, and that’s precisely why I’ve been such a fan of AMC’s Preacher. Because over the course of its four-year run, its accomplished those respective goals week in and week out, and as an added bonus, it’s also found way to put things on the screen that I, quite frankly, never thought I would see in my lifetime, much less on a television series and I guess it should come as no surprise that stunning and unexpected moments are going to become a staple for the series in its final episodes. Because the time has indeed come for the series, to ‘go for broke’ and wow us with as many memorable moments as possible and for proof, look no further than last night’s episode.
 
For ‘Fear of the Lord’ saw Herr Starr and the Grail at their absolute lowest points. Because a group of cannibals that lived in the Outback, found Starr and ‘nursed’ him back to health by replacing his proverbial plumbing with literal plumbing, and they even fed him his own damn leg in a fine stew, and all of this outright shattered the Allfather. To complicate matters further, upon his return to Grail HQ (thanks to an assist from Featherstone), Humperdoo’s absence prompted both Hitler and Jesus Christ to present their own replacement plan when it comes to the presentation to the Messiah and this brought forth one of the wild moments in question. Because at no point in my life did I ever think I would see a creative iteration of Jesus Christ, straight up breakdance to Run DMC’s ‘It’s Tricky’, but here we are, and it was hilarious and out there and the wild moments didn’t end with this dance number.
 
For while Starr worked to get his bearings and figure how out to reclaim his beauty and his leg, Cass and Tulip were working on a three-month long plan to draw out God, so he could bear witness to the end of Humperdoo and well, this plan was a straight up failure through and through. Because at no point did the Lord bother to swing by and speak to them, and it would seem that’s because He outright knew that they were incapable of hurting the Messiah, a point hammered home when the Grail came knocking. For when Tulip was given the chance to quite literally send Humperdoo to the Moon with a metric ton of high explosives, she didn’t take it in the slightest, and that left her and Cass in a tough place since they  would have to head back to Masada to rescue the little guy. That is, after they cleaned off all the vomit they were covered in and after Tulip removed the axe she plunged into Cass’ chest during her moment of murderous weakness.
 
But while all of this was fascinating to watch in its own right, the centerpiece storyline of the night once again belonged to Jesse Custer. For we finally came to learn exactly why he was cast down into Hell and it turns out that the Padre was right all along in regard to this being a test from the Lord Almighty, and after enduring some horrific physical and mental trials in the depths of Hell, he was finally granted the second chance he so craved and returned to Earth resurrected and wiser. But a meeting with God removed any joy from this moment. Because the Lord made it clear that there was no way that Jesse was ever going to prove himself worthy or potentially save humanity through sacrifice, since God, more or less believes that we are incapable of doing anything good, and that we’ve also ‘had a good run’. And He hammered home His resolve to end us by teaching Jesse quite the lesson in respect, by sucking his damn eyeball out before informing him that he still had a role to play in the End Times and to bring his friends to the show. And while it’s great that the trio is reunited, one has to wonder what horrors await them now that we know that the Apocalypse is barreling toward its completion.
 
However, all bleakness aside, this really was quite the brilliant episode through and through. Because this one kept my attention from the get-go and I won’t lie, when Jesus hit the cardboard, I lost it and laughed so damn hard that I had to pause the episode after that sequence came to a close just to wipe the tears from my eyes and to catch my breath. That’s simply how epic this episode turned out to be, and the title of this one is about as spot on as it gets since there is definite reason to fear the Lord at this point since He is clearly ready to wreak havoc on a whim and well, at this point one has to wonder exactly how Jesse can save the world from a being that can do anything it wants. And it should be interesting to see what Jesse does next, now that he is armed with the knowledge that he and his friends have been pawns in God’s plans, all along. Until next time.  

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