'Preacher' Recap: 'Gonna Hurt'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

There are a great many reasons that I’m a fan of AMC’s Preacher. It’s unconventional, it’s hilarious and unexpectedly gory and it really is one of the most creative and fascinating comic book adaptations out there. But of the many reasons that I tune into this series week after week, only one of them stands out above the rest; the characters. Because Jesse and Cassidy and Tulip are about as dynamic as they come and what happens to them in this this tale matters because it is inherently obvious they’re good people looking for true redemption, and much like the rest of us, they make plenty of mistakes along the way, and watching these characters stumble and grow is all part of the journey.
 
And the sole reason that I’m taking the time to discuss character development as a whole today, is because that’s precisely what last night’s episode of the series, ‘Gonna Hurt’, took the time to focus upon. Because unfortunately, we are starting to see some of the worst parts of these characters on display as all the bad blood that remains unresolved from their time in New Orleans is continuing to grow and the dark nature of Angelville is slowly pushing this trio toward some bad decisions and that made this particular tale fascinating to say the least as we watched all three of them make poor choices over the course of the hour, but for what they believe to be all the right reasons.
 
Take Jesse and Cassidy for instance, who firmly believed that their actions in this tale were grounded in good nature since both men had protection on their mind. Cassidy believed he needed to protect Tulip and get her out of this place and obtained a love spell from Gran’Ma as insurance for her safety (and for selfish reasons, no doubt) because he was steadfast on not leaving this place without her and Jesse…well our intrepid Preacher lied and hurt his newly declared best friend to keep his secret as a vampire safely in the shadows, even going so far as to fulfill Cass’ quip about being a main attraction by making him the headliner of the strange fights that happen in the Tombs and the strange behavior in this tale didn’t end there. 

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​Because Tulip spent the hour trying to atone for her mistakes from the last episode and enact a rescue plan of her own to get everyone out of this awful town and oddly enough, her journey in this tale made for some incredibly memorable moments since we saw her outright challenge God after he declared her to be a screw up and really, that conversation is what seems to have emboldened her to make that rescue plan come to fruition since she took a crash course in voodoo over the course of the hour in order to find a way to break the blood compact between Gran’Ma and Jess, and she even took the time to confront Madame Boyd in her establishment to see if she could fight voodoo with voodoo.
 
However, while all of this was fascinating in its own right and perhaps infuriating in its own special way because damnit, these characters are better than that, what makes this seemingly dark turn worthwhile, is understanding the motivating factor that is leading everyone to make these goofy mistakes; fear. Because let’s be honest this trio is scared right now, and rightfully so. Because a year ago they were laser focused on finding God and saving the world and nothing has gone right since then and now, they’re lost, in a place they don’t want to be and facing an uncertain future and that’s downright terrifying and their individual fears are only making matters worse.
 
If anything, the easy way out of this problem is for the trio is enjoy some kind of a win or break when it comes to escaping Angelville, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen anytime soon, which means I firmly believe we are about to bear witness to the Trio’s darkest hour to date. Either way, this was just another amazing episode from this series, since it was filled with poignant moments, some solid laughs and even a Journey reference for the win and once again, the slow burn approach to storytelling in this tale is paying off in spades because I love a good character study and I really am dying to know exactly what will happen down the road to finally snap the crew out of their ugly funk. Until next time. 

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