'Preacher' Recap: 'Pig'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

So, where does a television show go once it decides to resolve a plot line revolving around a villain way ahead of schedule? Well...if you're AMC's Preacher, you go all out, that's for sure. Because not only did last night's episode, 'Pig', provide us with a storyline that dealt with the fallout from battling the Saint of Killers, it also introduced the new big bad for season two in stunning, and hilarious fashion, along with all kinds of details about the secret organization that's been lurking in the shadows this year. So, since we have lots to cover when it comes to this particular tale. Let's get right down to it.  

Let's start with the whole matter of fallout from the showdown with the Saint because holy cow, there was plenty of that go round, especially when it comes to Tulip and Jesse. For starters, it would seem that by making contact with the Saint and surviving that encounter (a rarity, no doubt) that Tulip is fundamentally changed. She cannot shake the horror of that moment and it's breaking her down minute by minute to the point where she's risking her life to even feel remotely alive or normal for that matter, and in a weird way it almost seems as though his touch, is a little slice of death that infects those he comes into contact with and who knows if there is a cure for that kind of poison.  

If anything, what made Tulip's story so fascinating is the fact that I think we expected Jesse to fall deeper into some strange emotional sinkhole just as she did, since he's the one who gave up a bit of his soul to defeat the Saint and well, while he didn't go into the darkness, he's definitely not in a good place after this encounter. There's some severe regret pouring out of Jesse for giving up that tiny 1% of his soul to save his friends. In part due to the fact that there seems to be a lack of gratitude from Tulip over saving the day regardless of the fact he was indeed a minute late to the whole mess, but also because...by giving a tiny part of himself to that monster, and sending that tiny part to Hell...Jesse has put the redemption he so desperately seeks into jeopardy...

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But while all of this, and the fact that Denis wants Cassidy to turn him into a vampire to stave off death, was downright fascinating and would have served just fine as an amazing standalone episode, as I mentioned before, there's a new bad guy and evil organization to deal with on this show and at long last, we now know who the people in white suits with red ties work for, they work for an organization known as The Grail. As it turns out, these men and women have some interesting goals in mind. For starters, they work to protect their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who is alive and well and under lock and key and machine gun guard and they are also hellbent on ensuring the survival of Christ's bloodline since the Messiah fathered a child before he died, and most importantly, they work behind the scenes to keep mankind focused on Christianity and the salvation it can provide in order to maintain order and control over the world once the end of the world arrives. 

The top man in charge of this bold and powerful quest, is the strange bloke we met a few weeks ago, a Mister Herr K. Starr and the show took its time to properly introduce us to the man and let's be honest, he stole the freakin' show. Not only did this man just so happen to provide the biggest laughs of the night, with his unique solution to getting out of a headlock and quite frankly...his amazing one liners since I'll never be able to use the phrase 'I have to see it to believe it' without cracking up ever again, we also learned that he's going to be quite the formidable monster. He will truly stop at nothing to ensure a streamlined world full of order and unity and for proof, look no further than the moment where he murdered the man who recruited him into The Grail so that he could be in charge and do things right and wouldn't you know it...he's headed to New Orleans to deal with Jesse Custer...

Regardless, it is simply amazing how much stuff this series is starting to pack into a single hour. This completely felt like two separate episodes, seamlessly blended together and the credit for that goes to the writer of this episode; Olivia Dufault. Seriously, this was an outright screenwriting clinic so my thanks go out to Olivia for putting together one amazing episode because this one had it all. There were tender moments, a fear of the unknown and of course plenty of laughs thanks to Herr Starr and truly, this show is doing such a good job with its writing that once again, I'm left counting down the minutes to next week to see what incredible things await us when it comes to this completely amazing series. Until next time. ​

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