‘Preacher’ Recap: ‘The Lost Apostle’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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Whether or not you’re a fan of religion, I think we can all agree upon the fact that it has maintained a huge influence over modern society. For we’ve fought wars in the name of religion, we’ve structured our laws around common sense lessons that every book of faith out there has taught us and even in 2019, the power of religion is something that rears its head thanks to the power of modern technology. But while it still holds weight with so many and continues to influence a great many lives, there are still a lot of questions that linger over these beliefs. Because man’s interpretation has left some things in these good books a touch unclear, such as how no one seems to understand exactly what God wants, and for proof, just take a look at the structure of the modern Bible.
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Because for quite some time in that book, He was an angry deity, one that would quite literally rain down fire and brimstone or drown a few folks all because of our actions and our selfishness. Yet, it didn’t take long for the Lord to suddenly become filled with mercy since He sent his only son down to earth to absolve mankind of sin. If anything, these conflicts in character reinforce the confusion revolving around His wishes, and what exactly God is looking to accomplish and obtain when it comes to His master plan is something that Preacher decided to explore in its next episode, ‘The Lost Apostle’. For this story had us spend a lot of time with God, wherein we learned that this is an omnipotent being that finds joy in being adored and respected, as evidenced by his reflective moments involving his greatest hits from the Bible.

Plus we also came to learn that He is indeed an all-knowing creature, since He was able to sniff out the fact that Herr Starr lost Humperdoo somewhere along the line and He has been waiting for the Allfather to reveal the truth, and boy did Starr pay the price for finally having his lies exposed. But all of those interesting character moments aside, it’s what He wants that continued to make this tale fascinating, because the story really didn’t answer that question in the slightest. We just know that the Lord wants to complete his ultimate plan, and whatever that is, involves Jesse and his friends, since he seemingly let Tulip discover his little model motif, in order to bring Jesse to the devastating moment that this tale ended with. 

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But before we get to that, we need to talk about the Saint of Killers and the hilarious rescue operation that also happened in this episode since all of that was incredibly worth our while. For we finally came to learn exactly why the Saint has been chasing down Jesse after all this time, and it wasn’t to murder Jess with impunity for sending him to Hell, it was to join forces, so the Saint could bring down God for making him suffer so dearly. And it was just fascinating to see the Saint do his best to convince Jesse to do things his way and thank heavens that Tulip and Cass were able to orchestrate Jesse’s escape before the tense dynamic between these unlikely and uncomfortable ‘allies’ caused more harm than good. Which brings us to the rescue operation in question because that… was the stuff of comedy legend.
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I mean come on, both Tulip and Cass driving into Melbourne with a chip on their shoulders and immediately flexing up on the local police there, in order to get as close to Jesse as possible? That’s just the best, and watching Tulip toss everything’s off the commissioner’s desk left me in stitches because that was just too much. But while it was nice to see them finally come to terms with their feelings for Jesse, and go above and beyond in saving him, clearly God’s plan involved bringing Jesse down at the first chance he could. For in the closing moments of this episode, God’s nuclear plan went off without a hitch and he was able to rattle the plane carrying Jesse and his friends, and in effort to keep them safe, our favorite padre let himself fall to the ground, seemingly losing his life in the process.

Which is, one hell of a heavy and bold ending to say the least, especially when one considers that we are still several weeks from the series finale, and this could have all kinds of repercussions across the show, especially when it comes to the Grail’s apocalyptic plans and well, I’m really not sure where we go from here and that makes this episode brilliant in its own right. Because this particular tale more or less ignites one’s imagination, since it leaves us with so many questions and continues to build upon the Lord’s mystique and I love that, and it makes me want more and it stinks that once again I have to wait week to see what happens to Jesse’s soul (because let’s not forget about the deal Gran’Ma made for it), because this week’s tale just made the final season all the more juicier. Until next time.    

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