'Preacher' Recap: 'Monster Swamp'

​Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

Slowly but surely, Preacher is starting to come together. The plot still isn't moving forward at a break neck pace, but this week's episode managed to provide us with some pleasant surprises by once more making characters the focus of the story. While last week focused squarely on Jesse and what kind of man he is, this week's episode, 'Monster Swamp', focused on the people of Annville, giving us some in depth insight into the colorful people of this town that surround Jesse on his newfound journey toward righteousness.

If anything, this was an excellent move by the show, because over the past few weeks we have been introduced to one character after another a breakneck pace, so it was nice to slow everything down and really get to know some of these people, especially considering that some of them, like say Odin Quinncannon, have only had a few minutes of screen time. In fact his story was perhaps the most fascinating one of the night, but before we explore that mysterious man and his ancient company, let's talk about what else we learned about Jesse's friends.  

For starters, it turns out that Tulip is one angry, angry lady. Sure the show has hinted at it, but last night is the first time we saw that kind of fury on display. It's fascinating to see her fight for every single cause that she can and one has to wonder exactly what from her past always has her feeling as though she needs to be some kind of a pioneer for vigilante justice. Granted, she's in the right when it comes to her causes but her temper damn near got her in big trouble this week when she went after Clive from QM&P, and ended up causing pretty epic harm to Cassidy. It should be interesting to see where her relationship with him goes from here, considering she now knows that he is indeed a vampire. 

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But in addition to learning more about Tulip and her fury, this episode also put to bed our concerns about where Cassidy's loyalties lie since he warned Jesse about the angels that have come for his new found gift and well...he was happy to exploit the situation to gather everything he needs to stay high and happy as often as possible. Yet while it was hilarious to watch Cassidy do his thing once again, we do need to take a moment and discuss Odin Quinncannon and his journey on the show last night because this is perhaps the most mysterious character on the show to date and finally, we have some insight as to who he is and what he is all about in this life.

The fact of the matter, is that he simply cares about nothing else but his business and its success, and maintaining the power that QM&P currently enjoys over Annville County. People and their lives are nothing more than a nuisance to him and well, he's truly a boring man with a boring life and the only reason he's fascinating to watch is because while it's clear there's not much to him now, at some point there was something that drove him in life and it will be fascinating to find out what changed him and it isn't until Jesse convinces him to come to church on a bribe for more land do we truly understand how little his and anyone else's humanity matters to him. This is where the episode came back around full circle to Jesse once again and well...I have to hand it to Preacher, he truly has the best intentions in mind now. 

His speech was actually a stirring one to say the least, as he tore into a full pulpit for abandoning God and well, his use of Odin as a keystone player in a plot to bring people back to the church was nothing short of genius. But of course, considering the fact that here have been some interesting side effects related to the use of Jesse's power...one has to wonder what will come of his command for Odin to serve God. Either way, this was a seriously entertaining episode and it was wonderful to see what makes some of the characters tick. It gives me hope that Preacher is setting the stage for a grand plot, one that will come together in lightening quick fashion. But while we wait for that to get underway, it should be entertaining to see what will happen with a newly inspired Odin come next week. Until then.

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