'Preacher' Recap: 'Finish the Song'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

Sometimes in life, we simply snap. Issues at home or work begin to mount up, and despite our best efforts to keep a cool and level head, we simply cannot. Our tempers take over and we let loose, blowing steam in whatever direction we can. Often times this means something as simple as telling someone off or letting loose with a rant or a tantrum and that's usually as far as it goes. But when it comes to Preacher, well when folks snap on this show...the results are ugly to say the least.

'Finish the Song' is an episode that saw so many characters finally unleash their inner fury in ways that many of us never quite expected. Granted, life hasn't been easy for anyone in Annville as of late so it should come as no surprise...but to see people go as far as they did last night, well, it made this particular story a little on the scary side. Take Sheriff Root for example. This is a lawman who has spoken time and time again of how tough the world is, how much the random acts of violence disgust him and well...last night he decided to become a statistic of his own and cross that line in stunning fashion when he came face to face with the badly injured Seraphim in the bathtub of the hotel room that belonged to our two Angel friends. At first it seemed as though he would do the right thing, but somewhere in that moment, all the fury that's been building within him boiled over and he granted her wish for death by strangling the life out of her. Granted we understand that she will be just fine...but wow, to see the Sheriff do this was absolutely jaw dropping.

However since so many people went off the deep end last night, there was one character that truthfully, pulled off an even bigger shocker than the Sheriff's decision...Emily. Yes, the sweetest gal on the planet, the one who serves as Jesse's impromptu conscience also crossed a big line last night when Tulip pulled her in for an important favor...having her help feed the ailing Cassidy in an effort to heal him, while she went off to Albuquerque to deal with the man that double crossed she and Jesse.  It seemed like no big deal at first. All she had to do was toss an animal or two behind the door and let him feast away but instead, she made a phone call to her brand new boyfriend the Mayor, asking for his help and when he showed up...she tossed him into that bedroom with Cassidy and let the poor vampire feed. You read that right. Innocent and mousey Emily, the gal who rarely raises her voice and wants nothing more than to serve God and the church and do right in life...totally let a vampire eat her freaking boyfriend without a second thought. 

How, or why she came to this decision, at the moment we simply don't know. Perhaps there's a darker side to Emily none of us ever knew existed or...it could be she wasn't good with the fact that the Mayor more or less muscled his way into her life whether she liked it or not, creating a case of one good person pushed to their limit and if that was why she did it, she was in fine company since the Cowboy's story was also a focus last night as we were finally witness as to what happened after he discovered his beloved wife and child had passed away...he returned to Ratwater and dealt with everyone that ever harmed him. But there was more to his story last night than just showing us how skilled he is at murdering folks...at long last we know now how he fits into this crazy story about a Preacher possessed, since our two enterprising angels made a voyage to Hell...to find this man and enlist his help in returning to Earth to kill Jesse and free Genesis so they can take it back where it belongs. 

Every single plot line is coming together a mere week before the season finale and the show deserves some serious credit for getting a touch philosophical when it comes to Hell, and the notion that it is nothing more than the worst moment, or moments of your life put on repeat for you to live over and over again is pretty terrifying to say the least. But beyond that little tidbit, this was one intense and dark episode. To see so many characters just crack like this was out right incredible and one has to wonder just how all of this will tie together come next week seeing as how Jesse now has the phone and angel hands with which to call God Himself and invite Him down to a church service that will no doubt be packed to the brim. Will the Sheriff and Emily confess their new founds sins at this service? Will the Cowboy arrive to make things interesting? We'll just have to tune in to find out, either way, it should be one hell of a season finale come next week.

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