Con SuiteThe Reactor

Recap: Preacher – On the Road & Mumbai Sky Tower

By Miclpea
SPOILER ALERT-Preacher- Season Two-Do not read if you have not seen episodes one and two of Preacher.

Quote of the Week- “Music is the answer.”

The second season of AMC’s Preacher opened with a two night, two-episode premiere on Sunday, June 25 and Monday, June 26. The episodes are titled respectively, On the Road and Mumbai Sky Tower. Or a more appropriate title for the two-episode premiere could be, Jesse’s Search for God.

On the Road opens with the Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy driving to see a religious scholar named Mike, who is an old friend of Jesse. Cassidy is enlightening them with a risqué “fact” about discarded male baby tissue being used as an ingredient in face cream (no, you really do not want to know more). As they argue about the validity of this statement, a state trooper sees them speeding down the highway, does a U-turn, and starts pursuing them. He is soon joined by other state troopers.

Tulip initially eludes the troopers through superior driving, until they run out of gas. The troopers pull Jesse and Tulip out of their car. Cassidy comes out of the car smoking a joint and holding an umbrella over his head. He is tackled by a trooper and handcuffed. One of the troopers is holding an umbrella over Cassidy’s head until he is ordered to stop. Cassidy catches on fire and runs into the patrol car and eventually under the car to avoid the sun.

At this point, Jesse uses the Genesis voice to order the state troopers to perform different actions, most of them nonsensical. The one exception s to order a trooper to gas up their car. Tulip continues a discussion with Jesse that started earlier in the car about the use of Genesis. She feels that it is unfair. Although she does not mention it, it is obvious from Jesse’s face that he is enjoying using the power too much. The conversation stops abruptly when one of the troopers is almost blown to bits. It is the Cowboy from Hell firing upon them. He continues to fire as Jesse, the troopers, and Tulip run for cover. The troopers shoot at the Cowboy while Jesse rescues Cassidy. Tulip siphons gas for their car using an intestine from one of the dead troopers. They escape in Tulip’s car as one of the troopers’ cars explodes and slows down the Cowboy.

They stop at a gas station for supplies and for Tulip to “wash the taste” out of her mouth. Jesse tells the proprietor to pretend that they were never there. The crew does yet know anything about the Cowboy from Hell, especially his supernatural nature. The scene is darkly comical as there is an intestine hanging from their gas cap and Cassidy has cat fur on his mouth from the cat that he had drained earlier in the gas station.

Graham McTavish as The Saint of Killers – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 1 – Photo Credit: Skip Bolen/AMC

The Cowboy from Hell eventually makes it to the gas station. It is interesting to note that this gunslinger is always walking after Jesse. He never uses any other method of transportation. When the Cowboy asks the proprietor about Jesse, the poor proprietor is unable to answer, so he pulls out the proprietor’s tongue.

Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy reach the home of Jesse’s scholarly friend, Mike. Jesse goes to find Mike while Tulip and Cassidy wait in the car. While they are waiting for Jesse to return, Cassidy experiences a moment of desire for Tulip. He wants to tell Jesse about their one night stand. Tulip is adamantly against it. She ends their discussion with an emphatic “no!” As they sit there quietly, they hear a noise. They go in search of the cause.

They find a woman in a cage, named Ashley, who begs them for their phone before Mike returns. As he walks into the room, he tells them that they need to go inside where they cannot hear Ashley. Tulip starts to argue but Jesse tells her that it is none of their business.

In the house, Mike tells them where they can find the facilities. Ashley can be heard pleading for a phone. Mike tells her to be quiet or he will call her parents. This stops her pleading. He explains to Tulip that his parishioners come to him to curb their urges. He puts them in a covered cage to help them. Both Tulip and Cassidy question what he is doing, for different reasons, but Mike quickly shuts them down. He asks Jesse why he has come to visit him.

Jesse relates to Mike why he has come seeking Mike’s help. To his credit, Mike believes Jesse but he also tells Jesse that he cannot help. While Mike goes to talk to Ashley, Tulip asks Jesse questions about a family album that she has been perusing. It has pictures of Jesse’s family. As she asks questions about the album and the nature of the pictures, Jesse is clearly uncomfortable. There are no pictures of his mother’s family at the wedding.

When Mike returns, he asks them if they are spending the night. In another comical moment, Mike puts Jesse, Cassidy, and Tulip in the same bed. Cassidy’s snoring wakes Jesse in the middle of the night. He goes for a smoke outside, where Mike joins him. Mike asks Jesse for a demonstration of Genesis. Jesse obliges Mike. The power of Genesis scares Mike but it makes him realize that he must help Jesse. He tells Jesse about a parishioner, Tammy, who was in the cage for alcoholism. Mike believes Tammy might have actually seen God. He gives Jesse a card for Tammy’s business, which is a gentlemen’s club.

Joseph Gilgun as Cassidy, Dominic Cooper as Jesse Custer, Ruth Negga as Tulip O’Hare – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 1 – Photo Credit: Skip Bolen/AMC

Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy leave the next morning. As Mike is washing dishes, the Cowboy from Hell arrives at Mike’s home. He immediately knows who the Cowboy is. Mike invites him to have a shot of whiskey. When the Cowboy asks where Jesse is, Mike gives him a number of frivolous answers based on song lyrics. The Cowboy asks Mike if he knows his identity. Mike answers that the cowboy is The Saint of Killers (TSOK). TSOK plans to extract the answer of Jesse’s location from Mike but Mike kills himself with a knife before TSOK can torture him. The most interesting thing about the encounter is that at no time did Mike show any fear of TSOK.

Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy arrive at She She’s, a gentlemen’s club (it is a real gentleman’s club in New Orleans.). Inside the club, Cassidy goes off to find “information” while Jesse goes to find Tammy, who turns out to be the manager of the establishment. They go to her office, where we see Cassidy on closed-circuit television in a private room with one of the dancers. Jesse tells Tammy that they are looking for God. Tammy is looking at the screen and calls her bouncer to go after Cassidy, who is touching one of the dancers. Tammy tells them that she saw God. She explains that He came in a couple of times that He asked the band to play a particular song each time. She tells Jesse that God will not answer his questions but only stare at Jesse as if he was made of glass.

Jesse is not satisfied with Tammy’s answer. He and Tulip start to argue about how to get more information from her. He wants to use Genesis but Tulip wants to beat the information out of Tammy. Tammy becomes increasingly alarmed and she calls her bouncer to her office but it is clear on the closed-circuit television that Doug, the bouncer, is occupied fighting with Cassidy. Tulip believes that God came back for a particular dancer. Tammy repeatedly calls for Doug. As Jesse prepares to use Genesis on her, an errant bullet from Doug’s gun fatally wounds her. As Tammy sits dying, Jesse uses the Genesis voice on her to find out which girl God was coming to see. Tammy tells him that God came for the jazz. Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy escape through the main dance room, where a jazz group is playing.

Later, at their motel, where there is convention of gun lovers, Jesse casually uses the Genesis voice to move people out of his path. Jesse gives Cassidy the key to his room before he and Tulip go to their room. Tulip, as foreplay, locks herself in the bathroom. Jesse recognizes this as his queue to fight for his woman. He breaks down the door to reach her. A night of torrid lovemaking follows, while Cassidy watches TV. He sees something on television which piques his curiosity.

Later that night, Jesse goes for a cigarette. In the distance, he sees TSOK. He uses the Genesis voice several times but TSOK does not stop. Instead, TSOK points his revolver directly at Jesse.

Graham McTavish as The Saint of Killers – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 2 – Photo Credit: Skip Bolen/AMC/Sony Pictures Television

Mumbai Sky Tower opens at the exact moment that On the Road ended: with Jesse yelling at The Saint of Killers (TSOK) to stop. Not only does the Genesis voice not work on TSOK, he fires his angel-killing gun at Jesse. Fortunately for a Jesse, in what can only be described as an unbelievable coincidence, a driver in a van intercepts the bullet. The driver is instantly killed and the van crashes into TSOK. The motel inhabitants, with their assorted firearms, and Cassidy run outside to see what has happened. Jesse believes that TSOK is dead, however, he pushes the van off his body. Jesse orders the motel guests to fire on TSOK. They fire all of their weapons but TSOK just expels their bullets from his body.

Jesse runs back to the motel to get Tulip. Tulip is mesmerized by what she sees on television. She tells Jesse to look. She has been watching a news program about the explosion that destroyed Annville, TX, their hometown. Gunfire and Cassidy break Tulip and Jesse out of their daze over the destruction of Annville. They escape from the motel and TSOK.

Later, at a gas station, our crew tries to determine who TSOK is and how he always finds them. Tulip is still deeply affected by the loss of Annville. A stranger’s t-shirt jogs Cassidy’s memory about someone he saw on television who might shed some light on TSOK’s identity.

The scene shifts to few days earlier. Fiore, half of the angelic duo tasked with taking care of Genesis, is waiting at the same location where he and DeBlanc had boarded the bus to Hell. This time he takes a bus to the Mumbai Sky Tower, a hotel. When he arrives, he attempts to take his life several times but he is always reanimated. Finally, while he is sitting in the club, the lounge singer, Frank Patel, hands him a mic to sing with him. Instead, Fiore takes the mic, sticks it into water, and electrocutes himself. The audience is horrified until Fiore walks from behind the curtain. He gets a standing ovation and he is reborn as The Amazing Ganesh. The Amazing Ganesh is a magician who is killed by different methods each night but who is reanimated after each death. The show never explains how they dispose of his dead body.

Jesse. Tulip, and Cassidy find Fiore at the Mumbai Sky Tower. Tulip is still affected by the destruction of Annville, so she goes off by herself while Jesse and Cassidy confront Fiore. Sadly, for Jesse, Fiore is still angry about Genesis staying in Jesse; he is also still hurting over the loss of DeBlanc.

Fiore tells Jesse and Cassidy that his partner is dead. Cassidy is puzzled by the comment, since he believes that angels cannot be killed. Fiore assures him that his partner is dead. Jesse explains to Fiore that a strange cowboy is following them. However, Jesse makes a pivotal mistake when he calls Fiore by his dead partner’s name, DeBlanc. Fiore angrily tells Jesse that the Cowboy is not a man but The Saint of Killers. Fiore informs Jesse that nothing can stop TSOK except himself, since he hired TSOK to kill Genesis and Jesse in the first place. The conversation is momentarily interrupted by a fan who is a child in a wheelchair. The child is there for a photograph with Ganesh.

After the child leaves, Fiore tells Jesse that once they realized that Genesis would not go back, they knew that it had to be destroyed, as it is too powerful to be set free. Jesse asks what was the price paid by the Fiore to hire TSOK. Fiore refuses to answer, which causes Jesse to threaten to use the voice of Genesis. Fiore dares him to try. In an epiphanic moment, Jesse realizes that TSOK can locate Jesse when he uses the voice of Genesis.

Jesse decides to take another approach. He tells Fiore that they used the angel’s phone to call heaven. The angels in heaven told Jesse that God has gone missing. This comes as a surprise to Fiore, who tells Jesse that he has no idea where God has gone. Jesse makes a final plea for Fiore to call off TSOK and to help him find God. For a moment, it appears that Fiore might agree but he tells Jesse how he used to be happy before he came to Earth. Now he states profanely that he could not care less about anything. Before he leaves the room, he tells Jesse that he is Fiore that the other angel was DeBlanc, correcting Jesse’s mistaken assumption.

Jesse angrily starts after Fiore to beat him senseless before using the voice of Genesis on him. Cassidy stops Jesse and pleads with him to let Cassidy try. He asks for Jesse to give him two hours and forty-five minutes to reach Fiore. Jesse agrees to give Cassidy the time.

Meanwhile, Tulip has been sitting alone in the bar, trying to cope with the destruction of Annville. When Jesse arrives, she reminisces with him about her father, Walter, who was an alcoholic. Although he was an alcoholic who embarrassed her on more than one occasion, she still loved him. In this quiet moment, we see a truly vulnerable Tulip that we have never before seen. Jesse and Tulip decide to get a room to “wait” for Cassidy.

In bed, Jesse and Tulip discuss what they plan to do in the future. Jesse tells Tulip that the plan is still to find God. As they are talking, Jesse suddenly asks Tulip to marry him. He tells her that with Walter dead, he is her only family. He wants to make it official. Tulip’s first reaction is to say no, which she does with a slap to his face, but she eventually agrees.

Joseph Gilgun as Cassidy – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 2 – Photo Credit: Skip Bolen/AMC/Sony Pictures Television

Cassidy has started to work on Fiore. He brings an entire menu of illegal drugs to Fiore’s room. First, he cooks up a speed-ball for Fiore, which is so powerful that it kills him. After the initial dose, he steps down the dosage. What follows is a wild montage of Cassidy and Fiore on a combination of drugs, which loosen up Fiore, who explains his relationship with DeBlanc. As they continue to party, Cassidy eventually asks Fiore where dead angels go. Fiore pauses for a second before he sadly responds that it is an important question. Then their party picks up the pace as they start to develop a bromance.

Back at the chapel, Tulip and Jesse are waiting to get married. They decide to go to the bar to have a drink. It is clear that they are both viewing their upcoming nuptials with a degree of trepidation. As they are sitting there, Tulip sees a tall, powerfully built man watching her. She makes an excuse about the need to change her shirt in order to pursue the stranger but she loses him in the crowd. Later, in her room, after she has changed her shirt, there is a knock at her door. It is Gary, the stranger from the bar. He and Tulip know each other.

At the bar, Jesse sits with Fiore’s assistant, Frank Patel. Frank is lamenting the fact that people are so violent now. But he admonishes Jesse not to forget the answer. He explains to Jesse that irrespective of the question, music is the answer. This prompts Jesse to remember that Tammy said God came for the jazz. At that moment, Cassidy and Ganesh arrive in the bar.

Cassidy tells Jesse that everything is good. Cassidy believes that Fiore will call off TSOK. Jesse tells Cassidy that he and Tulip are getting married, which both surprises and confuses Cassidy. Cassidy is feeling a sense of loss as he clearly has feelings for Tulip.

Meanwhile, Tulip invites Gary into her room. He is there to report back to his boss, Victor, in New Orleans, about the status of his holdings. Apparently, Tulip is supposed to be working for Victor and he wants her to call. Tulip is reluctant to make the call. Gary starts to call Victor to let him know that he has found Tulip. Tulip tries to stop him but Gary is a very large, powerful man who effortlessly throws Tulip around the room. Tulip is able to grab an object, which happens to be the wedding chapel signaler. She uses it to beat Gary to death. Cassidy walks in amidst the chaos and blood. Tulip asks Cassidy not to tell Jesse about this incident and to clean up the mess as she leaves to meet Jesse in the chapel.

Tom Brooke as Fiore, Dominic Cooper as Jesse Custer – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 2 – Photo Credit: Skip Bolen/AMC/Sony Pictures Television

At the chapel, Jesse is waiting with Fiore. Fiore assures Jesse that TSOK will do as he says, as he hired him. Fiore warns Jesse about using Genesis because of the danger of its power. He reminds Jesse about Eugene (Arseface) whom Jesse inadvertently sent to Hell. Jesse had forgotten about Eugene. Jesse tells Fiore that he will use Genesis to find God if the chance arises. Fiore tells him that this would a big mistake but Jesse, in his arrogance, does not listen. Fiore realizes in that moment that Jesse has been corrupted by the power of Genesis and that Jesse will never willingly give it up, nor will it leave Jesse. Tulip arrives and calls off the wedding. She tells Jesse that she has changed her mind. She leaves to get Cassidy as Jesse watches.

As they prepare to leave, Cassidy gives a truly heartfelt farewell to Fiore, who is losing the only other friend he has ever known. Jesse asks Cassidy if something happened in Tulip’s room to change her mind, to which Cassidy answers in the negative, covering for Tulip, as she had asked him to do. Fiore wishes Jesse well in his search for God. Fiore asks Jesse where he is going next. Jesse says New Orleans, since it is the obvious choice if God loves jazz. Before he leaves, Jesse uses the Genesis voice to tell Fiore to find peace. Jesse assumes that when TSOK finds Fiore that Fiore will end the contract on Jesse and Genesis.

Fiore returns to his empty room and then his dressing room. He repeatedly says “find peace.” TSOK arrives and asks if their deal still holds. Fiore tells TSOK that if he kills Genesis that TSOK will see his family again. Fiore says that Jesse cannot be trusted with the power of Genesis. He tells TSOK that Jesse has gone to New Orleans. Before TSOK leaves, Fiore asks him to do another job. At his last performance, TSOK shoots and kills the Amazing Ganesh for the final time. The audience strangely boos the fact that the Amazing Ganesh is really dead!

The season two premiere episodes are a true roller coaster ride. The shows swings from dark comedy to the most profound question of looking for God. There are heartfelt moments such as when Tulip describes Walter’s drunken moments to scenes of wild car chases, drug-induced debauchery, and finally their search for God. This search crosses into the bizarrely absurd when we learn that God went to a gentlemen’s club only because he wanted to listen to jazz.

Preacher is great fun and we should enjoy it for the fun ride that it is. It is not clear that we should take any deep meaning from the show other than we are part of the Divine Comedy that is life.

Special Note for Car Aficionados: Did anyone notice the missing posts in the indoor cars scenes? Also, the car is supposed to be a four door Chevelle but it has emblems from a two-door Chevelle Super Sport. Did the car scenes remind of you movies from the 1950s?

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Miclpea

I love going to conventions around the US and Canada. I'm an ardent fan of all things science fiction and especially The Expanse. I'm a senior writer for Friends of CC and I have co-written a science-fiction script called Punctuated Equilibrium.