"Overture" – Preacher S04E09 Review

The end draws nigh as the penultimate episode of Preacher airs. And... it's a lot of incoherent stuff. But then again, so is the series as a whole, so nothing new there. The TV series has always been the red-headed child of AMC. It doesn't follow its comic book counterpart, it doesn't fit in with any of the other AMC shows. Maybe developers Caitlin, Rogen, and Goldberg have photos of an AMC exec with a dachshund and that's how Preacher got on the air.

I'm not sure why Preacher is on the air. The creative team doesn't seem to know why it's on the air. The cast do what they can, and sometimes that's quite a bit. It's an impressive array of talent, in front and behind the camera. But as I've noted before, whoever is calling the shots seems content to present weird imagery (see left) and tell whatever story crosses their mind. There's no theme, there's no coherence, there's no... point. There are funny scenes, like this episode's bit with Starr dealing with tech support to send a fax to stop his operatives. But funny scenes do not a narrative make.

That brings us to "Overture", which shows us Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy trying to "get" Humperdoo. Cassidy thinks they're going to rescue Humperdoo, but Jesse and Tulip have figured they have to kill him. Which makes sense since God could find them anywhere and take Humperdoo back. Just like he already did by having the Grail use their sonic nauseator last episode and take Humperdoo back. But Cassidy doesn't seem to understand that.

And that's still a big problem with the show: God. Why is God dicking around with all of this? He comes across as a super-villain, not an omniscient deity. He gaslights being able to see and know all, but he doesn't. He can teleport, summon dingos, pull a timer out of thin air, and do some Force waves. And that's about it.

Why is God doing Force waves? There's a whole lot going on this episode, so let's begin. Starr intercepts TV broadcasts worldwide to present the Grail's Apocalypse Review. He announces that comedians and minority entertainers will perform, and after 60 minutes, Humperdoo will tap dance and the Apocalypse will begin. The pure will go to Heaven and everyone else will get what they deserve.

Tulip finally tells Jesse she and Cassidy slept together. He shrugs and accepts that, but then tells Cassidy he understands they believed he was gone, but now he's back. The Archangel and the Devil Woman fly them into Masada, and the celestials confirm their Genesis' parents

Starr decides it's time to lust after Lara now he has his looks back. Lara is more than willing, and has a fist-dildo ready (see above) for some reason. Afterward Starr reveals the plans for the Apocalypse have changed. A select few will survive and being in the Grail has been all about violence and dirty sex. Starr dismissively tells Lara she'd never get into Heaven and leaves the crestfallen woman.

God has split apart the trio. He grabs Cassidy first and tempts him with a second chance as a man. Later, Jesse finds Cassidy ripped in half but since he's a vampire, he' still "alive". Cassidy admits he finally said "Yes" to God's temptation, and God clubs Jesse unconscious with a severed leg.

Where'd he get the leg from? I don't know. Earlier, God gets Tulip off on her own and offers to stop the Apocalypse if she can hold her temper for 60 seconds. He taunts her, saying he doesn't remember why he let her lose her baby in Dallas. Tulip loses her temper and shoots Him, but the bullets have no effect. God clubs her unconscious and then cuts up a dead Grail operative for the blood to feed Cassidy and let him regenerate. As for the severed leg, who knows? The dead operative's body has both legs, as we see after Tulip wakes up. Returning to the concept of God's omniscient... why does he need to cut open a body to get blood? Can't he just make blood appear? Omnipotence, remember?

God drags Jesse to a church... somewhere. I guess it's in Masada, but there's no indication of that. God tells Jesse to give him Genesis, and Jesse refuses. The Saint arrives in response to Jesse calling for him earlier. God shows the Saint visions of his dead wife and child, and then tells Jesse the Saint is there for him, not God. Why the Saint is suddenly following God's orders, I have no idea. If God can mind-control people, why is he going through any of this?

We end the episode with the Saint advancing on Jesse. Lara finds a locked-up Tulip and releases her. Cassidy is watching over Humperdoo. Hitler and Jesus are having a slap fight over Hitler wanting to shoot Humperdoo. Which again, why would that have any effect on the Apocalypse? If God wants humanity dead... poof, humanity is dead. Why does everything rest on Humperdoo? Or does it?

Also, Eugene has a chat with a priest in prison. The priest tells Eugene he isn't part of God's plan, but Eugene is too busy envisioning his future as a rock star to listen. When he's released, Eugene sings on a street corner and gets run over by a taxi.

Eugene's fate is a good example of the problems I have with the show. The creative team hasn't ever known what do with Eugene. Either actor Ian Colletti is incredibly persuasive, or he has photos of an AMC exec with a dachshund. Eugene's fate has nothing to do with anything, affects none of the other characters, and they don't know he's dead. After an episode of coming close to being a human being and resenting Jesse sending him to Hell, Eugene turned back into a wide-eyed innocent who thinks he has a future as a rock star. And then gets run over by a taxi. It comes across as a godlike joke... but there's no indication God is using Eugene as the butt of his jokes.

Or maybe there's some weird moral/message the creative team is trying to convey with Eugene. But I have no idea what it is. Eugene has a blind faith problem, but a) he's presented as a likable character, and b) he outgrew that by shooting Jesse, but then backslid. Maybe it's some kind of statement on the nature of faith, but I don't get it.

And it's hard to look at issues of faith when the God the faith revolves around is so inconsistent and... weak. He's like a serial killer, cutting off legs, siccing dingoes on his enemies, and draining corpses of their blood. Mark Harelik does a good job as a threatening God, but it all seems for naught. Maybe God dicking around and dragging things out is all part of God's scheme, but He just comes across as petty and cruel. He has a dingo rip off Starr's genitals, and then tells Starr all Starr has to do is ask and God will direct him to Humperdoo and give Starr his good looks (including his genitals) back. So why did God need Starr in the first place if he knows where Humperdoo is? Is he testing Starr's faith? If so, why tell him know how to demonstrate it? And if He is testing Starr's faith, why? God is omnipotent, so He knows Starr is a jerk. Heck, Starr admits in this episode he's a jerk.

We've already seen God wipe out the dinosaurs just by waving his arms. Why does He need to go through four seasons of Preacher to wipe out humanity? We've only got one more episode left, so it's highly unlikely the creative team will give us a reasonable explanation. They've got to wrap up the fate of Jesse, and Tulip, and Cassidy, and the Grail, and Humperdoo, and Hitler, and Jesus. Giving us a coherent explanation for God's super-villain plan to destroy humanity doesn't seem in the cards. But maybe they'll surprise me. We'll see next week in the 75-minute finale.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?