Written by Tyler McPherson
The second episode of Preacher, airing just a single day after the premiere, settled itself down from the fast-paced, action-packed first episode. The episode turned out to be a swan song for one character, and strongly explored the love between Jesse and Tulip.
But before all this could happen the show had to get itself out of the cliffhanger it left viewers on. In a convenient stroke of luck, Jesse was saved first by a passing vehicle and then by a group of gun-toting enthusiasts who engaged the killer in direct combat. It is good to see that Jesse hasn’t been completely stripped of his humanity by the events of the first season, using the power of Genesis to try to make his would-be saviours flee.
After fleeing the Saint, the trio went to visit The Amazing Ganesh a.k.a one half on the angelic duo from the last season. Fiore (Tom Brooke) has been attempting to find his place in the world now that his partner, DeBlanc (played by Anatol Yusef), was dead. In one of the most twisted and tragic scenes, the audience is treated to multiple suicide attempts by the wandering Fiore. It wasn’t until one such attempt within public, that he found what he was going to do now. Thus, he became The Amazing Ganesh, a violent act where he was continually subjected to a myriad of deaths before reincarnating.
The aim of this episode was for the trio to convince Fiore to stop the Saint from hunting them. This job eventually fell to Cassidy, while Jesse and Tulip dwelled on other things. But before all this it was discovered that the Saint is managing to track them down from Jesse’s use of the Genesis power. Once again, it is a great thing to limit this power within the show before it puts Preacher at risk of cheap risks with no stakes.
While Cassidy was off forming a bond with Fiore, Jesse and Tulip were left to explore their relationship and consider the loss of their hometown. Jesse’s proposal to Tulip was, despite being without any effort, an attempt to make her feel like she had family in the world again. It was good to see Tulip take the forefront in this episode though. Not only did the audience see her briefly reflect on her relationship with her now-deceased uncle, but viewers got a glimpse at her past and what is to come in future episodes.
While waiting in the line to get married, she was attacked by a man named Gary (Michael Beasley) who wanted her to call his boss. This confrontation seemed to make her realise that she wasn’t really the marriage type, the fact that she is keeping secrets from Jesse may also be a reason. It was nice to see some suggestion that this season won’t all be about the search for God though and that in future episodes we will get to explore more of Tulips past.
Fiore truly held a tragic place in this week’s episode. Not only had he fully endorsed a life of violent deaths, but in a moment with Cassidy he revealed that he felt missing without his partner. That he didn’t know what to do without purpose. And that is why, in the final scenes, when Jesse uttered the words ‘find peace’ it was with a heavy heart that we watched Fiore walk off. It was a nice twist that in an effort to help, Jesse not only led Fiore to finally finding a way to permanently kill himself (at the hands of the Saint) but he also managed to remove any chance of the Saint stopping his hunt.
In an episode that was a brilliant blend of comedic and emotional beats. Preacher’s second episode, ‘Mumbai Sky Tower’, was much stronger than its first and promises a lot more to come.
