Vertigo’s “Preacher” comic opens with Genesis entering the body of Jesse Custer, who then learns of the secrets of the universe…and that God has abandoned his children. He then embarks on a mission to quite literally find God, and make him answer for this.
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have been liberal with their adaptation, which is nearing its debut season finale in just two weeks. Not only has the dynamics changed, but many of the motives and character beats, which have left the show missing an overall arc – the meaning behind Jesse’s new powers. Last night’s episode finally, finally got to the point, albeit quite differently than the comics. Jesse intends to find God, bring him to his church, and make him answer for being silent to their prayers. If he fails, he will denounce God live to his flock. The catch? He’s asked for a week to pull this off. Does this mean that the next few seasons will take place over the course of a week? Or should we expect the series to completely deviate from the comics by the season finale? There’s a lot of questions, which I love. As different as “Preacher” is from the source material, I’m loving it, and hope people stick with it until the end.
Now that there’s an actual point to “Preacher”, and Jesse has his mission, Adephi angels DeBlanc and Fiore have failed at their own. Their job was to retrieve Genesis and bring it back to Heaven. They did accomplish the former, but it escaped (again) and went right back into Jesse. They acknowledge “Plan A’s” failure and have left for reinforcements. Those who have read the comics know what’s coming: THE SAINT OF ALL KILLERS. Shit’s about to go down!
Here’s a clip from next Sunday’s episode where DeBlanc and Fiore decide their next move with the help of a coin toss.
