What Angelville means for Preacher in season 3

In the Vertigo comic series Preacher by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, Angelville exists as a plantation on the swamps of the Texas-Louisiana border.

This week’s season 3 premiere of AMC’s Preacher was a doozy.

Not only did we meet Gran’ma in the highly-anticipated season 3 premiere of AMC’s Preacher, we also got to see a flashback wherein we meet Jody, TC, and Jesse’s mom, Christina. We don’t know much about her from the show, but comic fans will be ecstatic: this introduction means that soon we’ll be delving into Jesse’s past.

First, though, let’s talk about Angelville. The flashback does a pretty good job of setting it up and giving it a duplicitous personality. On the one hand, it’s benign touristy things like gator tours. On the other, it hides something much more sinister.

To truly understand the evilness of Angelville we need to dig deeper into Madame Marie L’Angelle. Who is she? As of right now, all we know is that she’s Jesse’s grandmother… who used to put him in a coffin and submerge him in a lake. Definitely grandmother of the year.

Questionable methods of punishment aside, Madame L’Angelle is an imposing figure despite being confined to a wheelchair. While not as outright creepy as her comic counterpart, good ‘ol Gran’ma still gives you the willies when she stares you down. And when Jesse gives her his blood in exchange for helping Tulip, it’s clear that she will have some sort of power over him.

Jody and TC are two of the evilest characters in the comics. Seeing them brought to life is enough to make any fan quake in their seat. Jody is Gran’ma’s muscle and, as we find out, the man who killed John Custer, Jesse’s father. TC is just downright creepy. From the moment he says “Lil Jesse” we immediately distrust him. It’s just weird. How depraved the show will make him remains to be seen.

What about the Preacher comics?

Warning: Below may be spoiler-y for some, especially those who are not familiar with the comics.

In the Vertigo comic series Preacher by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, Angelville exists as a plantation on the swamps of the Texas-Louisiana border. John, Christine, and Jesse lived there, and John was shot when he tried to escape with Jesse.

Preacher has never been faithful in its adaption. While purists may object, changing things around is almost like getting to read the comics all over again. And with the comics’ fast pace, it’s nice to see it slowed down.

It’s interesting how the show diverges from the original content. In the comics Jesse does not seek out Gran’ma; her, Jody, and TC kidnap Jesse and Tulip and bring them to Angelville. There they kill Tulip to break Jesse. God brings her back and tells her a message to give to Jesse: that he’s alive and wants to be left alone.

Season 2 revealed that God was alive and was, in fact, inside that dog suit the entire time. The show seems to give Tulip more time to stand out, while in the comics Jesse doesn’t let her do things he deems “too dangerous.”

Tulip has always been a strong character, and it’s great to see her have her own agency. The show does this well, which is another great thing about film and TV adaptions. There are limits to the source material that can be overstepped.

Cassidy confessing that he slept with Tulip opens the floodgates for a darker storyline. Most fans won’t be eager to see Cassidy’s manipulation play out if it even does at all. If the story continues down the road of the comics, referring to Jesse and Cassidy as best friends will quickly become a thing of the past.

Purgatory, though. The addition of it adds a great depth to the episode. We don’t see Tulip’s time in the afterlife in the Vertigo series, and the show gave us more than we hoped for. Making Purgatory a sitcom set is Preacher at its finest: both bleak and hilarious.

Angelville is a key storyline in the comics. Most fans have been waiting for this since the beginning. Here was Jesse’s childhood, the worst parts of his life. The show’s choice to have him willingly go makes you wonder how that’s going to affect him.

So much has happened, and it’s only the first episode. Given what we’ve seen so far, the trajectory of the season is up in the air. One thing is certain, though: whichever direction the show heads, it’s not good.

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New episodes of Preacher air Sundays on AMC at 9 p.m. CT. Check back here on Culturess for episode reviews and Preacher news.