Preacher “Overture” review: The unholy trinity finally returns to the forefront
The penultimate episode of Preacher brought reunions, an apocalypse-themed variety show, and some great character moments to go along with the series’ signature twists and turns.
One of our largest complaints with season 4 of Preacher has been the show’s tendency to overlook its characters and core themes in favor of plot twists and shock-value moments. Heading into the penultimate episode, we weren’t sure if a show that moves so fast would be able to slow down enough to give a proper sendoff to the gaggle of heroes we’ve come to love over the show’s run, and we’re happy to report that, if “Overture” is any indication, Preacher will be giving Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy their due diligence.
The episode opened almost exactly where it left off: with Jesse’s miraculous return from the grave after some divine intervention. Though this would normally be cause for celebration, things aren’t that simple for Cassidy and Tulip, who were hooking up literal minutes before Jesse walked through the door. As always, Tulip ends up back in Jesse’s arms, but not before the duo (finally!) come clean about the fact that, yes, they did sleep together.
Given Jesse’s history of reacting negatively when Cassidy so much as looks in Tulip’s direction (chopping him up into pieces and mailing him comes to mind), it was a somewhat surprising change of pace when Jesse almost immediately accepts their apology and things keep moving. At first we were left unsatisfied — after four seasons of buildup, this felt like the perfect opportunity for everyone to finally leave it on the table when it comes to the love triangle — but as the episode progressed, it was clear that spending too much time having Cassidy and Jesse hash it out over Tulip wouldn’t leave room for, oh yeah, the apocalypse.
On the subject of the ending of days, we finally get to see Herr Starr’s plan come to life — and, as it turns out, it’s a variety show a la America’s Got Talent. It’s a pretty funny reveal after waiting so long for an impending fiery death ball, but even with things finally heading toward the endgame, we’re still not fully interested in the apocalypse plotline.
Even though there’s been an entire season’s buildup (maybe more, if you count the seeds planted in seasons 2 and 3), the apocalypse storyline has never felt as urgent as the storylines revolving around the characters of the show. Given that the apocalypse has, until thus far, been referred to merely in passing in order to create a sense of urgency, we can’t help but feel a little underwhelmed that this is what Herr Starr has to show for it. By the way, what do you think the audition process was like to be cast as an opening act for Humperdoo?
Not so disappointing, however, was the progress made with Herr Starr and Featherstone. Starr has been present but never really wowed us all season (barring last week’s episode), so it was nice to finally see him get up from behind his desk and actually interact with other characters.
It was also good to see Featherstone again. Julie Ann Emery is always a delight. And for fans who have been watching since season 2, it’s a pretty gratifying payoff to have the duo sleep together after going seasons believing it was a running gag that would never actually come to fruition.
Another interesting duo that played incredibly well off of each other was Tulip (Ruth Negga) and God (Mark Harlelik). God has been more present in this season than ever before, but he hasn’t really been doing all that much besides standing around and seeming menacing. Pairing him off with Tulip was a stroke of genius — if any character on the show has more of a bone to pick with him than Jesse, it’s Tulip.
God spends the episode toying with Tulip. And to her credit, she does one hell of a job resisting. However, as the saying goes, “O’Hares always find a way to screw things up,” and after a great scene from Ruth Negga, Tulip finally snaps and tries to take a swipe at the almighty. Although the plot doesn’t really go anywhere, and in retrospect seems a little meaningless in relation to how much ground the other storylines made, it was still a very entertaining scene and a nice summation of God and Tulip’s interactions over the show’s run.
The other two-thirds of the main trio, Jesse and Cassidy, spend the episode separated, but both being tempted by God. While God (successfully) tried to convince Cassidy to save Humperdoo, he is unsuccessful in getting Jesse to use Genesis, and he leaves us all with one pretty major question heading into the finale: Does The Word work on God?
Jesse didn’t feel like he had all that much to do in tonight’s episode, given that he spent much of it trapped in an elevator yelling for help, but Dominic Cooper has a way of making the most out of even the scarcest amount of dialogue. He shined brightest during the episode’s earlier scenes with Tulip and Cassidy before they invade Masada, but his performance in tonight’s episode cements in our minds just how great he really is.
Joseph Gilgun also made the most of his scenes. It was an interesting development to see Cassidy talk to God for the first time, and we’d be lying if we said it didn’t pull on our heartstrings a little when Cassidy was back in Ireland. However, as much as we loved Gilgun’s performance, we felt that having Cassidy give in to temptation yet again wasn’t one of the highlights of the episode. We’ve spent season after season watching him fail, so it would’ve been nice to see him come through for once.
Although his affection for Humperdoo is believable (Cass has always had a heart of gold to us), we wish the show would’ve spent a little more time fleshing out their relationship before asking us to believe that he would really throw everything away with both Tulip and Jesse just for the sake of an inbred tap dancer. Looking to the finale, however, we’re still holding out hope that Cass will do the right thing at the end of the day.
It’s strange to think that last night’s episode is the second-to-last episode we’ll ever see of the entire series, but we’re happy to report that our hopes are high that Preacher will go out with one hell of a bang.
Outfit of the episode: Humperdoo’s sparkly tap shoes are so apocalypse-chic.
WTF moment: Featherstone and Herr Starr getting it on. I guess we finally know who’s on top.
Standout Scene: Cassidy’s Irish fantasy was short but oh-so-sweet.
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