Man, I missed this show! And as a reader and fan of the comic books, I have been anxiously awaiting the trip to Angelville, where Jesse’s family tree has its dysfunctional roots. In the premiere of season 3, we dive right into those roots with a black and white flashback…
…but mostly black. Gran’ma, played by the amazing Betty Buckley, is introduced in one of the darkest (literally) shots I’ve ever seen on television. She’s dishing up all kinds of voodoo to the local townsfolk, while guides dressed in antebellum garb lead unsuspecting tourists around the estate. Assisting her are two redneck henchmen, Jody and T.C. (played by Jeremy Childs and Coin Cunningham, respectively), and a young girl who we realize is Jesse’s mother, Christina (Liz McGeever). Christina’s help, however, seems to be anything other than voluntary, and she tries unsuccessfully to escape. Gran’ma is NOT pleased, but she tells her daughter she loves her…as she’s slicing open her stomach to remove a photograph of Jesse and his father that Christina recently swallowed to hide it from the matriarch. The love between a mother and her daughter is complicated indeed.
In the present day, Tulip is still dead, and Jesse and Cassidy are racing to Angelville to see if Gran’ma can bring her back. Cassidy says he hates Jesse, and Jesse lets him know that feeling isn’t going to subside after meeting his family. Gran’ma agrees to do her thing and try to save Tulip, but she needs some of Tulip’s favorite things to try to entice her to come back to the land of the living. Of course, that means more tension between Jesse and Cassidy, since they can’t help fighting about who knows – and loves – Tulip more.
Jesse teams up with Jody to get one of the ingredients that Gran’ma needs for her potion…although, teaming up really isn’t a great descriptor, since Jesse hates Jody for (among other things) killing his father. It takes Gran’ma breaking up a pretty severe beat-down for the two men to separate, but something tells me we’ll be revisiting that beef. Lest you think that Gran’ma is helping Jesse out of the goodness of her heart, she makes him slice open his hand and give her his blood, AND she makes sure to drop an unsubtle hint to Cassidy that she has the power to make someone fall in love.
And what of Tulip? She’s stuck in purgatory, which looks more like some weird community theater set. She sits next to a younger version of herself and watches as her father repeatedly lets her down and her mother continuously ignores and neglects her (she’s “working”). There are guns and a laugh track and a supremely creepy clock, and it’s all very strange, but somehow it works and it’s a really enjoyable contrast to the action taking place in Angelville. As death gets closer to taking Tulip for good, the whole scene starts to crumble – but Tulip sees and hears the various messages that Jesse and Cassidy are sending her through Gran’ma (the Boo Berry cereal was my favorite touch), and she wakes up. She’s alive!
But before she is re-animated, Tulip meets the person they’ve been searching for throughout the previous two seasons – God. Of course, he’s still in a kinky dog suit, but he tells her that he’s chosen her. That she’s got a bigger purpose to her life. That he needs her to get –
Something. We don’t know what. But I’m sure it will be fun to find out!
Oh, and before the episode ends, Jesse casually tells Gran’ma that he could kill her on the spot and there’s nothing she could do to stop him. I highly doubt that’s true. Gran’ma tells him to go ahead and bring it on. Seriously, if you’re feeling bad about your family, watching this show should really help you cope.
What do you think Tulip is supposed to get? Comment away!
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