I asked my husband the other night how he was feeling about this season of Preacher, since he’s an even more devoted fan of the comic books than I am (he got me to read them in the first place). He thought for a second and then said, “I feel like the episodes keep getting better.” I tend to agree, and I think it’s because this season is tracking the original material much more closely than in the previous two.
We pick up Luke Cage episode 3 where episode 2 left off – with Luke in Cockroach’s apartment, and with Cockroach bloodied and unconscious.
Four episodes into this season of Preacher, and we haven’t spent a whole lot of time outside of Angelville. Even though we get to visit Hell for a bit in “The Tombs,” Jesse and crew still haven’t figured out how to leave his family’s estate – and just about everyone seems the worse for it (with the possible exception of Tulip, who – let’s face it – is always awesome, geography be damned).
Family and community are big themes in Luke Cage, and episode two dives a little deeper into that territory. But first – let’s have some fun with cameos! Luke draws a crowd, including ESPN’s Jemele Hill and Michael Smith, when he does a combine-esque demonstration of his athletic abilities. He takes selfies, and Bobby seems to appoint himself as Luke’s manager, taking business cards from companies who might want Luke to rep them. Hey, a man’s gotta eat.
This episode should have been called Tulip-alooza or something, because we get to spend a LOT of time with our heroine – and that is always a good thing. The action starts with Ms. O’Hare speeding to New Orleans to find the Grail, but all she finds is an empty office and a janitor who doesn’t know anything. On her way back to Angelville, God (on a motorcycle with a hot blonde) reaches out to her again – and when he takes off his latex dog mask, he looks just like “fake god” from Season 1. God says this, and everything else, is by his design. Tulip calls bullshit (you tell him, girlfriend). God gets pissed and throws her into her car before he departs.
When Preacher opens in black and white, I always get excited – I love the flashbacks because they fill in so many interesting details about our main characters and the events that shaped their lives. In this episode, we see a teenaged Jesse hustling a vice-principal, the latter of whom has realized that his relations with one of his students could derail his career. He wants Gran’ma to cast a spell to make the girl forget about him, and he assures Jesse that he’ll pay up. Fast forward a bit, and the VP is thrilled with the results – but he’s short on his payment. Jesse lets him know that is a BIG problem, but he doesn’t seem to get it, until he is chased by Jody and T.C. in a truck, then beaten and brought to Gran’ma’s house. A machine is wheeled in that will extract the delinquent client’s soul, and Jesse starts to leave the room – but Gran’ma says it’s about time he saw the process. We don’t see it, but we hear it. It sounds like it hurts. A lot.
Welcome back to Harlem! This first episode of season 2 serves mostly to introduce and re-introduce all of Luke Cage’s players, so pull up a bar stool at Harlem’s Paradise, and let’s check in on everyone. Sweet Christmas, there are a lot of characters!
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…
Honestly, how to even describe it? Based on the comic books by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, Preacher follows former-criminal-now-man-of-the-cloth Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper), badass beeyotch Tulip (Ruth Negga), and Irish vampire Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) on their quest to find God, who has been missing since Season 1.
Like the comics, the show has graphic violence, all manner of sexual fetishes, and, of course, more religious confusion than you can shake a stick at. Will our band of “heroes” (I’m using that term VERY loosely, as none of the main characters are heroic in any traditional sense) find answers in Season 3? Let’s remember where we left off and ponder where things may go from here… Spoilers ahead!
The last time many of us saw Luke Cage, he was teaming up with Jessica Jones, Daredevil, and Iron Fist to fight The Hand in The Defenders. But what about Season 1 of Luke’s standalone story (well, as standalone as a story can ever be in the Marvel Universe)? Here are some things to keep in mind before your binge starts on June 22…