As Preacher continues to slowly peel the union off in its wonderfully weird world, we are slowly getting some answers and information surrounding our characters. We get a glimpse into Tulip and Jess’s past life and why it’s so important for Jesse to do this job with Tulip. We also get a chance to see more of Jesse’s powers as well as learn more about those two characters after Jesse and just what their deal is. If the first two episodes were slow, the show’s picking up its pace as the audience no longer playing catch up and is now along for the ride. But as much as we get new information, we also get new questions.
Let’s take a look at the second episode “The Possibilities.”
The episode begins with our favorite badass girl Tulip meeting with someone in Houston as they exchange pleasantries as well as information. It’s clear whoever this woman is, they all work within the same circles. In what seems as a quid quo pro, Tulip hands her something from “Grail Industries,” whatever that is. After Tulip’s departure, the woman goes to what appears to be a snuff film theater and hands the package to a man who looks like a reverse-Observer from Fringe who takes the information and walks off. I’m sure fans of the comic will know who this guy is, and I’m sure he’ll be important later on in the show, for now, let’s just call him The Man In White.
Meanwhile, the two people Cassidy dispatched last week are alive and well and talking with the sheriff. They claim they are with the government, but that just doesn’t seem to ring true as evidenced later. The sheriff gives them leeway since he’s a local and they are with the government. The sheriff does give a story about a twisted murder involving an amusement park operator just to hone in that the world is a screwed up place. After their conversation with the sheriff, the two prepare to make a second run at Jesse, but this time, they’ll be packing some serious heat! They break out grenades as well as big automatic weapons.
Turns out the girl that Jessie told to open her eyes did, in fact, open them, but she’s still brain damaged. Now she can just lay in the bed with her eyes open. The girl’s mother takes this as a good omen, but it freaks Jesse out as he bolts after waking her up. Jesse returns to the church for more smoking and drinking when he runs into Cassidy. Jesse let’s Cassidy in on the secret of his newfound powers. In order to test them, he uses Cassidy as a guinea pig for a humorous exchange of ordering him to tell personal things and do other things. One thing's for sure, Cassidy cannot fly and secretly like Justin Bieber.
At the slaughterhouse, we get yet another look at the super-weird owner Odin Quincannon as he enjoys sitting at his desk listening to animals get slaughtered without so much as batting an eye. Turns out the guys Jesse beat up in the first episode is his number two, but because everyone knows about Jesse beating him up, he’s now a laughing stock. Speaking of the dad, he decided to walk his son to school where he tries to gently explain that the boy’s mother enjoys Sadomasochism, which is a weird bonding experience between the two. The boy proceeds to tell his dad that he’s the laughing stock because of Jesse beating him.
Tulip is a bad chick! That entire scene with her getting pulled over for going more than 100 mph was a wonder. Ruth Negga is really enjoying chewing the scenery in this role. There was a brief moment where it looked like she was actually going to pull the piece out on the cop, but she opted to use her brains over bullets. However it really could have gone either way, but she just managed to pull off the right amount of finesse to talk her way out of the speeding ticket and then go right ahead back to speeding. We finally got to peel the onion on her and Jesse’s relationship and how it went wrong. Through a brief flashback, it looks like the two did all sorts of criminal jobs together, but they were betrayed by their former colleague. As soon as Tulip said the job was about finding that guy, that was all that was needed to send Jesse back over to the dark side and go along with her on a quest for revenge.
As the mysterious duo arrives at the church (messed with yet again saying “Jesus is Coming… Run”) with their full arsenal, they are mowed over by and killed by Cassidy. When Cassidy discovers that it’s the same people he killed last week, he thinks they are clones in a comical fashion. As he prepares to bury their new bodies, they show up yet again and explain to him what’s going on. As they try the same government agent line, one of them says they are from Heaven. So are they angels? Are they demons? They do further explaining off screen to Cassidy where at the end he offers to be a middle man between them and Jesse so that there will be no more bloodshed.
As the two stop in a gas station, Jesse is about to tell his newfound power secret to Tulip but stops himself. Of course, he’ll eventually tell her, but he holds himself back this time and proceeds to go to the restroom to think it through. While in the bathroom he is confronted by terrible father Donnie. Sick of everyone laughing at him, he pulls a gun on Jesse. For the first time, we get to see Jesse’s real dark side come out. Previously he was either fighting to defend himself, or protect little girls from a perverted bus driver. This time, Jesse uses his powers for bad intentions. He’s literally second away from forcing Donnie to commit suicide, and the whole time Jesse almost has a smile on his face. Jesse stops himself last second, but now we know what he’s capable of.
After he leaves the bathroom, he reneges on their quest for vengeance, which pisses off Tulip. However, she’s not going to go forward unless she has his support. Looks like she’s going to stay for a while!
Even though he’s going to try to use his powers for good, how long can he resist temptation? Looks like he will unleash his power. Whether it’s for good or bad, we’ll just have to wait and see.
