Who’s that cowboy?
Whens the last time the second episode of a TV show cut backward 135 years to the Old West?
Thats where we begin withPreacherepisode 2.
Credit: Lewis Jacobs/Sony PIctures Televsion/AMC
He stops for a night, to eat with some settlers.
Do you agree, the man asks our cowboy friend, That this is paradise?
The mystery man turns toward his host: It aint.
The next day, he rides past a hanging tree, dead Native Americans hanging scalped from the branches.
He rides his horse straight into Ratwater; it sounds like a nice place.
Thats the last we see of the mystery man for now.
In the present day, Preacher Jesse Custer is doing the work of a godly man.
He baptizes people, young and old, women and men.
Do you admit youre a sinner, and in need of a savior?
One of his baptizees is poor Eugene Root, who runs into Jesses new pal Cassidy.
(Cassidys been drinking the communion wine; you have to drinksomethingin a town like this.)
Seems that Eugene tried to kill himself, which explains his current facial predicament.
Suicide isnt the worst thing on the minds of Jesses practitioners.
And Jesse has bigger problems.
Like this Cassidy fellow.
Who is he, exactly?
Maybe Cassidys full of it; but Jesse needs somebody to drink with.
They sing a little song, attempting to drawsomethingout of Jesse.
Whatever theyre trying, it fails.
Cassidy battles the men, blood pouring out of all their bodies by the end.
NEXT: Dead and buried, they return
Cassidy cleans up the horror inside the church.
Jesse wakes up, hungover, a situation that doesnt amuse Emily.
She gives the Preacher a casserole and sends him to visit one of his parishioners.
Its another tough day for Jesse and thatsbeforehe gets kidnapped.
But its a playful kidnapping, by his once-beloved Tulip.
She latches Jesse to a chair and gives him the pitch.
Tulip doesnt believe this good turn Jesse has taken.
Jesses still there, held in place, when Eugene comes to visit him.
Eugene has an existential problem.
No matter what I do, he says, Im always the same.
Something about that conversation sparks something in Jesse.
He goes to visit the pedophiliac bus driver.
FORGET HER, Jesse says, his voice booming with unearthly energy.
And remarkably, the man does: He forgets why Jesse is even there.
The Preacher figures out that something unusual is happening that his voice has a new power.
He visits that comatose girl and gives her a command: OPEN YOUR EYES, he says.
Were from the government, they explain.
In this weeks episode of Entertainment Geekly, we talk about the new TV show.
(Like: Did we need aPreacherorigin story?
And: What are Tulip and Cassidy really doing on this show?)
Then we dive deep into spoiler territory, addressing the complete run of the originalPreacher.
Does the comic book series hold up?
(Spoiler alert: It was pretty awesome.)
