WiC Watches: Preacher season 4

Joseph Gilgun as Cassidy, Lachy Hulme as Frankie – Preacher _ Season 4 – Photo Credit: Lachlan Moore/AMC/Sony Pictures Television

Episode 401: “Masada”

Before we get to current events, the episode begins with a pair of flash forwards, both of which leave us with a lot to ponder. First, we get a quick romantic interlude between Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) and Tulip (Ruth Negga). That makes you wonder just what exactly happened to Jesse (Dominic Cooper), since last we knew, Jesse and Tulip were the ones getting it on.

The second flash forward treats us to Jesse unceremoniously dropping from the sky out of a commercial air flight, apparently to his death. It appears to be a nice callback to our introduction to Cassidy in season 1, although Jesse’s body strangely stays intact.

Back in the present, things move rather quickly. Season 3 ended with Cassidy captured by the Grail and taken to Masada, the group’s secretive fortress somewhere in the Middle East. If you’re like me, you might have thought it would take some time for Jesse and Tulip to show up looking for Cassidy, but you’d be wrong, as Jesse casually strolls up to the front door and is invited inside. Tulip soon follows with a brainwashed group of Grail soldiers for an escort, and the mayhem begins.

Despite some extreme torture that involves his healing powers being turned against him in the most grievous way possible, Cassidy does not want to be rescued by Jesse. He’s still dealing with the trauma of being pushed aside by Jesse — his best friend — and Tulip — the woman he loves — in season 3. It might have been for his own benefit given Jesse’s family’s proclivity for murder, but Cassidy no longer wants to feel like a third wheel. After making it to the gates, Cassidy chooses to stay behind, despite knowing that means endless torture at the hands of Frankie Toscani (Lachy Hulme).

Meanwhile, Tulip has yet another showdown with Featherstone (Julie Ann Emery), this one ending with the Featherstone BASE jumping to safety from the top of Masada. At some point, these two might finally settle their rivalry, but something tells me when it comes down to it, they might choose to simply walk away from each other instead, recognizing their shared stubbornness. Or one will end up in an unmarked grave somewhere.

The opening moments of the episode aren’t the only ones that leave us with questions, as Jesse has a series of dreams that hint at an oncoming apocalypse, one I’m guessing has something to do with God’s self-chosen absence. At any rate, the dreams cause Jesse to leave Tulip behind, as the titular Preacher heads to a penis-shaped rock in the desert of Australia. I really have no idea how else to write that sentence.

Oh, and God, who has calls Diet Dr. Pepper his greatest creation, is now working with Herr Starr (Pip Torrens). Welcome back, Preacher!

Random Observations

• We learn that God chose to destroy dinosaurs because one ate its own feces. That’s another sentence I never thought I’d type.
• Tulip’s brainwashed henchwoman attempts to hold the gate open and ends up smashed to a pulp but still capable of a pep talk. It was hilarious.
• I’m still in love with the opening credits, despite a slight tweaking of the music for the final season.