AMC’s new series Preacher, from Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg, premiered this past Sunday. Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillion, Preacher follows Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper), an unconventional preacher from a small Texas town, who was pushed into his profession by his effing insane family. Jesse, after being possessed by Genesis, an entity that is half angel and half demon, develops an interesting power, what he commands you must do. He sets out to find God, accompanied by his ex girlfriend Tulip O’Hare (Ruth Negga) and an Irish vampire named Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun). In the world of Preacher Jesse, Tulip and Cassidy will encounter regular people, and characters from Heaven, Hell, and everywhere in between.
The premiere began with a entity rocketing through space and colliding with a priest in Africa. The possessed priest commands his flock to be quiet, just before he explodes. The next scene is Jessie preparing for his sermon, which didn’t go very well.
After church a young boy asks Jessie to make his dad stop hurting his mom. Everyone in town that Jessie comes in contact with insinuates that he’s had a checkered and violent past. It’s not until later in the episode that we see Jessie in all of his badass glory when a group of men, lead by the boy’s father, try to start trouble.
We also got to meet Cassidy. While working as a bartender on a flight he is attacked by a group of vampire killers, but escapes by jumping out the plane. He stumbles across a bar, where he meets Jessie. When the cops take Jessie to jail, they take Cassidy too and he has a chance to bond with Jessie.
Jessie’s ex Tulip (Ruth Negga) is back in town and she’s quite the badass herself. She’s trying her best to convince Jessie to “pull a job” with her, but he’s trying hard to stay on the straight and narrow.
Throughout the episode we see the entity, Genisis, possess priests from different religions, but each explodes like the one in Africa. Genisis even tries to possess Tom Cruise, but he explodes as well. In the final scene, Jessie, down on his knees, asks god for a sign. He hears a noise and turns towards the door to see the Genisis coming towards him. Jessie wakes three days later unaware that he has Genisis inside him and the new power to make people to do exactly as he commands.
There were several departures in the premiere from the graphic novels. First, I’m not sure where they are going with the flash backs of Jessie’s dad, depicted as a preacher, being killed. In the novels, his dad was not a preacher. They are also making him tougher, his past was not as rough as they’re making it out to be. Cassidy’s character is awesome so far, I’m loving his personality. As for Tulip, the only difference I’ve noticed so far is that in the books she’s white and blonde, but I love Ruth Negga’s version of the character.
One of the drawbacks to seeing the adaption of a graphic novel is that directors rarely match the show and book detail for detail. So far, I really like Preacher. I just hope that they don’t change too much of the story or it’s characters.
Watch the full premiere HERE. No login required.
Watch the people behind the show explain the characters of Preacher:
On the next episode…
