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And just like that, AMC’s Preacher is no more. Four years ago when the series launched, someone else was covering the recaps until it just got a bit too bonkers in Season 2. But I’ve always appreciated the insanity and the blasphemy, even when it seemed the show was rudderless with no idea where to go. I especially missed the angels Fiore and DeBlanc, and was happy to see Fiore come back for a few episodes this season. I loved Season 3’s detour to Angelville with Jesse’s grandma (the stupendous Betty Buckley), and while this season was a bit uneven — too many drawn-out fights — I think it ended on a high, if bittersweet note.
As the Apocalypse countdown clock made its way to zero, Humperdoo actually knew what was coming and he didn’t want to be the cause of the end of the world. Starr was still having issues with his fax machine and was never able to transmit the new directives that this was to be a limited Apocalypse. Jesse was left to face off with The Saint of Killers, Cas was having a crisis of conscience about helping facilitate the end, and Tulip was initially confronted by a despondent Featherstone — who tried to commit suicide but her gun jammed (perhaps by Divine Intervention?) — and then had to confront Cassidy about not letting Humperdoo take to the stage and end the world.
And there was a lot of fighting. Jesse & The Saint, Tulip & Cassidy, Jesus & Hitler, at one point simultaneously with a clever use of different frames all on screen at once to show us the action. For Jesse, The Saint was at first locked in a battle with the Archangel and his Beloved, whom Jesse referred to as ‘the parents’. It seems it was they who were responsible for Genesis and now we know why it was always described as an abomination from Heaven and Hell. They wanted to do all they could to protect Jesse and their ‘child’ that he carried within him. But while they could survive fighting each other, they were no match for The Saint who killed them both, but before he died the Archangel told Jesse to do the right thing. It took a moment, and when all seemed lost, it hit him.
Jesus and Hitler were still at odds about the Apocalypse and Jesus finally got the upper hand and vanquished that Evil … making us wonder who will be in charge of Hell now. It also takes a load of pressure off of Jesus because now he doesn’t have anyone pushing him to take out Humperdoo and claim his rightful title as the Messiah.
Tulip and Cassidy have the most complicated relationship, and Tulip’s very short fuse doesn’t help matters. She wants to kill Humperdoo but Cassidy has a soft spot for the guy … and he’s still expecting his reward of getting back to Ireland once he delivers Humperdoo to the stage. But Tulip can’t help herself and slugs Cassidy in the face, again, and he says that if he didn’t love her so much he wouldn’t have let her hurt him like that time and again. But if she does it one more time, he will kill her. So she hits him again and they go at it while Humperdoo hides in a rack of clothes. But the time for the Apocalypse had come and the Messiah was not on stage forcing God to get some reinforcements from the audience to bring him forth.
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Tulip and Cas manage to break things up before he kills her and then Humperdoo emerges and begs Cassidy to kill him. That one selfless act changes everything and while Cassidy doesn’t want to hurt this person he know counts as a friend, he knows he has to do what’s right and puts a bullet through his heart … just as Jesse arrives. So what happened to The Saint? With one dead Messiah, God has one more to put out and tries to manipulate Jesus to go along with the plan, telling Jesus that he truly does love him. Jesus knows he’s being played and refuses. God says he could just end it all himself so why doesn’t he? He wants everyone to play their part in his Grand Design. He wants to idea of free will to be the cause of the end of the world but his manipulations of everyone and everything is nothing short of Divine Intervention. But knowing the shit is about to hit the fan, God hits the road on his motorcycle, leaving an audience of Grail members hanging.
Featherstone finally gathers herself up to confront Starr in his office, totally conflicted about what the whole point of joining the Grail was about. She thought she was doing God’s work with the end result being her ultimate reward by ascending to Heaven. Starr basically tells her she’s been a fool, but he promises her that the two of them will escape together and live on a submarine under the sea while the rest of the planet burns. And then he shoots her in the head and makes his own escape from Masada. RIP Lara Featherstone.
Jesse then uses Genesis to direct the Grail congregation to find God. Flash forward to two years later, and Jesse and Tulip have a baby named Lucy and Cassidy is off somewhere. Jesse keeps telling Tulip how much the baby looks like her (and Kamal from the Holy Bar and Grail outside of Masada is now working as a mechanic at the O’Hare body shop as well as a nanny to the baby) and then he gets the call. They have found God and he’s camped out at … The Alamo. Jesse has to go and he and God finally have a friendly chat where God answers all of Jesse’s questions, the most important being is his father in Heaven. God said he ignored Jesse’s prayers to send his father to Hell because he was a good man. Jesse also learned that he could control God with Genesis, forcing him to make the night day and the day night again.
And then he learned what God wanted all along — for Jesse to tell him he loved him. Yes, God is a vain prick who only wants to be worshipped and adored, and when he’s not he becomes the vengeful God of the Old Testament. Jesse seems like he will say those words but instead he uses Genesis to give God a good thrashing. But God calls him out for resorting to such theatrics and Jesse says he doesn’t need Genesis to deal with God and he releases the force within him, leaving a defeated God to fend for himself.
Returning to Heaven, God is confronted by The Saint, perplexed at how he got there instead of going to Hell. That was where Jesse came in. Jesse was able to stop The Saint from killing him by bringing up his family and the chance to be with them again for all eternity. The Saint just had to do one thing: confess his sins. The absolution sent him to Heaven when Jesse slashed his throat, waiting patiently for God to arrive. And try as he might to dissuade The Saint from choosing evil over good, The Saint shot God square in the forehead and took God’s throne.
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Flash forward again to forty years later and … Jesse and Tulip are dead, in graves side by side, apparently having lived long, happy lives. At the gravesite is Lucy and … Cassidy. She tells him that Jesse talked about him all the time and Tulip really did love him. They both missed him and Cas felt bad that he had never returned in all those years to catch up with his friends. At the end of their chat, Lucy asked if she’d ever see him again and if he was going to any of the exotic places he’d been. Cassidy said he was going to try someplace new and as he left her at the graves, he hung his umbrella on a tombstone and walked into the sunlight, bursting into flames as he walked out of frame.
We did learn in the two year flash forward that Jesus had found peace helping others … at a Home DIY store, soothing customers’ frayed nerves over the color of the paint they had received.
As for Starr, after he fled Masada, he became a golf instructor but was still hunted by the Florida police. That whole plotline with Hoover Two really came out of nowhere didn’t really need to be included in the finale, but Starr either had a gun on him or got the cop’s gun and shot both officers in the head, leaving them somewhat buried in a sand trap as he casually carried on with his students.
Probably the most clumsily handled storyline was Eugene’s, who should have figured more into the story but was just left hanging in the wind. After his accident in the previous episode, the doctors at the hospital in Australia assumed his facial deformation was from the accident and tried to brace him for their attempts to fix him. I thought there would have been a miracle but he was still the same Arseface when they took the bandages off. One doctor tried to tell him how hard life would be in the world for someone with a face like that and gave him a morphine drip that Eugene could activate and take his own life. But Eugene didn’t want his pity, he wanted to be a rock star. Leaving the hospital, he once again set up in the middle of a crosswalk attempting to get some notice by singing ‘Closing Time’ … a song that he apparently does not know the words to. So he switched it up and rocked out hard, getting attention from the passersby and … well, we don’t know exactly because that’s where they left Eugene.
Nonetheless, these four seasons of Preacher have been a wild, confounding, hilarious ride and our Sunday nights will be a bit less entertaining … for now, anyway. Thanks to all involved with getting this show on the air and thanks to AMC for allowing the series to come to a mostly satisfying conclusion.
What did you think of the series finale? Start a conversation in the comments section below!
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