By The Nerdling

Jesse and Cassidy get a lead on their search for God, Tulip attempts to get herself out of Viktor’s grasp, and Eugene makes an unexpected friend in hell.

Spoilers on the Road to God…

Starting in Hell

Eugene’s Worst-Memory-Projector fails and the door to his cell opens. He steps into a hallway and meets his cellblock mates, also unexpectedly freed from reliving their worst day. The other prisoners include the popped-collared Tyler, an older Romani woman, a caveman, and Hitler.

Tyler quickly establishes himself as the resident douche-canoe by picking on the women, then threatening Eugene with oral rape. Hitler steps in to stop Tyler when the projectors come back up once again. Everyone quickly scampers back to their cells, but Eugene is locked out of his. Hitler invites him into his cell so the guards won’t catch Eugene and put him in the hole for being out.

Hitler’s memory is of a desert date with a woman who pushes him to show his art work to the curator of a museum. Before Hitler is rejected by the Jewish art expert, all the projectors crash again. Hell’s Warden takes Eugene to her office and warns there are cameras always watching and Eugene’s polite nature will not fly in this environment.

The cellblock’s residents are placed in a common room while the projectors are under repairs. Eugene and Hitler sit together and start to develop a bond before Tyler elects to start trouble to pass the time. Thinking about the warden’s advice, Eugene joins in on the Tyler lead beatdown of Hitler.

Cold Shoulder

Outside of hell, Tulip arrives at Viktor’s mansion with her hood still up around her head to protect her from the icy reception. Viktor’s home is quite lavish with a full staff to take care of the man and his goons, along with a room connected to Viktor’s office where screams of agony can be heard throughout the house.

Coming face to face with Viktor, Tulip looks for forgiveness. But when tears and an attempt to re-bond with the henchmen and Viktor’s daughter (who hopes her father kills Tulip) doesn’t work to gain mercy for her slight, Tulip looks for others ways out of her sticky situation. She sneaks to the vault where the staff guns are kept, but it refuses to open for her. An informative henchman sneaks up on Tulip to inform her they changed the combination a few months back. Tulip takes down the goon and relieves him of his gun and charges into Viktor’s room. Viktor, calm as a cucumber, has Tulip knocked out before she can pull the trigger.

Finding God in Unexpected Places

Jesse stumbles to Dennis’ house after the sun has risen having visited somewhere around 50 jazz clubs throughout the night. Looking to crash for a few hours then get back to searching, the preacher ignores a very worried Cassidy’s terrible attempts to have him check in on Tulip. Jesse is sure Tulip is just upset with him and is somewhere cooling off.

In the meantime, Cassidy spots the man who impersonated God when Jesse used the angel phone to call heaven last season on a weirdly surreal infomercial (also starring Frankie Muniz) to raise money for Katrina Victims. Jesse and Cassidy track down the agent representing the actor, Mark Harelik. Cassidy drops the magical phrase, Game of Thrones casting, and gains Mark’s audition reel from a strange job in which he disappeared shortly after getting. Jesse and Cassidy watch as Mark auditions for the role of God and is told he received the part by being shot.

Not So Blissful Union

Getting fed up with Jesse’s indifference to Tulip’s absence, Cassidy breaks his promise and spills the beans as to where the lady really went. Jesse barrels his way through Viktor’s mansion using Genesis to subdued the henchmen and the staff. But when the resident torture specialist cannot be compelled thanks to his earbuds blaring Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl,” the preacher has to engage in a good ol’ fashion brawl.

The preacher kills the torturer and arrives at Viktor’s room where he and Tulip are having a conversation on his bed. Jesse puts Viktor in a headlock with the intention of breaking his neck when Tulip orders Jesse not to kill him. “He’s my husband,” she exasperatingly confesses.

Hopefully things are resolved quickly in New Orleans for the trio because the Saint of Killers is on his way to the Big Easy.

Thoughts

Jesse’s brawl with the torture artist may have been one of the best choreographed fight scenes on TV in recent memory. It was very satisfying seeing him revert back to the man we met in the pilot who had Donnie Schenck making “the bunny noise.”

Hell as an overworked and underfunded prison is almost cliché, but could be seen as a parody of prison movies while simultaneously making a serious statement about the effects incarceration can have on those who are innocent of their crimes. Much like the amazing The Night Of told the story of how a good (for the most part) kid’s personality is changed for the worse by the very flawed justice system, season 2 of Preacher setting up the sweet Eugene to becoming the Arseface we meet in the comics.

Admit it, you were curious as to what Hitler’s worst memory is.

Pretty ballsy to portray Hitler as a reformed prisoner and a possibly decent person, but Preacher thrives on absurdity. When you think about it, Hitler as an idea is terrifying. Hitler the man, not so much.

Someone like Tyler is an unsettling villain. He represents a facet of toxically dangerous males we in the United States are dealing with now. The male-activist, white-privilege owning, Trump-loving a-holes who melt like little snowflakes every time a woman or person of color gets a step closer to the preverbal place at the table. Tyler represents those who have become violent with their hatred.

Till Next Week!

 

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The Nerdling was born in the majestic land known as Texas and currently resides there after several years of journeying through Middle Earth in a failed attempt to steal the one Ring from that annoying hobbit, serving the Galactic Empire for a time, and then a short stint as a crew member on the Serenity. Since moving back to her homeland, Nerdling flirted with a hero reputation. Saving children from the dangers of adoring domineering, sparkly vampires (champions with souls are the only vampires worth loving) and teaching normals the value of nerdom, all while rooting for her beloved Dallas Stars. Then came the Sokovia Accords and her short spell of saving others came to an end. With Darth Vader’s reputation rightfully returning to badass status, Nerdling is making her way back to the Empire. They do have cookies, you know. You can find her on Twitter @nerdlingstale.