By The Nerdling
With the Tombs back in full swing, Jesse’s darker past is revealed even more.
Spoilers
“He broke my heart twice”
Without losing her cool, Tulip shoots her way out of Madam Boyd’s place with the Voodoo practitioner in tow. Tulip loses the horde of Sabina Boyd’s men, but gets lost trying to make her way back to the L’Angelle plantation. Driving around the same intersection, Sabina tells Tulip why she hates Jesse so much.
As teenagers, Jesse and Sabina secretly dated. Well, Jesse thought it was a secret. While preparing a couple of poor wretches for the next fight, TC hints he knows what exactly ‘Lil Jesse is doing when he says he is off to see Gladiator again. TC also hints if Gran’ma finds out about the relationship, Sabina will be joining the group of debtors living in the tombs.
Jesse breaks things off with Sabina cruelly, calling her and her family trash not good enough to be with a L’Angelle. Sabina tells her brother, Kenny, who comes to the tombs to fight Jesse. Madam Boyd tells Tulip of how Jesse strangled her brother to death while Kenny begged for his life, then paraded himself around the Tombs in victory. Later it is revealed Jesse begged Kenny to stop and ended up killing him in self-defense much to his regret.
Tulip refuses to believe Sabina and locks her in the trunk while. Tulip continues to drive around, seemingly lost, until she finds herself back at Angelville. She sees all the cars parked around the house and follows a man to the Tombs.
“Are you not entertained?!?”
Cassidy wins his fight with the teacher and panics when he realizes he killed the man. The vampire has made it to the next round, a chance to take on Jodie later that evening. While TC and Jodie are off to get supplies, Jesse frees Cassidy by chopping his limbs off and packs him up to be shipped to Denis (who nobody but Cassidy knows is dead) in New Orleans.
Jesse arrives back at the Tombs and tells the packed house “God has left heaven.” The preacher launches into a sermon of how angry he is at the Lord for abandoning his duties. He lays the blame on those in the Tombs for enjoying the pain of other so much for God’s leaving.
Cassidy is just as stubborn as the preacher. He reassembles himself, returns to the Tombs, and challenges Jesse. The two engage in a knockdown drag out fight which Jesse wins by stabbing Cassidy in the back with a stake made from a baseball bat. Tulip arrives just in time to witness the carnage. “Who needs God?” Jesse exclaims to the excited crowd. “The Tombs are back in business!” He tells Tulip “if you don’t like it, you can go… both of you. Got it?” Tulip gives a knowing nod.
After meeting a still alive and wearing the dead teacher meat suit Cassidy just outside of Angelville, Tulip drives the vampire to a bus departing for New Orleans. He was hoping the two of them were going to put as many miles between them and the L’Angelle family as possible. But Tulip cannot abandon Jesse to that family. Cassidy confesses his love for her. “But I don’t love you,” she responds. For a moment, Cassidy considers using the love potion Marie L’Angelle gave him, but he thinks better of it. Bloodied and heart broken, Cassidy gets on the bus not realizing Laura is following him.
Tulip returns to Jesse and demands he stop pushing her away to keep her safe. Jesse promises he will be honest with her and the two make up. The next morning, Tulip remembers Sabina is still locked in her trunk and goes to free her. Madam Boyd tells Tulip to break the blood compact, she must kill the owner of it. Tulip is suspicious of Sabina’s all of a sudden cooperation. “As much as I hate Jesse, there’s one person in the world I hate even more,” Sabina explains. “You want Jesse out of here? Kill is Gran’ma.”
Meanwhile, In Hell
Bookending the episode, The Saint of Killers has a little chat with Satan in his office. Satan is not happy with The Saint’s very loud excursion on Earth and now he must make amends. The Saint is whipped by the Angel of Death for so long, the flesh on his back has been torn off revealing his spine and ribs.
Now that the punishment has been dealt out, The Prince of Darkness needs The Saint to do a job for him. Souls escaping hell is bad for business. The Saint must return to the surface and bring Eugene and Hitler back to Hell in one piece. Their absence makes Satan look bad and the big red guy has plans for expansion now that God is gone. If The Saint succeeds, Satan will give his guns back so to kill Jesse Custer.
Thoughts
While the flashbacks to Jesse as a teenager was nice, it didn’t tell us anything new about his character. We already knew he is the kind of man who would hurt a person to push them away rather than using the truth
Jesse’s breakup with Sabina was the same tactic he used to drive Tulip away, which is why she saw right through it.
In order to win their souls back, the inhabitants of the Tombs have to fight one another, then the winner of the match fights Jodie. No wonder no one has escaped Madam L’Angelle.
Next week we meet the Allfather! And we get to learn a bit more about Cassidy!
Till Then!
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, Facebook, and Instagram.
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