Preacher - 'Call and Response'

"This would be that 'Southern hospitality' I heard so much about then."

And so we reach the end of the first season of Preacher, with 'Call and Response' and Jesse's promise to call down God to answer the questions of the people of Annville.

In the run-up to the big event, Sheriff Root tortures Cassidy in an attempt to discover what happened to Eugene. The interesting part of this is that Root has checked out Cassidy's rap sheet and put together a century of crimes and misdemeanours to work out on his own what his prisoner is. Still; being a sporting type, he lets Cassidy out for the visitation. Meanwhile, Tulip finds Jesse staying with Donnie and his wife, who consider the preacher's actions to have saved Donnie from darkness. She pushes him to kill Carlos, and a flashback reveals that not only did Carlos abandon them mid-heist, out of pure spite against their happiness as a couple, but that by doing so he turned a bloodless raid into robbery-murder and induced a miscarriage. Once he shows willing, however, she realises that she doesn't actually want him to go through with it, and they settle for a very solid beating.

And then it's Sunday. Jesse calls up Heaven on the angel-phone and sure enough, there's an answer. A white-bearded man on a throne pops up, first raging and then agreeing to answer the questions of the congregation. Yes, loved ones are in Heaven; suffering exists so that humanity can know the full panoply of experience; despite his stumbles, Jesse has saved the town of Annville. And so our tale of flawed folk draws to a happy, hopeful close, and...

"What does God want with a starship?"

Yeah; not so fast. As 'God' continues his platitudes, Jesse steps up and uses Genesis to demand an honest answer to a very important question: "Are you really God." The figure breaks down, confesses that he's not, and that they don't know where God is, before being dragged off by two figures in white, who might have wings but are dressed more like asylum nurses. Jesse, Tulip and Cassidy walk out, and the town descends into a mire of desperation, despair and suicide which ends with the custodian of the methane reactor which has been shown straying towards danger levels from time to time dying of a heart attack, leaving the reactor to explode, destroying the entire town.

Some distance away, Jesse and Tulip assure Cassidy that he's the only person who doesn't like The Big Lebowski. Jesse declares that they are going to look for God. If God wants their help, they'll help. If he doesn't, they'll kick his ass.

And Fiore returns from Hell, alone, the implication of which is bad news for the Seraph, who survives the destruction of Annville only to be gunned down by the Cowboy, with no sign of restoration.

So, that's Preacher season 1, which, yes, is basically 10 episodes of build up which concludes by annihilating 90% of its cast, but it does it so with seven hours of sedate, sumptuously grotesque southern Gothic. If nothing else, the image of Odin Quincannon cradling a replica of his deceased daughter made out of ground beef is one that isn't going away any time soon. The acting has been universally excellent, the blending of the mundane and the celestial deftly handled, and the Cohenesque pacing makes this first series essentially an entity unto itself.

Also, points for Tulip punching Jesse for using Genesis to make her kiss him, whether she wanted to or not.