‘Preacher’ Recap and Reaction: “South Will Rise Again”

Drew Dietsch
TV
TV

For a full recap of the episode, visit the Preacher Wiki here. This article is a review of the episode “South Will Rise Again” in which specific details and events are discussed. SPOILERS may occur, so read at your own risk.

Jesse‘s mission to use his power for good didn’t quite get a proper kickoff last week, but “South Will Rise Again” rectifies that almost immediately. We see Jesse using the Word on tons of Annville residents who are looking for guidance. This is where the first season of Preacher seems to be headed: Jesse tries to do good but things get all sorts of screwed up. I’m betting that next week’s episode or the following one will showcase just how much chaos the Word can cause.

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The real heft of the episode for me came from Eugene and his father. The beginning sequence in which someone breaks into Eugene’s room and spraypaints the message “Finish the job,” next to a shotgun was chilling. Eugene has become my favorite character in the show — not only is he incredibly sweet but Ian Colletti does wonders behind that makeup — and his absence was noted last week. His guilt about why everyone despises him is so heartbreaking, and when Jesse said, “I don’t hate you,” I may have gotten something in my eye.

What’s really great this week is the burgeoning relationship between Tulip and Cassidy. I dig that we got a “rules of being a vampire” scene that clarifies how Cassidy’s supernatural affliction works, and the resulting one-sided love affair is going to end up being a big deal when Cassidy discovers who Tulip’s “boyfriend” is.

I’ve said before that Preacher can seem like it’s meandering or being obtuse for the sake of obtuseness if you aren’t familiar with the source material, but now that we’re at the halfway point of the season things are lining up just right. Fiore and DeBlanc are going to inform Jesse about what’s inside of him, and it looks like forces are going to start to come into play that will get the story really kicking. This first season has been doing a great job when it comes to establishing good characters and making them likable and interesting, but the propulsiveness of the season’s arc has yet to be felt. “South Will Rise Again” helped assuage a lot of those worries. It’s all going according to plan.

Best Moments of the Episode:

The Cowboy. I know it isn’t the exact way things went down in the comics, but who cares when it’s still as awesome as this? These two forays into 1881 have been fantastic to look at from a cinematographer’s point of view, but they’ve been equally powerful on an emotional level. I am so ready to see the carnage Graham McTavish is about to unleash with his pistols and saber. The shot of him collecting those made me grip the handles of my couch. And the carrion birds flying out of the chimney? Goosebumps. The Saint of Killers is coming.

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Fiore practicing his telephone call with Heaven. He and DeBlanc have been humorous in a “fish out of water” way, but this was the first time we’ve seen them somewhat be themselves and it’s strangely endearing.

“This rasta guy…keeps looking me up and down, I mean who can blame him?” Ruth Negga has created a whole new kind of Tulip O’Hare that I am falling head over heels for.

Who and what was that scene with the gauge? Seeing as how it pops up in the opening credits just before Anatol Yusef’s name (the actor who plays DeBlanc), could this be our first glimpse of  Preacher‘s take on Heaven?

That ending! Did not see that coming! Poor Miles is going to have a heck of a time scrubbing that one from his brain. Can’t wait to see how unhinged Odin is going to be now that he has Jesse’s command driving him.

Next Week on Preacher

“Sundowner”

Drew Dietsch
Drew Dietsch has been professionally writing about entertainment for over a decade. His bylines include FANDOM - where he was a founding contributor and Entertainment Editor - Bloody Disgusting, SYFY WIRE, and more. He created and hosts GenreVision, a weekly film discussion show at genrevision.com.