1.5 South Will Rise Again Of course, as Jesse will undoubtedly learn, his powers aren’t quite as easy to control as he might assume. After all, he told Tracy Lorch to open her eyes, and she did exactly that. She’s still a vegetable, but she’s at least a vegetable with open eyes. He tells another parishioner to open his heart to his mother, and he does so literally. Sure, he’s poking around in the brains of people who are mostly odious, but there’s something sinister behind Jesse’s power that he’s not quite aware of. Fiore and Deblanc are, though, and that’s why they’re panicking about getting that thing out of Jesse and back into its coffee can. Jesse is trying to do good with his powers, but everything comes out slightly twisted, as we’ve seen. He tells Quincannon to serve God, and while that initially has Quincannon meeting with Green Acres to try to move Quincannon Meat and Power in a more green direction, that same drive also has him murder four people in startling, exciting fashion with a shotgun. He gets Mrs. Lorch to forgive Arseface, but… there’s definitely something bad that’s going to happen. After all, Jesse’s use of the Voice made Donnie have a complete meltdown in his wife’s arms, and while that has to be intimidating to put a loaded gun into your mouth, there’s also no telling what lasting after-effects being exposed to that kind of power has on the mortal mind. And there Jesse is, using it to mend fences and make his congregation happy (or try to). I also greatly enjoyed a lot of what Craig Rosenberg put in the script this week. Jesse’s using his power left and right, and while he’s helping people, he’s also having some really unforeseen consequences, both for those around him and for those he helps. It’s clearly not going to be the force for good that he believes it will be, and Jesse is definitely getting a little took cocky as far as his powers are concerned. He’s practically smirking at Tulip in the diner; sure he’s trying to do good things, but he also seems to be getting a little full of himself when Cassidy isn’t around to put him in his place or Eugene isn’t around to be incredibly pathetic and well-meaning. One of the wisest decisions Preacher has made thus far is to stretch out the story of the Cowboy across multiple episodes. We see a little bit about him each week, and each week the stakes get a little bit higher for him, and the danger around him grows. They might not get through his story entirely before this season is over, and that’s probably a good thing. Introduce one controversial plot point per season, and take your time on the characters that are going to be truly popular. Find more by Ron daily at Shaktronics and PopFi.
