1.8 El Valero The crucial point isn’t just that Quincannon was menacing and funny, but that we also got a little crucial character development as to just why the Voice didn’t work on him. Quincannon isn’t the kind of person who believes in God, because after his entire family died, he stopped believing in a God that doesn’t answer in favour of a god who he can see and interact with: the god of meat, a tangible thing. After all, we’re all just bones and organs, not all that dissimilar from the cows that Quincannon sends to slaughter every day. The Voice, as we’ve seen throughout the show, doesn’t always work in the expected way; Jesse told Quincannon to serve God, and Quincannon chose his God, not Jesse’s God. That’s a good combination of elements from Olivia Dufault’s script. It’s funny, it’s dark, it’s absurd in a good way, and it still managed to do a little thought-provoking stuff when it’s not mining violent assault for comedy purposes. The violence this week is more implied, even the penis removal. It’s a strange bit of comedy, and it doesn’t quite work as well as Clive’s earlier moment where he runs towards the church with the mantra “food court” as a battle cry. The initial surge of fighters is hinted at more than shown, but it’s still pretty funny to see that Jesse is able to manhandle a dozen men with relative ease in between belts off a bottle of hooch. Would you put it past Preacher‘s creative crew to kill off Jesse’s principal physical antagonist? That’s one of the benefits of the show; there’s no limit to the diversions it might take. Tulip adopting an old dog only to bring Cassidy slowly back to health? Sure, why not. Incompetent angels and a powerful being that refuses to stay cooped up in a coffee can? Hey, whatever works. There’s an overall narrative, and a greater story arc, but at the same time, there’s freedom in the series for little diversion episodes like this one. It’s character development, kind of a comic-style one-shot, and a little black humor after sending an innocent character to hell and leaving another character to burn to death in the hot Texas sun. US Correspondent Ron Hogan loves a good food court, be it in a mall or in an train station. Nothing like a tour of the world’s foodstuffs without even leaving the city. Find more by Ron daily at Shaktronics and PopFi.
