Preacher Season Finale Review: Call and Response (Season 1 Episode 10)

Preacher hits us with some seriously wonderful goofy goodness with this week’s season finale — and it is everything we could have ever hoped for in a finale for this show.

Seriously.

It’s campy, it’s hilarious, it is everything.

Where to even begin to praise this gem of a send off for the series’ debut season?

I mean…alright, yes. No episode is without fault, but “Call and Response” is just so fun that it’s hard to buckle down and focus on criticizing where they went wrong when it just all feels so right!

We can do that after we take some time to appreciate everything wonderful that happens this week.

Okay?

Okay.

First of all, Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy — the core three characters, the only characters who truly matter — are absolutely wonderful and charming this week. They’re positively irresistible (which, in Jesse’s case, is really saying something, considering how massively unlikeable he could be in the past).

So, the fact that they are the only three survivors of the Annville explosion is pretty okay (that’s certainly one way to tie up a seasonal story arch).

Let’s talk about some of the finale’s best moments:

• Okay, Jesse whipping past that old lady in the street and yelling out a quick greeting as he does so is absolutely hilarious.
• Tulip literally broke down Donnie’s front door to rescue Jesse and Jesse is all, “You came back for me,” and my ship is sailing.
• The entire scene with the false God in the church is magical — completely “laugh out loud” goofy and it shouldn’t work because it’s so bad but it’s so good. So, so good. Absolutely hilarious.
• Tulip literally told off “God” for making a baby cry. Is anyone not in love with her at this point…?
• The diner scene is A+. The trio all together, Eugene’s cameo, Jesse using Genesis to get Tulip to kiss him, to show her what it does, and Tulip punching him in the face for messing with her free will (seriously, you’re in love with her, too, right?). The chemistry between these three is so natural that they are an absolute delight to watch. One can only imagine how fantastic it’ll be next season with them all together, all the time.

Honestly, with the way everything ends for the townspeople — without hope, without any chance of any of them ever returning — and with out heroes heading out on the road in search of God, we are certainly made to feel a lot like this first season has simply been laying the groundwork for the real story.

The real question this raises is: did this season long build-up work?

Or are we just sort of pissed that, essentially, we spent an entire season getting to know characters, trying to work out plotlines that sort of seem to not really matter anymore?

Couldn’t we have gotten here quicker?

Maybe.

But, here’s the thing: we’re all dying to see what’s going to happen next season. This finale, the way everything ends, leaves us wanting to see more and, on top of that, we had fun getting here.

At the end of the day (or, rather: season), this build-up to the core plot of the series — Jesse, Tulip, Cassidy, and their search for God — was actually pretty effective.

Go figure.

Granted, this idea would never, ever have worked if the show wasn’t as fabulously entertaining as it is. Yeah, we took a really long detour to get to the real point, but, man, did we ever have a good time getting here — and isn’t there a saying that tells us how it’s not about the destination, but the journey itself?

It has been a solid journey.

And it sure seems like season two is going to be an absolute blast.

Did you love it? Hate it? Let me know in the comments below!

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Preacher airs Sundays 9/8c on AMC.