Preacher Review: Deviant (Season 4 Episode 3)

Preacher Season 4 Episode 3, “Deviant,” reminds us that God has a plan and it isn’t nice or pretty. Between Cassidy continuing to be tortured and The Saint of Killers returning and Tulip pretending to be a Grail member, this end of the world isn’t going down without a fight. 

Let’s talk about that fight, considering there seem to be multiple parts to it. This fight is eventually going to all come together in one epic battle for Earth, Heaven, and Hell. 

I greatly appreciate that “Deviant” finally moves all of the key players into position. These players all need to make their own journey to the end, but eventually, they will all end up in the same place. 

It’s like they say — all roads lead to Rome. In the case of Preacher, Rome seems to be Masada. 

Masada is actually one of the most perfect back-drops for the end of it all. It gives off ancient vibes but, also gives off a vibe of finality. 

Which leads me to my first point, Tulip, Herr Starr, and Featherstone are currently the only key players in the correct position. Let’s just hope they can stop wanting to kill each other long enough to allow this final God fight to occur. 

That means we still need to get Cassidy, Jesse, Eugene, The Saint of Killers, Hitler, and God into position. Based on this episode it is clear that the bulk of this season is going to center on that — well that and finding the correct Humperdoo.

On Preacher, nothing is ever unintentional; so showing Cassidy’s origin story must have some weight this season. On “Deviant” it is clear that the purpose of this story was to really drive home that Cassidy is at the end of his rope and is ready to give up.

After everything he has been put through in the last three seasons, can anyone really blame him? I mean, the guy has given everything for Jesse and in return, Jesse has repeatedly crapped on him or ignored his feelings entirely. 

It was nice when Cassidy had a friend in Laurant last season because then he wasn’t alone. And now, once again it seems he is being isolated, but he has a companion in his archangel friend. 

While it is good to consistently see Tulip put everything aside to help him, what I really want to see is for Jesse to pause his single-minded quest for God long enough to see the error of his ways with his supposed best friend. 

Up until this episode, I held out hope of that happening. However, “Deviant” showed that Jesse is becoming less and less like the Preacher Custer we met in the beginning and more like God.

He is turning into an extremely selfish asshole that likes to manipulate the people around him and isolate himself from them. 

When Tulip had that nightmare about Jesse turning on her in a cold, cruel way it almost seemed as though it is foreshadowing of what is to come. Right now Jesse only cares about what Jesse needs and nothing else. 

Yes, the whole point of Preacher is that Jesse is supposed to be a bit rough around the edges, but that doesn’t mean he has to abandon the people who helped him get to this point. Instead, of showing appreciation for the things they have done for him he uses them as means to an end. 

Even his attempt at rescuing Cassidy during the premiere is laced with selfish intention. Jesse doesn’t do it for the actual good of Cassidy — he does it to get closer to Herr Starr and hopefully God. 

After the events of “Deviant,” I now better understand Cassidy when he refused to leave Masada with Jesse. He could see right through Jesse’s facade and decided he would rather not travel another step with his “friend.”

In a way, Cassidy feels that he deserves everything that Jesse has given him and therefore believes its best he stay and get tortured. It breaks fans hearts to see Cassidy like this — which is now becoming a regular thing with him.

This brings me to Tulip and her badassery while locked up in The Grail’s infirmary.  It is a genius ploy on her part to do a quick switcheroo and become a member of The Grail, but like most of her plans she didn’t fully think it through.

I’ve said before — and I will say it again — Preacher‘s stunt team is phenomenal. They just keep taking things to a whole new level. During the premiere, it is with all the escape fight scenes and on “Deviant” it is with Tulip’s attempt at leaving her hospital bed.

It is one thing to stage a fight where everyone is standing and the only obstacles are the walls surrounding them. It is another thing entirely to stage one where the person doing the fighting is being held against her will onto a bed.

The stunt team somehow manages to showcase Negga’s talents as an actress while also proving nothing will keep Tulip from her goals. 

Don’t these Grail members know by now that touching Tulip O’Hare very well may be the last thing they ever do?

Another battle of note is with Jesse and the house of dressed up party guests. To be honest, it’s still not quite clear what the point of all that is — besides Jesse trying to save a kid, which in and of itself doesn’t make that much sense either.

Preacher has a plan for everything and maybe this moment is significant in the overall downfall of Jesse Custer. After all, he does go off the rails a bit in his fighting — he kills everyone there, even the child unintentionally.

And this points him in the direction of direct contact with the one and only, Hitler. We haven’t seen Hitler since the end of last season — and frankly, I thought we wouldn’t see him ever again. 

It is interesting that the writers chose Hitler to try and put a little perspective in there for Jesse. If we think of the historical context of it, the result is hilarious. 

Jesse flat out ignores the well-intentioned warnings of the new ruler of Hell, which I hope comes back to bite him in the end. He selfishly uses The Voice to prove a point to Hitler that he is superior and that Hitler can’t scare him. 

This is truly the moment that makes me believe Jesse is beyond redemption — not that I have any sympathy for Hitler. The Jesse who was gifted this power would have never used it to almost kill someone who was just speaking the truth to him. 

Like I’ve said before, Jesse is a bit of a selfish person, but he always had the redeeming quality of looking out for his best friends and only harming people if it was absolutely necessary. 

He is becoming very capricious and The Voice is to blame. The power of The Voice wields many assets but at the cost of it consuming the person who bears it. 

 Jesse has had this gift for about four years now and it has started to consume him to the point where he refuses to give it up. It is turning him into a replica of God — maybe that is God’s intention for Jesse Custer in the end.

What if God’s vision for Jesse is for him to become so consumed by the power of God that he stands back and lets the end of the world happen? 

This leads me to my final observation, and the one I have really been wanting to talk about — the relationship between Eugene and The Saint of Killers. These two seemingly polar opposites actually work well together as a team in search of Jesse.

Eugene: All part of God’s plan.

The Saint: God’s gone.

Eugene: That’s part of God’s plan too.

The sweet, innocent yet firm belief in the goodness of God from Eugene pairs nicely with The Saint who has abandoned all hope of there being a God who loves and protects them. In fact, the two talk extensively about that on this episode. 

It’s refreshing to see both sides of the scale with regards to belief in God/religion in general. It is one of the things I love about Preacher — they never shy away from the more controversial issues or opinions. 

Eugene has been to Hell and back and yet he still believes that God is good and He has a positive plan for all of us. Wouldn’t it be nice if more people could have that viewpoint on the world?

The more defining aspect of that is not the dialogue Eugene is given, but the acting choices of Ian Colletti. Colletti manages to get us to look past Eugene’s face and see the young man within — which is easy to forget about with all that is going on around him.

This counters Graham McTavish’s The Saint very well and surprisingly makes sense. The Saint doesn’t care about many people, but “Deviant” really touched upon how much he actually cares about Eugene even if he doesn’t outwardly say it. 

This pairing is going to be the one to watch as this journey continues. They will probably come out and surprise us with just how effective they are going to be at dealing with Jesse.

It is becoming clearer and clearer that the end result of Preacher is the downfall of Jesse Custer. The only thing that isn’t clear is just how that is going to happen. 

Further Preachings

• The sound department needs a goddamn Emmy. They perfectly pair music with every moment on this show.
• While only in a few scenes, Julie Ann Emery’s Featherstone remains memorable and important.
• Can I just put this into the universe now? I want the end to be a showdown between Jesse, Cassidy, and Tulip as the former two try saving Jesse from himself — and if they can’t I want to see them make the choice to take him down.

What did you think of this episode of Preacher? Share your thoughts in the comments below! Catch up on our review of Preacher Season 4 Premiere: Masada/Last Supper right here.

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Preacher airs Sundays at 10/9c on AMC.

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