Ahhh Preacher. What a breath of fresh air. In an industry saturated with lengthy superhero shows and crime procedurals, a programme about a preacher that receives the power of “Genesis”, basically giving him the power of command over any human is as original as they come. It puts my faith back into TV. AMC could have simply produced another cop drama or teen angst struggle, but instead they went with an adaptation of a relatively obscure comic book about a super powered preacher.
The story of the show follows a Southern States preacher named Jesse Custer and his flock in his small rural community. When one day, Jesse gets the gift of Genesis. He begins to use it, but struggles to combine his almost God like power with his religious beliefs. Eventually Jesse succumbs to the power of this gift, using it on a particularly needy member of his flock, Eugene, telling him to “go to hell” which he promptly does. Dominic Cooper’s acting portrays perfectly the guilt and shock of literally sending someone to spend eternity in fiery damnation, or so we think. It turns out Hell is more of a prison in which you are forced to live out the worst moment of your life on repeat. For Eugene, this is the moment his crush blew her brains out in a fit of psychopathic rage, and Eugene then proceeds to blow his own brains out, only to be left with a massive hole in the middle of his face, scarring him forever. Yep this show is that weird.
"Dominic Cooper’s acting portrays perfectly the guilt and shock of literally sending someone to spend eternity in fiery damnation"
In season two we get to look more at Jesse’s back story; his time as a criminal with his girlfriend, Tulip, his abusive childhood and his depressive stage. One thing that this show gets right is that every character that turns up is incredibly interesting, whether it be the Nazi businessman who wants to find god (literally), the immortal angels who have come to defend Genesis, the undefeatable gunslinger who murders everyone and everything in his way to get genesis, but most of all the comic relief vampire, Cassidy played by Misfits’ Joe Gilgun. The immortal nice guy who just wants a good time acts as a great moral compass for the complicated ethical dilemmas Jesse and Tulip face in the show. Cassidy, despite being easily characterised as a blood sucking monster is a true friend to the both of them.
Ultimately, if you are sick of all the generic rubbish that is produced these days, give Preacher a go.