‘Preacher’ Season 2, Episode 3 recap: ‘Damsels’ what happened

The first two episodes of Preacher Season 2 showed Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy set out to find God while running from The Saint of Killers. However, with the third episode, we finally learn about the main protagonist Herr Starr and get a glimpse of Hell.

Here is our recap of Preacher Season 2, Episode 3 ‘ Damsels.

After not seeing anything about Eugene Root since the Season 1 finale, the third episode of Preacher Season 2 shows us what actually happened with Eugene and it mirrors how we learned about the fate of The Saint of Killers from last season’s finale. As shown last season, Hell in this world means re-living your worst moment over and over again for all eternity. For Eugene, those moments finally show us that it was not as everyone in Annville believed.

As a reminder, in Preacher Season 1, Jesse said that Eugene asked out Tracey Loach and she rejected him so he shot her in the head and then turned the gun on himself. That is not what happened at all. In reality, Tracey was going to kill herself because she was so vain that she felt she couldn’t live life if people thought she cheated on her boyfriend with someone who was only a “5 out of 10.”

Eugene was her closest friend and convinced her not to kill herself. However, when he tried to steal a kiss, she was repulsed and turned the gun on herself again, succeeding in shooting herself in the head before Eugene could stop her. He was able to knock the gun up so she did not die but just ended up brain dead. Then, as her mother went nuts at the bedroom door, Eugene turned the gun on himself and pulled the trigger. It didn’t fire and when he looked into the gun, it then fired and Arseface was born.

The scene repeated itself a few times, the same as The Saint of Killers’ revelation from last season, and then cut out with Eugene in a small room with a projector hanging from the ceiling. The title screen then showed that Eugene was in Hell. A woman guard walked in and saw the images had stopped. She called for backup and told Eugene not to move. It turns out that Hell keeps its occupants in prison cells.

Ian Colletti as Eugene – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Skip Bolen/AMC/Sony Pictures Television

We then cut back to Jesse, Tulip and Cassidy as they are leaving Texas and headed to New Orleans. Tulip is not interested in going to New Orleans and said she thought Jesse hated it too. Jesse makes the comment that he likes New Orleans but doesn’t like the swamps (hinting for the second time this season about his grandmother). Tulip unsuccessfully tries to talk them out of the trip, knowing that Viktor there, but not telling Jesse about her reasoning.

They end up in New Orleans and start to hit up the first of 187 different jazz clubs. Jesse tells the bartender in the first one that they are looking for God. He leads them to a basement room where an old man shows them a small room where a woman is sitting holding a leash attached to a man in a dog outfit. It is a sex shop.

Jesse tells them this isn’t what they want because they are looking for the real God, not this. The man in the dog outfit growls and stares at them as they leave. The camera then closes in on the eye holes of the dog costume for an unknown reason.

After leaving the room, Tulip began to look around in fear at the people in the crowds. She refuses to tell Jesse what is wrong, he seems annoyed, but tells her that God is missing and he needs to find him. She reminds him of the “till the end of the world” promise and leaves. Cassidy refuses to go with Jesse, telling him that he needs to get Tulip to where they are staying.

Dominic Cooper as Jesse Custer, Malcolm Barrett as FJ Hoover – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Skip Bolen/AMC/Sony Pictures Television

Tulip and Cassidy are walking and she refuses to tell him what is wrong. However, when she starts to hide from cars, he realizes that she is on the run from something. Tulip then sees a woman that she knows and realizes knows that she is in trouble now.

Tulip and Cassidy then show up to see Dennis, who they are staying with. Dennis speaks French and doesn’t seem happy to see Cassidy but he agrees to let them sleep there.

Back to Jesse, he is annoyed and lashes out at a person in a bar for mocking him. He ends up leaving the bar and a woman tells him that he can find God in a basement room, which Jesse said is not what he is looking for (but makes us wonder about the look the man in the dog costume gave Jesse earlier). The guy that Jesse lashed out at runs out and throws a punch but misses and falls into the street.

Tulip and Cassidy talk about the fact that she is scared of Viktor. She said that she can’t tell Jesse because he would make things worse. Cassidy asks to help but she is stubborn and won’t accept help from anyone.

More from Show Snob

Jesse then hits bar after bar, telling everyone he is looking for God. At the final bar, he asks the bartender if he has seen God and finally gets a tip to talk to a jazz singer at Le Chamonix. He finds the woman and she performs her song before Jesse asks her about God. She tells Jesse to clean himself up and meet her outside before throwing a drink in his face.

While Jesse is cleaning himself up in the bathroom, she runs. She then jumps into a cab to go on the run but a van slams into the cab and a bunch of guys in white suits and white masks with red ties kidnap her. Jesse uses Genesis to get the van to stop and then gets into a fight with the men. He is outnumbered, and they have weapons, but he still takes out all four of them.

The singer asks who he is and he tells her, “Jesse Custer. I’m not with them.” The two then leave together. The two of them show up at her place and she starts to pack in order to go on the run to keep her baby safe. The woman asks how he got the men trying to kidnap her to stop and he said he just told them to. She said that those men were from a secret religious organization and were after her because she was told by someone else that God was missing. That man ended up dead and washed up in the swamps.

Jesse finally tells her about his power when she starts to show that she thinks he might be with the men who tried to kidnap her. She asks if he can make her stop if she really wants to kiss him and he uses his power to make her stop (remember as a side note that using Genesis is a signal for The Saint of Killers). Jesse tells her about God and then sends her on her way to get to safety.

Dominic Cooper as Jesse Custer, Julie Ann Emery as Lara Featherstone – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Skip Bolen/AMC/Sony Pictures Television

After she leaves, Jesse sees a sign on the wall that says, “Welcome to Angelville” and it seems to put him in a trance until his phone rings to snap him out of it. Tulip has called him and seems very distracted. She won’t be honest with him so the phone call ends on a bad note. Tulip throws on her coat and leaves for cigarettes but tells Cassidy not to come.

Back in Hell, Eugene is still in his cell when he realizes he can open his own cell door. He sees an almost never-ending row of cell doors and calls out to see if anyone is there. Someone answers and it turns out to be Adolf Hitler, who leaves his cell as well. They then hear something coming towards them.

Back to New Orleans, it turns out that the singer is actually Lara Featherstone, last seen getting the map from Tulip in the first season. She is also Herr Starr’s right hand and the bartender who sent Jesse to her is her partner Hoover.

The entire ruse here was to prove that Jesse Custer really has the powers of Genesis. We then see Herr Starr for the first time in the Preacher TV series as he is delivered a batch of folders.

Pip Torrens as Herr Starr – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Michele K. Short/AMC/Sony Pictures Television

Jesse Custer is now listening to a jazz musician and is sitting next to an older man with a white beard. Jesse said that he doesn’t understand what the music is saying and the old man next to him tells him it’s the end of the world.

Next: 5 questions following the ‘Preacher’ Season 2 premiere

Finally, Tulip heads to a laundry mat to hit up a cigarette machine. As she is putting in her quarters, a car drives up to the building and a number of men come in to confront Tulip. She turns and one of the men calls Viktor and tells him they have her.

Home/AMC