‘Preacher’ Season 2, Episode 9 recap: ‘Puzzle Piece’

On this week’s episode of ***Preacher*, “Puzzle Piece,” The Grail orders the assassination of Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy and end up with a war on their hands.**

Previously on Preacher, Tulip was struggling to deal with their battle with The Saint of Killers while Jesse was completely preoccupied with finding God. Also, Cassidy was trying to decide whether or not to turn his son Denis to save his life.

Here is a look at what happened in Episode 9 of Season 2 of Preacher – “Puzzle Piece.”

Cassidy and Denis

A lot of action took place in this episode, so we will start with a couple of subplots working through the episode. Last week, Cassidy stood and sang a song to his 71-year-old son Denis as the episode ended. This week, we learned what the results of that were. Cassidy, despite knowing he shouldn’t, turned his son Denis into a vampire to save his life. Interestingly, Jesse let Cassidy know that he was ok with it, despite most people knowing this was not a good idea.

Cassidy needed to feed Denis blood to help him recover his strength, but made sure to tell him not to drink it unless it was to heal. While not explicitly mentioned, it sounds like the more a vampire drinks blood, the more addictive it becomes and it looks like there might be dark times ahead for Denis. While this character did not exist in the comic books, it looks like it might parallel a story from the books concerning Cassidy and his past.

Dominic Cooper as Jesse Custer, Ruth Negga as Tulip O’Hare – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 9 – Photo Credit: Michele K. Short/AMC/Sony Pictures Television

Tulip and Jesse

The second smaller subplot involves the complicated relationship between Jesse and Tulip. Ever since the Saint of Killers attacked, Tulip has been unable to sleep because of the nightmares. She has been going out every night to the Hurt Locker and let guys shoot her to allow that pain to help her forget the real pain she is experiencing. She had not slept for a long time so Jesse used Genesis to make her sleep.

While Jesse did it because he thought it would help. Of course, Jesse would think this because he is completely oblivious to the pain of those around him in this narrow-focused quest to find God. Jesse even took to YouTube to find videos of people who might have seen God, hoping that will help him get a clue. Also, it is interesting to note here that Jesse had a flashback memory of his father’s murder and how Jesse needed to be one of the good guys. Jesse even blows up to Cassidy, telling him that without God, the world can’t survive because it needs a leader.

Back to Tulip, she makes it pretty clear that sleeping didn’t help because she is still dreaming. However, because of an attack that Jesse sees coming, Tulip refuses to allow them to fight without her and remains strong in the battle.

Julie Ann Emery as Lara Featherstone, Malcolm Barrett as F.J. Hoover – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 9 – Photo Credit: Michele K. Short/AMC/Sony Pictures Television

The Grail Attacks

That attack was the result of the start of “Puzzle Piece.” The episode started with Herr Starr telling Lara Featherstone that Jesse using his power was inconsequential and ordered them to kill Jesse, Cassidy and Tulip. The Grail then sent a hit squad in to kill them. This all took place while Tulip was sleeping due to Genesis and it ended up being Cassidy and Jesse fighting alone. Cassidy took on all but one of the hit squad as they started to carve him up.

That other member went in and shot Denis before moving on to Jesse’s room. Of course, Jesse was ready for him and beat him down and then used Genesis to tell him to kill his friends. The man walked in and, while in tears, killed the other members of the hit squad. Jesse then wanted to get information from him but Denis flew in and killed the man – which is where we learned that Denis is a vampire now as well.

When Tulip woke up, she saw what happened and realized that Jesse had commandeered five New Orleans police officers to watch the building because he knew an attack was coming. However, all that happened the next night was the arrival of a giant fat man who the police thought was their target (someone known as BRAD) and a Cleaner that Tulip shot because she thought he had a gun. However, there was one last attempt to kill the three heroes.

Pip Torrens as Herr Starr – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 9 – Photo Credit: Michele K. Short/AMC/Sony Pictures Television

Herr Starr arrives in New Orleans

After Herr Starr told Lara to kill Jesse, Cassidy and Tulip, he also asked for professional prostitutes – ones who believed that no meant yes. Lara wanted to do it herself but Herr Starr was not interested. This also bothered Hoover, who actually told Lara that he loved her in this episode. Hoover is tasked with finding the prostitutes to help Herr Starr’s rape fantasy, and just like he did in the comics, Hoover screws this up badly.

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Herr Starr is looking through Jesse’s file after he hears Custer say that the world needs someone in charge. That is when three men show up at Herr Starr’s office and when he says there was a mistake and tells them no, they attack and brutally rape him. They are the professionals that Hoover hired. While the rape is going on, Starr realizes that Jesse Custer is the missing puzzle piece. He calls Lara and tells her to call off BRAD.

It turns out that BRAD is not a person but a missile shot from a drone that was set to blow up Denis’ building. They barely get it diverted and instead kill Harry Connick Jr. (he is the second celebrity to die following Tom Cruise exploding when Genesis refused his body as a host last season). That is when Jesse goes to a bar in disgust of not getting any answers and looks up to see Herr Starr enter and sit next to him.

As Jesse sits there in astonishment, Herr Starr says he came alone and told Jesse that he can help him find God.

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On this week’s episode of Preacher, “Puzzle Piece,” The Grail orders the assassination of Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy and end up with a war on their hands.