‘Preacher’ Season 2 finale recap: ‘The End of the Road’
By Shawn Lealos
The Preacher season two finale sets up Jesse and company for their season three Big Bad while showing what happens when the three heroes split up.
Last week on Preacher, Jesse agreed to become the new Messiah for Herr Starr while Tulip and Cassidy chose to walk away. Meanwhile, Hitler helps Eugene start his escape from Hell. Here is a look at everything that happened in the Season 2 finale of Preacher, as all Hell breaks loose.
Will Kindrachuk as Young Jesse – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 13 – Photo Credit: Michele K. Short/AMC/Sony Pictures Television
A Flashback to Gran’ma
The episode starts off interestingly, as it is a flashback to Jesse as a child living with his gran’ma. While it seems strange to launch the finale off with a flashback to someone we have never met, this is a huge set up for Season 3 of Preacher. The entire intro shows Jesse sitting in a lawn chair at the entrance of the L’Angell estate, known as Angelville. Jesse’s job is to charge for parking and sell the fact that his gran’ma can allegedly perform miracles, while also keeping the police out.
We also meet, once again off screen, Jody and T.C., as they come to get the money that Jesse has collected so far for gran’ma. When they show that they know Jesse picked someone’s pocket and kept their wallet, they demand that too before injuring Jesse’s arm. In anger, Jesse kills a rooster that was messing with him, which tears the boy apart. He then takes the rooster to someone (probably gran’ma) and asks for a miracle before putting the rooster on the table. That is when she tells him that it comes at a cost.
This flashback plays into the end of the episode.
Ian Colletti as Eugene, Noah Taylor as Adolf Hitler – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 12 – Photo Credit: Michele K. Short/AMC/Sony Pictures Television
Eugene escapes from Hell
Moving to a different part of this week’s Preacher Season 2 finale, Hitler and Eugene finally come out of the crawl space that they were moving through to escape. They end up on a flat of land and start to run, through mazes, wooded areas, and more. They finally end up at the edge of the woods by the lake. A tall man in a robe is there, and Hitler explains that anyone who does not belong in Hell can go to this man, he will blow a horn, and a boat will take the person to the real world again.
Eugene heads to the man, but then when he starts to speak to him, he realizes that he is trusting Adolf Hitler. The man blows the horn, and Eugene freaks out before he realizes that Hitler was honest. The man in the robe seems like a typical Seth Rogan character (the producer of the series) and just cracks wise at Eugene’s face. However, that is when Mannering shows up and demands Eugene return with her. When the man at the lake informs her that this is his realm and he decides who leaves, she shoots him and says God is gone and the rules have changed.
However, Hitler knocks Mannering out and allows Eugene to escape, saying he has done the first good thing in his life. Eugene asks Hitler to come with him – and he does. The two end up getting off the bus together (remember the bus the angels took in the first season?) in the real world. However, when Eugene says he should introduce Hitler to his dad (“he loves the History channel”), Hitler makes a break for it. He gets hit by a car, assaults a disabled man, and then bolts into an alley while Eugene realizes he screwed up.
Dominic Cooper as Jesse Custer – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 13 – Photo Credit: Michele K. Short/AMC/Sony Pictures Television
Creating a Messiah
The next major storyline is Herr Starr creating a Messiah in Jesse. The two go to a Catholic school for Jesse to talk to the children and perform a miracle while Herr Starr records it. During his speech, a nun runs in and says that the Armenians are there. Gun shots ring out, and four armed men come into the room. They tell Jesse to move aside because they are there for the nuns and children. Jesse tries to use Genesis to make them drop their guns but – just like last week – it doesn’t work right now.
Instead, Jesse single-handedly beats all the men up and sees that the guns had blanks in them. Herr Starr said that the video is already trending and they have an appointment to be on Jimmy Kimmel that night. However, they cancel that when they learn that Kylie Jenner is going on before them. Just when they are heading out again, Jesse gets a message from Cassidy that they need help.
Herr Star allows Jesse to return to help his friends but then lets him know that they have Jesse’s soul – I suppose it is the soul he gave The Saint of Killers that The Grail somehow reclaimed after he went back to Hell last week.
Ruth Negga as Tulip O’Hare, Joseph Gilgun as Cassidy – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 13 – Photo Credit: Michele K. Short/AMC/Sony Pictures Television
Cassidy faces his son
The moment that has built up all season came to a head tonight in the Preacher Season 2 finale, but it was a letdown. All season, Cassidy has watched as his son Denis became more violent and dangerous since turning into a vampire. Cassidy has gone as far as to keep their puppy hidden from his son. In the comics, there was a vampire that Cassidy met in New Orleans, and the two became friends until Cassidy realized the man was a sociopathic killer.
The story with his son Denis replaced that story but didn’t go far enough to warrant what happened in this episode. Early in the episode, we see a scene where Tulip tells Cassidy that they will have sex again and the two begin to have sex. However, Cassidy loses control and starts to bite Tulip, killing her. It was a nightmare for Cassidy. However, it also coincides with him finding a pair of Tulip’s panties in his laundry.
Later, Cassidy watched (we only heard the audio) of something on Denis’ computer of a group of vampires in New Orleans that tortured and killed and we are led to assume that Denis is part of that now. When Cassidy and Tulip are preparing to leave, he speaks to Denis who finds the pair of Tulip’s panties in his room. When Denis asks for the puppy, Cassidy asks if Denis can be good. Denis holds up the panties and asks if Cassidy can be good. Cassidy admits that he can’t – not while Denis is alive. He then pushes Denis through the window and into the sun and then holds it closed as his son dies, screaming for his papa.
Ruth Negga as Tulip O’Hare – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 13 – Photo Credit: Michele K. Short/AMC/Sony Pictures Television
The fall of Tulip
The Preacher Season 2 finale does one more thing from the comics in an entirely different manner. In the comics, it is Jody that shoots and kills Tulip. In the TV show, before they leave, Tulip finds the mini camera that The Grail was using to spy on them. She goes to tell her friend bye and realizes that her only female friend is Featherstone – and agent of The Grail. Before Tulip can do anything, Featherstone pulls her gun and shoots Tulip.
That is why Cassidy called Jesse, and when Jesse gets there, Cassidy tells him that Tulip went up to say goodbye to someone and someone shot her. Tulip is dying, and Cassidy wants to turn her to save her but Jesse and Cassidy fight. Jesse subdues Cassidy as Tulip bleeds to death on the floor in the dining room.
Preacher Season 2 then ends with Jesse and Cassidy driving and Tulip lying dead in the back seat of the car. Cassidy then turns to Jesse and tells him that he hates him. Jesse says in response, “if you hate me now, just wait.” Jesse then turns his car into Angelville as a rooster crosses the road. Jesse is taking Tulip to his gran’ma to try to bring her back from the dead.