Preacher season 3, episode 1 recap: 'Angelville'

Preacher season 3 is finally here and Jesse is doing whatever he can to bring his beloved Tulip back from the dead.

However, this means making a deal with the devil — or the next closest thing with his Gran’ma.

As a quick reminder, last season The Grail was trying to do what they could to convince Jesse to go from being a former small-town preacher to the actual messiah using his Voice. However, when he refused, they decided to take away the one thing he had to live for — Tulip.

What Herr Starr did not realize was that Jesse is not a stranger to the dead and actually has a relative that has brought things back from the dead before in his own grandmother. The problem for Jesse is that this is an evil woman and the favor will come with a cost.

First, let’s meet Jesse’s mom

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This episode actually starts with a flashback to the L’Angell estate many years in the past. On the outside, it is a tourist attraction with people visiting the old estate and learning about the history involved.

However, on the inside, Gran’ma L’Angell is running a profitable business where she uses her voodoo to help people — with the two examples shown being an alcoholic politician who wants a cure and a couple who wants help in the sack.

Jesse’s mom is who runs the business part while Gran’ma does the voodoo that she does. There are also two workers named Jody and T.C. who are there to deal with the underhanded part of the family business.

That includes keeping some people locked away. It also includes Jody tracking down a bus that his mom tried to escape on. The L’Angell family appeared to own the police at that time and were able to get her back home.

When Gran’ma asked what she was hiding, she said nothing and ate a photograph she had hidden away. However, Gran’ma, being evil, had Jody and T.C. hold her down and the cut her own daughter open to get the photo out.

It was Jesse and his dad, and the rest is history.

Cassidy and Jesse’s friendship breaks even further

Jesse and Cassidy show up at the L’Angell estate in the present time with a dead Tulip. They get her into the house, but there seems to be no one there. Just when Jesse is about to break, Cassidy verbally launches into Jesse, blaming him for Tulip dying.

That is when Cassidy finally tells Jesse about how he and Tulip had sex while the three were separated and that she likes him. That sets off Jesse and the two start to brawl in the house, beating the hell out of each other until someone brings a gun down on Cassidy’s head.

It is T.C., who quickly realizes that it is Jesse and seems very happy to see him. Through this entire episode, T.C. does not come across as the creepy and disgusting figure from the comics, but instead seems to be scared, slightly innocent in an emotionally stunted way, but completely broken down and subservient to Gran’ma.

This is when Gran’ma comes in.

Jesse wants to bring Tulip back

Jesse tells Gran’ma that he wants her to bring Tulip back from the dead. That isn’t good enough though, and Gran’ma wants respect. She blames Jesse leaving on their business going down and said he turned his back on his own family.

Jesse finally asks Gran’ma to please help him and offers anything in return. Gran’ma said that Jesse knows what she wants so he cuts his hand and gives her his blood.

After she tells Jesse what she needs, he heads out to find Jody — the man who killed his father.

Jesse and Jody

Jesse sends Cassidy to get a list of things that Tulip loves to help her when it is time to bring her back from the dead. Cassidy argues about her favorite music and then leaves.

Jesse then finds Jody and the two seem to have unfinished business, but Jody hugs Jesse and said they will deal with it later but for now, they will get the drug that they need for Gran’ma to bring back Tulip.

This involves heading to a rival gang and that ends up with Jody, pretty much, destroying everyone there and leaving with the drug in hand.

Before they get back, Cassidy shows up and Gran’ma lets him know that she realizes he loves Tulip too and that she knows a potion to make Tulip only love him.

Tulip is in Purgatory

Last season, we saw what Hell was like, with the bureaucracy and so forth. This episode, we see what Purgatory is like. It is basically a sitcom-styled scene of the most devastating moment of a person’s life.

For Tulip, it was her father returning from jail and promising that things will change this time. Tulip is there as both an adult and a child, with the child in the scenes and Tulip watching everything go down.

Her dad gets a job and then tells Tulip he will bring her back her favorite candy. Her mother then shows up and tells her that he will never come back and all O’Hare’s are the same — including Tulip.

When her father returns, his job went bad and the police are after him. When Tulip asks if he remembered her candy, he asks why he can’t do anything right and Tulip stands by his side.

Her time is running out.

Jody vs. Jesse

During this time, Jesse and Jody get back to the estate. However, Jody won’t give Jesse the drug and said they have something to finish. They start to fight.

Jody is stronger and Jesse barely hurts him until he finally smashes Jody’s head through the window of the truck and starts to beat him with the side view mirror that broke off. It isn’t enough and Jody wins the fight.

Jody makes it sound like he won’t let them save Tulip, picks up the back of the pickup truck and prepares to drop the tire on Jesse’s head when Gran’ma shows up outside and tells him to stop. Jody claims that they were messing around and drops the tuck beside Jesse’s head.

Jody finally tosses Jesse the drug and leaves.

GOD

Tulip is sitting with her younger self and the helicopter’s roar around outside and then someone beats on the door, telling her they are from protective services and are there to take her.

Back at the L’Angell estate, Gran’ma tells Jesse that Tulip is in Purgatory and it is up to her to figure out how to get back before giving her the drug.

Back in Purgatory, Tulip is about to go open the door (which will send her to the afterlife) when she sees beer, Count Chocula cereal and more on the table. This is what Cassidy brought back to the estate and it is keeping her from opening the door.

When she is fed the drug, she spits up a battery in Purgatory. That is when things get frantic and the voices outside the door say there has been a breach and they start to take an ax to the door. The child Tulip even tells her it is time to go and reveals she is a “reenactor” hired to play her.

The phone rings and when she answers it, she hears Jesse talking about how much he needs her, as he sits beside her dead body. As the people are trying to get in to take Tulip, she looks around and sees a clock on the wall that is not working, puts the battery in it and then appears on the road leading to the L’Angell estate.

She starts to run toward the house when she stops and sees GOD — still dressed in the dog costume. He tells Tulip that he did not bring her back but she was chosen by him to play an important role in his grand design — and then she woke up beside Jesse.

Jesse tried to go back on the deal

Even if Gran’ma brought back Tulip from the dead, Jesse has no reason to care about his deal with her. She killed his father and possibly his mother (not sure where the TV show is going with her story). When she rolls in and asks if they still have a deal, he gives her a look.

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Jesse tells her that he should just kill her like he should have done years before. He said he could push her out of her chair and she would die before she hit the floor. However, Gran’ma tells him that she thought of that and has precautions in place.

She dares him to do it and see what happens. This is when Jesse realizes that he is stuck there — at least for now.

Preacher airs every Sunday night on AMC at 10 p.m. EST.

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Preacher season 3, episode 1 recap: ‘Angelville’

By Shawn Lealos | Jun 25, 2018