Martin Carr reviews the seventh episode of Preacher season 4…
There are choices to be made this week which leave no room for grey area. God remains an absentee landlord whilst retribution is personified by a tulip and an angry vampire. Theological discussions underpin an episode which carries a full quota of crazy alongside several side orders of off the chain antics. Kidnappings are rife, conversations get heated and people die for selfish reasons. Alongside that main course sits a tap dancing clone with involuntary erections and bearded ladies who make mean lattes.
As we continue down the road of Dalmatian gimp suits, speed ball addicted seraphim and biker gang deities all convention is jettisoned in favour of sheer lunacy. That is not to say these characters are anything other than grounded individuals, but rather that their world view is extremely self-contained. For many definitions of Heaven and Hell have long been forgotten while celestial balance, good versus evil or what remains of it is mildly subjective according to need.
Laying the beat down, casually shooting people or hiding out behind a coffee kiosk might seem abnormal behaviour elsewhere, but within Preacher it provides context. Armour plated angels, blood soaked all Fathers and religious desecration make sense alongside Chevy Chase tributes for those paying attention. For anyone else joining the party late there is little hope of things making sense, whilst here is not the place for answers. Suffice to say that a certain Preacher gets offered the keys to a stolen car and an open road. Elsewhere grief and a certain degree of madness have created a ransom situation beyond description.
Powers are shifting, God is tinkering and a certain grail agent is up for kicking arse and taking names. Where this leaves the savaged all Father, gimp suited Almighty and a mission focused Saint of Killers remains to be seen. With the final season finale approaching you would think someone might go and buy themselves a theological rug to metaphorically tie this room together. Unless of course an overarching idea of creation is not something that appeals to you and notions of pre-ordained destiny are on the table. In which case such things have already been decided and our role is arbitrary at best.
Martin Carr
Originally published September 9, 2019. Updated September 8, 2019.
