The craziness runs in the family.
The newest episode of Preacher — “Gonna Hurt” — finally show us what’s hiding in Gran’ma's basement. Believe me, it ain’t pretty.
Before we get to that, though, Tulip has taken it upon herself to free her boyfriend from this blood bind that Gran’ma has put on Jesse.
Jesse doesn’t actually want Tulip to try and mess with the curse in any way — he knows how dangerous Gran’ma is and doesn’t want to see Tulip get hurt, but she decides to go for it anyway. What’s the worst that could happen?
The first place she tries looking is through God — which is the part of the show where those who are easily offended might consider turning it off. Then again, those who would get offended by this kind of thing never would dream of turning into Preacher in the first place, but I digress.
God — still wearing his dog costume — is driving across the country a motorcycle, living life like a lost soul. God actually approaches Tulip and removes his mask, revealing he looks just like “fake God” who we saw at the end of season one.
“That was all part of the plan,” he tells her.
God tries to compliment Tulip on her good work in stopping Jesse from returning to the Grail, but that just leaves Tulip confused — she messed up. Jesse’s still trapped.
“Again, all part of the plan.”
In probably the biggest gut-punch Preacher’s had to date, God tells Tulip that he’s well aware of the Curse of the O’Hare’s and has already factored it into everything. Screwing up is just what she does best.
Tulip, obviously, isn’t going to take that. She’s never been a character who lets others walk over her (which is the thing I love about her), even if that person is God. She basically calls God out for abandoning everything, saying there isn’t any over-arching plan and that he’s just out here wasting away.
Now it’s God’s turn to be mad. He shows off his powers a bit but then ultimately retreats to his motorcycle and rides away. Seems like Tulip struck some kind of chord.
The next place she decides to look is TC — which, she quickly notes, won’t be too hard as TC is obviously overwhelmed by having a female presence in the first time.
She uses that to her advantage, pretending that she’s interested in TC so she can try and get some information out of him. After hearing a story about how one of Gran’ma’s previous customers tried to rip the napkin a blood-oath was made on in half, only for the participant themselves to be ripped in half, she still isn’t having much luck. Furthermore, she’s beginning to understand why Jesse might be so afraid of Gran’ma.
The last place she figures that she’ll try is Madame Boyd (Prema Cruz) — the other local witch-doctor who’s taken over the area ever since Gran’ma shut her business down.
Tulip tries to infiltrate Madame Boyd’s hideout with some fake story, but Boyd quickly sees that and tries to corner Tulip. What she didn’t see coming, however, is the gun — which Tulip promptly points at Boyd’s head before we cut and don’t see anything more out of those characters.
Back with Jesse and Cassidy, the tension is still flowing heavy.
Jesse, who’s once again being forced to go on various recruiting missions to find Gran’ma customers, has begun to notice that TC and Jody are catching on as to how quickly Cassidy is healing from the wounds he got in the previous episode.
That’s not a good thing. Apparently, this family has a long history with vampires — they’ve been known to hang them from the trees until they burn in the sunlight. They may be into magic and sorcery and all that, but they don’t have any tolerance for monsters.
Jesse tries to tell Cassidy this and, for just a brief moment, it looks like it might get through to him. That doesn’t long, as Cassidy decides this is all just an elaborate ploy to get him away from Tulip instead.
So, while Jesse and Jody are out recruiting, he does something he knows is wrong, yet just can’t quite help. He goes to Gran’ma and asks for a love potion. That way he can leave, Tulip will agree to come with him and they never have to deal with Jesse again.
If only it had been that simple. Tulip’s off doing her own thing, so Cassidy still has to hang around the house. His taste for blood is too strong so, that night, he heads outside to digest a few chickens.
That’s when TC catches him and knocks him out cold.
Jody and Jesse come out, Jesse pretending he had no idea Cassidy was a vampire so that he doesn’t blow his cover, as they get ready to hang him from a tree.
Jesse stops them as he frantically thinks how he can save his friend's life.
That’s where the tombs — Gran’ma’s basement — come into play. The episode ends with a brief glimpse of what lies underneath. A large crowd full of not so pleasant has gathered, with Jesse in the middle of them all acting as some kind of ring-leader. He’s even given a top-hat that he twirls all Greatest Showman Style if it wasn’t obvious enough.
Cassidy is brought out in one end, the high-school teacher creep up on the other. They’re each thrown weapons and told they have to fight.
Cue the credits.
I’ve really got to hand it to this season of Preacher — every episode gets me more and more excited to see what’s coming around the corner next. I have so many questions about Angelville and Gran’ma, but I’m loving everything that they give me.
Tune in to AMC tonight to watch the next episode of Preacher, and check out some of our other Preacher recaps by clicking here!