“That wouldn’t be very Christian of you.” – Odin Quincannon

Last week’s episode of Preacher was a shift to a more streamlined style of narrative, and this week, more puzzle pieces fall into place as the season long narrative begins to take shape. But make no mistake, this week’s episode, “Monster Swamp“, was still delightfully wacky.

We begin with Lacey, erstwhile local hooker, running from some guys sporting rifles. Lovely. Our girl stops to catch her breath when Clive (who Tulip ran into at the card table last week) walks up to her and shoots her…with a paintball gun. The real trouble is when she stumbles backwards and falls into a drainage ditch to her death. And we’re off and running.

Later, we see Sheriff Meat Loaf  overseeing Lacey’s body being hauled out of the well. Odin Quincannon, watching the proceedings, gets on a crate and tells his boys “to be careful when they’re being rowdy” and the girls “to be careful when they’re out walking at night.” Not exactly ‘win one for the gipper‘. Anyway, the sheriff makes no move to arrest Clive, so it’s pretty clear Odin is running the show in Annville.  Tulip is in the crowd, not exactly thrilled with this situation. Foreshadowing, people. Quincannon is a peach. The more material Haley gets, the better. Odin is shaping up to be the yin to Jesse’s yang.

Meanwhile, our Preacher sits in church remembering his father as pastor. His vampire bestie, Cassidy shows up and lets Jesse know all about the angelic assassins who are looking for him, and how he murdered them. And then murdered them again. Despite the dented van, and the whole, you know, resurrection issue – Jesse seems unconcerned. Cassidy leaves with a friendly warning to leave town, because they won’t stop until they get what’s inside of him. The Preacher just wants central air in his church.

But that ain’t all he wants. Jesse visits Emily to try to figure out a way to have the church filled with parishioners Sunday, because he’s going to do something “wonderful”.  Oh boy. Here comes that faith vs. free will problem again.

Angelic hitmen, inc. meet up with Cassidy in their hotel room. They want Jesse, but Cassidy wants more info, like how they plan to remove whatever is inside Jesse. Deblanc wants to go the creepy nursery rhyme route again. Fiore prefers a chainsaw. So, either way…ugh. After Cass leaves, the dynamic duo pull out an old phone to call “home”, which is presumably heaven. But since they’re on Earth without permission they’re forbidden. Plus, the long distance bill.

Sunday arrives and Jesse is telling his flock that the world is coming apart at the seams, but he can save them. He’ll bring them back to the light, “one by one”, starting with the one who has strayed furthest: Odin Quincannon.  The congregation watches as Jesse asks Odin to serve God, a plea Odin refuses. Jesse summons his power and reiterates the question.

“Of course I will,” Odin replies, eyes glazed over, just when the phone rings in the Angels hotel room. Yes, that phone.

This episode does a wonderful job further establishing Odin as the power in Annville; gives us some great Cassidy and Tulip interactions and some flashbacks to Jesse’s childhood and his weird relationship with Odin. This was another solid hour that moved Quincannon from the periphery to the forefront of the action, as his character really begins to take shape.

It also brings up a few important questions: does it make Jesse’s congregation stronger if he has to force them all back to the faith, or weaker? Can he build what he wants to build on a foundation of coercion? We still don’t know why Jesse is able to contain the power so many others couldn’t. As for Fiore and DeBlanc…why are they there? If heaven didn’t give them permission to be there, who did?

If I have a criticism, it’s that we don’t get enough of Cassidy and Tulip. Cassidy brightens the screen every time he’s on it, and the same can be said of Tulip. Getting them together was fantastic tonight, but hopefully they can move quickly toward being tied into the main story.

3.5 out of 5 Arsefaces.

Pastor’s Notes

• The Angels confusion about ordering food in the hotel room was hilarious. They see a burger commercial on TV and are annoyed when they call the front desk and they can’t order said burger. They settle for Cheetos.
• Jesse’s relationship with his father was…complicated. There’s a flashback in which Jesse’s father whips him with a belt in front of everyone, including Tulip. No wonder the guy’s conflicted.
• Quincannon’s hobbies as established in this episode are building historical models and playing Q-bert. Also? Quincannon is delightfully batsh*t crazy, and Haley brings out the best we’ve seen so far in Dominic Cooper.