Will Jesse Custer be the new messiah?
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
I had certain expectations of how Preacher's Season 2 finale would play out given how "On Your Knees" set the stage last week. I'm pleased to report that "End of the Line" largely subverted those expectations. Preacher is usually at its best when it goes the unexpected route and focuses on being as absurd and unpredictable as possible. "End of the Line" tapped into that appeal while also delivering a finale with the emotional resonance the Season 1 finale lacked.
All that being said, it did take a while for this episode to really find its groove. I mostly blame the cold opening. As neat as it is to catch a closer glimpse of Jesse's teenage years and his old nemeses, T.C. and Jody, it was a long time before it became apparent just how this extended flashback was meant to tie back to the rest of the episode. Not until the very final scene, in fact. But as the final step in a season-long buildup to Jesse's return home and the debut of his twisted grandmother, the flashback did its job. I'm very much looking forward to seeing these characters make their full debut in Season 3. The show has certainly done a great job of building to that point.
Apart from setting the stage for the L'Angelle family, this episode mostly set about tying up loose ends and capping off season-long character arcs. The Hell storyline finally, mercifully came to an end as Eugene and Hitler made their desperate escape down the River Styx. The show's utterly mundane depiction of iconic mythological and religious figures is a source of great entertainment, and Charon is no exception. Part of me is a little disappointed in how this subplot wrapped. Eugene doesn't seem overly changed or affected by his time in Hell, which begs the question once more of whether we really needed so much attention devoted to his wrongful imprisonment. Time will tell there, as it all hinges on the inevitable reunion between Eugene and Jesse.
But at the very least, Hitler's arc received a fitting conclusion. There's a such a strange cognitive dissonance in seeing a person as detestable as Adolf Hitler being granted a warm and fuzzy, redemptive moment. It's weirdly heart-warming, yet also completely inappropriate. Had the writers simply stopped there, that might have been a weird way to end things. But instead, it seems it was all an act. Hitler didn't really learn the value of doing good. He just wanted his chance to escape and roam the Earth once more. Perhaps more than anything next season, I'm eager to see how the series handles the concept of a living, breathing Hitler run amok in 21st Century America. It may amount nothing more than a series of background jokes along the lines of Tom Cruise's death in Season 1, but there's plenty of room to go wild here.
This was a key episode for Cassidy, as well. At long last, he was forced to account for his very questionable parenting behavior and take responsibility for the monster he turned his son into. Admittedly, Cassidy's decision to kill Denis felt very sudden. I would have liked to see a little more build-up to that point. But regardless, it made for a very powerful, depressing moment, and one that will surely haunt Cassidy for some time to come. This episode really highlighted Cassidy's defining character flaw. He's a pleasant, amiable fellow who likes to see himself as the best mate anyone could hope for. But at his core, Cassidy is a damaged, failure-prone man who invariably ruins the lives of anyone who hangs around him for too long. Perhaps for the first time, we're really seeing that inner darkness spring forth.
What surprised me most about "End of the Line" was the very open-ended way it left the relationship between Jesse and the Grail. Jesse didn't overcome Starr's malignant influence. He didn't solve the problem of his malfunctioning Genesis voice (which I had assumed was Starr's doing last week, but apparently not). Jesse, Tulip and Cassidy didn't even patch up their relationship by the end. Each of our three heroes ended this season far worse than they started it. Cassidy is grappling with murdering of his own son. Tulip is seemingly dead. Jesse is locked in a downward spiral and ready to go back to the last place he ever wanted to make up for his mistakes.
It's a very dark and even unpleasant way to end the season. Yet that's exactly why it worked. That dramatic kitchen fight between Jesse and Cassidy might just be the most emotionally raw and affecting scene in the show to date. It built on the quirky but genuine friendship these two have built up over the past two seasons, while drawing attention to how far and how quickly the two have fallen since arriving in New Orleans. In a way, it feels as though the writers are trying to highlight how little difference there is between Jesse and Cassidy. Jesse has his own bad habit of ruining the lives of those he intrudes upon, however noble his intentions. As much as that flies in the face of the source material, I've given up hoping for the upright, staunchly moral Jesse Custer of the comics. That's clearly not the direction the writers are interested in pursuing here.
Given the choice between the Season 1 finale, which abruptly killed off the majority of the show's cast in order to give Jesse and friends a clean slate, and this messy, unpleasant resolution, I'll take the latter. There's no need to force an arbitrary conclusion to the Grail storyline when there's still so much left to accomplish. There's no reason Marie L'Angelle and Herr Starr can't share top billing in Season 3. This open-ended conclusion allows the series to make a more organic transition into Season 3 without abandoning the good thing it has in Herr Starr and the Grail.
The Verdict
Preacher's Season 2 finale isn't without its flaws, but it's a stark improvement over Season 1's abrupt, unsatisfying conclusion. Rather than arbitrarily tie up loose ends, "End of the Line" focused on ramping up the drama between Jesse and his friends and setting the stage for new villains to emerge in Season 3. In the process, it delivered some entertaining, absurd moments and what might just be the best scene of the entire show so far.
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