DARK NIGHT: A TRUE BATMAN STORY - Comic Review

Paul Dini is an Emmy-winning writer, perhaps best known for his work on the amazing 'Batman: The Animated Series'. In 1993, he was attacked and beaten while walking home one night. He recently revisited this traumatic event in an original graphic novel that combines his real life with the comic world.

Spoiler Warning - also some NSFW language; uglier stuff than I typically use.

I don't think it's hyperbole to call Paul Dini "legendary". His work in animation goes back decades, and he is responsible for what could arguably be some of the greatest Batman stories ever told. Aside from his work on the animated series, Dini is also responsible creating Harley Quinn, as well as the stories behind the universally acclaimed 'Batman: Arkham' video games. Needless to say, I've got a ton of respect for the guy.

So when I heard about this graphic novel a few months ago, I made a point to pick it up as soon as it was released. Obviously, I never knew about the beating Dini suffered at the hands of two complete strangers - few people did - but the premise was that Dini would revisit this trauma and filter his experiences through the world of Batman.

That said, to call this a Batman story is far too simple. It's not. This is Dini's story, through and through. To say that it's entirely about the attack and its aftermath is also inaccurate. That trauma only serves to highlight a pattern, as Dini's personal traumas begin far earlier than that. And unlike the attack, those traumas were not always caused by someone else.

'Dark Night' is an incredibly honest and unflinching look at a large portion of Dini's life. It is not always sympathetic, and he does not shy away from painting himself with an unflattering brush. He begins by talking about his childhood. He didn't fit in, felt invisible to other children, and was the frequent target of bullies. Awful though it was, Dini seems to admit that he also bought into a sort of romantic self-image as the ostracized and put-upon child. Both painful and indulgent, it was made even more romantic by his growing obsession with comic book characters and his habit of carrying on conversations with them in every day life. Dini carries that habit well into his adulthood.

Frequently engaged in self-pity, Dini recounts awkward relationship stories, confidence issues, flirting with self-harm and substance abuse problems, and all but explicitly reveals a lifelong battle with depression. But he doesn't reveal these struggles to garner sympathy or to be self-deprecating. All of it informs his response to the attack, which takes up the latter half of the book. And every embarassing moment is punctuated by Dini's imagined conversations with Batman and his rogues' gallery.

The centerpiece of the story is, of course, the attack itself. The muggers were never caught, so Dini never knew why he was targeted. Yet, by recounting some of the attackers' words, it almost seems like a gay-bashing attack. They repeatedly call him a 'motherfucking faggot'* (Dini is not gay, btw) and 'bitch' as they beat him with a frightening rage. Stealing his money seems to come secondary to simply trying to hurt him badly. Dini's account of the assault is terrifying. He recounts it in heart-stopping detail, and recounts the horror of realizing that he was about to be murdered.

* 'Dark Night', though a sort-of Batman story, is published through DC's Vertigo imprint, and therefore is absolutely NOT for children. There is strong language and terrifying violence.

Obviously, Dini survived the attack, but definitely the worse for wear. But remember how I said he became accustomed to romantic notions of himself? Despite literally having a broken face, Dini, after making his police report, simply goes home and drinks himself to sleep. It calls to mind various cinematic adventures where the hero takes a beating, but only needs a stiff drink to recover. When he finally goes to the doctor and learns the seriousness of his injuries, (his zygomatic arch was damaged so badly, the bone itself was, as the doctor put it, "powdered") Dini begins to slip even further into depression. And frighteningly, the further he sinks, the more often he's visited by the villains. Especially the Joker, whose insidious ideas come closer to "enabling" than his trademark psychosis.

His drinking worsens, his work suffers, and he struggles with PTSD and agoraphobia. He begins to regularly converse with the Joker, Two-Face, Penguin and Poison Ivy, all of whom encourage and indulge his worsening habits, and darkening thoughts. But while he doesn't bottom out the way a lot of less fortunate alcoholics do, Dini's despair does reach a sort of critical mass that triggers a visit from Batman. And it's these conversations that help him finally pick himself up off the shitheap and begin to not only recover from the attack, but deal with many of his other struggles as well. Batman takes him to task for wallowing, fires up his determination and courage, and inspires Dini to try to put himself back together. The final pages let the reader know the great strides Dini has made since his assault, and though the demons are not entirely gone, he certainly seems to have them under control.

Obviously, the majority of this review is dedicated to Paul Dini, but I do want to briefly point out Eduardo Risso's artwork. I'm not Risso's biggest fan. I've only read a few of the books that he's drawn, and the one that sticks out (because it's a proper Batman story) is his arc with Brian Azzarello - "Broken City". I just...didn't care for his style of art there. All that said, however, his work here is strongly suited to the type of story that is being told. Dini's words are so frequently about emotions and self reflection, that Risso's kind of impressionist style fits it perfectly.

This is an extraordinarily unique graphic novel. It's not always an easy read, with its ugly emotions and sometimes unsympathetic protagonist. It is, at times, so unbelievably personal that it feels illicit. As though you are reading someone's diary - invading their most personal thoughts and fears. But ultimately it's a story of courage. The courage it took to admit these personal shortcomings, and to revisit what must be a painful and fearful memory, is incredible. That alone is worth commending. But the real courage is Dini getting back up after he's been knocked down. The attack he suffered is simultaneously his lowest point, and his catalyst for self-improvement.

What a coincidence that this story was published a few weeks after I wrote my own essay about my personal relationship with Batman and using him as a source of real-life inspiration. And even before I read this book, I would have definitely said that Dini is one of those writers who just "gets" Batman. And he gets how Batman, though he is fictional, can still have an impact on our everyday world. He may not have been able to save him from a mugging, but there is no doubt, the Batman still saved Paul Dini's life.



FINAL SCORE - 9/10

Author Paul Dini

OUTCAST, Ep. 4 - A Wrath Unseen - A TV Review

Whoa, doctor! After last week's mostly wheel-spinning episode, 'Outcast' returned to top form, in a superbly chilling episode. Let's discuss!

Spoilers - Yes, there will be spoilers here, both for the show, and for the comic. Bewaaaaaare!

There were a few moments where my eyes bulged wide and either shrieked with a sort of high-pitched quality or audibly gasped during the last episode of 'Outcast'. It. Was. Skurry. The story delved a bit deeper into everyone's fears, each subplot was expertly crafted and horribly tense, and the pieces were moved around in a way that gives the viewer a clearer idea of where the season will go from here.

The main story was obviously the source of most of the chills. It took me a while to recognize Grace Zabriskie - this week's possession victim. She played Susan Ross's mother on Seinfeld. This was...um... quite a departure for her. After Anderson and Kyle bury Norville, Kyle goes along with the reverend to visit one of his previously exorcised parishioners, Mildred. It's clear from the start that something isn't quite right with her, and what we eventually learn about her is truly frightening on multiple levels.

Despite his insistence that the exorcisms Anderson performed prior to Kyle's arrival were successful, the Reverend speaks with the sort of shaky overconfidence of a man who is trying to convince himself of the power of faith, as much as he's trying to convince Kyle. And while Anderson certainly can't deny the existence of God - it would stand to reason if demons exist, then God exists - perhaps he can't quite muster the faith that the Almighty is actually on his side. But the terrifying point that drives that thought home is not the fact that Mildred is still possessed, but the fact that she's happier that way. 

Mildred professes to like how she feels now, that her soul feels greater than before, fuller; almost as if she's chosen to cohabitate with a demon. She toys with Anderson, deliberately frightening him and making no effort whatsoever to hide her true nature. It frightens Anderson to his core, and his blames himself, his sin of pride, rather than admit that maybe God's power isn't all he believes it is. He's not the only one who is shaken to their foundation, either.

While Anderson struggles to maintain that his faith will resolve the situation with Mildred, Kyle, Megan and Mark are taking matters into their own hands when it comes to Donny. After Megan's former abuser interrupts her date night with Mark, the truth about her horrible past comes to light, and everyone scrambles to deal with the matter. Kyle gets into an ill-advised bar brawl* with him, Megan contemplates killing him (and the episode goes out of its way to make the audience think she's going to pull a gun on him), but in the end, it's Mark who quickly and efficiently beats the everloving shit out of him.

*in the comic, Kyle and Donny are fairly matched and Kyle comes out the victor, before Mark immediately breaks it up - then gets a few shots of his own in, too. But casting decisions may have affected how that played out in the episode. Patrick Fugit is much smaller than Scott Porter (Donny), who, burly as he is, is much smaller than David Denman (Mark). But having Kyle get his ass kicked also shows that, despite being outmatched, his rage and his duty to Megan gives him enough courage to throw the first punch at Donny. And that is an example of the kind of courage it takes to fight demons.

In a time when rape culture is at the forefront of the public consciousness, Donny's attempt to throw guilt on Megan seemed particularly realistic, if incredibly repulsive. But Wrenn Schmidt handled her scenes like an absolute boss, convincingly playing everything - frightened, disgusted, haunted, vengeful and courageous - with aplomb. Her confrontation with Donny in his hotel room was especially moving. She stood her ground, trembling, and verbally tore him down, while asserting her own self-worth. She looked her rapist in the eye and stood up for herself. Schmidt simply owns these scenes.

Mark's final solution to the Donny situation is obvious, but effective. The moment I saw Donny driving down a darkened road, I fully expected to see cop lights pop up behind him. Telegraphed though it was, when it happened, I smiled to myself, waiting for this piece of shit's comeuppance. But despite the satisfaction of the beating, I found myself immediately wondering about Mark's dashcam video. The fact that we're shown the beating from that perspective certainly seems to indicate this piece of evidence may come back to haunt Officer Holter.

But then again, Chief Giles is busy with his own secret mission and may not have time to investigate Mark's shenanigans. Following up last week's story of the creepy-ass camper in the woods, Giles finds out his neighbor is somehow involved with it and stakes it out long enough to see said neighbor come out in the middle of the night and burn it to the ground. For a while, before the neighbor arrives, it seems like Giles is up to no good, but once his true intentions are made clear, the woods become that much more dangerous. Giles takes off his safety vest, for instance, and I immediately became wary that another hunter would "accidentally" shoot him on purpose. So for a scene where a man sits in the dark watching an abandoned camper, it certainly was heart-pounding.

So much happened in this episode, and it was all weaved together so expertly that disparate storylines all seemed equally relevant, and never once made me feel like "aww!! get back to the creepy old lady story!" The episode definitely gave the feeling of a show rounding into form. Characters are starting to come into focus, and the season/series arc seems to be coming into focus. Even Sidney joined in on the fun, introducing himself to Kyle and Reverend Anderson with his typical conviviality. The board is set and the pieces are moving into play.

And it is scary as shit! 

FINAL SCORE 9/10

Outcast airs on Cinemax, Friday nights at 10/9c

INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US - YEAR ONE - A Comic Review

Today, we're looking at what has been, simply put, one of the best and most consistent superhero comics of the last several years.

SPOILER WARNING - I've only written a couple comic books reviews before, and I avoided spoilers somewhat, but I don't want to worry about that here. So just be advised, there's gonna be some spoilery talk here, but that shouldn't ruin your enjoyment of this freakishly good book. 

I think it was early 2013, or maybe even late 2012 when I heard about a DC heroes fighting game, from the makers of Mortal Kombat. I didn't really pay much attention to it, until several months later when the guy who owns my local comic shop turned me on to the tie-in comic book series. Originally published digitally, "Injustice: Gods Among Us" did not include the phrase "year one". In fact, I had no idea how insanely popular this series had become until I voraciously plowed through the first seven issues and then waited each week for a new digital chapter.

So it wasn't until I got to the final chapter that I saw the words in the bottom corner of the page "End of Year One" that I had even considered this would be an ongoing series for more than a year. But it made a lot more sense once I played the video game.

'Injustice' the video game is a MK styled fighting game, where the heroes and villains of DC Comics battle it out. But the draw for me wasn't in fighting the fights, it was in playing through the story mode. No fighting game I've ever played has had a story as rich and compelling as this. Because the comic is tied to the video game, I'm gonna talk about that story for a bit.

The Game starts, and right from the jump off, we're told we're dealing an alternate universe. And in this universe, Metropolis has just been destroyed, Lois Lane, pregnant with Superman's baby, is dead, and the Joker is to blame. Under arrest, he cackles in an interrogation room until the wall explodes and Superman promptly puts his fist through the Joker's chest. This is the world we're dealing with here. People die, they stay dead, and heroes fall. The video game goes on to show a second alternate universe, where disaster was averted, and the Justice League works together to thwart threat after threat, until they are mysteriously pulled into the first, darker, alternate world. This is the world that the comic book series will explore. And it is fucking frightening.

The Comic begins with a quiet night. Batman keeps watch from above the cityscape, as formations of soldiers patrol the streets. Crime in this world is non-existent, thanks to Superman. But Batman insists this is a nightmare - a perversion of peace and quiet. It has been five years since the destruction of Metropolis, since the death of Clark Kent's family. Five years since Superman made the promise that it would never happen again, that he would never let it happen again.

"Injustice: Gods Among Us", as written by Tom Taylor, is about those five years. What happened when Metropolis was wiped off the map, when Superman lost control and began to kill, began to murder; what happened that led to Batman seeking help from outside his own universe.

Right from issue one, Taylor shows a ruthless hand in dealing with his characters. Action and plot are his talent, but even in just advancing his story, Taylor is willing to dish out emotional blows. In the first chapter, Jimmy Olson is executed; shot in the face by the Joker. The Clown Prince follows this up by gassing Superman, which causes him to hallucinate and violently lash out. Lois is killed by Superman himself. Oh, yes, people die. But this is Taylor establishing the stakes he's playing with. "Injustice" is set in a different corner of the multiverse, so Taylor is essentially playing with house money. Nothing and no one is off limits. This comic was never meant to be taken as canon, so no character is forced to behave in any way we've seen in the past. Aside from the shocking body count, this book isn't about to shy away from what happens when an nearly all-powerful superhero decides he knows what's best. It's about one man deciding everyone must march to his tune. And what happens when friends both agree with his choices and violently disagree. Mostly, though, "Injustice" is about the just pure fucking sadness of a fallen hero, and Taylor is using the most popular superhero of all-time to illustrate that tragedy.

Instead of slowing down after such an explosive first issue, Taylor continues the breakneck pace as he explores Superman's fall from grace. After all, his goal is to take the reader on Superman's journey from happy and peaceful husband and protector, to an emotionally devastated killer seeking vengeance, to, five years down the road, an iron-fisted dictator determined to keep every single human on the planet in check by any means necessary. But amazing as that tale would be, Taylor isn't working with Superman alone. He's got every major player in the DC Universe at his disposal.

In keeping with the long tradition of Batman standing apart from the rest of the league, Taylor showcases a Dark Knight who fights his best friends because he knows they are in the wrong. Throughout the twelve issues of Year One, Bruce suffers heavy losses, but never gives up the fight, and never gives up his principle. Even when Superman calls him out for all the people Batman's indirectly doomed by never killing the Joker, Batman refuses to back down from his fight. By the end of the story arc, he's the lone Justice League member standing against Superman's regime.

Taylor may have painted Superman and Batman into black and white corners, but many of his other characters are occupying the gray area. Even those on the side of Superman don't always blindly follow him, with the best example of this being the Flash. In two amazing sequences, Barry Allen engages in a super-speed-debate with Superman to discuss the right and wrong of killing during times of war, or invasion, or any other great danger. They play dozens of games of chess in a few minutes and each one is punctuated with strong reasons for and against Superman's police actions. And even though they debate it extensively, in the end, Flash still goes along with Clark's plan. But that doesn't mean it doesn't weigh on him.

It doesn't, however, weigh on Wonder Woman. In perhaps one of her more hawkish incarnations, Taylor's version of Diana is more than ready for Superman to step up and take his "rightful place" as the leader of humanity. And after the death of Lois, her almost immediate closeness with Superman is so clearly inappropriate that it soon becomes obvious...the amazon has a crush on the man of steel. But instead of urging him to be a hero, she indulges his rage and spurs him on to become the dictator he evolves into over the course of Year One. Wonder Woman becomes Superman's right hand, but you can't really call her a hero after her hands get bloody.

In addition to the heroes acting against type, not to mention the numerous shocking deaths, Taylor subverts expectation with one of the greatest villains in comic history. Lex Luthor is NOT a villain in this world. In fact, he's a hero, scientist, philanthropist, and best friend to Superman. The depth of his role becomes much clearer in the subsequent years, but in the beginning, Lex is interested in helping Superman. Lex wants him be viewed as a benevolent leader. He coaches Clark to become more accessible to everyone on earth, so they don't feel like he's just another despot. It's clear Lex's choices come from a place of good intentions, but nevertheless, his success means Superman's success, and Batman's failure.

But of course, it doesn't work out perfectly all the time for Supes. Aside from butting heads with Batman, losing debates with the Flash, Superman's plan doesn't sit well with Shazam. Because his host is a teenage boy, Shazam has a sort of naive approach to world politics, but he is smart enough to recognize that people are starting to fear Superman more than used to. His innocence gives him enough perspective to see the disparity between Clark's intentions and his actions.

And when Clark demands the subjugation of Aquaman and Atlantis, his actions don't particularly sit well with anyone (except Diana, because she's batshit). The squabble with Atlantis feeds into the plot of the video game, but the seeds are sewn here.* Once he feels threatened by Arthur, Clark, Diana and Hal lift the entire continent of Atlantis out of the ocean and drop it in the desert, threatening the lives of every citizen there. Though the situation is resolved with no further violence, it is an important moment - Superman went straight for the jugular and was not above threatening the lives of the innocent to ensure victory. Atlantis is safe for now, but Superman's relationship with Aquaman is permanently damaged, and it showcased that anyone, friend or foe, was not above being on the business end of Superman's wrath.

*once this particular subplot is settled, Aquaman and Atlantis don't factor much into the storyline of "Injustice" again until Year Four, and even then, only briefly. I think the brevity of the Atlantean subplot is probably a remnant of the time before DC knew this comic would actually be incredibly popular and run for years to come. They may have thought that "Year One" was the only storyline they'd do, instead of Years Two/Three/Four/Five - even now, Year Five is going on longer than the previous years, I'd imagine because DC doesn't want to stop the gravy train now. But this is just my conjecture.

Up to now, I've focused on the main heroes of the story (or villains, if you want to make that distinction) and the drama that ensues when they end up on opposite sides of the issue. But one of Taylor's strongest points in this first year is his handling of a comic aspect. Taylor's vision of Harley Quinn is easily my favorite incarnation of the Joker's madcap paramour. Harley's story arc, from villainess to compassionate warrior is easily one of the best in the series. At once tragic (she did love the Joker and truly mourns his death) she finds comfort both within herself and from an unlikely friend - Oliver Queen. And the interaction Harley has with Queen and later Black Canary is both warm and inviting and darkly hilarious.

The Year One Annual, in particular, focuses on a one-shot that takes place somewhere toward the end of the main story. Superman sends Lobo to capture Harley for her part in the nuclear attack on Metropolis. But Harley turns the tables on the Main Man and sits him down for some therapy, while Canary and Green Arrow watch in astonished horror. It's an insane tale, laugh out loud funny, grotesquely violent, and yet filled with genuine love and friendship among its three protagonists. Which is wonderful, because the rest of the climax of Year One is, to put it mildly, an emotional horrorshow.

As I was writing this, I was about to give a synopsis of the final couple of issues before the Year Two began. But I've decided - if you've read this far, and you still haven't read Injustice, I don't want to ruin it for you. But rest assured...it's messed up stuff. If I were reviewing single issues of this instead of the entire 13 issue arc, then the final two chapters would both get a ten, without a moment's hesitatio. They're that perfect - mindblowing, heartbreaking, and gut-wrenching. Without going into specifics...someone is just straight-up murdered, someone else is accidentally killed, someone is shot with an arrow, someone is maimed, someone ends up in a coma, someone gets the shit kicked outta him by an unlikely opponent, and the biggest nuclear explosion in history erupts.

And this is only the end of Year One! You still have four more years of story to read, you lucky dogs.

I haven't even discussed the artwork yet. A rotating cast of artists, but most notably, it would seem, Jeremy Rhaapack, Mike S. Miller and Bruno Redondo, pencil each chapter, and there is a distinct difference to each one. The first book has an eerie, almost German expressionist bent to it, and this makes the Joker's introduction particularly menacing. It makes the first part seem like a nightmare as much as the story itself does. As the series progresses, the differences become less noticeable. Superman looks perfectly chiseled and square-jawed, and Batman's armor-inspired batsuit makes him appear as though he could absorb a punch from anyone. Harley Quinn, for example, is designed and drawn in a way that suits her story perfectly. Harley's always been a sexy character, but here, they give her an almost girl-next-door quality which goes with her transition from villain to hero; she's not just sexy, she's warm and feminine and still iron tough. Throughout the run, the artwork is never less than the highest quality, and it accompanies Tom Taylor's outstanding story perfectly.

"Injustice: Gods Among Us Year One" is pretty much a perfect story. There are no slow moments, no weak chapters, no missed opportunities. Everything builds to separating Batman from the herd and transforming Superman into a villain. The characters are fully realized, powerfully written, and filled with pathos. Superman isn't written as a megalomaniacal tyrant. He's a man who's experienced unbelievable loss and is consumed with anger, fear, guilt, and rage. The most compelling villains of film and literature are the ones that we, the audience, can identify with and understand. It's easy to see the path that Superman takes as an understandable response; hell, it's easy to think maybe his path *is* the best one to take. But at the end of the day, at the end of the story, we, the audience, are going to side with Batman. Yet Tom Taylor never makes it easy for us to do so. We have loved Superman for more than seventy-five years now. And Taylor's greatest accomplishment is to turn that love upside down and create hate. And that he does. Perfectly.


FINAL SCORE: 10/10

Injustice: Gods Among Us Year One is available as a single-volume collection in a variety of formats.

OUTCAST, Ep. 3 - All Alone Now - A TV Review

Outcast hits a bit of a speed bump as they follow the one issue that stands out in my memory as being kinda disappointing. Let's discuss it!

SPOILERS - There's gonna be spoilers for the episode and for the comics up in hurr, up in hurr.

The first two episodes of Robert Kirkman's 'Outcast' were both pretty solid, and both faithful to the comics that spawned them. But that loyalty to the source material can be a double-edged sword, as I distinctly remember not being a big fan of the issue that forms the backbone of this episode.

The episode opens with a group of people we haven't met, in what we come to find out later is a flashback. Police officer Blake (played by journeyman character actor/badass Lee Tergesen) is in the middle of a blind double-date with his friend and partner Luke and Luke's wife Teri. The date quickly goes sour when, like Kyle's mother, it appears that a demon decided that was the perfect time to possess Blake. Nearly instantly, he becomes rude and belligerent, but his apparent sudden illness prompts Luke and Teri to take him to their home for recovery. Luke steps out to go to the pharmacy, and Blake bludgeons Teri to death.

Luke can't believe Blake would turn so viciously against his friends, and comes to believe that his former partner, now incarcerated for the murder, has been possessed by a demon. But even though this episode could have centered around a mystery, it chooses not to. When Luke recruits Reverend Andersen and Kyle to both confirm the possession and exorcise his old friend, the episode quickly confirms that, yes, Blake is really possessed. Maybe it would have been more interesting if there was some ambiguity over what exactly happened to Blake.

Without that mystery, there just isn't much to this storyline. The demon inside Blake once again calls Kyle "outcast" and spews the same black goop that both Joshua in the pilot, and Sarah Barnes in episode two spewed during their exorcisms. But unlike Joshua and Sarah, Blake's demon isn't going anywhere. So it's more of what Anderson described when he said that each possession is different. Kyle and Anderson bicker about methods and faith, the possessed teases Anderson's christian naivete, and Kyle eventually slams a bloody hand to the possessed to drive the demon out to varying degrees of success. Like I said, it would have been more interesting if there was some mystery to Blake's situation. Is he really possessed, or did he just snap one day? Was he attracted to Teri in way that broke his mind or his self-control? Is he a demon or just as asshole? By riding a line of ambiguity, it could have been a more delicate examination of the nature of evil  - demons vs. good ol' human nature.

The most interesting thing about this turn of events is that this demon seemed to want more of Kyle's blood (the series has established at this point that Kyle's bodily fluids have the same approximate result on the possessed as holy water). Why he wants it, or whether or not Kyle is really exorcising these demons remains to be seen, so at least we have something that contributes to the overarching storyline.

Weak as the main story was, there were things to like in the episode, too.

Megan's character and history is fleshed out a bit more, and so is her husband, though not in a way you'd expect. While driving her kid to school, Megan is stunned to cross paths with a man who, the implication is, raped her. Throughout the rest of the episode, she's shakily trying to make it through her day, then confirming that it was him that she saw, and finally, conspiring to confront him in her hotel room*, before fleeing at the last second.

*Megan discovering his laptop and that he's Facebook stalking her is definitely an interesting thing to explore - we know Megan would never share any part of her life with this man, but anything she shares online is open to the whole world. And clearly it shocks her to find out that he can see pictures of her, her husband, her child. He can stalk her from the comfort of a hotel room, without her ever knowing. A very disquieting notion indeed. 

Megan's story is intercut with Mark's, who has not given up on his attempt to find out what was up with that spooky-ass camper from last week's episode. Despite Chief Giles' ribbing him as "CSI" Mark took his evidence kit out to the woods to take a closer look at all those scratches, hairs, and bloody marks on the walls. It's a tense sequence of events, well constructed and shot by this week's director, Howard Deutch, and Mark is cool under pressure when a wild dog stumbles across him. Coincidence or not (it reminded me of the dogs from 'The Omen'), he feeds the dog a snack to distract him, and then returns to the station with the only real piece of evidence he can find: a gold watch.

Whether or not the gold watch belongs to Sidney is unclear, but that was the conclusion I drew. Sidney does have a scene this week, though, once again appearing as a normal, sweet old man, before betraying the deeply disturbing truth. He's seen shaving with a straight razor and getting dressed, before coughing up something inky black and wiping it off his face. And the next time we see that straight-razor of his, it's laying in a pool of blood next to the body of Neville - Kyle's neighbor. It's a bit different from the comic, where Neville's disappearance was handled with more discretion by Sidney. But Brent Spiner's take on the man in black comes across as much more dangerous and much less interested in discretion.

So, to wrap things up, while Kyle and Anderson are out of town spinning their wheels, Megan, Mark and Sidney represent a series of dangers much closer to home. And even when the episode like this doesn't fire on all cylinders, it's still enough to make me excited for next week's installment. And it's still quite entertaining despite its flaws.

FINAL SCORE 6.5/10

Outcast airs on Cinemax on Friday Nights, 10/9c

PREACHER, Ep. 4 - 'Monster Swamp' - A TV Review

Sunday night was batshit bonkers, y'all. You had the NBA Finals game 7, LeBron vs. Curry; you had the highly anticipated and penultimate episode of Game of Thrones' sixth season, Jon Snow vs. Ramsey Bolton (seriously? Ramsey has basically just gone full Joker here at the end); and so it was easy for 'Preacher' to get overshadowed by those things. But even stacked against its competition, Sunday's episode was pretty good. So let's talk about it, shall we?

SPOILERS - There are spoilers for this episode, for Game of Thrones, and some comic book spoilers, too. Y'alls is warned.

If "Battle of the Bastards" was about giving us exactly what we expect (and totally want, because eat a giant's fist, Ramsey!), then "Monster Swamp" is about subverting those expectations at every turn.

From the beginning, the episode starts with the vibe of a cliché horror movie. A young, scantily clad woman runs through a seemingly empty town, followed by a menacing man with a gun. The only other people she can find are other girls, hiding, frightened, and desperate. And when she's finally cornered by the gunman, and a gunshot rings out (in hindsight, this particular point makes no sense, since paintball guns are air guns, and not powder-based, but that's me being a nerd) it's a paintball gun, and the girl is in no danger from the friend who's "hunting" her. That is, until she plummets to er death through a surprise sinkhole on the QM&P grounds.

Opening Credits

Jesse isn't expecting to start his day by hearing that Cassidy's both a vampire and is working at the behest of angels trying to reclaim the entity squatting on the preacher's soul, so he brushes it off, focusing instead on how to get people into church* on Sunday. He barely notices the encore appearnce of Cassidy's hilarious rice-hat/poncho ensemble, before deciding the church needs a high profile raffle to boost attendance.

*Jesse and Reverend Anderson of 'Outcast' are both dealing with the same problem - getting butts into the pews. Jesse hasn't gotten there yet, but before long, he'll join Anderson in no longer needing to call it "faith" so much as "hard, concrete knowledge of the divine, etc." But still...I'd kill for these two characters to sit around, drink whisky and bitch about their parishioners.

Back at the sinkhole, we probably shouldn't expect Odin Quincannon to make any sort of sentimental speech, though circumstances dictate a normal man do that very thing. But Odin is anything but normal; he mostly just seems annoyed that he has to take time out of his day to basically deliver a "you kids settle down, now" speech to a group of mourners and gawkers.

Though "Monster Swamp" gives us our best look at Quincannon yet, he's still a mystery. In the flashbacks, we don't know why John Custer tried to 'save' him, or what exactly was going on. In the present, we don't know why Jesse spends time with him painting toy soldiers, or what in the fuck is going on in his combination abattoir/power plant. But we get a better glimpse into his person. He's definitely not a religious man, yet he keeps the company of two preachers, so clearly there's more to his odious personality than meets the eye. Yet despite the company Odin keeps, he's still terrible enough to piss in the mayor's briefcase because he had lunch with the competition. But Jesse's determination to turn Quincannon into a servant of God, come hell or high water, indicates there's a lot more to come from the QM&P storyline.

In another ongoing subplot, Emily may or may not expect Jesse to ever understand the way she looks at him, but she was sure expecting something when he leaned in close to kiss pull some trash from her hair. And Emily caught us all off guard a few times in just a few minutes later on in the episode. Prior to the scenes with her and Miles, I found myself wondering "have we seen Emily's husband? is she even married?" Then moments later, she comes home from work with Jesse's giant for-raffle TV, and is greeted by Miles in a series of tableaux intended to create multiple assumptions about their relationship:

Marriage (how much did that cost? are the kids asleep?)

A babysitter (you got here at 4:30, how much do I owe you?)

An unrequited lover (I'm never going to be with you. You know that, right?)

An actual lover (Out before morning, kids almost caught you last time.)

As much as Quincannon is a mystery to the audience, it soon becomes clear, we don't know anything about Emily, or almost anyone else in this show.

And though we assumed they'd been sent by heaven, we find out instead that the angels DeBlanc and Fiore have actually gone rogue in an effort to clean up their mess before anyone in the Host finds out. On Earth, the two grow impatient with Cassidy's machinations, and seem worried that Dad is going to find out what they're up to down here. They expect their informant to help them out, but instead, they end up sitting in a motel watching TV (Fiore heading to the front desk to request a "Big As Texas" burger was some pretty inspired comedy) Then, once it's revealed, we expect their little hotline to heaven to ring any moment, but we get faked out. When it rings again, we're expecting another red herring, but it's a legit call. Ruh roh, boys...

And instead of annoying me, Tulip spends this episode growing increasingly agitated by the nonchalance of Quincannon's goons. When she finally blows her stack, it's Cassidy who pays for it. And while Tulip is expecting Cassidy to die and is totally freaking out, the audience isn't worried and is able to chuckle when he cons a kiss out of her. What will come of her finding Cassidy sucking down bags of blood, though, is anyone's guess.

I'm not sure whether or not the young girl in the flashback of Jesse being pressured into trying a cigarette is Tulip, but that's certainly the implication that's made. It's terrible that Jesse gets punished in front of his friends, but if it is Tulip, then she certainly didn't seem to learn anything by seeing Jesse catch hell because of her actions. She was trying to get him to do bad things then, and she's still trying to get him to do bad things now. That Jesse can resist her temptations may be owed to the lessons his father may have taught him - not with a belt, but with the sight of him on his knees seconds before being murdered.

Jesse's flashbacks show the kind of man John Custer was - devoted preacher, stern and strict father, and...someone, somehow related to a younger Odin Quincannon. When Jesse spends his own time with Odin, we know he can use the Word to make Odin go to church. Odin points out that that wouldn't be very Christian of him and Jesse seems to relent. It's a fair point, as faith without choice is no faith at all; we think we know what line Jesse wouldn't cross, but when it's clear he's lost his bet with Quincannon, Jesse cheats. And suddenly, what we expected of him is quite different from what he does.

And the Raffle itself - for all the comic readers out there, I bet you thought exactly like me; that when Jesse finally got everyone in town into that church to try to win that TV, that would be when Genesis would fully reveal itself and blow everyone but Jesse straight to hell. But - that didn't happen either. Like I said, the entire episode was about subverting (or in some cases, perverting) both the expectations of the characters and the audience. And if that's the case, then it seems like a fairly clear message.

Don't bother trying to predict the future for this weird-ass show.

FINAL SCORE 8/10

Preacher airs on AMC, Sunday nights at 9/8c.

OUTCAST - Ep. 2 (I Remember) When She Loved Me - A TV Review

Spoilers - I'll be discussing things that could be construed as spoilers both for the show and the comic. FYI.

After the startling and pretty rapidly-paced premiere of Cinemax/Robert Kirkman's 'Outcast' last week, it was probably inevitable that this week's episode would pull back on the throttle a little bit. Not that a lot didn't happen - oh, shit happened - but it didn't have the same self-contained nature as the pilot. We spent more time with the characters, got to know who they are a bit more, and made some disturbing discoveries about the overarching mystery behind just what the hell is happening in Rome, WV.

The episode starts and is peppered throughout with flashbacks about Kyle's mother, Sarah. An idyllic tableau of a single mother and son playing around in their backyard is terrifyingly interrupted by what appears to be the exact moment that Sarah is possessed. Her smile fades, her face is awash in sudden sadness and confusion, and then she begins frantically clawing at the dirt and covering herself in mud. But what really caught my attention though was the sight of Kyle's bike parked against the tree. Kyle is in the yard, playing, reading Homer Price and then his mom calls him over and he leans his bike against the tree.

There's an old picture floating around the internet (and right here...on the left) about a similar bike that was parked by a tree for so long that the tree itself grew around the bicycle, lifting it from the ground and pulling it into its trunk. The story was that a boy parked it there before going off to war, and never returned. Certainly, that is the idea Kirkman and co. are trying to evoke - Kyle's war began at that moment, when his mother was possessed. His childhood ended, and he's never returned. Through more flashbacks, we see the abuse he endured, Sarah's manic attempts to harm him, and a climactic fight that we actually end up seeing from two different points of view.

In the present, though, Kyle has cleaned up the house, gotten the water turned back on and is hurriedly wrapping a present. Almost everyone in the town either doesn't like him or trust him, but he does have a few loyal allies in Reverend Anderson, his sister Megan, and Chief Giles. And they've all got his back in this episode.

The Reverend spends the day trying to more or less muster an army he can use to try to protect the townspeople from demonic influences. He preaches fire and brimstone to a mostly apathetic audience, because they don't know that the Reverend isn't preaching from faith - he's preaching from firsthand knowledge. He knows demons exists, he knows possession is real, and he knows the threat against Rome isn't over. But the people aren't hearing it. Instead, they sit listless in church, chastise him for saying "butt" and vandalize the walls. Anderson preaches patience in the last episode, but this one shows us exactly what he's thinking now: shit just got real.

So much of the episode is about people operating under erroneous assumptions - Kyle assumes that the demon is still inside his mother, because he never saw it exit her body the way it did for Joshua, in the last episode. Deputy Mark (Kyle's brother-in-law) assumes Kyle's just a bad guy who beats up kids, an assumption Giles and Anderson have to refute, to doubting audiences. Megan assumes that Kyle is at fault for what happened between his wife and his daughter, and hesitates to deliver his present for his daughter's seventh birthday. And the rest of the town assumes that Anderson's preachings about the devil and demons are just general church fear-mongering. But they're all wrong.

Megan attends her niece's party, and delivers the gift. Perhaps she is driven to break the rules of the restraining order by seeing Allison with another man (even if it wasn't overtly romantic, that was an assumption or implication that Megan could draw, and one that might make her take Kyle's side). And certainly Megan was heartbroken to see another man teaching Amber to ride a bicycle. She sneaks Kyle's present* into the party and doesn't confess who it came from when both Allison and Amber wonder.

*The book Kyle sneaks to his daughter as a gift is "Homer Price" a children's book about a young boy who has various adventures in a small town, often acting as a sort of good samaritan, which draws a pretty obvious parallel to Kyle himself. But it also acts as a sort of tether to Kyle's youth, which he spends this episode trying to recover, in a way.

In a weird subplot that probably has more to do with the main storyline of the season/series, Mark and Giles go out to the woods to investigate what they discover as a series of animal mutilations and a creepy-ass trailer out all by its lonesome. While they're walking, though, Giles defends Kyle from Mark's accusations, and lets his deputy in on the fact that Giles trusts Reverend Anderson completely. Which makes you wonder what exactly does Giles know about the demons floating around the town? Has he had any previous experiences with it? Giles is disturbed by what they find out in the woods, but his concern betrays some kind of knowledge, too. Curious...

The saddest part of this week's episode is when Kyle visits his catatonic mother in a nursing home. Kyle sits and talks to Sarah about how he'd previously felt like she deserved to be there; he was angry and he wanted nothing to do with her. But now he knows better. And it seems like in an instant he's determined to have his mother back exactly the way she was. After sorta kidnapping her from her nursing home, Kyle and Anderson try to exorcise her again, with Kyle going so far as to reopen the wounds on his hand so he can drip his blood into her mouth. He's hoping, begging for the same reaction as Joshua. The desperation Kyle works with as he's frantically to drive a demon out of his mother is heartbreaking, and shows just how driven Kyle is by both the events of his past and his guilt for not being able to save her earlier.

But then, the "sadness" turns to "absolute fucking tragedy" when we see how pointless Kyle's attempts really are. In another flashback to the climactic fight we saw earlier, Kyle lies there unconscious and just isn't aware that the demon did exit his mother. It gurgled out of her mouth, and then physically tried to strangle the boy while his mother watched, unable to help.


After Kyle gives up hope that he can still save her, the audience is finally introduced to the Big Bad. Sidney. He hasn't got a name yet, but on the surface he's a congenial older man in a simple black suit and hat. And he's played with lip-smacking hammery by Brent Spiner. He visits Sarah just long enough to mock her anguish and failure to save her son. He gloats that Kyle will never know how hard she fought against them and then sinisterly tells her "we have him anyway". She cries, letting us know that this poor woman is still trapped in there, a prisoner in her own body.

Oh, Sidney is a fuck, all right.

So that's where things are left at the end of this emotionally train-wrecky episode. It was damn good, and it continues (through two episodes at least) to be a pretty faithful adaptation of the comic. Patrick Fugit and Wrenn Schmidt had particularly strong performances this week, and I'm really excited to see what happens next.


FINAL SCORE 8.5/10

Outcast airs Friday nights on Cinemax at 10/9c

PREACHER - Ep. 3 'The Possibilities' - A TV Review

Spoilers, y'all - Fairly self-explanatory spoiler warning. 

This first season of 'Preacher' has been a rather up-and-down ride, so far, although I'll concede it's still early. I wasn't that into the first episode, I really liked the second, and now I have sort of middling feelings about the third. There's a lot of stuff going on, to be sure, the clarification of a couple of mysteries, and the introduction of some more.

The episode's prologue gives us a mystery Houston woman who needs something from Tulip (something marked with "Grail Industries" which immediately leads to the tangential introduction of comic antagonist Herr Starr, and his...questionable taste in pornography) and who gives Tulip a tip on the location of someone named Carlos, who wronged both Jesse and Tulip in some way. But I'm going to get back to this later.

Hooray! Actual opening credits now! And they're not half bad, either. I like the little Ratwater bottle you see with the silhouette of The Saint of Killers. It's good stuff!

Then we get to Sheriff Root questioning DeBlanc and Fiore who pretend to be federals on the trail of a fugitive or "something like that". It's a comic scene, both for their misleading dialogue and juxtaposition with Root's sincerity. But Root is most definitely concerned about the thing they're hunting, and he tells a ghastly tale that informs his paranoia about the dangers of every day life. The angels shenanigans are consistently pretty entertaining (in this episode, they dress like little kids playing ATF), and I get the feeling that they might adopt a sort of 'Kenny' role on the show - constantly getting killed only to show up again in a burst of light.

In an interesting turn, we get to see a brief check-in on the three lives Jesse has touched so far in the series - Tracy (the comatose girl), Donny, and Linus - all worse for the wear. Tracy's eyes are opened after last week's cliffhanger, indicating she can at least follow Jesse's word, but there's no other activity present, and it's painful to see her mother hold on to hope for improvement that won't be coming. Donny talks with his son (who mistook his parents bedroom antics for abuse) and finds out the whole town is aware Jesse kicked his ass. Donny catches some abuse at the hands of Quincannon, too, who gives the one-armed man an impossible task and then mocks him for it. And Linus wears a bandage over half his face and comes off even creepier to the poor girl he's just supposed to ignore, because he know longer remembers her at all. If Jesse's determined to do good as a Preacher, he's off to a rough start.

Then, we get to see Cassidy navigating life as the church's handyman, while still hiding his vampirism and severe allergy to sunlight. Seeing him make the trip to a crematorium in a poncho and rice hat was worthy of a good laugh, and it's nice to see him not only acquiesce to doing actual chores, but also being mildly respectful toward Emily.

But once again, the highlight of the episode is the duo of Jesse and Cassidy. The bros have a discussion about Jesse's newfound power. Jesse tries it out, and Cassidy's amused laughing while hops, cops to liking Justin Bieber, and throws himself against the wall is followed up by the genuine concern Jesse shows him after he mildly injures himself. It's a light, yet rich scene which creates not only a sense of camaraderie between the two but also seems like the foundation of real friendship.

So then once we've checked in on all the main players, they can go about their business of furthering the plot. Tulip continues to be a devil on Jesse's shoulder, relentlessly badgering him to join her on a vengeance run. Cassidy generally acts as an advocate for Jesse once he's filled in on the nature of Genesis as well as DeBlanc and Fiore - although he's clearly got an angle for himself. And Jesse is tempted to use his power for ill - twice in fact. Once, when Tulip spills the beans on Carlos, and then again when Donny corners Jesse in a gas station bathroom.

In a both enthralling and terrifying-in-its-implications scene, Jesse lets Donny think he's in charge for a brief moment, before making him sit on a toilet, put his gun in his mouth and pull back the hammer. Whether Jesse intended to kill him or just scare him is unclear, but he doesn't. But Jesse is sobered by the depth of his power, and his near immediate capacity to use it for ill. So when he makes the choice not to kill Donny, he also makes the choice to spare Carlos...for now. He's honest in his attempt to go straight. Which brings us back to Tulip.

I've made no attempt to hide the fact that I don't care for Ruth Negga's portrayal, but I'm starting to feel like it's deliberate. It's not just that I don't like her, it's that Tulip is just...not likeable. And though her contempt for Carlos seems justified - after all, it's nearly enough to get Jesse on his way to torture and murder the poor bastard - the deranged way she delivers the line "that was the day it all went bad [for Jesse and me]" almost comes across as someone looking for someone or something to blame for the end of her relationship with Jesse. We don't know the circumstances of how they ended up apart, but the way Negga plays it, it comes across like she's grasping at straws, trying to return to the way things were.

When Tulip continues to deride and denounce Jesse's "positive" choices, though we assume she loves him (because he's a male lead character, and she's a female lead character, and they were in love in the comic book) she mostly just seems to want to use him. She's got her beef with Carlos and we've seen she's a capable killer in her own right, so if it was just about taking out Carlos, she could do that. But she wants to bring Jesse into the bloody dirt with her. And that...well, it doesn't seem like it's a good foundation for a relationship. And so, series-wise, it makes me wonder if she's really going to be meant to be Jesse's OTP. Can you be OTP's with a shitty person? I mean, in real life, sure, but in a TV show? Dunno.

So it was a pretty entertaining episode in a lot of respects, but it does feel like it retraced a lot of the same ground as the last one - particularly with regards to Quincannon (we get it, he's a sadistic asshole) and with Tulip and Jesse's coupling. She wants him to be a bad man again, and he doesn't want to change. The episode also introduced a major player-to-come in a way that makes little sense if you haven't read the comics. And I question (at this point, three episodes in, and it may start to work later on) the wisdom of continuing to do things that comic readers will instantly get, and the rest of the audience will be left in the dark. Does it work to create an air of mystery, or does it just make them feel like you're wasting a chunk of 42 valuable minutes?

We'll see.



FINAL SCORE - 7.5/10

Preacher airs on AMC, Sunday nights at 9/8c.

OUTCAST - Ep. 1 - A Darkness Surrounds Him - A TV Review

Spoilers - I'll be discussing spoilers from the pilot episode of Cinemax's new supernatural thriller, 'Outcast' as well as the comic that spawned it. Be warned...spoilers are coming for you...

It's been a few weeks since the pilot episode of AMC's 'Preacher' was released, and it's an interesting comparison to draw between that and this. Not that 'Outcast' has anything to do with 'Preacher', other than they are both sourced from comic books. But while 'Preacher' is about as loose an adaptation as is possible while still holding true to the mythos that spawned it, 'Outcast' is as faithful to the source material as one can get. I'm sure that has a lot to do with the fact that Robert Kirkman, the comic writer (and also creator of "The Walking Dead") wrote the script for this episode and is acting as the showrunner. And so far, he's doing a pretty bang-up job.

Immediately, 'Outcast' sets itself up as a supernatural thriller. A young boy stares hypnotically at a cockroach before crushing it and eating it. Then potato chips. Then the flesh off his fingers. Something untoward is clearly happening. And it has something to do with our main character.

Kyle Barnes (played by 'Almost Famous' teenage star Patrick Fugit) has returned to his childhood home in Rome, WV. He lives in seclusion and squalor, barely eating, and interacting only with his adopted sister, Megan (played by Wrenn Schmidt). Megan forces her way into Kyle's life, despite his vocal pleas to be left alone.

Megan's repeated attempts to drag Kyle out of his self-imposed exile reveal plenty of Kyle's backstory, including his connection to the town reverend, a middle-aged man named Anderson. Flashbacks flesh out more of Kyle's history, including the abuse he endured at the hands of his allegedly possessed mother, and some catastrophic incident which has estranged him from his wife and daughter. And while they serve to tell Kyle's story, they also point out a sinister pattern throughout Kyle's life. The mystery of Kyle's life is what drives not only the first episode, but likely the entire series.

Kirkman does not want you to misunderstand - these people are possessed. There is something evil haunting them. Things happen that are not physically possible otherwise. And Kirkman and co. aren't interested in making you wonder if possession is real. In their world, demons exist, and they have a plan.

Fugit's portrayal of Kyle is spot-on. Not only does he physically look like his comic counterpart, he comes just as tortured by his own guilt. Fugit plays Kyle as a man who isn't at fault for the catastrophes that have followed him all his life, but blames himself nonetheless. And when various townsfolk see fit to treat him like a criminal, his self-loathing is such that he doesn't bother to correct them. Kyle keeps his head down most of the time, apologizes for being...well, anywhere besides home, but when he's confronted by the entity which may or may not have been the one to possess his mother, he morphs into a person almost vengefully violent. And Fugit's quiet delivery of the final line is perfectly ambiguous - "come and get me." Is he wanting to defeat this evil, or is he wanting to be destroyed by it? His depression throughout the episode forces us to consider the latter, even if it may be unlikely.

Like Fugit, Philip Glenister is a physical match for his comic inspiration, Reverend Anderson. He's introduced sitting at a card game that would make you think he's just one of the guys, and maybe even not all that faithful. But when he's pulled out of it and sent to deal with a possessed child, he becomes a man of most devout faith, and ardent desire to rescue the members of his flock. And he's not going to take any of the demon's shit.

Wrenn Schmidt does a solid job as Megan, creating a sister who loves her brother no matter how much of a fuck-up she may think he is. She won't let him be ostracized, and she won't let him wither away to nothing on his own. I wouldn't say she's a sunny optimist, but you can see that she clearly believes in the good inside her brother, even if her husband and young daughter don't.

And there's plenty to love aside from the story and the performances. Visually, Rome, WV comes across as a fairly lower middle class area of the country. Director Adam Wingard and Cinematographer David Tattersall create a cool color palette that makes Rome seem like an ordinary, boring small town. But when it's contrasted by the elongated and discordant notes of Atticus Ross's score (who partnered with Trent Reznor to win an Oscar for scoring 'The Social Network') Rome becomes something haunted and eerie. As if the town itself was complicit in the maleficent goings-on. All around, this is an exceptionally well-constructed TV show.

Good pilots need to really succeed on multiple fronts to draw you in. They need to establish their characters - who they are, and if not what they explicitly want (to get off the island, to be a more emotionally stable mob boss) then to figure out what they need. They need to establish their location in a way that feels unique and vibrant - Deadwood, New Jersey, Albuquerque, Baltimore. And in the case of these  types of serial dramas, they have to establish plot threads that are going to run throughout the series (what is the island? who will survive? will the Strike Team ever get caught?).

'Outcast' succeeds on all fronts. It tells a self-contained story about a group of people who come together to save a possessed boy, but it also creates a larger mythos - why is Kyle the focal point for demonic activity, what do they want, and why do they call him "outcast"? Kirkman's comic is only through it's third major story arc, so the TV series may catch up to it sooner than later. But I'm damn sure going to keep watching AND reading. This one pulled me in immediately.


FINAL SCORE - 9/10

Outcast airs on Cinemax, Friday Nights at 10/9c

PREACHER - Ep. 2, 'See' - A TV Review

SPOILER WARNING - I will be discussing events explicitly from both this episode of the AMC series 'Preacher' and the comic series 'Preacher'. So if you don't like it, GTFO.

WOW! What a difference another episode makes. While the pilot had a meandering feeling to it that made the direction of the episode seem unclear, this episode was focused, well-paced, and far better constructed than anything we'd previously seen. The pilot's flaws also called attention to its divergence from the source material. Episode two, titled 'See' diverged even further from any of the comic's early story arcs, but was still so interesting on its own merit that I didn't even care. The acting and tone of the show were eased back a little, though still fairly outrageous, and yet it made all the difference.

Dominic Cooper's performance is much more subtle in this episode. Rather than playing as if he's hiding his past from everyone, he plays as though he's fighting his past, denying it even to himself. He starts this episode doling out front yard baptisms. Everyone plays along with the notion that water can wash away sins, but it's clear that no one, including Jesse the baptist, really truly believes in it. That becomes evident when Eugene (a.k.a. Arseface, whose nickname's foundation was laid in this episode) goes to see the Preacher to let him know the post-baptismal euphoria had worn off.

The late night drink Jesse shares with Cassidy, in one of the episode's strongest scenes, underscores the theme of the episode - fate versus free-will, and nature versus choice. Jesse is the subject of most of this conflict, with Tulip is on one side of the argument, constantly nagging at Jesse to give in to his baser impulses, and ironically, Cassidy, the vampire, is on the other. The creature of the night sits there arguing that Jesse isn't a puppet in God's master plan, and that he can take charge of his own life.

And while Jesse seems to finally decide which version of himself he can be, torturing the not-so-poor Linus with scalding water to rid him of his pedophile impulses, Jesse discovers the power of his Word.

The comic made Jesse's power, what they called 'the word of God' pretty clear from the jump off, but this episode teases out it's effectiveness pretty well throughout. From his inadvertent silencing of everything around his church, to the cliffhanger of whether or not it will work on a comatose young girl (who may or may not have some kind of connection to Arseface) the use of the Word and the teasing of the power of Genesis were both handled pretty well here.

The mysterious duo from last week, DeBlanc and Fiore also make a much more prolonged appearance in this episode. Finally out of the shadows and played by Tom Brooke and Anatol Yusef, the two angels (it's not clear yet that they're angels within the show, but the comic establishes them as divine in the opening issue) have a wild and crazy night as they attempt to extract Genesis from the extraordinarily drunk Jesse. During an ultraviolent and surprisingly hilarious brawl with Cassidy, the duo take turns slicing up the Irish vampire with varying degrees of success. But even their divine power is no match for Cass, and they end up butchered with a chainsaw and buried in a trunk out in the middle of the desert...

Until they're shown, alive and well and talking to Sheriff Root in one of the final moments of the episode. To the non-comic viewer, it's a solid tease - who the fuck are these guys? and more importantly, what are they??

And speaking of good teases, let's talk about the episode's prologue, which gives us a glimpse at the origin of the Saint of Killers, credited now only as "the Cowboy". We barely got a look at Graham McTavish's face, but damn if his wardrobe and makeup aren't absolutely spot-on perfect. With only a couple of minutes of screen time, we learn several things about this man - he's hard, he's tough, he's under no illusions about the "wonder of God's work", but he's got a family. And he's willing to ride a dangerous trail to save his daughter from illness. I can't wait to see more of the Saint's story, but I do wonder - in the end, will it be more effective to tell his story before we've already come to fear his deadly power? Would it work better to fear him, and maybe even hate him, before we know it's ok to pity him? I'm very curious to find out.

Not all was wine and roses in this episode, though. Ruth Negga continues to bug the shit outta me, with her annoying presence, and the way any momentum in the show comes to a screeching halt any time she shows up. She plays Tulip like an annoying child, hassling the older brother to take her out to play. The one good thing I can say is that the way they're developing her character, showrunners Rogen and Goldberg may be setting her up to not be the pure-hearted love interest of the comics at all. They may be going a darker route entirely. Which would be interesting.

 And as much as I love Jackie Earle Haley and would literally watch him read a phone book, the introduction of his portrayal of meat kingpin Odin Quincannon was underwhelming. It is strictly an introduction of his face and little else. We see him buy a house and immediately bulldoze it...and that's about it. There's very little to establish who he is or what he is. It was a scene that felt as muddled and pointless as much of the pilot. But hopefully, that'll get rectified pretty quickly.

This was a damn solid episode, but even if it wasn't, if a show can end an episode on a strong note - one that makes me shriek or gasp or yell out "no!!" to the TV because I can't stand to wait to see what happens - that's usually a pretty good sign. It means I've become fully invested in the story. And Jesse trying to use his power to wake up the gravely injured girl achieved that response. And I'm glad it did. I am genuinely excited for next Sunday's episode.


FINAL SCORE - 8/10

Preacher airs on AMC, Sunday nights at 9/8c

INJUSTICE 2 ANNOUNCED!!

While the rumor has been building for a while, almost to the point of straight-up confirmation, today we finally got official word that NeatherRelm is releasing a sequel to their smash-hit superhero fighting game - INJUSTICE 2!!

This game was way better than it had any right to be. It is essentially Mortal Kombat, but with the heroes of the DC Universe, and a story mode that is so powerful, suspenseful and challenging to every idea you have about your favorite superheroes that is more than exceeds whatever expectations you could have had for it. The tale of the story mode (Year One of which will be reviewed here on PRC soon) is strong enough that it could easily have stood in for an actual feature length Justice League movie. Ostensibly coupled with the conclusion of the long-running comic-series prequel, the story of the alternate universe of DC heroes will be continued in 2017!!

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

BLU RAY ANNOUNCEMENT - BATMAN V SUPERMAN ULTIMATE CUT

Warner Bros. has released a short trailer for their R-rated cut of this year's 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice'. Labeled the "Ultimate Cut", this version of the film was teased several weeks before the theatrical version hit theaters. Boasting more brutal violence and almost 30 minutes of new footage, this is the edition I've been waiting for. Hopefully, it will address some of the characterization issues I had with the theatrical cut. You can expect a review of the film shortly after it's digital release date (June 28). The blu-ray version will be available for purchase on July 19.