Spoiler Warning - heads for the comic, tails for the TV show...
Jesus H. Christ, Emily...what the fuuuuuuuuuh....?
As far as unrequited love resolutions go, "feed Miles to convalescent vampire" was not exactly what I was expecting. Granted, my expectation for where next week's season finale is heading hasn't changed, despite Emily's decision to FEED MILES TO A GODDAMN VAMPIRE! I'm still pretty sure where things are going, ALTHOUGH MILES WILL MISS IT BECAUSE HE'S DEAD BECAUSE EMILY FED HIM TO A GODDAMN VAMPIRE!!
But in the end, it may not even matter. EXCEPT THAT IT DOES!!
Talk about your dark horses, man. I didn't think straight-up murder was in Emily's playbook, but if there's one thing this show is trying to teach you, it's that even the cute mom next door is capable of cold-blooded executions.
But all that being said, Miles may have had it coming a bit. And not because he is a rival to Jesse for Emily's affections, or because he was complicit in Quincannon's murder spree from a few episodes back. But because it really creeped me out the way he said "I'm staying over tonight" on the phone. The malignancy of the Miles' words comes across more in its intent than his actual tone. It wasn't exactly an explicit threat of rape, but it definitely felt like it was down the road from it. An expectation of sex, and Emily would have no choice. And perhaps that vague air of menace from Miles is what gave Emily the push she needed to feed him to a goddamn vampire.And while Emily has been a soft touch, constantly presented in contrast to Tulip's unapologetic hard one, this week saw them both dispatching unwanted gentlemen, with Tulip finally clipping the dangling thread of Carlos. It's an interesting ride she's been on the last three episodes. While I'm mostly just grateful that she hasn't been nearly as annoying, seeing Tulip wash her hands of Jesse was unexpected. And it does point to her growth as a person that she's not sitting around Annville anymore waiting for Jesse to come to his senses (or at least, to Tulip's own deranged perception of what his senses should be). We're tricked, in the end, to think Tulip is listening to Jesse profess his love (really awkwardly, too) on her answering machine, but she's already in the ABQ, ending Carlos with a damn meat tenderizer.
Jesse, meanwhile, appears to be brushing up on his bro code, as he decides that apologizing to Cassidy should come with a complimentary mayoral corpse disposal. Cassidy's scenes with Jesse always shine with real chemistry within the banter, and this week is no exception. It was just made even more darkly funny by the fact that they forgave and forgot over Miles' exsanguinated body, and while Cassidy was looking like a 150-year-old football that goes to the tanning salon every day.Aside from all this time spent with the core foursome, much of the main plot moved forward, and other previously disparate storylines have started to come together. The Seraph is back at full soccer-mom power, having been mercy-strangled by the bereaved Sheriff Root. Fiore and DeBlanc hilariously try to talk themselves into mustering the courage to return to Heaven (the coin toss was a bit of inspired comedy from Brook and Yusef), and finally the Saint...er, the Cowboy's role in all this is revealed.
The revelation that the Cowboy's been living in the Ratwater circle Hell, and having to relive what we can assume is the worst few days of his life was an interesting take on the inferno. It is a big departure from his origin in the books, and while that might have been outside their budget, I actually like this original idea. Though it's unclear how much the Cowboy understands of what is going on in every cycle, it would explain why he didn't seem in that big a hurry a few episodes back when his daughter's life was on the line. If she's always going to be dead when he gets home, why rush? But now he's got a couple angels there with a whole new target for him to gun down. We'll see how well that goes. I'm sure he'll bring his sword.
Overall, I feel like this may have been 'Preacher's best episode yet - or at least, it's most complete. It wasn't that it was particularly flabbergasting, though again - Emily fed Miles to a goddamn vampire, and that shocked the hell outta me - but it was, for the first time, a fully-realized and well-constructed, fluid story. And that, for damn sure, is progress.
Next week's the finale. And I'm pretty sure at this point, I'm gonna be pissed by the ending.
Cowboy-level pissed.
FINAL SCORE - 8/10
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