Preacher Episode 6 Annotations: Meet The Heavenly Host

Welcome back brothers and sisters to our new weekly feature, the Preacher Book Club! Every week we’ll talk about the latest episode of AMC‘s Preacher, dissecting the episode at hand, annotating the changes made from the Garth Ennis/Steve Dillon comic book series and attempting to predict about what will be coming next. So let’s dive right into our thoughts and annotations on Preacher Episode 6!

Genesis Origin

Genesis origin is essentially the same here in the Preacher TV series as it was in the comics. In the source material, however, Jesse automatically knew what it was inside him and how it came to be born once he was possessed and didn’t need to be told exactly.

Seraphim

DeBlanc and Fiore are members of the Adephi, the “lesser angels” in the Heavenly Host and they are subservient to the Seraphi (or Seraphim in the TV series) who are the warrior angels that sit at the right hand of God. We finally see one of them here in the series in the form of a middle-aged woman that acts like a Terminator. Her appearance is a departure from the comics, where the Seraphi look like massive muscular angels with white pupils and black eye makeup, perhaps a change for the better; and that hotel fight scene, while awesome, is a totally original invention for the TV series.

“The Other Option”

After Jesse tells DeBlanc and Fiore to ‘stay away from him,’ Fiore mentions that they have ‘the other option’ to retrieve Genesis which DeBlanc quickly shoots down. Fiore is definitely referring to The Saint of Killers, the cowboy whose origin we’ve seen unfolding throughout the series so far. In the comics, they release the Saint almost prematurely and set him about on a path of unending violence to retrieve Genesis. Clearly the series is playing their cards close to the chest with the Saint, but I think we’ll see him by the season’s end.

Nirvana Sticker

As Eugene opens his locker at school, we see a Nirvana smiley face sticker on the inside, a nod to the character’s origin in the comics where his shotgun blast to the face was inspired by Kurt Cobain’s own suicide.

Tulip’s claim

While trying to convince Emily to let her help, Tulip makes the claim that she “had a kid once.” Perhaps she’s lying, something that Tulip isn’t above doing, but this is entirely out of left field and nowhere to be found in the comic series.

“A mean old lady gave it to me”

When Jesse and Cassidy are having their “Pulp Fiction” moment Cassidy notices Jesse’s tattoo on his back and asks about it. All Jesse says is that “a mean old lady” gave it to him. The mean old lady in question is none other than his maternal grandmother, Marie L’Angelle. I won’t say much more about Marie’s role in Jesse’s life at this point but I will remind you that in the flashback to John Custer’s death in the pilot episode the hand holding the gun that shot him also had that same tattoo.

“God doesn’t make mistakes”

Jesse makes a lot of bold claims about his powers once he learns what it is inside of him and they all point to one thing: once he finds out God has quit and left heaven, he’s going to feel very betrayed and very angry.

Cassidy is jelly

When Cassidy realizes that Tulip and Jesse were/are an item, we see the disappointment forming on his face, because he clearly does have feelings for Tulip. While the situation we see play out on screen is their own version of it, this is a plot thread that is important in the comics.

“Go to Hell, Eugene”

Jesse, what did you just do? I’ve read Preacher enough to know what to expect in the series, or at least I thought I did, but this made my jaw drop. Jesse never did this to anyone in the source material, and especially not Eugene, who is a total sweetheart. Here’s what gives me hope about the situation though – later on in the Saint of Killer’s origin (at least in the comics), he is gifted a pair of guns that will always hit their target, never run out of bullets, and will kill anything. So what is the first thing the Saint kills with them? The Devil. It’s never mentioned after this event what has happened to Hell in the devil’s absence, so I think there is a slim chance that Eugene will actually be okay there. We’ll see.

You can watch previews for the next episode using the players below.