Preacher Episode 9 Annotations: A Quick Trip to Hell

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 9!

The Saint’s massacre

When the Saint makes it back to Ratwater and lays waste to everyone he can find, it’s pretty exciting sequence. Admittedly it’s a little more stylized than how it appears in the comic, which is a city-wide brawl between the man and all his victims, though they do actually kill him themselves in the end in the comics as opposed to a storm. The main thing in common, besides all the shooting, is his decapitating someone with his saber.

Cassidy

As we previously recounted, Cassidy’s jaunt into the sun to show Jesse what he is proved to not be a great idea as he’s not exactly healing like he should. Again, none of this is in the comics, but Tulip’s attempts to revitalize him with rats and small animals is reminiscent of the scene in the comics from his early years where his drug habit forced him into dining on similar vermin.

Phone Home

All this business with the phone is an invention for the series, but it’s a good way for Jesse to learn in the season finale (as we’ve predicted all season long) that God has abandoned his throne in Heaven. More on that later though.

The Seraphim

When Fiore and deBlanc leave the mess in their hotel room is finally discovered and Sheriff Root discoveres the limbless (and now non-threatening) Seraphim in the bathroom. She asks him to kill her and he eventually gives in, not knowing that she will regenerate of course, but I’m sure he’ll see here again. None of this is in the comic, but it’s still a cool moment.

The designated location

This isn’t so much a comic book thing, but when Fiore and deBlanc are headed to Hell the “designated location” where they wait on their ride should look familiar to “Breaking Bad” watchers as its the spot where Jesse Pinkman waited on a van to pick him up to take him to his new identity. In reality that location is a dam, but since it looks like a hill of headstones, it’s a great spot.

ABQ

The Albuquerque card is kind of funny due to the fact that the series is shot in the New Mexico city, but again I have to wonder what all this stuff with Carlos is leading to since it’s not from the comics.

A quick trip to Hell

Fiore and deBlanc finally get to their “other option” which is asking the Saint of Killers to off Jesse. In the comics, the Saint lies in a coffin at a place called “Boot Hill,” still in slumber until God calls upon him to do any killing he requires. It’s clearly a place easily accessible by heaven in the comics as one of the lesser angels is given the task of retrieving the Saint, and gets shot in the head for waking him.

The way they bring the proposition to the Saint in the TV series is definitely built on the character’s comic book foundation, because they just say they need him to kill a preacher, appealing to his disdain for religion.

Season finale predictions:

As I’ve said, Jesse will learn that God has left his throne in heaven and go looking for him, just like in the comics.

When Jesse is first possessed by Genesis in the comics it sends out a massive explosion, leveling his church and killing everyone inside it. I think this is going to happen in the show too, but it’s all going to be a result of a failure at Quincannon Meat & Power (you may have noticed the focus on the pressure meters in the preview).

Donnie Schenck will probably be killed by the Saint of Killers.