Preacher: “Dallas” Review

By: Jaclyn Cascio (@jaclynator)

Preacher took a look back to the past of Jesse and Tulip this week. Did the episode take a step backward or did the retrospective move the show forward? Read on for a review of this week’s episode of Preacher to find out.

Last week’s episode of Preacher left off with Tulip (Ruth Negga) revealing to Jesse (Dominic Cooper) that Viktor (Paul Ben-Victor) was her husband. Threads of Tulip’s story finally came together with the revelation, and this week’s episode, “Dallas,” showed all the wrath Jesse could muster in reaction to the news. True to the temperament of Jesse, his responded with senseless violence and little logic. If nothing else, “Dallas” showed the side of Jesse that lacks hope and direction, the dark part of himself he appears to be constantly trying to quell.

While Jesse’s response to Tulip was expected, his anger toward his vampire friend, Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun), was a bit more surprising. The loyalty of the vampire to Tulip was translated by as a profoundly disloyal act by a friend in Jesse’s eyes. After building up audience sympathies toward Cassidy and his roguish charm, the accusations against him felt all the more poignant. However, “Dallas” showed that Cassidy may not be the friendly peacemaker he has been portrayed as thus far. As Jesse’s dark side was released, Cassidy’s emerged as well. Subtly spreading small dishonesties in the group, the manipulations of Cass were brought into the light of day. It was actually a little shocking to see the Irish vampire making moves that were so clearly self-serving, which is a testament to the writing of the show and the portrayal by Gilgun of the blood-sucking being.

The remainder of “Dallas” seemed wholly focused on the backstory of Jesse and Tulip as they experienced their falling out that eventually led to Jesse heading to his father’s church in Texas to preach, where we found him in the show’s first season. While it answered some questions, this episode took entirely too long to do it. The flashbacks were too extensive and lacked excitement. “Dallas” felt reminiscent of the pacing in season one of Preacher, unfortunately. For the first time in the show’s sophomore season, the main goal of finding God was dropped. Previous episodes have managed to maintain the search amidst the other story lines, but “Dallas” dropped the struggle of the present day God-seeking mission entirely.

Unfortunately, with Jesse’s rage and conflict with Viktor and Tulip, along with Cassidy’s tiny manipulations, the fun of Preacher was missing from “Dallas.” The unique and kooky flavor of Preacher was noticeably absent. Without the main mechanism that makes the show tick, “Dallas” looks to be the weakest episode of the season so far. We know more about the characters, but it wasn’t really a fun ride to get there. Hopefully next week will pick things back up again.

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