Joseph Gilgun as Cassidy, Dominic Cooper as Jesse Custer – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Skip Bolen/AMC
The episode begins basically where we left off. Tulip has been caught by Viktor’s men and they asks for her gun before taking her away in their group of black SUVs. In the morning, Jesse finally makes his way to the home of Denis and Cassidy introduces them, to yet another cold reception. Jesse begins to recount the night’s events, but notices Tulip’s absence and asks of her whereabouts. Cassidy tries to deflect and asks if leaving in the middle of the night is typical for Tulip and Jesse simply states yes and then decides to take a nap, which is a pretty good sign for how typical it is as he has no worry in his face. With a text to Tulip from Cassidy questioning if she’s alright, we see her in the office of Viktor, patiently waiting for his arrival while the sounds of torture echo from the next room. He finally arrives and wonders aloud just what he should do with her.
Back in Hell, the scene also continues shortly after it was last left off. Hitler appears out of his cell and the other cell doors open around him and Eugene. Others residing in Hell step out and are surprised at the malfunctions. Tyler, a douchebag even in Hell, decides to start picking on Eugene, but Hitler stops him. The malfunction is fixed and everyone is forced to return to their cells, but sadly for Eugene, his locks him out from the outside. But hey, his new pal Hitler offers him to come in his cell or else Eugene will be thrown in “the hole”. Hitler’s Hell is revealed to be Munich 1919, apparently on a date. We don’t see the entire memory as it’s cut off due to yet another malfunction, but it seems to be a day where his art is rejected by a gallery owner. You know, forget the mass genocides and all of WWII, rejection of his passion is his true Hell. Hitler alerts Eugene that his cell should be reopened now, but asks for his name before he departs, to which Eugene obliges.
Noah Taylor as Adolf Hitler, Ian Colletti as Eugene, Justin Prentice as Tyler – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 4 – Photo Credit: Skip Bolen/AMC
The torture continues in Viktor’s side room with the assailant spraying acid on the victim, while a tender moment happens between Tulip and Viktor. He tells Tulip her tears won’t work, however, as she made a fool out of him after he trusted her and took her in. Pat, the torturer, comes in and states that the man is conscious again, but he’s not sure for how long. Viktor departs with him, but makes sure to tell Tulip she better have something new to say to him once he returns. Elsewhere, Jesse awakes from his nap and takes note that Tulip still hasn’t returned. He sums this up to her just wanting space as they got into a fight the previous night and proceeds to tell Cassidy about the secret society of white suit men that he encountered. Those very men then happen to drop off a member in disguise in front of Denis’ apartment. In the background, Denis has been watching a Hurricane Katrina relief ad and Cassidy just so happens to pay attention right as the man who was pretending to be God last season shows up. Also…so does Frankie Muniz playing himself, but that’s besides the point. Seems that God the actor wasn’t really in Heaven, but in that case, how did he know God was missing?
Maintenance finally shows in Hell and investigates Eugene’s cell. A full reset is required for the simulator, so the Warden takes Eugene out for a stroll in the meantime. At her office, the Warden gives a rundown of Hell. It’s basically a prison for the dead, but it’s also very underfunded and shoddy. When extended maintenance is required, occupants are put into holdings in the meantime, but the Warden makes sure to tell Eugene that it isn’t vacation. If he lounges back and takes a break, he’ll be sent to the hole in the middle of her office. She also comments that he seemed like a nice and kind person back on Earth, but that behavior isn’t tolerated in Hell. If you’re in Hell, you have to act accordingly.
Frankie Muniz as Frankie Muniz, Mark Harelik as Fake God, Eleanor Threatt as Homeless Woman, Boyana Balta as Homeless Wife, David Brian Smith as Homeless Husband – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 4 – Photo Credit: Skip Bolen/AMC
Back on Earth, Jesse and Cassidy arrive at the management for Mark Harelik, the actor who portrayed God. They meet Teddy Gunth, the manager, and attempt to gather Harelik’s location from him, but Gunth is in full manager mode and believes they are there to cast someone in a role. A funny bit occurs when Cassidy states they’re from HBO and want Harelik for Game of Thrones and only after that does Gunth agree to tell them where he is…only the answer is he doesn’t know. Seems after Harelik got the gig to play God, he hasn’t been seen since. He did manage to get the audition tape from the job though., but didn’t watch it as nobody ever watches audition tapes. Jesse and Cassidy bring it back to Denis’ to observe and learn that the role of God didn’t have an end date but Harelik still agreed to it. The reason why it doesn’t have an end date is then revealed as Harelik is shot and killed, bringing him to Heaven so he can take part in his new role as fake God.
Meanwhile, Tulip attempts to fit in at Viktor’s home, but no matter who she tries to talk to, they aren’t interested in her any longer due to her betrayal. Even Viktor’s daughter spits in her face and states that she hopes Viktor kills her. This ignorance of her digs into Tulip, so she heads upstair to a gun vault. The combo had been changed from when she last knew it though, so she takes out one of Viktor’s henchmen and acquires his gun instead. Sneaking into Viktor’s room, Tulip puts the gun to his head and threatens to kill him if he doesn’t allow her to leave, but guards stop her before she’s able to do much of anything.
Ruth Negga as Tulip O’Hare – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 4 – Photo Credit: Skip Bolen/AMC
Eugene is brought to the holding area of Hell and notices that his new friend Hitler (very weird typing that) is also occupying the room. After a friendly chat, Eugene decides that Hitler isn’t as bad of a guy as he’s been made out to be in history, at least not anymore. I’m sure this is a ploy on Hitler’s part and he has a plan for Eugene in the future though. The douchebag Tyler comes strolling in to disturb their chat and demands for Eugene to entertain him, but Hitler stands up for his friend. This goes poorly for him as Tyler quickly beats him down and the other inmates join in on the beating. Eugene’s first instinct is to stop the violence, but he recalls the conversation he had with the Warden about acting as he should in Hell, so he proceeds to beat Hitler as well. It’ll be interesting to see what will come of his betrayal to the only person who has shown him compassion in Hell, you know, even if it’s Hitler.
Jesse is still glued to the audition tape, trying to find just about anything that he can from it, while Cassidy is getting impatient with the absence of Tulip. He finally breaks down to Jesse that something is wrong, which finally gains Jesse’s attention to the matter. He demands to know where Tulip went and we cut to Viktor’s mansion with Jesse ready to assault it to save his girlfriend. A very liberal use of Genesis is used to move throughout the home, but Jesse is blindsided once he makes it to the torture room of Pat. Upon Jesse’s awakening, an awesome fight scene occurs between him and Pat, to the tune of “Uptown Girl” by Billy Joel. Just about everything in the room is used as a weapon, from actual torture devices to pieces of a foosball table. Jesse isn’t able to use Genesis to end the fight earlier either as Pat had the headphones in, but Jesse prevails after making use of the dead victim’s body in the room as a shield.
Dominic Cooper as Jesse Custer, Armando Leduc as Burly Guard 1, Larry D E McGhee II as Burly Guard 2 – Preacher _ Season 2, Episode 4 – Photo Credit: Skip Bolen/AMC
Ripping an earbud out of Pat’s ear, Jesse uses Genesis to find Tulip’s location. She’s still with Viktor in his room, but the scenario seems less hostile than should be after Tulip pointed a gun at Viktor’s head as they’re both just sitting on the bed talking. Jesse takes this moment of surprise to put Viktor in a headlock, but Tulip yells for him to stop and reveals that Viktor is actually her husband. Her not wanting to get married in Episode 2 makes a lot more sense now. And the final shot of the episode is that The Saint of Killers is almost done with his journey to New Orleans. Jesse probably made it a hell of a lot easier to find him with his multiple uses of Genesis as well.
“Viktor” was an iffy episode for me overall. The only plot advancement we got was Jesse and Cassidy learning how the fake God was hired, but they still don’t have any leads on who it actually was that did so. Tulip’s scenes also mostly consisted of her in captivity and trying to be friendly with people of her past that no longer trust her, wasn’t exactly interesting stuff. It was cool to see more of Hell, but the Eugene plotline also kinda dragged, with the ramifications of what he choice to do being more interesting to anticipate than what actually happened. Things picked up at the end with Jesse finally stopping his detective work to go save Tulip, but the episode closes just as things are getting interesting. The cards that are left on the table definitely set up Episode 5 to have strong potential, however.
Viktor – 3 out of 5
Pros:
- The Jesse/Pat fight scene
- Random Frankie Muniz
- Game of Thrones bit in the talent management office
Cons:
- Tulip’s portions of the episode
- Are we ever gonna get a Denis explanation?
