Annville, Texas preacher Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper) is in pain. He's tormented by his past, his parishioners, and his ex. And then God gets pissed.
"Preacher," coming May 22 on AMC, is an adaption of the classic late '90s Garth Ennis graphic novels about Custer and his two closest friends: Tulip (Ruth Negga) and Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun). The novels are known for their extremely anti-theist slant, twisted humor, and pages upon pages of blood and sex-soaked carnage. Adapting it seemed impossible, but judging by the first episode, AMC is on the righteous path to doing the comic justice. With caveats.
Previously, showrunner Sam Catlin has said they're taking a gradual approach to the most explicit elements of the source material: "I think the idea of the show is: oh, you’re okay with vampires now? Okay, what about this? What about this and this and this? It’s like putting a frog in a bowl of boiling water or something like that so that by the time you look upon Satan, you’re like, ‘Okay, yeah. That makes sense.’”
The pilot is promising but weirdly paced in a way that backgrounds Jesse and most of Annville's citizens. And at an hour-and-a-half it never establishes a clear arc for the show the way the pilot for adaptations like "The Walking Dead" or even "Game of Thrones" did. It makes the preacher of "Preacher" seem an accessory to his own show.
Cooper does a good job of brooding, showing off Jesse's inner conflicts as he tries to hold onto his faith in a nihilist town. But it mostly reads as moping. And to a certain extent, that's true to life: depression is marked by countless unproductive hours spent doing nearly nothing. But by the third scene marked by nothing much except for Cooper's listless gazing, it gets boring. Especially on a show with a vampire, angels, demons, and an exploding celebrity.
Jesse's never given an especially memorable character-establishing moment like Cassidy or Tulip and the entire narrative shifts whenever he's onscreen. Instead of progressing forward, it becomes more atmospheric, non-linear, and instead explores Anneville, its people, and their alternately horrifying and inspiring quirks. Mean-hearted sadist sheriff Hugo Root (W. Earl Brown) is played with a pitch perfect, Coen-esque dry frustration and his son, Eugene (Ian Colletti), known in the comics as Arseface, is an immediately endearing cinnamon role with a face like ... well his name is Arseface.
But while Jesse spends the episode in a constant state of sadness to make a point about faith and the heartbreaking silence of unanswered prayers, Eugene makes an earnest and totally self-effacing speech about the same thing. It sticks. And a lot faster. It's the same lesson without the dull self loathing.
Much of Cooper's take on Jesse felt like a second take on Andrew Lincoln's Rick Grimes: same burdened glare, same southern twang (both actors are English, but Cooper could stand to learn a few thangs from Lincoln). I bet they even have the same Johnny Cash playlist. And like Grimes, he's a straight shooter surrounded by much more compelling characters. In terms of pure dynamism, Cassidy and Tulip are the Michonne and Daryl of the show.
Cassidy is an orgy of one: hedonistic, messy, and psychotically reckless, for no reason other than to amuse himself. An Irish vampire who has grown immune to both crosses and holy water, Cassidy is a formidable opponent, but also extremely lazy and prefers getting black out drunk in a nameless bar to stalking prey by night. He's the clear front-runner for fan-favorite simply because his character is so much fun: a near third of his time onscreen is a slow-mo, full-throated laugh while blood snakes down his face and into his open mouth. It's the exact mix of horrifying and hilarious fans of the novels expect.
Tulip's introduction is another stand-out. She's teased as Jesse's ex, but more than holds her own as a powerful, pissed off mercenary, who blows back into Annvile to entice Jesse to join her for a score. She's a complicated femme fatale and Negga plays her with a mix of sadism and tenderness, showing her gentler side with Jesse in an intimate (but not physical) scene midway through the pilot. Negga's cool confidence makes her an assured scene stealer and she'd slink off with the entire show if not for Cassidy and Arseface.
It's too early to speak for "Preacher" as a whole, but embracing the graphic novel's absurdities (even if it's before they think we're ready for them) is exactly the type of instant pay-off missing from recent seasons of "The Walking Dead." The source material has an endless amount of potential and hopefully they'll lean into it more over the ten episode first season. And hopefully after his "divine" encounter in the premiere, Jesse's storyline will catch up with Tulip and Cassidy's. We're willing to forgive "Preacher" for its sins, because we know we're going to a better place.
"Preacher" premieres on AMC Sunday, May 22 at 10 p.m.
