For a full recap of the episode, visit the Preacher Wiki here. This article is a review of the episode in which specific details and events are discussed. SPOILERS may occur, so read at your own risk.
If last week taught us anything, it’s that Preacher knows how to go out with a bang. “Sundowner” gives the biggest bang of the series yet, but we’ll get to that in the Best Moments section. In the meantime, I’m happy to report that “Sundowner” is probably the best episode of Preacher since the pilot.
For those who have felt in the dark, “Sundowner” gets some big answers out of the way. We now know what’s inside of Jesse and how it came to be, and we know why Fiore and DeBlanc are trying to get it back. This leads us to the most energetic and hilarious cold open yet — you’re gonna get your money’s worth with my Best Moments section this week — and the episode mostly hits the ground running from there.
If there’s a complaint I’m starting to jive with, it’s how the character of Emily is being utilized in the show. While it’s fun to see her and Tulip butt heads and even bond in a bizarre way, Emily hasn’t done much besides act as a counterpoint to Tulip’s rambunctious nature. I really like that in concept but even this episode can’t figure out how to make Emily stand on her own. Thankfully, Lucy Griffiths imbues Emily with a natural sweetness and charm that’s impossible to dislike. Her attempt to seem more worldly than she is with her comment about Los Angeles and Hollywood did more for her as a character than any storyline she’s been a part of yet. I hope she comes into her own by season’s end.
As far as following up with last week’s shocking ending, we don’t see Odin but we do see Miles struggling with the consequences of Odin’s actions. Miles has been another character that hasn’t quite fallen into place yet, but “Sundowner” fixes that in a particularly chilling way. I kind of wish the reveal of the burned bodies wasn’t the way we left the episode, but that has more to do with that big shocker I’ll get into in the Best Moments section.
You should just scroll down there because that’s where the meat of this review is going to be. “Sundowner” will set a lot of detractors straight with its propulsive plotting, humorous action, and a whopper of an ending. If you felt this show was slow or boring — and apparently some people feel that way — I think we’re watching two different shows.
Best Moments of the Episode:
The cold open. Not only did it provide us with plenty of information but it did so in an extremely fun way. The fight choreography felt appropriately hilarious and brutal. Seeing all the dead bodies pile up had me in stitches. As did Fiore and DeBlanc’s numerous reinvigorations, especially when Fiore killed DeBlanc only to have him pop out of the closet. And then Cassidy gets mixed up in the whole affair and the chaos ensues again! In terms of pitch-perfect tone, this cold open is probably the most Preacher-y bit the show has done so far. I already want to watch it again.
This isn’t a specific moment, but I wanted to give special recognition to director Guillermo Navarro. He did a phenomenal job with “Sundowner” and I hope he returns in season two.
Oh boy oh boy, we have got to talk about Eugene. I’ve been saying that he’s my favorite character since the pilot, and “Sundowner” made it clear that Preacher was hoping I’d feel that way. I felt such unease throughout the episode when I thought those kids were setting him up for something awful, and the show played that deception perfectly. His scene in the tunnel with the fireworks made me breathe a huge sigh of relief. I should have known what was coming next…
“Go to Hell, Eugene!” And with that proclamation, Preacher made me gasp with genuine horror. I’ve talked before about how the show’s version of Jesse Custer is someone who is quietly holding back terrifying rage, and while we’ve seen it unleashed on someone like Linus, there was some twisted sense of justice in that. But what happens to Eugene isn’t just horrendous because of it happening to an innocent — an innocent who is also rightly calling Jesse out on his own sin — but because it actually worked. As far as we know, Jesse’s words sent Eugene to Hell. The Word is more powerful than we previously thought and that is both exciting and frightening. As someone who has been loving Eugene — and the actor playing him, Ian Colletti, who has done true wonders given the limitations of the character — I am chomping at the bit to see where his story goes after this.
