S04.E10: End of the World

[Snookums]

The curtain falls on the Apocalypse Revue as the fate of the world is decided and the long journey of a preacher and his friends comes to an end.

Original air date 2019.09.29

[Mr. Sparkle]

The true mystery is if I'll be able to stay up until 11:30 tonight. 

[AnimeMania]

Wow that was enough fight scenes for 5 episodes. My favorite scene was when Jesus slams Hitler's face into a replica of the Eiffel Tower.

[Mr. Sparkle]

I made it half-way through last night and caught the rest this morning. That was - different. 

Edited September 30, 2019 by Superclam

[refugee]

For me Preacher was the first series in recent memory whoes finale tied up all loose ends...

...now I'll miss it I suppose. No complaints.

For a show full of religious abominations I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to those that appreciate something quirky.

[FishyJoe]

That left me really confused. I'm going to need one of those explanation videos on Youtube. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

I'm gonna watch it again. 

[rmontro]

I kind of got the feelz for Cassidy at the end there.  It's been said before, but funny how the vampire is the most human character.  To be honest, I'm not sure what Jesse's real motivations were.

This show held my interest, but my main impression at the end was that it was....  stupid.  That's the word that keeps coming to mind.  I know it's all about the quirks, but so much of this show just didn't make sense.  Like that episode where Jesse fought off everybody in the brothel with his fists rather than just saying a single word with the Genesis power.  He might have been killed.  Saint of Killers taking "God's" place?  Hard to see how that works out.  

I've decided that Preacher's "God" must be the same "God" from Star Trek Five:  The Final Frontier.  What does "God" need with a starship?

[dwmarch]

I just recently watched this entire series and I found the ending comes a little suddenly. I feel like there are things that were left out or not resolved in a satisfying way. Like, for all of Cassidy's conscience attacks over Humperdoo, he ends up just shooting him anyway. I feel like you could have a whole season just based on Jesus choking Hitler out. And those weird creatures God was working on didn't really amount to anything.

Also Eugene. I don't hate the character or anything but he did so little to justify his further presence in the story beyond Season 2.

And why is it that Starr gets a happy ending? I mean, I have to admit I felt for the guy when bad thing after bad thing kept happening to him (and then God salts the wound by reminding him what a shortsighted dumbass he is) but I think Flufferman should have prevailed in that conflict.

We also have a situation where Hell is not being managed by anyone (that we know of) and Heaven is vacant too (except for the Saint of Killers but he shouldn't have any power there). There could be a good story there but when the show cuts to the future and everything looks about the same as today the show ends up contradicting itself. Back in season one, just hearing that God was gone led kids to cut a guy's dick off, et cetera and it culminated in the explosive destruction of the whole town. But at the end of season four, God is dead and life just goes on.

I also remember a scene where Jesse is about to bust out Genesis on God and God basically laughs and tells him to go ahead and try it. Now Jesse can turn God into a marionette with it. Jesse also developed the ability to use Genesis on itself which is kinda new.

I liked the show overall, despite the over-the-top gore. But there were some inconsistencies that were real head-scratchers.

[Lantern7]

"Preacher: The only thing standing between Fear the Walking Dead and Chris Hardwick talking about the finale of Fear the Walking Dead."

It ends on a bit of a whimper, at least in terms of societal impact. It did scrape together a good ending in general, as Jesse and Tulip settle down and have a hellion of their own, Eugene becomes a rock star (check out the kid's t-shirt in the last scene with Jesus; looks like he never went by "Arseface," which was good), Herr Starr lives on to be a magnificent bastard and buttmonkey, and the Saint of Killers becomes the deity we probably deserve by shooting up his predecessor. Or maybe he just wanted to sit on the throne for a spell.

At least thing were interesting. I think Preacher probably made a greater impact in its original form, and The Walking Dead (which I wound up giving up because of the parade of misery) was always going to overshadow it. The parallel easiest for me to grasp would be with Gotham, which relied more and more on the WTF Factor through its five seasons. Jesus and Hitler extended fight scene? Hey, why not? The would-be messiah getting capped by a vampire? Hey, why not? Members of The Grail forced to search for God for two whole years, then collapsing into heaps when Jesse lets them go? Sure . . . why the hell not? And God tormented by the love of the new race created to replace humanity? Dang, that was brutal. Did we get any kind of shot of them? I reckon the noises and captions more than made up for it.

It's been fun. Hope y'all get around to reading the trade paperbacks, because Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon (along with other artists in special issues) did their damnedest to make sure readers would be talking every time an issue came out.

ETA: Where else could you think to yourself, "Man, the Alpha and the Omega went out like a punk"?

Edited October 1, 2019 by Lantern7

[NeenerNeener]

It looked like Cassidy walked out into the sun and burst into flames after he walked away from Jesse and Tulip's graves. Did I really see that, and was he trying to commit suicide now that Jesse and Tulip are both gone?

[rmontro]

2 hours ago, NeenerNeener said:

It looked like Cassidy walked out into the sun and burst into flames after he walked away from Jesse and Tulip's graves. Did I really see that, and was he trying to commit suicide now that Jesse and Tulip are both gone?

I don't recall seeing this, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen.  I don't know why he would kill himself anyway for that anyway, when he hadn't seen them in 40 years anyway (or however long it was).  The other thing that comes to mind is I don't know why that would kill him when it seems like he's survived a lot worse than that.

[whydoievencare]

4 hours ago, NeenerNeener said:

It looked like Cassidy walked out into the sun and burst into flames after he walked away from Jesse and Tulip's graves. Did I really see that, and was he trying to commit suicide now that Jesse and Tulip are both gone?

That's what I saw too - did he do that after saying that he hoped he would see the daughter in the future though?  

Edited October 2, 2019 by whydoievencare

[dwmarch]

The final scene with Cassidy is blurry but he hangs his umbrella on a gravestone and walks directly into the sunlight. As Tulip's daughter moves off to the left, Cassidy is heading right and is fully engulfed in flames by the end of the scene.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

2 hours ago, whydoievencare said:

That's what I saw too - did he do that after saying that he hoped he would see the daughter in the future though?  

Maybe in heaven?

[Sandman87]

The unnamed Grail operative in the missile silo summed up my feelings about the episode perfectly: "That was disappointing."

[Captanne]

Watched the episode last night and, although this might be an Unpopular Opinion, I loved every minute of it.  I really enjoyed the entire series.  I've said before that one of the most satisfying things about the series was that I could visualize the storyboard in my mind's eye -- like a comic book come to life.  I loved that they committed to that in this episode by even showing us contemporaneous events in a literal storyboard format.

Loved the whole thing.

[OoohMaggie]

1 hour ago, Captanne said:

Watched the episode last night and, although this might be an Unpopular Opinion, I loved every minute of it. 

After watching late last night I did feel a little underwhelmed, but watching it again this morning I have to agree with you.

I loved every season, and now the early stuff has faded from memory somewhat, it's the ideal time to start over again.

[DoctorAtomic]

I certainly liked the comic book panel depiction of all the fighting. I feel bad that Featherstone died though. 

So the voice does work on god. I'm not sure why he didn't just command him to not end the apocalypse.

On 9/30/2019 at 6:39 PM, dwmarch said:

And why is it that Starr gets a happy ending? I mean, I have to admit I felt for the guy when bad thing after bad thing kept happening to him (and then God salts the wound by reminding him what a shortsighted dumbass he is) but I think Flufferman should have prevailed in that conflict.

No. She's always been just a little short. Starr was always a step ahead of just about everyone. It wouldn't have been true to the character.

I was surprised Jessie set Genesis free. Worth it for him to say "I don't fucking need it" without them bleeping it.

On 9/30/2019 at 9:44 PM, Lantern7 said:

"Preacher: The only thing standing between Fear the Walking Dead and Chris Hardwick talking about the finale of Fear the Walking Dead."

Is he still peddling his spiel?

Cassidy looked worn out to me. Maybe he just decided it was time.

There's got to be someone running hell again if Hitler is out of the picture.

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

That's what I got from Cassidy's scene also. I think he was tired of life after so many years on Earth  and was ready to die, perhaps hoping somehow he would find peace in heaven?

[rmontro]

2 hours ago, One4Sorrow2TooBad said:

That's what I got from Cassidy's scene also. I think he was tired of life after so many years on Earth  and was ready to die, perhaps hoping somehow he would find peace in heaven?

I missed seeing Cassidy walk into the flames, I guess I was just focusing on Tulip's daughter smiling.  I was wondering what she was smiling about.

I think you must have the motivation right though.

Did Cassidy kill himself like this in the comics?

Edited October 3, 2019 by rmontro

[Captanne]

I'm still surprised that, when God reacted to Genesis, there was no mention of Odin.  I think, maybe, what I predicted came to be -- that the loss of the eye was an Odin reference and we come to find out Jesse ~can~ control the Judaic God with Genesis (he is a co-equally powerful god).  They just didn't go the extra step and link the two events (loss of eye and ability to rival God with the clear Nordic mythology reference).

Edited October 3, 2019 by Captanne

[DoctorAtomic]

That may have been the point of "because I don't fucking need it." He still loved god until he lost the eye. 

He punched God out after releasing genesis. 

[tennisgurl]

Decent enough ending, but much like the rest of the season, its all pretty anti-climactic and filled with a lot of pointlessness. So much of what was built up just kind of fizzled out, like the guys looking for Herr Star, the fight between Jesse and God, finding out who created Genesis and its purpose and being inside of Jesse, it all just kind of...happened and was done. God himself really went out easily, it was pretty weird. I was also kind of hoping to get some references to season one (or most any previous season) and we didnt get very much. 

I am happy that Jesse and Tulip ended up together and with a daughter (who looks just like Tulip!) having adventures, but it makes me sad that Cassidy stayed away for most of the rest of their lives, even if they were all still very important to each other. And then Tulip and Jesse died (apparently only about a year in between) and Cassidy walks into the sun and dies, maybe to find them in the afterlife?

I also liked that Eugene became a rock star, and that Jesus is just doing customer service, after kicking the crap out of Hitler. 

This was a weird, deeply inconsistent show, but I am glad that I watched it, and I did like the finale in general. Even when the show was weird and meandering, I was always interested, and it really did capture the spirit of the comic, if not the plot points, and it was one wild ride.

Edited October 5, 2019 by tennisgurl

[Bruinsfan]

On 9/30/2019 at 10:44 PM, Lantern7 said:

And God tormented by the love of the new race created to replace humanity? Dang, that was brutal. Did we get any kind of shot of them? I reckon the noises and captions more than made up for it.

I think we saw a glimpse of a feathered wing before the blood spatter in a previous episode, so maybe something parrot-like?

Things I don't get:

Why God had to resort to asking Jesus to be the Messiah as a backup plan when he's clearly capable of resurrecting Humperdoo from the dead as he did Jesse

Why Genesis would work on Him when there are lots of limitations on its power otherwise (target needs to have a soul, and hearing, and understand the language the orders are made in)

How He could lose a fight with the Saint of Killers when he was apparently omnipotent, and angels and demons could block the Saint's weapons

How the Saint of Killers became able to kill anything including immortal beings just because he was traumatized in life (I know there was an actual explanation in the comics, but the show contradicted it.)

[cleo]

It's kind of remarkable, this is one of the worst shows that I've ever watched and stuck with. I suppose that is a compliment ?

Someone above said stupid and ITA. It's not the religious or blasphemous stuff that bothers me- I'm an atheist so have at it- just so much of the 'plot' made no sense. 

I basically stuck around bc I liked the characters and actors playing Cassidy and Tulip. 

The finale was underwhelming and soooo unnecessarily long.

I was going to watch the Boys but bit reluctant to now.

[Mr. Sparkle]

37 minutes ago, cleo said:

I was going to watch the Boys but bit reluctant to now.

I like the Boys much more than Preacher. Conversely, I liked the Preacher comic and read it a few times. I couldn't get past issue 30 of the Boys. 

It's been about a year since Preacher, but I saw it as wasted potential. I watched 4 seasons waiting for it to get good and it never did. 

Edited October 27, 2020 by Superclam