AMC’s Preacher
Season 3, Episode 1: “Angelville”
Directed by Michael Slovis
Written by Sam Caitlin

* For a recap & review of the Season 2 finale, ” The End of the Road” – click here
* For a recap & review of the next episode, “Sonsabitches” – click here
We skip back to years before, in Angelville.
Madame L’Angell a.k.a Gran’ma (Betty Buckley) is doing work for those in the community, casting spells of various sorts. There’s lots of strange things going on, in between the spells and the “plantation tour” and all the other tourist stuff. Such as TC (Colin Cunningham), keeping an old man subdued. Christina (Liz McGeever) does her job, though she hides her own secrets from Jody (Jeremy Childs) and the others. She heads into town to supposedly see a movie. But Jody tracks her down, brings her back to Gran’ma. She’s hiding a piece of paper from them. When she swallows it to keep it from their eyes, the old woman orders Jody and TC hold her down, so they can cut the paper out and see for themselves.
“Leave him alone,” Christina pleads. And who’s this ‘him’?
She’s the mother of Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper).
Speaking of, on the road where we last left them Jesse and Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) race towards Angelville with the bloody corpse of Tulip O’Hare (Ruth Negga). The preacher wants to find ole Gran’ma and fix everything. The vamp isn’t happy with his buddy, mad because Jesse wouldn’t let him turn her into one of his own. Things aren’t good between the friends. Cassidy tells his pal about having sex with Tulip. This causes a rough fist fight.
Then TC greets Jesse for the first time in many years. As does Gran’ma. The preacher begs her to help Tulip. And  he doesn’t get much response. Madame L’Angell decides to sit for a bit of lunch instead. She considers Jesse to have betrayed her by leaving. He offers to “do anything” in exchange for her saving Tulip’s life. Could be like a deal with the devil. Gran’ma requires something specific— Jesse cuts his hand, bleeding on a cloth napkin, which the old woman clutches at greedily.
Let’s go to Purgatory, where Tulip sits waiting indefnitely. She’s there with a little girl (RaeLynn Bratten). A man, Jake (Keith Burke), in a prison jumpsuit turns up, reunited with the girl, whose mother’s in “working” in the bedroom. This is Tulip’s childhood: left on her own with a gun. Eventually, her father did some serious shit to bring the law down on him violently.
Outside in the world, Gran’ma prepares to bring Tulip back. But she needs Jesse and Cassidy to gather a few things first. To bring the woman back, they have to “invite her spirit” to the world of the living using things she loved. While the vamp does that, the preacher goes to see Jody, who we find out is the man that killed Jesse’s dad. He needs Jody to help him get something called “transpoil” for the whole process. The big dude works his way through a rival clan with just his fists, getting hold of the transpoil fairly fast.
Gran’ma starts in on the process of trying to resurrect Tulip. She starts with eating “scorpion peppers,” to try coaxing the spirit out to soothe the pain. She offers Cassidy one, to see if his pain will help. The old woman talks about loving someone who loved someone else years ago. She put a spell on him. It worked, and he loved her—  until the day she killed him. She extends an offer to the vamp, telling him that for bringing Jesse back to them he’s entitled to anything he’d like.
Seems Jody and Jesse have unfinished business. Another proper fist fight. Problem being, while Jesse’s tough, Jody is tougher. This means it’s got to be a brutal fight, more so than usual. Lots of head butts, car parts, and, of course, blood! Jody almost drops the truck on the preacher’s head before the old woman intervenes.
More of the resurrection spell, as Gran’ma mixes up a specific concoction to feed to dead Tulip. It’s hilariously postmodern to see her doing witchcraft with a Magic Bullet to mix the ingredients. She begins feeding the potion’s ingredients into Tulip. However, part of the process requires the dead to have a reason to return. Jesse speaks from the heart to her dead body. Cassidy turns on some Joni Mitchell, too. Inside Purgatory the place is madness. Tulip hears Jesse over the phone, her younger self tells her to leave.
And soon, she’s walking down the road to Angelville. Only there’s a hole in her gut. There’s also God in his creepy dalmatian fetish outfit. He speaks of his “great design,” and how Tulip’s been chosen for something. Before he finishes talking Tulip reawakens in Angelville with everyone surrounding her.
Now that Jesse’s got the love of his life back, he’s locked into a deal with Gran’ma. It’s a tenuous one. He’d rather kill the old lady. But she’s too crafty to let anything like that happen. Theirs is a dark, deep past, fraught with all kinds of badness. We’ll find out more of that as Season 3 unfolds.
WHAT A GREAT OPENER! Lord, I love this damn series. Gets better with each chapter, each season. There are new dynamics, with Madame L’Angell officially in the shit, and there’ll be further developments between the love triangle of Cassidy-Jesse-Tulip, which will absolutely turn things messier. “Sonsabitches” is next time.