AMC’s Preacher
Season 4, Episode 3: “Deviant”
Directed by Kevin Hooks
Written by Sara Goodman

* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “Last Supper” – click here
* For a recap & review of the next episode, “Search and Rescue” – click here
Are you looking to stay young, ageless, and gorgeous? Toscani’s face cream, now with more foreskin, can help. Good vampire foreskin, too. They’ve got Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) setup in front of a deli meat slicer. They’re taking the vamp to Bensonhurst, his “forever home,” where Frankie Toscani (Lachy Hulme) will continue working him over instead of letting Herr Starr (Pip Torrens) allow him to burn in the sunlight.

Back in Texas, the Saint of Killers (Graham McTavish) keeps on walking, hunting down the preacher, Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper). He’s got Arseface (Ian Colletti) along with him for the journey, talking his sphincter-like face off while unsuccessfully attempting to hitch them a ride. Eugene keeps believing in a divine plan.
The Saint assures him: “God‘s gone.”
And in Masada, Tulip O’Hare (Ruth Negga) is trying to use her disguise to get deeper inside. She has to kick ass after a touchy feely doctor lays hands on her too much. She’s only stopped once a nurse plugs her with a syringe full of sedatives. She wakes up later, taunting the doc by way of The Exorcist.

Jump back a bit, to when Jesse reached the House of Entertainment in the Middle East. Inside, he discovered a veritable house of kinky horrors. Jesse had a chat with Jesus DeSade (James Smithers), the place’s nasty purveyor of flesh, and apparently children. The preacher knocked Jesus over with a punch before going upstairs.
In his cell, Cassidy has to keep listening to the Archangel (David Field) rambling on. The angel even tries part of the Gene Hackman speech from Hoosiers, wondering when the vamp is going to spring into action, whereas Cass seems defeated. There’s a guilt that lies deep inside the immortal creature and that’s why he didn’t flee when he had the chance, after Tulip and Jesse came to find him.

Backstory from Ireland, 1916— same year as the Easter Rising. We see Proinsias Cassidy, heading off to help fight the British. He left his family and went on with his pal Billy, gun in hand. Cassidy watched his good friend get murdered by British soldiers in the street and didn’t do anything to help, running off into the night. In a bog, he was dragged under the water by a swamp vampire, and it chomped on his neck. When he made it back home, he decided to let his family believe he died and kept moving onward.
In their cell, the Archangel sings “The Leaving of Liverpool” to the vamp.

“See, I find that violence is never the answer.”

At the House of Entertainment, Jesse found the kid. Not without much fighting against the various masked fetishists and, surely, some true deviants. There are Kabuki masks, nunchucks, a massive double-fisted dildo, bunny costumes, and more while the preacher fights— one moment captures the hall in a wide shot reminiscent of a panoramic Renaissance painting. Once it’s all over, Jesse realises the kid took a bullet during the chaos, so he decides to stomp DeSade’s head into a pot of raspberry jam.
After that, it’s to the plane.
What about God (Mark Harelik), hiding away in his doggy fetish suit? He sees all.

In a diner, Arseface nearly gets a dick in his mouth in the bathroom stall at a gloryhole while the Saint remains unaware at their table. Someone claiming to be a cop has Eugene thrown in a car and driven away. The Saint won’t allow that, popping the driver’s head like the head of a dandelion, spraying blood across the windshield, allowing Eugene to remain in his company.

At the airport, Jesse pisses off Adolf Hitler (Noah Taylor) with his smoking, while the angry German mentions he’d like the preacher to join him “in Hell.” The Fuhrer is thrilled with his new position after Satan’s death. He’s having a grand time doling out sadistic existential punishment. Jesse doesn’t plan on heading there any time soon. He uses Genesis to make Hitler start choking himself, though stops before Adolf dies.
After a bit of time in the air, Jesse sees a report on TV about his rampage at the House of Entertainment. There’s a manhunt for him. He’s referred to as “evil incarnate.” That’s right when turbulence occurs. Jesse has a vision of Tulip, that guilt nagging at him for leaving her without so much as a word. He feels like it could be the end when the plane starts to nosedive toward the earth.

Of course, we know he lands. What happens after he peels himself from the dirt? So many interesting things happening. Season 4 is proving it’ll be a wild ride right until the final frame. DeSade didn’t last long, after making a long-awaited appearance last episode. Although this development, with his murder, should add an interesting wrinkle to Custer’s plans.

“Search and Rescue” is next time.