The final season of Preacher started with a cold open that leaves us wondering where the season is headed. Here’s our review of “Masada!”
“Masada” opens with Tulip and Cassidy in a motel, and Tulip asks if there’s guy can get them inside. To where? I’m not sure.
“It feels like the end almost.”
“I guess we all gotta die sometime, though.”
Cassidy tells Tulip a joke, and they end up kissing. Both of them look like some time has passed. Cass’ hair is bleached and Tulip’s is shorter than before. Jesse is nowhere around.
The scene shifts to AUSTRALIA, and Jesse is falling from the sky, and he lands on the ground, appearing to be dead.
This is definitely something that happens later in the season because the rest of “Masada” takes place two months before. How do we get to this point is the big question.
—-
A COUPLE OF MONTHS BEFORE in the MIDDLE EAST
Jesse and Tulip are on their way to Masada. Jesse tells Tulip that he loves her, and she asks:
“Til the end of the world?”
“Til the end of the world.”
It sure feels like it’s coming up, especially with that cold open.
—-
At Masada, Featherstone arrives in Cassidy’s prison cell where an angel is mocking him from above. She shuts up the angel and moves Cassidy through a series of tunnels to the main lobby of Masada, the home to the Holy Child.
Cassidy tells her that Jesse will come for him, and Featherstone says that’s good.
“Why the hell else would we need you?”
She takes him to “class” which is called “advanced torture” but he’s not there to learn. Cassidy’s the victim and the teacher uses him to demonstrate all kinds of techniques. Apparently, the first rule of torture, is you have to earn their respect. I’m not sure how Frankie gains Cassidy’s respect, but whew, it gets bad.
Meanwhile, Tulip and Jesse turn up to the Holy Bar and Grail where some Grail recruits are fighting and singing. After Jesse uses Genesis on them, he makes Tulip their boss, and she’s going to take them with her into Masada.
Inside Masada, Herr Starr is still without his hat, but from his perch, he sees Jesse approach. After Jesse gets inside, he’s met by Starr and his men who are wearing ear muffs. There’s an old woman present, but she’s deaf and acting as an interpreter since no one else can hear.
Jesse wants Cassidy to be let go, but Starr isn’t sure. Then Jesse tells him the one thing he wants:
“Let Cassidy go, and you can wear hats again.”
Apparently Starr had a different idea when he lured Jesse here, and it has to do with Jesse getting his own scar. Unfortunately, the men in Starr’s room weren’t impervious to Genesis, and they end up shooting up the room while Jesse gets away to find Cass.
Starr isn’t dead, but he did lose and ear.
After his encounter with Starr, Jesse finds Cassidy. Apparently Frankie, the torture teacher, has been circumcising Cassidy’ repeatedly, but before they can talk too much about that, the Grail and Frankie show back up. Jesse fights them, even though he could just use Genesis. He beats Frankie, and he’s enjoying it.
All the while, Cass is watching, and he’s not impressed. You can see that Cassidy doesn’t approve of his methods just by watching his face. He tells Jesse that he could have escaped, but Jesse ignores him. Before they leave the room, Jesse asks if Cass wants to do his vampire thing and drink some blood before they leave, but Cass passes.
They argue as they make their way through the tunnels, and the banter is back on par. They encounter some Grail members, but get rid of them quickly. They argue about the elevators slowness, and it’s obvious this is about to blow up.
Jesse tells Cass that he could thank him, but Cassidy isn’t exactly thankful that Jesse got him mixed up with a cult leader, and he was tortured. Finally it boils over, and Cassidy tells Jesse that he’s always trying to the hero but he and Tulip don’t want that. Then Cassidy asks Jesse if he really thinks he wants to be in love with Tulip, and Jesse says they’re never going to talk about her again. He doesn’t use Genesis, though, and Cass says her name and they fight.
When the doors open, Jesse steps out but Cass stays inside. When Jesse realizes he needs something to cover him up, he offers his coat, but Cassidy steps back further.
“I told you. I got this.”
While all this was going on and before the door opened, Tulip and her gang of Grail recruits attempt to make it inside but fail. Their cover is blown when one of the women tells her superior that she doesn’t work for him anymore, she works for Tulip. The exit door they’re supposed to secure ends up closing on the Grail member. That Grail member isn’t dead, though, and tells Tulip where the door switch is. But she has to climb up the side of the mountain to get there.
When Tulip makes it to the roof, she finds Featherstone. They shoot at each other, but the bullets hit. Then have an epic fight. In the end, Tulip drops Featherstone off the mountain, but she uses her uniform as some flying squirrel gear to glide away. Tulip manages to open the door below, and that’s when Jesse leaves and Cassidy stays.
At the same bar as before, Tulip tries to get Jesse to explain what happened, but he just says that Cass said he had it. When Tulip asks Jesse if he asked about her, he doesn’t say anything. Tulip is ready to go back, but Jesse changes the subject.
“Did you sleep with him?”
“What?”
“Cassidy. Did you sleep with him?”
Tulip denies it, but Jesse already knows the truth from a long time ago. He tells her that they’ll go back the next day.
That night, Jeese has an intense dream about the end of the world. The phone rings, and it’s Jesse’s dad.
“Time to get to work, son. Time to find God. Big things are coming for you.”
When he wakes up, Starr is over him, trying to kill him, but that’s all a dream and it’s actually Tulip. Genesis comes out of Tulip’s mouth and tells him to stop. Then he wakes up for real and writes Tulip a letter while she sleeps.
He’s going to be the hero that Cass told him that he didn’t need to be.
When Tulip wakes up, she finds Jesse letter then she opens the closet and looks at her Grail uniform.
—-
At Masada, Starr meets with God.
“I hope you’re right about this.”
“I’m right about everything.”
“I had him dead-to-rights.”
“You didn’t want him dead-to-rights. You wanted him to suffer, so let’s make him suffer.”
WHEW. It’s going to get bad for Jesse with God on Starr’s team. Oh, and in a brief moment, The Saint of Killers and Eugene made it to Angelville to find that its burned down! SoK tells Eugene that Jesse can’t hide, and they’re off again.
Read the second episode recap HERE!