Well, that was a pretty messed up introduction. Here’s a little more about one Odin Quincannon. Turns out his family was killed in a skiing trip gone wrong. What was left of them was packaged into boxes, indistinguishable from the insides of his cows to the parts of his family. Driven mad, he attempts to convince Custer’s father to denounce God, scarring a young Jesse Custer, who is left to witness Quincannon at his most damaged.
Back in the present day, Quincannon has assembled a team of his merry men to attack and take a hold of Jesse’s church. An all-fire assault, the sequence continues the darkly comical side of the series as Donnie questions to the survivors, “What happened?! What did he say?!” “Nothing,” one of them replies. “He just kicked our asses.” Jesse, coming off his surviving win, begins to hallucinate, as Eugene to appears to be walking him through the duration of the episode.
A surprisingly hilarious instalment of the season, this episode sees the AMC series latest at its more irreverent, which is all too appropriate from the minds of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg; from Quincannon’s plans to replace Jesse’s church with a cafeteria to the unprecedented actions of Jesse as he shoots off the penis belonging to one of Quincannon’s messengers. Hilariously, the string of supposed attacks has now led to a camping adventure for Quincannon’s men, as well as the people of Annville, soaking up the sun by Jesse’s church as he remains ambushed by Quincannon’s fighters.
Meanwhile, Tulip is given a small but quaint side story. In an odd side adventure, Tulip has adopted a dog. Caring, loving and nurturing the canine, the side story seems all the more unnecessary, that is until Tulip feeds the dog to Cassidy, who is recovering from the incapacitated and burnt state Jesse left him in at the end of last week’s episode. Back at the church, hoping to bring back Eugene back from hell, Jesse calls for the assistance of the angels. DeBlanc and Fiore arrive at the doorstep of Jesse’s church
While revealing the possibility of bringing someone back from the brinks of Hell, the angels remain apprehensive until they retrieve what’s rightfully there’s: Genesis. The plan fails as Genesis immediately brings itself back into Custer. DeBlanc and Fiore leave the church empty-handed, leaving Custer to fight Quincannon. Confronted by Donny, Custer attempts to use his powers once again on the sapless buffoon, only to release he had deafened himself, oblivious to Custer’s powers. Forced to surrender to Quincannon, Custer forms another bet with the landowner, promising God himself will appear in church on the following Sunday.
Much like last week’s episode, the duration of this week’s instalment is spent on a day’s work of fun and blood and brilliantly brings us much closer to finality. Fuelled by hilarity and the show’s first dick joke, the episode pours on the violence and blood, while giving us more brilliant moments with DeBlanc, Fiore and Eugene as Jesse Custer is forced to confront his predicaments head on. Confront them he will, even if that means bringing God to the footsteps of Annville…
THE REEL SCORE: 8/10
Next time…
