“I need a new briefcase anyway”
–Miles Person (Ricky Mabe)
We feared things wouldn’t end well in the 1800s, and we knew something would go horribly amiss with Odin Quincannon.
Title: “South Will Rise Again”
Cast and Crew
Directed by Michael Slovis
Written by Craig Rosenberg
Adapted from the graphic novel by: Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon
Dominic Cooper as Jesse Custer
Joseph Gilgun as Cassidy
Ruth Negga as Tulip O’Hare
Jackie Earle Haley as Odin Quincannon
Lucy Griffiths as Emily
Ian Colletti as Eugene Root / Arseface
Tom Brooke as Fiore
Anatol Yusef as DeBlanc
Graham McTavish as The Cowboy
W. Earl Brown as Hugo Root
Derek Wilson as Donnie Schenck
Jamie Anne Allman as Betsy Schenck
Bonita Friedericy as Terri Loach
Ricky Mabe as Miles Person
Tim Ransom as Mr. Murphy
Justice Leak as Ratwater Preacher
Biff Yeager as Pappy
Kristen Loree as Mrs. Root
Trine Christensen as The Cowboy’s Wife
Zachary Hinrichs as Pioneer Boy
Marie Wagenman as The Cowboy’s Daughter
Rhiannon Frazier as Mrs. Murphy
Audrey Walters as Jenny
Miles Elliot as Scott Loach
Christopher W. Garcia as Jack Loach
Forrest Fyre as Apothecary
Boots Southerland as Cooley’s Bartender
Jason E. Hill as Cooley’s Customer
Kyle T. Cowan as Pa
Beverly Sartain as Ma
Sean Dennis as Little Billy
Premise
In the 1800s, the Cowboy’s quest goes south.
Cassidy hooks up with Tulip and explains vampirism. Jesse becomes a small-town celebrity due to his dramatic conversion of Odin Quincannon, but the angels inform him things will end badly.
Jesse tries to reconcile Eugene with the town. The Schencks discuss the Preacher’s strange powers, and we learn their relationship may not be as it seemed.
High Point
The extended sequence in the 1800s has been beautifully filmed and heartbreakingly rendered.
They handled the what vampires can and can’t do in this reality quite well. I am, however, just a little sorry Cassidy isn’t afraid of religious symbols. That would have made for a nice sight gag or two, given that he lives in a church.
Low Point
I don’t object, per se, to Emily being on the toilet when Tulip turns up, but it feels like one of those things that they put in the episode because they could. We already had Odin peeing last week, and a kid announcing Emily was “pooping.” So does she get to insert a tampon next week? We get it. There are no taboos left in television. A good writer uses that fact judiciously.1
The Scores:
Originality: 2/6
Effects: 5/6
Acting: 6/6 The show is very well-acted. Dominic Cooper’s ability to show us Jesse’s relative lack of moral understanding makes Jesse downright creepy.
Story: 4/6 The show features excellent set-pieces. We need these to cohere, at least a little, into some kind of story.
Apparently, we’re still in the first issue of the comic.
Emotional Response: 6/6 The scenes with Eugene prove heartbreaking and have been well-played. It would have been so easy for the show to go stupidly over the top here.
Production: 6/6
Overall: 4/6 I’m glad we’re learning more of Eugene’s tragic backstory. I await the Cowboy’s return to Ratwater with fear and anticipation. But the show is moving very slowly– and I say this as someone who was a huge fan of Mad Men.
In total, “The South Will Rise Again” receives 33/42
Washroom Notes
1. In early American television, you couldn’t even mention a toilet. Jack Paar, notoriously, walked off his talk show in 1960 because the networked censored a joke about a “water closet.” Hitchcock and Joseph Stefano discussed whether it was okay to show a toilet in the R-rated Psycho. It was a big deal in 1971 when All in the Family introduced the sound of the toilet flushing to the sitcom.
And I suspect that somewhere, someone is noting that Odin peeing indicates his strength, whereas, with Emily, it demonstrates vulnerability.
I suspect that had more to do with where it happened and how it was done. One was, quite literally, caught with their pants down, and the other was acting committing a deliberate act in front of another.
The first 1800’s scene I was a bit iffy on, but this week’s scene I was genuinely curious and now I’d like to see more, and was hoping for another glimpse this week yet, but it’ll probably be a few more weeks before it happens. If only Arrow was so judicious with their use of flashbacks.
Both this week and last I found it hitting the end credits way before I was ready for it to end. It does move slowly but they seem to have figured out how to end it on a hook. I knew Odin’s conversion wouldn’t end well. The voice seems to have a genie-like way of making a person do exactly what they’re told in just about the worst way possible.
And what was up with that person walking down the road in a mascot/animal suit while they were driving around in a pickup? I had to rewind to make sure I actually saw what I thought I saw. Is that a running gag I’ve missed in previous episodes?
Multiple fails there. Just pretend I quoted that first bit correctly. :-)
And “acting committing”? Pretend I didn’t type “acting”.
One was, quite literally, caught with their pants down, and the other was acting committing a deliberate act in front of another.
The writers and directors choose when to have these scenes, and why, and how, however. Sort of like how they murdered more men than women in The Sopranos, but the men were usually not naked and/or crawling on all fours when it happened. Scenes that make sense in an episode’s context can mean more in a broader serial/cultural/biological context. Just a point to ponder. I draw no conclusions– not even tentative ones– at this point.
As for the mascot, it has wandered by in at least one other episode, seemingly quite disconnected from anything else that was happening. I don’t know if this will mean something, or if it’s a never-to-be-explained running gag, like the penguin costume guy in Gregory’s Girl.
From the minimal research I did on Preacher before the show started up (to see if I wanted to bother watching at all) it sounds like we’re still in the first issue…and halfway through the run.
IIRC the whole Odin Quincannon plot takes up a large chunk of the mid-series story