'Preacher' Review: You May All Go To Hell And I Will Go To Best Buy

(Each week, we're going to discussion Preacher's season 2 by examining the differences between the original comics and AMC's television adaptation.)Preacher's second season has been all about the peaks and valleys, and this is a valley episode. After all the chaos and action of the last few hours, they needed a breather, and "Holes" lets all the characters take stock of where they are and what to do next...even if they're not sure what that is.

What we do have is the appearance of some fan-favorite characters from the comic and the return of surprisingly jacked Arseface, who is doing his best Robert De Niro while working out in his prison cell to the music from Cape Fear. What more could we need?

TRACY is now tattooed across Arseface's back, a tribute to the reason why he thinks he belongs in hell in the first place. The only way it could have been more perfect was if they could have incorporated some Night of the Hunter and tattooed Eugene's knuckles with ARSE and FACE. I mean c'mon, folks! It was right there for you.

But our silly salivating slob isn't having a good time in hell. He's in gen pop with a bunch of murderers and rapists and there's no toilet paper, so they've been using duct tape. Their only entertainment is a basketball hoop and a deflated ball, and to make matters truly hellish, the only food they can find is a vending machine full of Zagnuts. And now the guards have figured out why things have been going screwy in their cells – one of them isn't supposed to be there. This leads to a really funny dichotomy, as the prisoners are being punished for being good to each other. Being nice gets them taken away and forced to relive their worst moments, only they are made much, much worse.

In Arseface's case, that involves Jesse Custer showing up to his failed suicide and stealing away the love of his life, right after they sing a duet of Semisonic's "Closing Time," no less. If and when Arseface and Jesse reunite, it's going to make for some interesting sparks. How can Jesse possibly make it up to him? He sent Eugene to hell. Eugene became friends with Hitler. In the comic, when Arseface blamed him for his father's death and showed up with a gun to kill them all, they didn't understand what he was saying and laughed at him, eventually calming him down enough to take him along as part of their group for a bit.

Hitler might actually be his big saving grace here, as he knows that Eugene doesn't belong there and says he wants to help him escape. That is, if you can believe Hitler. Let's see how clueless Eugene really is.

The fan favorite duo is finally here! Featherstone was introduced as a femme fatale earlier in this season, tricking Jesse in a Jazz club and getting him jumped for The Grail. She and her white-suited goons have a huge interest in what he's up to, as their specific squadron (Samson unit) is tracking down false prophets and taking them out.

In the comic, Hoover is loyal but dim-witted and in love with Featherstone, something that seems to have potentially carried over here. They haven't met Herr Starr yet, but when he meets them in the comic, he changes their mission pretty significantly and that's likely to happen here (Featherstone also becomes deeply infatuated with Herr Starr, who couldn't care less). We'll see how it plays out.

Tulip runs across Featherstone by accident, as she's still disturbed by her meeting with the Saint and is taking steps to eliminate anything that reminds her of him. She keeps eyeing the hole in her wall from the bullet that blasted through every apartment on their floor before ending up in their fridge, so she buys a new fridge and starts patching up the holes until she finds out that the last apartment has new inhabitants. Tulip can immediately tell that something is different about this lady, but doesn't seem to know what to make of it just yet.

The Grail's apocalyptic imagery is showcased when Jesse takes a trip to a Best Buy-style store, complete with Geek Squad ("Dork Docs") to ask them to enhance the DVD of the actor playing God. He wants to find out if the can find a serial number or any indication of who killed him, but even with some incredibly overhelpful employees (Geek Squad has never done such good work), they can't find anything.

Of course, Jesse is also constantly missing signs all around him. Commercials for The Grail play on the televisions in the store, and the DVD is even emblazoned with "Property of The Grail." It's okay – he'll learn soon enough. But why do we have another episode of Jesse dealing with this goddamn DVD in the first place? I don't think anyone would argue that the second season of Preacher is a complete (ahem) revelation in comparison to the first, but they do seem to have these strange lulls where the characters get stuck in a rut. Rather than show them in said rut, they should be focusing on other characters, but it's hard when the whole trio is feeling down.

For instance, Cassidy sits out most of this episode since he's dealing with his own personal issues with his son. It's easily the most heartfelt part of the episode, at least. We get a flashback to a young(ish?) Cassidy singing an inappropriate song to a baby and telling him what a good "da" he'll be. Cut to today, when he hasn't even bothered to learn his son's native language and is watching him slowly die. He never would have been a good dad, but now, he's definitely regretting missing out and his son only wants one thing from him – eternal life.

In the end, Cass calls up a buddy of his for advice, a voice on the phone who knows what he's asking for immediately. Is this another vampire? In the comic he comes across a couple others, but the one he most famously knows is a gothic punk who is doing everything vampires are "supposed" to do. Here, it seems as if he knows this person very well, especially since they immediately assume he needs money. Even among vampires, Cassidy is a fuck-up.

The episode ends with us unsure of Cassidy's decision. Did he decide to turn him? He's been aching horribly over it, and even tells Tulip how awful it is to watch everything die as he keeps just living. But perhaps there's another reason why he doesn't want to turn him that he hasn't revealed just yet.

Next week: The Grail comes to town. Jesse uses the voice again. Tulip borrows a gun. Someone hopefully gets bitten.