It was surreal enough I’ll give it go for awhile. Tulip was Flowers in Agents of Shield. Jesse was driving me nuts because he looked so familiar but I couldn’t place him. Oh yeah, Tony Stark in Agent Carter.
AMC seems to like casting Brits to do southern American accents.
So, speculation based on the comic:
Dominic Cooper did a really good job, hair not withstanding. I may be able to eventually forgive him for not being Rufus Sewell.
The guys on the plane - the Grail?
Interesting that Jesse’s dad was a preacher, too. In the comics, the religion stuff was purely from his maternal grandmother. I wonder how that’s going to affect the stuff with his grandmother and uncles. Also, ain’t no way any old Vietnam war buddy is ever going to mistake Jesse Custer for his daddy.
Ruth Negga’s Tulip is both a radical departure from where the character was at this point in the comics, and totally perfect. I always kind of felt that Ennis didn’t quite figure out her character until about halfway through the series. This feels like how he would have written her if he was rewriting the story from the beginning, knowing who Tulip would eventually turn into.
The investigators are the angels who awaken the Saint of Killers, right? The guy who ate the teabag looks like he was cast entirely because he looks like a Steven Dillion character brought to life. (and what was up with that musical sting when he ate the teabag? Yeah, it’s weird, but the music was acting like we’d just found out Norman Bates’ mom was a skeleton.)
I think they’ve cost themselves a great surprise reveal by not having Cassidy always wear sunglasses. But, I’ve heard actors say that it’s really hard to connect with an audience if they can’t see your eyes. That said, I really like him, incomprehensible accent and all. Not sure how I feel about him having mysterious connections.
If the series finale isn’t Jesse and Cassidy having a pre-dawn fistfight, I’m going to be very disappointed.
Overall reaction: I want episode two NOW!
My biggest point of confusion is that Jesse wants to stay put in Annville. The comics were basically a huge road trip story in which they were constantly on the move. This is baffling to me and I’m not sure I like it.
If you are producing it, having as little locations as possible, and not having to change supporting actors constantly makes it cost efficient.
Now, I don’t know what they will do, but there’s a reason why most TV shows are usually set in one location.
Sam Catlin (the showrunner) addressed the location worries in a recent interview, saying that he absolutely thinks of the show as being a road trip story. I think the central location for the first season comes from, if not in equal parts, budgetary concerns for an untested series and the need to lay the groundwork for what’s coming.
Should the series get picked up for a second season, I’d expect them to branch out.
I can see why that is done from a practical perspective, but my concern is that it will not be true to the comic or make for good storytelling. The Walking Dead did the exact same thing… They stretched an otherwise minor incident at the farm into an entire season due to budget constraints, and (more importantly) it was widely derided as one of TWD’s weakest seasons. Hopefully AMC learned the lesson and will offer up improved scripts, and the show will be successful enough for the cast to hit the road.
I doubt it will be all that true to the comic anyway. That whole thing in the Vatican- yeah, no way any network is going there.
If there’s a bunch of seasons it will eventually become it’s own thing, with its own plotlines and characters.
That was some Whack-Ass shit.
Never heard of the comic.
This is my biggest concern. There is just so much material in the comic that I cannot imagine anyone allowing on television, outside of (possibly) HBO.
SimFamily enjoyed it - SimWife especially so.
Any show that can blow up preachers AND Tom Cruise gets my vote anway.
After the first 10 minutes, I called it ‘Fargo:West Texas chronicles’ and I hope it keeps up the way it started - good good stuff.
Doc already did. Went about as well as you’d expect.
Good.
I watched the pilot last night as a recording. I was slightly dumbfounded. I had never heard of or read the comic so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. I didn’t understand a lot of what was going on, and none of what Cassidy(?) said or did, but I found an excellent article on Wikipedia detailing the background and all of the characters. I was mostly mystified by Arseface, but now not so much (my theory, before that, had to do with a blow job that, somehow, backfired).
Long story short, I will definitely watch, at least, one more episode and hope that I understand what’s happening.
Bob
Kinda “this.”
I did some research years ago, via Wikipedia, for what that’s worth. I’m not sure what I expected, but I was a little underwhelmed.
I really want to like it more, and I’m gonna give it a few more episodes, but I’m going to need a hook.
Wow. I had never heard of the comic and when I watched this premier I was extremely confused. I was thinking “what the hell is going on?” Why didn’t Preacher blow up like the others? Who is this invulnerable Irish dude?** Who are the guys investigating the blown-up preachers all over the world? What the heck happened to the kid with the deformed face?
I had read somewhere that this show had a heavy dose of comedy alongside the carnage. Is that really the case, or did I misunderstand? The Tulip character did seem to provide some comic (no pun intended) relief.
Thanks to all who responded to Mahaloth’s post. It helps. A little. It all still makes no sense to me. Assuming I continue to watch, I hope they provide an explanation that is more than hand-waving.
Ahhh. That’s where I’ve seen him before. I could not place him for the life of me.
** Speaking of the invulnerable (immortal?) Irish dude, some posts have referred to him as a Demon and some have referred to him as a Vampire. Are these references just for convenience? Or from comic book knowledge? You can spoil me, I don’t care.
In the comic, Cassidy is a vampire. An Irish fella who was attacked by a vampire many years back, and has been travelling around since then- mostly surviving on the blood of petty criminals.
This remains unknown. The exploding clerics are unique to the show, so we will have to watch and see.
Cassidy is a vampire. Some viewers might just be making the assumption that he is a demon, since the episode doesn’t actually say what he is and he is not depicted with vampire fangs.
They are called “The Grail,” and represent a secret society that has guarded the bloodline of Jesus for millennia (with hilarious results). The gentleman we see chewing a teabag whole (symbolism!) is Herr Starr, their number one sociopathic asskicker.
Arseface is the result of a botched suicide attempt.
The show, like the comics, has an extremely black sense of humor. It’s kind of intended for people who think over-the-top ultraviolence is funny. For example, the part where Cassidy embeds a wine bottle in a guy’s chest and then uses it as a funnel to pour blood. There is a certain segment of the audience that finds stuff like that funny. It’s a recurring theme in Ennis’ work, and you see it pop up in other comics like his early-2000’s *Punisher *series. Likewise, Arseface is intended to be a tragicomic character, like a kind of mutilated Kenny.
I was rereading Gone to Texas yesterday. I had forgotten just how bleak the introduction of Arseface was. Made me choke up a little.
Which I thought was damn hilarious.
Will this be explained? I’m pretty much in the same boat as urban1a. Came into this now knowing it was an adaptation, don’t know a thing about the source material, but hoping I can make heads or tails of it soon.
A lot of stuff probably will be explained, but not everything. Some stuff is just going to be weird because this is a weird world. Hopefully that’s fun to watch. Also while it’s an adaptation, it’s a pretty loose “in the spirit of” adaptation. So far not much has happened in the show that directly corresponds to the comic. It just has overlapping characters.
