Tulip’s secret is out on Preacher and Jesse’s not taking the news well. What went down between them after they lost the baby? Here’s our recap of “Dallas”!
Last week on Preacher, we found out Tulip’s big secret…
She’s married to Viktor.
I wasn’t prepared for that info drop and neither was Jesse, as can be seen from his reaction during the opening of this episode. Despite Tulip’s protestations:
“I was never in love with him. I came here to get a divorce.”
Jesse drags Viktor to the torture room with Tulip trailing the whole way, telling him to stop. Jesse doesn’t listen and soon, Viktor is strung up from the ceiling. Tulip keeps telling him that he can’t do that, and he uses Genesis again.
“Get out.”
Tulip fights against Genesis, but he continues to push her out of the room with his powers.
“Remember Dallas, Jesse? I don’t want to do that again!”
Eventually she’s pushed from the room entirely and the door shut behind her.
This is probably the fifth or sixth time he’s used Genesis since finding out about where Tulip went and he’s used it a few more times since getting to NOLA. It’s safe to say that the Saint of Killers is most definitely in the know of Jesse’s exact location.
For a majority of the episode, we see what happened in Dallas through flashbacks. The events start three months after the botched robbery and when Tulip lost her and Jesse’s baby.
We see that Tulip has managed to get a job at a realty office and Jesse is bartending. They have a nice apartment and Jessie has a friend, Reggie, that just won’t freaking leave.
Tulip invites their ex-boss, Dany over for dinner one evening, and Tulip tries to makes it seem like things are going well, but Dany pulls out her briefcase and lists off some assignments that have come up.
Jesse tells her that they don’t do that any more, but she doesn’t believe him.
“People change.”
“What? No, they don’t.”
After Dany leaves, Jesse and Tulip clean up and do the dishes. That’s when Tulip asks if he’s ready.
They’re in the bathroom and waiting to see the results of a pregnancy test.
It’s negative, and the tension between them in obviously strained. They have sex, but it seems more like a means to an end than actually enjoying being together.
Tulip asks him:
“‘Til the end of the world, right?”
“‘Til the end of the world.”
Their relationship continues on like this. Tulip works. Jesse drinks. Emotionless sex to try and achieve another pregnancy. Pregnancy test. Negative. Repeat.
One night before looking at the results, Jesse gets down on his knees in front of Tulip and prays.
“God, we’re in no position to ask any favors, still, we’re asking. Please, in Jesus name we pray, amen.”
It’s a negative result again, and the next Sunday finds Tulip and Jesse sitting in church. Jesse is in a time of ultimate helplessness, and he finds himself turning to God.
Things seem to continue in a similar fashion until one day the smoke alarm goes off (because he and Reggie are smoking weed that they rolled from pages of the Bible), and Jesse sees something sticking out of the air conditioner vent.
When Tulip comes home, he starts asking her about her day. How many houses did she help sell? She picks up on his odd behavior right away and just stares at him.
“Yeah, I found your shit.”
It turns out she’s been working for Dany for weeks, and she likes doing it.
“Until Carlos, we had fun.”
She tells him that she was hurt by what happened, too, and Jesse lashes out at her, showing her birth control pills she’s been secretly taking. The life that Jesse is wanting feels wrong to Tulip and she tells him so.
“I’m an O’Hare, Jesse. I don’t know how to do it!”
“Maybe you’re right, or maybe you don’t deserve it.”
That’s a low blow and Tulip unloads on him
“But a Custer does, right? Is that what you’re trying to do here? Be a Custer again. Like having a crap job and a crap life gives you the forgiveness you need for what you done? Make you one of the good guys? Huh? Like your stuck-up daddy and your stupid John Wayne? Well, I got some bad news for you, Jesse Custer, you ain’t ever gonna be forgiven.”
Jesse is pissed off and won’t touch Tulip, so he beats the crap out of Reggie who has been steadily trying to leave the apartment since the argument began.
Over the next few days, they seem to create a routine. One where Tulip goes to work without lying and Jesse watches Bob Ross painting shows.
As she’s leaving one day, Jesse brings up Annville and his father’s church and how it’s still in his name.
“I’m going back to Annville. I’m going to be a preacher.”
“Good luck with that.”
That’s how Jesse and Tulip’s relationship ends. There doesn’t seem to be any closure at all, so I can only imagine the full extent of the awkwardness when she returned to Annville last season.
We find out in another flashback, this time Tulip is with Viktor. Obviously some time has passed and she is now married to him and they’re playing monopoly in his bedroom. Tulip is kicking ass and he’s just so nice to her.
“I married a hard woman. I love her anyway.”
“Thank you.”
You can tell that Tulip feels uncomfortable with the declaration and that Viktor knows she won’t respond to it. It’s sad, but Viktor’s the type of guy who knows what he’s gotten himself into with her.
He leaves the room to go check on something and Tulip’s phone rings.
It’s Dany, and Tulip tells her that she’s not taking jobs anymore. Then Tulip gets quiet and we realize that Dany has found Carlos. Tulip hangs up and grabs her things and runs.
During the present, we see Jesse wrestles with his decision to kill or not kill Viktor. He has all the tools to do the job, but something it stopping him. It’s certainly not Viktor’s mouth that seems to run without thinking.
After Tulip is forced to leave, she takes Allie to Dennis’ and they are greeted by Cassidy.
“Her boyfriend’s killing my dad.”
Tulip tries to make Allie feel at home by offering her cereal and she snidely asks if she knows what’s in that stuff. Cassidy looks for other food, sensing there’s a real issue here.
Before long, they send her to watch T.V. with Dennis so they can talk privately.
Tulip punches Cassidy for him telling Jesse where she was and breaking her promise, and she finally addresses all the stares Cassidy has been sending her way…sort of.
“I’m not blind, Cassidy. I know what you want.”
“What? What in the shit is that supposed to mean? I want what?”
“Forget it.”
“You’re me friend, Tulip. You both are.”
After this, Cassidy asks why she married Viktor but Tulip side-steps the questions. Eventually, Cassidy leaves, telling Tulip that he’s going to stop Jesse.
Back at Viktor’s, Jesse is messing with the foosball pole and Viktor tells him that he knew Tulip has been through something before she came to him…and it turns out that Hell was Jesse.
****
Cassidy makes him way into Viktor’s home, laughing as he pushes over a guy still under Genesis’ control. He finds Jesse back in the bedroom, staring at Tulip’s wedding photo, and sits on the bed. He compliments the sheets and casually mentions that he was rich once.
Then Cassidy dispenses his wisdom to Jesse:
“She doesn’t love him and she never did. She loves you. Trust me, if it’s one thing I know, it’s that.”
Afterward, Jesse asks why he should even trust Cassidy…
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Well, then maybe you should remind me, huh?”
“I asked you why should I trust you. Why should I trust a lying, junkie vampire who thinks everything’s a joke? Why in the world would anyone trust you?”
After Cassidy’s speech, which is filled with subtle nods to his own jealousy when it comes to Jesse and Tulip, Jesse simple says:
“She’d leave me.”
“No more Jesse Custer and Tulip? Somethings never change.”
After Cassidy leaves and places some serious thoughts into Jesse’s head, Jesse goes back to Viktor.
Viktor tells Jesse that Tulip married him because:
“You’re an asshole, asshole. I was nice to her.”
Jesse picks up and axe and Viktor is telling him to just get it over with. He swings the ax and it immediately cuts to Dennis’ house.
Cassidy tells Tulip the exact opposite of what he told Jesse (side-eying you Cassidy), and then Jesse walks in. He grabs a beer.
“What’d you do to him.”
“I took him down.”
That needs some clarification, but Allie comes out and Jesse asks who she is. Tulip again asks what Jesse did to Viktor and he tells her that he cut him down and that he let Viktor go.
Tulip and Jesse kiss and in the background, Cassidy mumbles, “Thank God.”
While they’re still embraced, Jesse says:
“I’m so bad for you.”
“We’re bad for each other.”
At least they recognize that their relationship isn’t the healthiest right now.
*****
Later that night, Allie is back with her dad. She can’t sleep so she goes to his room where he pulls a gun on her, thinking she’s someone else. Allie asks if he’ll read to her, so she sits in the chair beside him and he begins reading about the stock market.
Downstairs a lot of commotion breaks out and gunfire ensues. Viktor hustles off Allie to the closet and tells her not to move.
The Saint of Killers comes in and points his gun at Viktor.
“Preacher?”
“What?”
He shoots and kills Viktor then goes to the closet. Allie is curled up in a ball and he points his guns at her.
“The Preacher? I know where he is.”
This stops the Saint of Killers from pulling the trigger, and also puts Jesse, Tulip, Cassidy, and Dennis in a bit of a situation.
****
Next week on Preacher, it looks like we’ll be dealing with the fallout from the Saint of Killers appearance at Viktor’s home and what that means for Jesse and the others.
Take a look at the clips and still below for “Sokosha”!
Preacher airs Mondays at 9/8c on AMC! Be sure to live tweet with us @WeSoNerdy!
