I’m in but I’m not sure I’m all in.
I judge the first three episodes intriguing enough to want to see more, but AMC’s “Preacher,” based on the 1990s DC/Vertigo comic books, is agreeably strange and (less agreeably) uneven.
I’m particularly interested to see what the Jackie Earl Haley businessman character is up to; I hope it’s worth the wait. On the other hand there’s a character named Arseface who hurts my eyes every time he’s onscreen.
The pilot shows how the title character, an ex-criminal and small-town Texas minister (a post in inherited from his late father), inherited also his ability to make anyone do whatever he tells them to do. The same pilot, which also introduces an Irish vampire (shades of The WB's “Angel”!) and the Preacher’s crazy ex-girlfriend, was produced and co-directed by Seth Rogen (“This Is The End,” “The Interview”) from a teleplay by Sam Catlin, who wrote 10 episodes of “Breaking Bad” between 2009 and 2013.
The first three episodes of “Preacher” are not as good as the first three episodes of “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad,” “The Walking Dead,” “The Killing,” “Humans” or “Better Call Saul.” But they are better than the first three episodes of “Fear The Walking Dead,” “Hell On Wheels,” “Low Winter Sun,” “Rubicon,” “Badlands,” the 2009 version of “Prisoner” and “Turn.” If that’s any metric.
… as someone who owns every issue (along with the various spin-off titles), often in multiple formats, I enjoyed the hell out of the first four episodes. The story may deviate wildly at times, there may be new and/or revamped characters, and the show isn't always graceful as it ambles from one tone or genre to the next. But more often than not, it gave me the same giddy sensation …
... doesn’t have great depth but makes up for it with volume. … packs apocalypse, horror, religion, dirty realism and dime-store westerns into its glass jar, then sets the whole bloody mixture on purée. …
... It's too much to say that you can't go wrong with the fantastical or supernatural these days, but it's still a bet very much worth taking, and one that largely pays off here. …
... “Preacher,” which feels very much like a story concocted while passing around a bong in a dorm room, has no problem acing its science-fiction and film-appreciation classes, but it struggles with philosophy and theology — the serious side of its tale. …
The San Francisco Chronicle says:
... The point is, it works. …
... It’s the kind of in-your-face, blackly comic, and gruesome show that will either make you laugh out loud as it wildly cycles through its many genres, or make you dismiss it as over-baked supernatural bombast. …
... Given the wobbly tone, straddling camp and extreme action, it's hard to tell where this mayhem is headed. …
... Preacher is not for everyone, nor is it trying to be. But it will almost certainly work for some viewers, and it seems to have a good idea of who those viewers are and what they want. …
... Through four episodes, count me mostly in the positive column for Preacher, which is uneven, pulpy, profane and occasionally nonsensical, but also reeks of high ambition, a challenging moral worldview, richly visual storytelling and frequent audacity. …
... What’s certain is that “Preacher’s” pilot leaves no space for middle-of-the-road sentiment; you’re either all in or you’re not. That also means Rogen and Goldberg succeeded in realizing what was heretofore considered to be an impossible project — and they’ve done so with amazing panache. …
10 p.m. Sunday. AMC.
