"See" is the second episode of the supernatural drama television series, Preacher, which originally aired on AMC in the United States on June 5, 2016. The episode was written by series showrunner Sam Catlin, and directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.
The episode "See" introduces Graham McTavish and Jackie Earle Haley as the Cowboy and Odin Quincannon, respectively. Jesse (Dominic Cooper) begins struggling with God's silence. Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) opens up to Jesse about his true identity. Government agents Fiore (Tom Brooke) and DeBlanc (Anatol Yusef) sneak into the church for Jesse but Cassidy arrives in time to slaughter the duo. Tulip (Ruth Negga) once again attempts her campaign to recruit Jesse to the dark side. Later, Jesse discovers his new abilities, using them to silence barking dogs and to remove the memory of "the Girl" from the mind of a dangerous pedophile. The episode ends with Jesse using his power to try to revive a girl in a coma.
"See" received praise from critics who noted the outstanding visuals, wonderfully demented set pieces, the fight between Cassidy, Fiore and DeBlanc, and great character moments that provides the series with a thematic throughline beneath the blood and carnage. The episode garnered a Nielsen rating of 0.8 in the 18–49 demographic, translating to 2.08 million viewers.
Plot
Prologue, in Texas In 1881, a cowboy (Graham McTavish) leaves his home, searching for medicine for his sick daughter. Along the way, he encounters some travelers from St. Louis, who believe the American frontier was a paradise. The patriarch of the family asks "Do you agree," to the cowboy, "That this is paradise?" The mystery cowboy turns toward his host: "It ain't." The next day, he rides past a hanging tree, dead Native Americans hanging scalped from the branches. He rides his horse straight into Ratwater.
Present In the present day, Jesse (Dominic Cooper) baptizes his congregants, with DeBlanc (Anatol Yusef) and Fiore (Tom Brooke) watching from a distance. Tulip (Ruth Negga) asks for her sins to be washed away and is begrudgingly baptized by Jesse. Tulip, once again, asks Jesse for help with that "job". After the baptisms, the congregants head into the church. Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) asks Emily (Lucy Griffiths) for an advance for "fixing" the air conditioner, which she denies him. Soon after, Emily tells Jesse that Cassidy drank a cask of Communion wine and tells him to drop by and visit Tracy Loach (Gianna Lepera). As the Roots are leaving, a parishioner yells out, "Murderer!". Sheriff Hugo Root (W. Earl Brown) confronts them, but his son tells him to let it go. Meanwhile, Linus (Ptolemy Slocum) confesses to Jesse that he has urges to "do stuff" to a girl he drives on his school bus. Jesse tells Linus that though his urges are wrong, he has not acted upon them and shouldn't. Jesse finishes by telling Linus that he must stop sinning.
Odin Quincannon (Jackie Earle Haley) and his employees arrive at an unnamed couple's home. Odin purchases their land and immediately has his men tear their house down. As Quincannon's men leave, Donnie Schenck (Derek Wilson) breaks Clive's nose against the steering wheel for usurping his position as Quincannon's right-hand man during the visit to the couple's home.
Jesse and Emily solicit suggestions at a local grocery store. During this time, Jesse watches as Linus drives by in his school bus. When Jesse returns to his truck, he finds his steering wheel is missing. Tulip then drives by and mocks Jesse for choosing a dull life. Jesse eventually makes his way back to his church, where he's greeted by Cassidy. Jesse learns from Cassidy that the latter is a vampire. When Cassidy takes a sip from his flask, Jesse asks what it is, and Cassidy states that it is too potent for a human, listing its improbable ingredients. Doubting that Cassidy is a vampire and the potency of the drink, Jesse drains the flask and passes out instantly.
At a hotel, DeBlanc and Fiore leave with a large trunk. During this time, Cassidy takes a cruise in Jesse's truck. DeBlanc and Fiore arrive at All Saints Congregational church, standing over Jesse. The two attempt a mysterious ritual to remove the Genesis with a lullaby, but fail. The two then attempt to release Genesis, revving up a chainsaw to cut Jesse open. Before the two can dismember Jesse, Cassidy returns and calls them out, believing they are vampire-hunters searching for him. Cassidy is shot by DeBlanc, bites into DeBlanc's leg and in the ensuing struggle, bludgeons DeBlanc to death with a large bible. Cassidy then fights Fiore for the chainsaw managing to cut off Fiore's right arm, using Fiore's chainsaw wielding left arm. The chainsaw, with Fiore's right arm still attached, proceeds to move toward an unconscious Jesse, but Cassidy manages to stop it in time.
Meanwhile, at Toadvine Whorehouse, Tulip beats a group of Quincannon Meat & Power employees in a game of poker. After defeating the men, she receives a call from a man called "Danny", telling him she will see him soon. Back at All Saints Congregational, Cassidy cleans up the blood and has DeBlanc and Fiore stuffed in their large trunk. As Cassidy brings them outside to bury them, he's upset as the sun had already risen.
Jesse wakes up shortly after, and Emily brings him a casserole to deliver to Terri Loach when he visits Terri (Bonita Friedericy) and her comatose daughter. As he tries to comfort Terri, she tells Jesse that his words can't heal Tracy. Upon leaving the Loach residence, Jesse sees Linus drive by again. Later while driving at night, Jesse stops to investigate a car seat in the middle of the road, and is stealthily tasered. He awakens to find himself bound in chains, in a room at Toadvine. Soon after, Tulip, revealing herself as Jesse's captor, tells him she won't take the job without him and that she'll keep nagging him until he agrees. Tulip then tells Jesse he will eventually revert to his old ways. When Jesse asks to be released, Tulip comments that there is nothing keeping him there.
Jesse returns to his church to cut the chains off with a saw. He's interrupted by a guilt-ridden Eugene (Ian Colletti), asking to be baptized again. However, Jesse tells him it is too late. Eugene believes that no matter how hard he tries, he will always be the same. Inspired by Eugene's words, Jesse goes to Linus' home, enters uninvited and searches for Linus. Finding him in the bathroom, Jesse confronts Linus quietly, preparing the tub as a baptismal and neatly hanging up his jacket and rolling up his sleeve. All the while, Linus rants penitently. Using the Word of God while "baptizing" Linus again, Jesse commands Linus to "Forget the Girl." Linus' memory of the girl is wiped clean and he's seemingly left confused as to why Jesse's there in the first place.
Cassidy buries the trunk of body parts on a hilltop that features the same tree seen outside of Ratwater in the flashback. The next day, however, the mystery men are back in their motel room being interrogated by Sheriff Root. When asked by the Sheriff who they are, they merely answer, "We're from the Government".
The following day, after witnessing his new powers in action, Jesse visits the Loach residence and tells Tracy that he's going to try something new and tells her to open her eyes.
Production
Writing
"See" was written by the series showrunner Sam Catlin. Some elements in the episode are based on the first seven issues in the Preacher series, Gone to Texas, as well as Ancient History, of which the script was first read and reviewed by Preacher co-creator Garth Ennis, as with the other episodes of the series. The elements adapt, or at least provides allusions to The Saint of Killers from Preacher Special: Saint of Killers, in the form of an opening flashback sequence.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Catlin acknowledges that it was only a question of when and how the Saint would appear in the series. He describes the Saint "[setting] up an interesting dilemma", as the first season of Preacher is built around the town of Annville. Caitlin remarks that, "The Saint is unstoppable. It works in the comic because Jesse's on the move, but in this, he's not. He's easily found. We didn't want to put off the Saint of Killers, so we felt this was an opportunity to introduce him and have him be in the world and be a character, and in its own way, tell the audience that he's coming and he's connected to everything that's happening and he's connected to the town."
Catlin also spoke of Ennis allowing his team and he to construct the standalone chapters involving the Cowboy, while noting that the end of season one would center on the connection between the Cowboy and Jesse, with Catlin concluding, "The story of the cowboy will continue to be told over the first season. Then, by the end of the first season, you'll realize why he has everything in the world to do with Jesse." Ennis spoke about his feelings of seeing this character come alive on screen: "That was great. That's where I thought, 'Holy f—ing shit, it's a Western.' That goes back to the very beginning, to me being three or four and watching Westerns with my grandfather. It was stunning."
Joseph Gilgun, who has portrays Cassidy, spoke with AMC about Catlin's reference to The Big Lebowski (1998) in "See", with Gilgun expressing, "The first time [Catlin] wrote that, I was furious because I adore The Big Lebowski. I love the Dude and I'd do anything to be him. The story is a fantastic one and we both love the Coen Brothers. He knows that I love The Big Lebowski and he tried to wind me up when he wrote that line."
Casting
The episode saw the addition of several new actors to the cast such as Jackie Earle Haley. Earle Haley was cast in the role of Odin Quincannon, whom had previously been referenced in the pilot of the series, and had been described as "[...] a small, decrepit man with the unscrupulous iron will necessary to be the most powerful man in Annville County, Texas. The chief employer in town, Odin runs Quincannon Meat & Power, a 125-year-old family-operated slaughterhouse business." Actor Graham McTavish, known for appearing in The Hobbit Trilogy, was cast as the Cowboy.
Actress Bonita Friedericy, known for her role as Diane Beckman in Chuck, was cast as Terri Loach, with Gianna LePera playing daughter Tracy Loach. "See" shows the introduction of Ptolemy Slocum appearing as Linus, a sick man with an unhealthy interest in a little girl he sees every day in his school bus. The episode also marks the second appearance of the Canadian actor Ricky Mabe as Miles Person.
Derek Wilson was promoted to series regular, with the decision to elevate the role to regular from recurring being made after the pilot was shot.
Filming
"See" was directed by series creators Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Rogen and Goldberg also directed the previous episode for Preacher, "Pilot", their directorial debut for the series. Prior to directing for the series, Rogen and Goldberg's directorial filmography included; This Is the End (2013) and The Interview (2014). Shortly after the airing of "See", AMC released a featurette titled "Making Of Preacher: See" which went into greater detail about the creation of the episode, while going behind the scenes of the church chainsaw fight between Cassidy, Fiore and DeBlanc. The episode title is an allusion to the last scene of the episode.