So, vampires exist, angels and demons are making secret love children, and God appears to have gone on some kind of Western walkabout on Preacher. Jesse Custer and his crew are also being hunted by a man out of time who seems hell bent on brutally slaughtering everyone in his path. Why is the cowboy hunting Jesse on Preacher? Also known as the "Saint of Killers," this bounty hunter is hot on the un-holy trio's heels.
The simple answer is because Jesse has Genesis inside him and refuses to give it up. That's why anyone wants anything to do with him in this world, really. With great power comes big men wielding big guns. The cowboy character (Graham McTavish) appeared first in Season 1, mostly in what appeared to be flashbacks. Stuck in Hell, he was forced to relive the death of his family, and the subsequent revenge he took on a town and preacher that wronged him. DeBlance and Fiore, two bumbling agents from Heaven, find him there and hire him to find Jesse for them so he can be set free from his own personal torment. He's essentially a mercenary.
A title card in the Season 2 premiere refers to him as the "Saint of Killers." In the comics, that character is a former Confederate solider who went to Hell and was sent back to Earth to fulfill some of the duties of the Angel of Death, who is experiencing some less than stellar job satisfaction. The Saint never misses a shot, per gifts given to him for this new gig. Similar to the show, the Angels task him with finding Jesse and killing him before his newfound power gets out of hand.
What's most interesting to me in the new episode is that Mike knows who he is. What else does Mike know about this world? Plus, the Saint can resist Genesis' hold on both himself and others. He has some ability to compel those who have been glamoured, or Genesised, by Jesse.
At the end of the Season 2 premiere, Jesse and the Saint meet face to face — and Jesse learns pretty quick that his Genesis powers don't work on him. That's not an ideal situation. However, it's not time for a final confrontation yet, so I'm interested in what happens next between these two. Neither is what one might call a hero, so it could get interesting.
Maybe they'll reach some kind of mutual respect. Maybe they'll even team up. The angels don't know yet that Jesse is looking for God, and making good progress already. Shouldn't they welcome his help? Unless they don't actually want God back in Heaven, the mission definitely benefits their interest as well. If that's the case, Preacher just got a whole lot more complicated.
