HOLLYWOOD—Episode five of “Preacher” was mostly a filler episode, but I have a feeling ‘South Will Rise Again’ will lead to some good action and drama in the upcoming episodes. We have now reached the halfway point in the season, and we begin again in the past.

The older man from the Wild West days has entered the town of Ratwater looking for medicine for his sick daughter. The town entrance is adorned by a tree decorated with hanging bodies and the rest of the town seems just as pleasant.

The man gets stuck there for a day and in the town saloon he witnesses Native American scalps being sold and a group of men abusing a woman as they make her young son watch. It goes downhill from here as he thinks he is rescuing a family, but ends up getting beaten up. The town preacher knows him from Gettysburg, so he shoots the man’s horse in the head. Lastly, he finally arrives back home with the medicine to find crows pecking at the dead bodies of his wife and daughter.

Now that we have finished that cheerful introduction, we go back to present day at the Sheriff’s house. His house has been vandalized inside Eugene’s room where the vandal left a shotgun and spray painted a sign telling Eugene to “finish the job.”

On a better note, after making Quincannon believe in God at the end of last week’s episode, Jesse is now the most popular person in town. Emily is nervous about Jesse’s new happy attitude, and Jesse begins using his powers frivolously with all the local townspeople.

Tulip is made aware of the fact that Cassidy is a vampire. Apparently the only vampire rumors that are true is that sunlight will burn him and drinking blood only helps him heal. Cassidy has fallen hard for Tulip, and is not afraid to show it.

Tulip tries to convince him that she has a boyfriend she is waiting for (Jesse), but Cassidy starts to unknowingly make her realize that Jesse has changed. She pays Emily a visit while Emily is home alone to ask where Jesse is.

Fiore and DeBlanc, the angels from heaven, are in the hotel room rehearsing the speech they will make once they answer their special ringing phone. Back at the Sheriff’s house he tells Eugene he can be helpful by getting the gun and finishing the job in a fit of rage.

Quincannon has turned a new leaf and is cheerfully speaking to Mayor Miles about setting up a meeting with the Green Acre Group. Donnie, who has come back to work after moping in bed, is shocked to see Quincannon acting like a good guy.

As Jesse continues to hang out at a local restaurant and use his power on any townspeople who come by, Tulip stops by to interrupt. Turns out that Tulip and Jesse had been an item and that once upon a time Jesse had shot a komodo dragon because a guy had been checking Tulip out.

Jesse tells her and the group around them that he has done worse, but he has changed now and she could be good to if she wanted. It has now hit her that maybe Jesse isn’t the guy he once was.

Eugene also pays Jesse a visit to have Jesse pray with his dad, the sheriff. Instead, Jesse takes him to the Loach’s house where Mrs. Loach proceeds to bash his truck windows with a bat when she finds out Eugene is in the car. It seems that Eugene has some sort of connection to her daughter that is in a coma and she believes Eugene is a murderer.

Donnie breaks down and tells his wife everything that has happened between himself and Jesse. He also says he believes Jesse has a power, which I can see this turning into a problem for Jesse.

Tulip robs a drug store to get pills for Cassidy and has sex with him. I am not quite sure how much of her reasoning is spite towards Jesse or the attractiveness of Cassidy being a legitimate bad boy.

Just as Fiore and DeBlanc go to answer the special phone with their rehearsed speech it stops ringing. The sheriff brings them down to the restaurant to meet Jesse. They tell Jesse everything and break the news that it is not God inside Jesse. So what is it?

We end this week’s episode in a surprisingly gory fashion. Quincannon and Miles have invited the Green Acres Group over for a meeting and Quincannon proceeds to kill them all with a shotgun in front of Miles. What the heck just happened!

Well, until next week, I will leave you with some Quincannon wisdom, “We grow or we die.”