We're now five episodes into its first season and the results so far have been... disappointing.
The Preacher comic book has been one of my touchstones ever since I first read it. Every few years I go back to read it again, start to finish, and every time I do, I am as entertained and impressed with it as I was that first time.
Over the years there have been many attempts to adapt the story to either film of television, and when each one eventually came to nothing, I was neither saddened nor surprised. For anyone who's read it, the difficulties in trying to adapt it are obvious: Preacher is one of the most 'out there' stories you'll likely ever read. It is violent, it it is vulgar, it is grotesque, and, yes, it is blasphemous - and I say that as an atheist! But not only it is it all those things, it is all those to excess. The idea of being able to adapt it without watering it down, maybe even losing some elements altogether, was always faintly ludicrous.
Now here we are in 2016, there is a TV adaptation airing as we speak, and I don't think I could have imagined that Preacher, of all things, could have been turned into such a dull show.
Superficially, many of the recognisable elements of the comic book have survived the transition from page to screen, but somewhere along the way the vibrancy, the energy, the sheer propulsive nature of the comic book has been lost.
After 5 episodes of some of the most turgidly-paced TV I've ever sat through, it really feels as though nothing whatsoever has happened! Now, of course, that's not literally true, but for a show to already feel like it's spinning its wheels after just five episodes is surely not a good sign.
The comic book is basically a road movie. Our protagonists are chasing something, others are chasing them. And whilst there are certainly calm moments, detours off the main story, from its very issue Preacher is always going somewhere. It is always moving. The TV show is the exact opposite.
It was never going to be case of 'one issue = one episode,' I understand that. Just as I understand that five episodes into season one is perhaps too early to judge a show too harshly. But at the very least, I thought the first issue of the comic book was a perfect template for a first episode. Instead, it feels as though the story of that first issue is being stretched, so far beyond breaking point, over the entire first season?
Why the characters still in Annville? Why is Arseface being featured so much so early? Ditto Kilcannon? Why are Tulip and Cassidy hooking up now instead of much later when the tragedy of it is more pronounced? I could go on.
Changes were inevitable. I get that. But the changes I've seen so far do not fill me with the warm and fuzzies. Not only do the changes feel unnecessary, but it seems they might be sacrificing key things from later in the story in order to pad out an earlier section that was simply never meant to drag on this long. Even the Saint of Killers flashbacks - by some distance, the best things about the show so far - made a seemingly unnecessary change to the story in the fifth episode that served only to make the Saint look like a complete numpty.
Maybe the reason for these changes will become clear as the season continues. I really hope so. But for right now my confidence is not high.
One last thing before I end my insane ramblings. I need to reiterate just how badly misjudged the pacing has been on this show so far. I think it's fixable, but right now it's the main reason I'm struggling to justify carrying on watching. The pace needs to pick and it needs to pick up now. There is no good reason for the show to have taken this long to have accomplished so little of consequence.
The first season of any TV show is tricky, so hopefully things will improve. Because at the moment the show just doesn't feel like Preacher.
