Preacher season 1 finale blows the scope wide open

Spoilers for those who are yet to watch the final episode

*Spoilers for those who are yet to watch the season 1 finale*

Preacher has been the year's easiest TV series to watch; quite unexpected considering its deadpan penchant for shotgun wounds, deadly massacres and c-words.

While wedged firmly in the modern day (Big Lebowski and Bieber references abound), the series is set in a dimension where Irish vampires, cockney angels and an all-powerful religious entity called Genesis are common practice.

Set in Annville, Texas, the series follows preacher Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper) who - after the aforementioned Genesis enters his soul - sets in motion a series of events culminating in the town's literal destruction.

That's right; by season's end, the slate is wiped clean and a handful of characters remain. Custer's no-nonsense church organist, Emily (Lucy Griffiths)? Gone. The town's deranged chief employer, Odin Quincannon (Jackie Earle Haley)? See ya. Quincannon's right-hand man (Derek Wilson)? To dust. Preacher quite clearly has no time for expendables when it's busy shedding skin.

After a season of unpredictably wacky moments, an occurrence towards the finale's end steals the biscuit: using an angel's handprint, Jesse summons God by 'calling' heaven in front of his congregation. A light blasts as a spectral presence appears before them (on a live video link, no less): a booming-voiced God.

A bizarre interaction then follows - think The World's End's infamous "Get in your rocket and go back to Legoland" scene - with many civilians asking him questions about their lives. Jesse notices something's afoot, however, and realises this man is an imposter. "Where is God?" he demands the figure to answer. "Where is God?!"

"...I don't know," he quivers. "None of us do. He's missing - God is missing!" A few disillusioned suicides and a methane explosion later and the entire community - save for five - are dead

Based upon Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's graphic novel, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Sam Catlin have introduced the source material's characters and main setting (detailed to the viewer using white, bold and - often ironic - intertitles) only to unconventionally dispatch of them after a single season. Annville has served as the conduit for the viewer, introducing them to the show's supernatural entities as well as the characters we'll go on to encounter these with, only elsewhere. Season 1 was merely the precursor to whatever's next.

So, who makes it out of the season alive? There's Adelphi angel Fiore (Tom Brooke) and Eugene "Arseface" Root (Ian Colletti) who's currently residing in Hell. Then there's Saint of Killers (Graham McTavish), the malevolent killing machine whose vignette - seemingly separate from the remainder of the series - leads him directly in the path towards Preacher.

But, for the meantime, it's Custer (Dominic Cooper), ex-girlfriend Tulip O'Hare (Ruth Negga) and Irish vampire Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) who we're riding with.

Their final scene sees them get into a car, sitting silently - shades on - as they prepare to drive off down the dusty Texan highway. Rolling Stones track "Let It Bleed" plays. The camera lingers on them, capturing the moment's coolness when Cassidy's face contorts in confusion: "What are waiting on?" he queries, as anybody in real life would. It's this placement of relatable character ticks in a world so far removed from our own that makes the prospect of a realigned second season an exciting prospect.

As Tulip puts the pedal to the metal, the viewer finds themselves in that same car, ready to be taken on another journey somewhere else in the Preacher universe. Where are we going? Who will we meet? What will we find? All questions we wouldn't like to guess - even if we could.

The first season of Preacher is available to watch on Amazon Prime