TV Month - Constantine episodes 2-3 review - The Darkness Beneath/The Devil's Vinyl

Episode 2 – The darkness beneath

So Liv is swept under the rug without so much as a bye or leave, fine, this series has a very different kind of partner in Zed, a character with visions, some kind of psychic link to Constantine possibly, and is a very good artist. If you watched that episode of Doctor Who a couple of weeks ago, you know a good artist can add value

But to the plot of the week, demons who are actually magically possessed spirits of people who died in a mine are killing the owners of the mine. Constantine comes around and starts asking questions, and it’s amazing that it takes 15 minutes for someone to think he’s crazy.

Constantine investigated the area because one of the blood marks on the map from last week has gone wet, meaning activity has started, but Chas can’t come along because of an outstanding warrant there.

In fact, you don’t see much of any supporting cast from episode 1 in this episode. Chas is the only character to make an appearance, and even he only has a couple of lines before he’s side-lined because of the warrant thing

This does give time to give Zed a decent introduction, and since she’s sticking around it’s good that a mystery was set up around her and John Constantine.

The mystery of the episode was set up nicely, we had a few red herrings like the man who lost his faith and a demon in an abandoned church, but the payoff is still satisfying, and something that you may not have seen coming, I certainly didn’t.

Now, my main issue with this episode, is the same one I had with the last one. It’s not scary. A show about demons rising from hell, and I’m not scared.

Rating 8/10

Episode 3 – The Devil’s Vinyl

Ah, we’re going down this route, that’s not good news, not good news at all.

Costantine has sort of half-impressed me thus far, it’s character and one-liners are great, it’s decently set up, but thing play out with an element of convenience that baffles me.  And it still suffers from the biggest problem about this show to me. IT’S STILL NOT SCARY!

Plot convenience ranges from John having a candle-hand that allows you to speak to the dead, having a card that can look like a credit card to others (although that trick backfired), Zed knowing perfect sign language, John knowing the right spell to send a vinyl down to hell (was that the spell he was practicing earlier)

We’re introduced to our first recurring villain of the series, Papa Midnite. (Yeah, I think the name’s dumb too, but it’s from the comics, I can’t really complain) he’s a gypsy, voodoo, bargaining, sleezy, adversary respecting black guy.

Manny’s back after his absence last week, but he really does jack sh*t.

And sadly that leaves me with very little to say about the episode. Maybe I should just summarise the plot, for the sake of it. There’s a cursed Vinyl that can hypnotise with its music, and a blond lady whose name is entirely unimportant steals it to try and get out of a deal she made selling her soul for her husband’s life. Constantine interferes etc etc.

OK, with that I have nothing left to say, so rating?

Rating 6/10

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Images used in this review are from Constantine and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use.