Constantine (TV Series)

By: Robert Murphy

No, there is no need for you here Keanu Reeves because this review is for the all new show about Constantine and takes things a much more appealing directions than the 2005 film about eternal damnation. This John Constantine played by Matt Ryans is based off of the Hellblazer comic series and tells John's story of demon fighting and magic, but the former demonologist and exorcist is now spending his days in a mental hospital after a failed attempt to save a little girl from a demon. John couldn't just get to enjoy the rest of his life sulking and smoking a cigarette till the end of days though and is brought back into the fight against evil due to the rising of an unknown darkness. Demons and evil beings are stepping up their game, becoming more powerful, bolder and the same tricks don't exactly work on them anymore but John Constantine still has the skills to put them in their place. 

What's great about a character like John Constantine is that he plays the perfect anti-hero that you love to watch saunter about, he makes smug remarks and still can take down the bad guys. He doesn't act impressed by all the demons and amazing things around him, he even doesn't care that he has an express hotline to an actual angel and even knows Heaven and Hell exist, a notion that many people would kill to know. He, of course, has his light side that his partners in fighting the rising darkness bring out of him and the angel I mentioned before is also there to help too. Former Lost star, Harold Perrineau, plays Manny and is the one who pops in on John and tells him about problems or gives him cryptic clues about the situation he's in, to which John likes to make smart ass remarks to his infinite wisdom but hey, angels can't fully interfere with human matters or some such nonsense. We also have Zed (Angélica Celaya), a girl with a mysterious past but also has psychic powers, mainly premonitions, that aid John in a big way. He's also sweet on her. And then the final member of the team is the gruff but lovable Chas (Charles Halford) who due to a spell gone wrong by Constantine, he is now able to get stabbed, run over, shot, basically killing him doesn't due a thing until his lives end up running out one day. The whole cast is a mystery to me, except for Perrineau but play their roles excellently. 

The story presented in Constantine is one that digs into another favorite genre of mine and that is the occult, demons and mythology. The rising darkness that suddenly begins to appear is shrouded in mystery but it causes all manner of evil to come pouring out of the wood work. Learning about demons is cool but also theirs a heavy mixture of Bible folklore, one episode introducing you to one of the sister to Eve and another introducing the Serpant that led to Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit. There is a never ending amount of new material to tap into and while readers of the comic may have already scene some of these creatures already, they were news to me and ones that I loved learning about. A show like Constantine introduces you to a world you hardly knew and as cliche as that sounds, it's something that I very much enjoy. 

Where this first season suffers though is the lack of learning anything concrete about this new power that is on the rise. You can have great characters and a great world to delve into but you have to make some headway and even with the seasons big final reveal, you still don't feel like you've gotten anywhere. John fights evil everywhere that it is popping up each week and that's great but where's it all going? Manny often goes on and on about this darkness and how it has to be stopped but it never feels like anything John does is making any headway. You do learn about the organization behind the evil and at the very end you learn who is really behind it all but really there are more questions than answers to be found in Constantine and it's a sad fact. Zed also has a dark past and possibly may be connected to this darkness or even be used to bring it all together, if the people who are after her finally get her, but the thing once again is, we just don't know.

A second season for Constantine is questionable since NBC cut the first series short at twelve episodes but SYFY is in the background with possible intention to pick things up. I do hope something major comes of it all, the universe and characters were all solid for the entire show and you learn more about each and everyone as time goes on in a perfect, even and fair space for every character. The demons and lore behind everything are also great, no one denomination is put to paper here, John steals his magic and powers from all over the world and all types of incantations and powers are present and it sucked me right in. That being said I just wish things developed more in the story and learning what's happening, I feel the show deserved more episodes before the finale which in all honesty didn't feel much like a close out for the show. A possible second season may pick things up again but you just never know. 

Good:

- John Constantine is a smart mouthed and strong anti-hero type character

- Supporting actors and actresses do wonderful work for the show

- Mythology and demonology are all rich here and there's so much you can get into

Bad:

- The story could have made much more headway

- The finale and the final big twist reveal left you with a whimpy ending for the first season

Scully Rating: 7.5 out of 10