After last week’s rather hit or miss (for me, at least, anyway) episode, I was really hoping that Constantine would pick up a little bit more and prove to me that it had more than just one good episode up it’s sleeve. Thankfully, I was right as, spoiler alert, I really liked this week’s episode. Actually, I liked this episode so much I don’t want to spend more time than I need to on this intro.
So let’s just dive right into Constantine‘s ‘Blessed Are The Damned’.
1. Not The Episode I Was Expecting To Get
At every turn this episode, I thought I had it figured out and thought I knew where it was heading and the cynical TV watcher in me took as I then started to get distracted and then the next thing I knew, the show was pulling the rug out from under me with twist after twist that built to the best climax an episode of this show has had so far. Take the cold open, for instance. At first, I wasn’t sure what to expect with the episode starting in a small church in the middle of what I found out was Kentucky, but it initially felt a little stiff in the acting to me and that little bit of doubt started to creep in. Then, as if the episode knew I was beginning to the slip, the preacher just straight up starts healing people. And, all of a sudden, I was in again. That actually happened a couple times during the episode as I thought I had it second guessed, but then I found I was dead wrong and the direction it did take was much better than where I thought it was going. Apart from ‘A Feast Of Friends’, I think this might be the show’s best episode so far. Here’s why:
2. Manny, Manny, Manny
Now, I try to keep this columns mostly spoiler free; at least, I try to keep the discussion to only light spoilers and the technical aspects of why the episode did or didn’t work for me. When it comes to twists, I don’t particularly enjoy diverging them here, just in case, y’know? This episode, though, I’m going to make an exception. So, consider this a SPOILER ALERT. Go watch the episode before returning to the rest of these thoughts.
Ok, you done that? Good.
This episode really worked for me because of how it finally allowed Manny to exist as a character instead of just bringing him in every other episode like an extra cryptic Navi to point Constantine in the right direction. Here, because the source of this episode’s mystery is the feather of an angel who has been bound to the mortal coil, that gives Manny a bit of a personal stake in the proceedings. That also means we actually get to see Harold Perrineau bring a lot of character to Manny in this episode as he gets to do more than just be cryptic and actually gets to explore the conflict in him wanting to help because of his personal connection to the mystery, but not wanting to interfere. If this is the first step to the show beginning to develop Manny more, I welcome it with open arms.
3. Constantine, Zed, and the Notion Of Faith
Something that really interested me this episode was, because the episode revolved around a church and a preacher with possibly supernatural powers, that it allowed for a discussion of the notion of faith between Constantine and Zed. While initially it seemed like Constantine was being pushed into the cynic mould (“Constantine has reguarly conversed with angels, I’m pretty sure he should believe in God in some capacity,” I remember thinking), his views were actually a lot more complex because of his rather dark past with the supernatural world. Zed, on the other, we find out was raised religious, has fallen away from faith, but is rather desperately seeking answers about her psychic powers. This lead to some rather interesting banter between the two characters (surprise, surprise, Chas is nowhere to be seen here because he was in an episode last week. I think he and Zed are avoiding each other) as their notions of faith clashed during the investigation. It helped fill out a pretty good episode with some really good character interaction.
Continued below4. Zed’s Love Life
So, this episode, after the usual cold open to establish the mystery the episode will revolve around, opened with Zed in a life drawing class (something I really appreciated as her art skills haven’t really been mentioned since her first episode?) being asked on a date. This was, as I said in my first thought, a point where I started to slip again. It felt a little hokey to me to try and bring a whole story of Zed trying to live a normal life outside of the stuff with Constantine by dating a nice, normal guy. Maybe I’m still bitter over the whole Clara/Danny Pink thing in the last season of Doctor Who, but that’s just me. Thankfully, the last scene of the episode not only reminded me that the initial scene even happened as it was way overshadowed by the rest of the episode, but revealed that it was all a ploy to draw Zed out by some mysterious cowboy looking dude. I think outside of the whole Rising Darkness thing (more on that in the next thought), this is the show’s first big foreshadowing element in a while? And I am interested to see where this goes…
5. Bake For 25-30 Minutes At 220˚C And The Darkness Should Rise Nicely
Ok, this is the one thing that’s still annoying me with this show. It’s one thing for Manny to off-handedly mention a Rising Darkness in the first episode to hint that much darker things are coming in the rest of the series and it’s another thing for that phrase to still be cropping up six episodes later with just as much mystery attached to it. I would have hoped that now we’re halfway through the season, we’re have at least some indication as to the nature of the Rising Darkness? Or even just what it entails? I would take literally any information about at this point as, for all I care, it’s basically just a reason for the show to try and link completely random and unrelated events without actually telling us why they’re linked. I really do hope we get something, anything about it soon and that it’s not just something kept to be revealed in the last episode.
