Constantine returns this week with its third episode, proving that while its first outing suffered from a bad case of pilot-isis (awful pacing, trying to cram too much into one episode, and some really tacky writing), the rest of this series is shaping up to be something pretty darn enjoyable. Following the horror procedural style firmly established in the last episode, ‘The Devil’s Vinyl’ follows Constantine and Zed as they investigate, you guessed it, a haunted vinyl record. But don’t worry, there are some surprises on the way.
1. Hear No Evil, Love
So. A haunted record. You know, I’ve heard of dumber things to build a horror story around, but this was still one that it took me a couple of minutes to really buy into. Thankfully, that couple of minutes was the cold open as it really sold me on the premise. With the rather creepy – if unsubtle – opening of a women searching for the record in what looked like a cross between a record shop and an abattoir, I was intrigued. But then it got to the meat of what drives this episode: the suicide of the music producer who mistakenly listens to the record when given it by the woman. Reminding me a lot of the excellent Pontypool this was the second week in a row that Constantine‘s cold opens have started off strong and sold me on the premise of the episode to follow by really taking advantage of the graphic violence allowed by NBC.
2. Our Satanic Majesty
I hope this series isn’t falling into formula too early as, again, that’s too episodes in a row where the show cuts from an effective cold open to the excellent title card shot to the cabin owned by Liv’s dad from the first episode where Constantine and Chas, and now Zed too, have a nice little catch up before investigating whatever happened in the cold open. I get that they’re going for a procedural vibe here and trying to get something like the FBI building from The X-Files or Walter’s lab from Fringe, but it just feels weird to me that Constantine would retire to the same place after each episode. Maybe Karen Berger was on to something, after all. And with Chas’ explanation that the building is bigger on the inside, I guess I should start calling it Constantine’s TARDIS, huh?
3. Just A Bunch Of Wankers Trying To Get Laid
I love Matt Ryan as John Constantine, I really do. With a show that had to water down a lot of the aspects of “Hellblazer” in order to make it on to network (even though the episode basically started with a hanged and mutilated lamb, but that’s neither here nor there), Ryan basically carries a lot of the dead weight on his shoulders. Being able to flip from wildly chewing the scenery when “learning a spell” in a scene that felt a little too sitcom-y and really out of place to bringing out the subtle pain of the personal connection that John has to the case at hand is not an easy thing to do. Nor is it easy to build a singular vision of a character when having to flip between those to extremes, but Ryan pulls it off really well. He may not be everyone’s ideal version of John Constantine, but he is exactly what this show needed to work.
4. Keeping Up Momentum
Just as that’s two episodes in a row that have had extremely strong starts, it’s also two episodes in a row that have completely lost momentum as they entered the third act of the story. While Michael James Shaw shows up to bring a menacing turn to Papa Midnite and Charles Halford actually gets to show up as Chas more than once this episode and actually do something, once the episode switches gears from horror mystery to horror action it loses a lot of steam. Maybe that’s because they’re just trying to stop someone from playing a record, but still. I will admit, though, that John Constantine running into a radio station while using the Sex Pistols to drown out the sounds of a literally satanic record is exactly the kind of thing that I want from this show, it’s just a shame that that’s pretty much the only highlight of the latter half of the episode.
5. Hold On A Minute…
A base for the characters that they start off each episode in that’s bigger on the inside than it is on the outside? A small piece of paper that anyone who looks at it sees what they want to see, allowing the main character to get into and out of any situation with ease? A plucky sidekick who is equally doe-eyed and charmed by the mysteries and wonders of the main character and a stoic and badass supporting character? British accents? Am I watching the right show? I know America had a massive hard on for Doctor Who when Matt Smith was the Doctor, but did they really have to go any just make their own version? I mean, I know Peter Capaldi didn’t exactly live up to expectations, but come on now.
