– Spoiler Review –
The midseason finale of Constantine, “The Saint of Last Resorts” Part 1, introduced us to another member of the Newcastle crew, the mysterious group after Zed came out of the shadows, and we gained some very important information about who or what is causing the rising darkness.
Meeting Gaz, who was at the Newcastle incident, made for one of the best hours for this show yet (“A Feast of Friends”) thanks to it giving us a different look at how John Constantine has really dealt with his failure. Unsurprisingly, meeting Anne-Marie, another of the Newcastle crew, also lends itself for a solid episode thanks to the interplay between her and Constantine. Their time together helps highlight and remind us how much Newcastle really affected Constantine and what it means for his motivation to stop the rising darkness. Seeing cracks in the asshole-ish demeanor Constantine wants everyone to see makes him an even more entertaining character.
But besides all the stuff seeing Constantine with Anne-Marie reveals about his inner turmoil, it also shows a romantic side to him. We saw him skipping out of girl’s place once her boyfriend was coming back a few weeks back and it’d be no surprise he has had many other conquests, but Anne-Marie was a completely different story. Their history was definitely complicated, but learning she was the one to bring him into occult world brought up the interesting reason why she had become a nun: she felt guilty for Newcastle because she started him down the path. And this is when we get to see, in one of those rare moments, the tender side to Constantine. He helps assuage her from her guilt while showing her his callousness and selfishness fall away when innocent lives are at stake. How ironic then, one of his rare tender moments is what puts his life on the line, when Anne-Marie takes Constantine’s commitment to saving the innocent to heart. Part of me wonders why they couldn’t have still sneaked away from the invunche like Anne-Marie does after shooting Constantine, but I understand her reasoning at least and I’m sure her being upset from the way he was using the baby to get information out of Lamashtu helped a lot in her decision too.
But boy was the information he got from the Sister of Eve Lamashtu and the police officer’s mother very interesting and revealing. It turns out an ancient evil known as the Brujeria have found a way to break free from the spirit world and into the mortal realm. They’ve been helping all of the demons and whatnot that Constantine has been dealing with in an effort to gain their support and use them to take over the mortal realm. It’s nice to finally have a reason for the rising darkness and the name of the enemy behind it as we head into the final 5 episodes starting next month.
On the flip side, Zed had issues of her own boil to the surface this week. Eddie and the people he works for made their move after Zed didn’t listen to Constantine’s advice and left their place. Did her leaving turn off all the traps Constantine was supposed to set before he left? I was sure Zed wouldn’t be captured thanks to the house and its traps, and while that definitely wasn’t the case, Zed pushing the gal out into the infinite darkness behind that door was a cool moment. Also, I really liked the vision Zed had of how Eddie’s mind was a locked vault she wouldn’t be able to get into, which was the first big hint whomever she was really dealing with knew her well. As it turns out, the head of the gang Eddie worked for (a brutal but efficient moment when the others took him out) happens to be Zed’s father. What exactly he wants from her remains to be seen, but now they have her and it won’t be long for us to find out.
Here are a few other things:
- The flesh-apples raining down blood from the tree was a really striking and creepy visual.
- So the invunche was the chicken body brought to life? Will Constantine survive by deep frying the sucker?
- Another great shot was the scene out by the fountain when Lamashtu was first revealed.
- Wait, Eve of Adam and Eve had sisters? And they’re all evil? Cool.
- I just picked up the first collected volume of Hellblazer and will be reading it during the show’s break. It looks like it’ll contain ‘spoilers’ for the rest of the season, or so the official DC website‘s list of secrets about “Saint of Last Resort” hints at.
- Have I mentioned how great Matt Ryan is in the role? I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to watch Keanu Reeves’ film ever again.
As far as midseason finale and cliffhangers go, “The Saint of Last Resorts” Part 1 was solid, as it provided important information on the rising darkness while putting our two main characters into possibly life threatening situations. It also proves Constantine can be an entertaining show who can use its source material to great effect and find ways to slightly distance itself from other shows dealing with angels, demons, and other supernatural fare. And unlike another DC show, Gotham, I eagerly anticipate Constantine‘s return.
+ Anne-Marie bringing out a different side to Constantine
+ Peeling back info on the “Rising Darkness”
+ Solid cliffhanger
– Why didn’t any of the traps work at the house?
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
SEE ALSO:
S1, Ep. 13: “Waiting for the Man”
S1, Ep. 12: “Angels and Ministers of Grace”
S1, Ep. 11: “A Whole World Out There”
S1, Ep. 10: “Quid Pro Quo”
S1, Ep. 9: “The Saint of Last Resorts” Part 2
S1, Ep. 7: “Blessed are the Damned”
S1, Ep. 6: “The Rage of Caliban”
S1, Ep. 5: “Danse Vadou”
S1, Ep. 4: “A Feast of Friends” (plus reviews for episodes 1-3)