– Spoiler Review –
Picking up from the midseason finale’s cliffhanger, “The Saint of Last Resorts” Part 2 shows just how far Constantine is willing to go in this fight against the rising darkness’ Brujeria, and more importantly, who’s willing to stand beside him.
Left for dead in a sewer thanks to Anne-Marie, being hunted by an invunche, Constantine does what most rational people would do in such a situation: casts a demon into himself to survive (talk about calling in a Hail Satan instead of a Hail Mary). Okay, maybe not everyone would do something so rash, but it saves his life in the short term. The long term, well, that’s a different story even though the show is named after him. His decision affects the relationship he was building with Manny, who is royally unhappy Constantine didn’t have a little more faith. Manny’s probably regretting tearing that heart out of that fallen angel just to help little ol’ John Constantine, who leaves Constantine in the beginning here to his own damned fate.
I was kind of looking forward to meeting Zed’s horrible father, but alas she’s too good to be kidnapped like a punk like what was done in Part 1. And like a true friend, she’s already ready to come down to Mexico to help her new friends despite everything that had just happened to her. Heck, she even works her own type of magic and gets into…okay, it’s not that magical to get into one of the most horribly guarded prisons in the history of ever. Heck, Chas just punches his way in.
The reason they have to get into prison is because Constantine has been locked up after the demon inside of him helped slaughter a bunch of gang members who were attacking him. It was a pretty grisly crime scene and surprising they showed those guts hanging out of one of the guys, but considering what NBC shows on Hannibal, it wasn’t too shocking. But of course, a nearly demon possessed white British guy in a horribly guarded Mexican prison doesn’t bode well for anyone. Almost as a final courtesy, Manny stops by the prison with a semi-apology for being angry before, while Constantine admits he isn’t ready to die, though he feels he deserves his ultimate fate. It was an interesting conversation and a small glimpse behind the sarcastic layers Constantine has built up over the years.
Zed proved how pivotal she can be in the fight ahead, not only convincing Anne-Marie to help them find Constantine by pulling the angel card, but getting her to believe in herself to perform the exorcism. I like how quickly the thought of Constantine being able to talk to an angel turned Anne-Marie’s perception of him around, and that Zed was smart enough to know mentioning it would fill Annie with regret. And as Constantine suffers through the demon inside his body, Annie is able to see the type of man he truly is and how Newcastle did change him in some ways. But it takes Zed realizing the importance of her vision about Annie to bring this episode to a happy conclusion, helping Annie to shed her feeling of guilt over bringing Constantine into the world of magic and thus performing the exorcism.
Here are a few other things:
- Having begun reading Hellblazer‘s first volume, I hope the show doesn’t stick so closely to the Judeo-Christian stuff and branches out a little more. Probably something they’ll consider if this ends up getting a second season.
- So, was Anne-Marie shooting Constantine in Part 1 the betrayal by one of his closest friends, because otherwise this supposedly imminent moment is taking a long time to happen.
- Bi-location spell is almost better than sci-fi’s holograms.
- I really enjoyed how far they took this demon being inside John, because even though this show is named after him I actually thought he might not make it here. I mean I knew he would, but they did a great job here making me believe otherwise.
- The original Tempter, the demon-snake thing from the Garden of Eden, was a well done and super creepy visual effect. It builds off the evil sisters of Eve being in the last episode.
- Constantine must’ve borrowed the phurba dagger from Nathan Drake after he was done with it in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
- So I know we had a line back in “Blessed are the Damned” about Chas going to check up on his daughter, but the Pazuzu demon inside of John mentioned Chas lost her. Did she die off screen? We haven’t got a whole lot of explanation about his background, besides the few words the demons spouts here.
- If Constantine was on The CW, the latest numbers for it’s airings wouldn’t really put its renewal into question.
Offering a rare look past the sarcasm while showing just how far John is willing to go against the Brujeria, “The Saint of Last Resorts” Part 2 did a great job tying up all the loose ends Part 1 left. With only 4 episodes left, the fight against the rising darkness is only going to get messier and bigger. Let’s hope that gets the ratings up for a second season.
+ Danger feels palpable
+ Dark, creepy moments
+ Exorcism
– Can a prison be that badly attended to/guarded?
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. 8: “The Saint of Last Resorts” Part 1
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)