By: Brandon Wolfe
Four episodes in, the question is starting to arise of whether ‘Constantine’ is still struggling through its wobbly first steps or if the largely rote series that seems to be emerging is simply what we’re gonna get. The series has some solid attributes, but its weaknesses are overpowering them. One can only hope the show will strengthen with time, but one can also only extend benefit of the doubt so far.
A sweaty, squirrely man named Gary Lester is passing through customs at an airport in Atlanta and his sketchy demeanor pings airport security’s suspicions, hauling him into a backroom for inspection. When an antique container is found among Gary’s possessions, Gary implores the guard not to open it, which of course necessitates that the man open it immediately. Doing so releases a swarm of mystical beetles, which forces itself down the guard’s throat. Somehow, amid all this chaos, Gary escapes from the airport and breaks into Constantine’s lair, finding himself suspended in midair due to the place’s magical security measures. Constantine and Zed come upon the man, whom John is not pleased to see due to Gary’s junkie history, as well as his involvement with Astra’s exorcism, which led to the damnation of the young girl’s soul. However, Gary informs John that he came into contact with the demon behind the bugs when he took it upon himself to exorcise a possessed boy he came across in Sudan. John grudgingly agrees to get involved when the demon begins infecting people virally across Atlanta.
The demon in question is referred to as a hunger demon, for reasons that become clear when we see the people whom it possesses in action. They run rampant through food courts and supermarkets, ravenously stuffing every bit of food they can into their mouths. It’s indicative of the show’s tone-deaf nature that it doesn’t seem to realize how absurd and hilarious this looks, with people gorging themselves in a frenzy as if in a state fair’s hot-dog-eating competition while the score swells behind it in a disproportionally ominous, dramatic fashion. The ‘Benny Hill’ theme seems a more appropriate companion to what we’re witnessing here. Constantine traces the demon to a meat-packing plant that has been decimated (changing the “Days Without an Accident” board to 0, which is kind of cute) before encountering the swarm and narrowly making it out alive while managing to confine the bugs temporarily inside the meat locker.
It all leads to the revelation that the demon will need to be contained within a human body, as it was originally when Gary found the possessed boy. Constantine and Gary track the demon to a theater where John essentially tells Gary that he is to become the vessel that will hold the demon, something Gary is perfectly fine with, as he craves redemption for his troubled past. And here is where the show fumbles what could have been a powerful moment for its protagonist. Constantine is set up as a shades-of-grey hero, so him opting to force Gary into his role as demon-Tupperware against his will would have been a powerful, fantastically dark moment to truly set him apart as a television protagonist. But Gary being eager to accept this fate takes the edge off the moment. It’s no longer Constantine making a brutal decision, willfully sacrificing a man with whom he has a conflicted relationship. Making Gary completely complicit in the decision feels like a cop-out, a network note to keep the hero true-blue and audience-friendly. It robs the show of a moment that could have made it unique.
‘Constantine’ could really use something unique. Though Matt Ryan continues to bring a terse, muted affability to the title character, this isn’t much of a dialogue show. Everyone speaks rigid exposition almost exclusively and we don’t get much in the way of character-building asides. It’s a frustrating trend among contemporary network comic adaptations, removing personality and scrubbing light humor in service of plot plot plot. If there’s a lesson these shows need to learn from their cable counterparts, it’s that character is everything. Without characters whose company we enjoy, a TV show cannot fully engage us. It doesn’t help that Ryan receives almost no support from his fellow cast members. Angélica Celaya as Zed continues to be almost hopelessly green as an actress, delivering her dialogue as flatly and amateurishly as possible. Harold Perrineau as Manny the angel is locked into a continual mode of being condescendingly cryptic. And the show still continues to write out the character of Chas each week like they’re either ashamed of him or are merely clueless of what to do with him.
What ‘Constantine’ does well, however, is in the visual department. The show looks terrific. The swarms of demonic insects look like something out of ‘The Mummy,’ but in a good way. It’s a solid effect for a television series. Likewise, the show doesn’t shy away from gore, displaying the influence the massive success of ‘The Walking Dead’ has had on television as a whole. A security guard getting a large chunk of his neck graphically bitten out by a possessed woman, that’s something you wouldn’t have seen in NBC primetime back in the ‘Friends’ days.
But gore and cockroach tornadoes will only get you so far. ‘Constantine’ needs to crack the nut of what to do with its supporting cast as well as how to develop a personality overall. The show has a hero and a lead actor that could really thrive if the show did right by them. You’ve got a snarky British guy hunting demons. That’s fun. Why aren’t we having fun?
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