Season 1 Episode 9 of Constantine has our man John possessing himself! See if he is able to un-possess himself in Josh’s recap of The Saint of Last Resorts: Part 2! Following the recap, Josh and Violet both share their thoughts about the episode.
Don’t need the Constantine episode recap for The Saint of Last Resorts: Part 2? Click here to jump directly to Violet’s thoughts on the episode!
To see Josh’s thoughts on this week’s Constantine episode, The Saint of Last Resorts: Part 2, click here to get directly there!
Episode Recap of Constantine, Season 1 Episode 9: The Saint of Last Resorts: Part 2
This episode of Constantine begins with John in the sewer, bleeding pretty badly as everyone else makes their escape. John is about to be killed by the demon hunting him, when he says a chant and uses a talisman to burn a symbol into his arm. His eyes glow red, and the demon leaves him.
Manny then appears, and does not seem happy about Constantine’s decision–which was to allow a demon into his body. Manny refuses to provide any help to Constantine now that he has a demon inside. The good news is that the demon seems to have prevented John from dying from his wound.
Moving to Zed, we see visions of her seeing Anne Marie, bleeding from her eyes and chanting a prayer. We learn that it is Zed’s father who is trying to kidnap her. Zed begins kicking the van doors, and the driver decides he should drug her. Zed is able to overtake him though, and makes her escape. She “borrows” his van and drives away.
Chas finds John wounded, and carries him out. John tells Chas he has a few days before he is fully possessed. He tells Chas to kill him if there is no other solution to getting the demon out. His plan? Self-exorcism. Unfortunately, John “leaves” and the demon takes over, and bolts.
John wakes up, and is surrounded by several dead bodies. The cops have arrived as well, and take him into custody.
John is taken to a Mexican prison. He meets with the British Consulate, and while it has been ruled as self defense, the consulate is not able to free John. He isn’t happy to hear this.
Zed and Chas meet up, and they decide to turn to Anne Marie for help locating John. John in the meantime decides to try to work with the “fence” of the prison. Julio, the fence, seems interested in helping.
Meanwhile, Anne Marie is visited by Zed and Chas. Zed tells Anne Marie about Manny, and Anne Marie seems to think John might be worth saving.
Back at the prison, the consulate talks with a mystery man. It seems that they have a deal, and the Consulate caused John to be held. This mystery man then reveals himself to be a demon, and he murders the Consulate. John tries to find some exorcism tools, but can’t find much. Then John is visited by gang members looking for revenge for their friends being murdered. Julio betrayed him. The demon inside John makes quick work of them though. John wakes up, and has a crowd around him. John asks for Julio, and the crowd is more than willing to give him up. John disperses the crowd with angry yelling. Suddenly a vision of Anne Marie appears before John. She wishes him luck, and tells Zed and Chas where he is.
Zed disguises herself as hooker and Chas gets himself arrested, so they both can get inside to John. Anne Marie then shows up surprisingly to help.
They begin the exorcism ritual, but it doesn’t seem to be working. The British Consulate shows up to interrupt–and he turns out to be the demon from earlier, who killed the Consulate. After some battling, they are able to defeat the demon.
John awakens and Anne Marie is there. Chas returns from the grave yet again after the demon killed him. Anne Marie decides they need to get back to John’s house, as it might weaken the demon. To give enough time to get back there, John decides to overdose himself on heroine. The good news is that the demon will keep him alive. They are able to sneak out of the prison by posing as John being dead in a body bag, and Chas and Anne Marie posing as medical personnel.
Back at the mill, they prepare for the exorcism. John tells Anne Marie she has to perform it. At first it looks bleak, as Anne Marie seems frozen in fear. Zed helps her out, by giving her the advice she needs to continue. She is successful finally at expelling the demon, and John thanks everyone for the help–sort of. Anne Marie decides to head out, despite John hinting at wanting her to stay.
Josh’s Thoughts: Constantine, Season 1 Episode 9: The Saint of Last Resorts: Part 2
Constantine was pretty good this week, I guess. I think part of the problem is I am just not much of a horror-genre fan. Most of the time horror comes off as silly to me, rather than scary/intense. When Anne Marie was exorcising John, I just didn’t buy into it very much. It is hard for me to tell if it was more of my own personal biases getting in the way, or if it was just done in a silly manner.
I am all for a story of hunting demons down though. Buffy and Angel were both excellent shows about demons, werewolves, vampires, etc. I didn’t really think that those shows were selling themselves as a horror genre though. I think I would enjoy the show more if it went that route more. Hardcore fans of John Constantine probably wouldn’t be happy about that though.
So far, I am not really seeing the big picture yet though. John and Manny keep talking about the coming Darkness, but I am not really invested in that yet. I think we need to see some of the “Big Bads” behind this “darkness”.
So we will see what the future has for John Constantine. So far I have not heard NBC picking this up for more episodes yet. This could be the end of the short lived show.
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 1 Episode 9 of Constantine: The Saint of Last Resorts: Part 2
I was hoping that this episode would “seal the deal” with for Constantine, so to speak. Meaning, that I was hoping this would be the episode that convinced me to love the show. It was a good episode, but I still feel the same about the show that I have been feeling: that I like it, but I don’t love it. It’s something to watch on Friday nights when there’s nothing else on, and something that I can enjoy. However, it’s not a show where I feel like I have to see the next episode, or can’t wait to see the next episode. It’s more of an afterthought. As I mentioned, I was hoping that this episode would be the turning point, considering that it’s the second part of the previous episode, which left us with a cliffhanger regarding Constantine’s fate down in that sewer, and as to what was going to happen to Zed.
But by the end of the episode, everything was resolved, it seemed. There’s not a strong enough continuous storyline drawing us and connecting us to the next episode. Yes, it was an exciting episode. Yes, I enjoyed Matt Ryan’s performance in this episode as he played a possessed Constantine, and thought he was pretty great during the exorcism. Yes, it contained more elements that I’ve been wanting, such as more Chas and more teamwork. Unfortunately, I don’t feel invested in the storyline yet – which, by episode 9, I definitely should be by now.
Additionally, I was disappointed by Zed’s storyline. I was hoping we would get some more insight into her past, and what these people are about who are trying to kidnap her. But as much trouble as she had with them last episode, she’s able to easily escape right at the beginning of this episode. So, I’m back to not being interested in Zed anymore. Maybe this will come up more later. I also feel like Manny’s character is not being property utilized. He just randomly appears and rarely really helps, and whether he does help or not feels inconsistent. The character as a whole just feels… off, I guess is the best word to describe him.
Well, there’s only 4 more episode left this season, and there’s been no word yet on whether or not it will be renewed. Hopefully it gets its act together real quick, because honestly, at this point, the way the show is going, I wouldn’t be heart-broken if it wasn’t renewed. If I feel this apathetic, then it’s possible that the studio does too. Maybe it’s better than I’m not attached to this show, so that it doesn’t hurt so much if it gets cancelled. We’ll see.
Scenes from Constantine, Season 1 Episode 10: Quid Pro Quo
Here are scenes from next week’s Constantine episode titled Quid Pro Quo:
