Constantine Episode 9 Review: An Exorcism for an Exorcist

Constantine, one of my favorite new shows this season, returned from its winter break this past Friday with only five episodes left to earn a second season.

NBC did the show a favor by bumping it up to 8 p.m. instead of 10, but did the show do itself any favors by opening its final push with an episode that absolutely compels the audience to come back next week?

Well . . . .

Plot Summary:

Following episode eight’s cliffhanger, John Constantine finds himself trapped in the sewers below Mexico City, bleeding from a gunshot wound and being hunted by an Invunche.  With no way to stop the monster closing in on him, Constantine makes a desperate move: he invites the demon Pazuzu to inhabit his body. Constantine’s gamble pays off in the short-term, as his body is healed and the evil within him is enough to scare off the Invunche.

And then Constantine wakes up in a street, surrounded by bodies that have been torn apart by something far more powerful than our favorite master of the dark arts . . . ruh roh, Raggy!

So begins a race against the clock, in which Constantine finds himself in prison surrounded by gang members who are looking to avenge their slain brothers, with Chas, Zed and Anne Marie frantically looking for a way to get to John and perform an exorcism before the demon inside him can take over – for good.

I earned what I’ve got coming to me. I’m just… I have more work to do.

Why It Wasn’t The Home Run This Show Needed

“The Saint of Last Resorts Part 2” wasn’t a bad episode, per se; having John Constantine become possessed allowed Matt Ryan to flex his acting chops as both JC and the powerful demon, Pazuzu.  Watching Ryan is reason alone to watch Constantine – he’s really nailing the role.

And this episode contained two of the funniest moments of the series so far, featuring Chas and Anne Marie.  As dark as the show can get, little doses of humor here and there are appreciated and help to flesh out some of the characters, keeping them from remaining one-dimensional.

But any more, the tried-and-true plot device of performing an exorcism is more of a “tired” and true device.  Exorcisms have been done so many times, in film and TV, that you better be able to bring something new to the altar if you’re going to try one.  Sadly, Constantine didn’t bring anything new to the exorcism angle.  Angry demon, insulting those around it?  Check.  Holy person performing the ritual, suffering from self-doubt?  Check.   At least one person saying, “That’s not _______ speaking!”  Check.

It’s bad enough to watch Constantine being exorcised, knowing there is 0% chance that the exorcism will fail – where’s the drama in that? – but when the writers fail to add anything resembling a new wrinkle to the formula, it leaves the audience wanting more.  Why tune into a TV show just to see something that has been done before, and better?

As if the by-the-numbers exorcism wasn’t enough of a letdown, having Zed’s kidnapping resolved in a span of five minutes was ridiculous.  I was interested to find out more about her father and the cult that had kidnapped her; instead, I saw her outwit her captor in the most obvious way possible – and that was it.  The episode dropped her personal story altogether, just so she could fly down to Mexico, meet Chas, provide a bit of sex appeal, and drop some laughable lines such as John “has heaven on speed dial.”

Oof.

For those of us who are already fans of the show, episode 9 was a pleasant diversion, and advanced the story arc of the Brujeria and the rising darkness just enough to make us feel like something big is going to go down (if NBC ever allows the series to get that far).  Still, “The Saint of Last Resorts Part 2” didn’t do enough to convince viewers on the fence to return next week, in my opinion.