Let’s start with the fact that I have never read a Hellblazer comic book. So that doesn’t help in my knowledge of the source material. I haven’t seen the Keanu Reeves movie either. Nope. No help here. And people have told me this show kinda resembles Supernatural which I have never seen. So that doesn’t help either.
Truth is, I kinda came to this show completely blind. No prior knowledge whatsoever. Just that John Constantine was a blond Englishman, who smoked and had to do with the occult. Yeah, a truck load of information.
And even though I was a blank sheet when I watched the pilot, it was a lot of exposition for a single episode. “Non Est Asylum” suffers from the pilot syndrome: it tells you a lot of information, without actually telling you anything. I have to watch at least another episode to actually realize if I like the series or not.
The episode was just… weird. I mean, weird in the sense that I can’t decide if I enjoyed it or not. The story begins in a mental asylum, where John has checked himself voluntarily to forget the fact that he has condemned the soul of a 9 year old girl to eternal damnation with demons. Yikes. But once he is there, a demon sends him a message: they are going to kill Liv. Who? Yeah, we shouldn’t have asked. Because while they spend the whole episode telling you how she is the daughter of one of John’s friends who he owes a debt to, how she is a scryer with powers which are just now awakening and how important and powerful she will be, the series completely drops her off. So, never mind about her. What’s important is that demonic activity is going bonkers everywhere and Constantine decides to do something about it, just because that might be the thing that saves his soul.
I know what you are thinking: another case-of-the-week show. And you are probably right. I think that this will be the case. Cuz the episode ends with John looking a map where Liv has marked several places where horrible things will happen. So the show will probably be about John travelling everywhere and battling a demon each week. If this is the case, the show will have to pull something from under it’s sleeve to try to differentiate itself from every other single case-of-the-week show.
One thing that might help the show is it’s leading man: Matt Ryan as John Constantine is pretty damn good. He is a wise-cracking jerk, he is charming, he is depressive, he is rough around the edges, he has snark and an amazing dark, dry humor, he is ironic and sarcastic all at the same time. And that’s why you can’t help to be drawn to him. Because, actually, he is very likable. You wanna root for him. You may not yet know why, but deep down, you feel like you want him on your side. You want him to win.
The show kinda needs to establish it’s personality, tone and style. It has to set itself apart. Maybe they can do that through the character. Certainly not through its secondary characters, mainly an angel called Manny. Seriously, I wanna know who named an all-powerful angel “Manny” so I can punch him / her on the face.
So, did you watch the first episode of “Constantine”? Did you like it? Tell us on the comments below.
