Constantine: Season 1, Episode 2

Constantine

Episode Title: "The Darkness Beneath"

Channel: NBC

Director: Steve Shill

Writer: Rockne S. O'Bbannon

Genre: Fantasy, Horror

Runtime: 45 min

Rated: TV-PG

Original Air Date: October 31, 2014

All right, think of this episode as the Constantine pilot, part two. The first episode was mythology heavy, dropping a lot of information on the viewers, with some character introductions; to give us a feel for the world this is all happening in. This episode replaces the female lead and spends a large portion of its time establishing the relationship between Zed and Constantine. The first thing I noticed is that it Matt Ryan and Angélica Celaya seem to have more chemistry than Ryan had with Lucy Griffiths. It might have been useful to have the Liv character around a little while longer to act as the audience's proxy in the world, and easy excuse for exposition, but the attitude and adaptability of Zed will be more beneficial to the show in the long run.

“The Darkness Beneath” also serves as a template, showing us what to expect from 'monster of the week' episodes that don't have a link to the main plot. It's a tried and true method, perfected in the 90's by The X-files, and as long as it doesn't get too formulaic (“Saving people, hunting things” ring a bell?) than this type of episode can serve a purpose going forward. This is especially helpful early in the series as the writers get a feel for the character of John Constantine, his abilities and manner of speech, along with introducing supporting characters that are bound to turn up again.

The episode itself was pretty standard fare; a monster, a town in turmoil, a red herring, a solution and then an uncovering of the real bad guy. It was the stuff along the way that that kept the episode from seeming too familiar. The spirits were really well done, they fit well with the setting and were suitably creepy looking. We also learned how John funds his adventures, since it's not as if he gets paid for any of things he does. There was teasing of a romantic hook up between John and Zed, and I for one hope that it never comes to fruition; it seems like nothing brings a show down faster than the leads becoming romantically involved. The writers seem to be having fun with the fact that they can't actually show Constantine smoking, although it seems hypocritical that while smoking is forbidden you can watch characters downing whiskey without anyone blinking an eye. The pacing of the episode seemed more fluid this time around, probably due to aforementioned familiarity of the show structure.

Conclusion: “The Darkness Beneath” didn't quite keep all the momentum from the pilot, but it was still a serviceable supernatural thriller. If the writers can avoid following this familiar formula too often these types of episodes can bring a nice change of pace from the main arc. There can't be too many of these standalone episodes though, not in this day and age of television. People expect season long plots and will tune out if there isn't that story to keep them invested.

Rating: 7.25/10