Constantine
Episode Title: "The
Devil's Vinyl"
Channel: NBC
Director: Romeo
Tirone
Writers: Mark
Verheiden and David S. Goyer
Genre: Fantasy,
Horror
Runtime: 43
min
Rated: TV-14
Original Air Date: November 7,
2014
After
a pilot and a pilot part deux we're into the meat and potatoes of
Constantine.
The opening involves a woman acquiring and old record that we soon
learn contains something that drives those that listen to it insane.
The man that listened to it is an old friends of John's and after Zed
does her psychic thing the duo is off to Chicago to tackle the latest
bit of supernatural terrorism. What follows is an immense amount of
plot, with little time for suspense or mood. With so much spooky
stuff going on I think the show would be well served in slowing
things down, cutting out some exposition and letting the scenes take
on more of a horror feel.
Take,
for instance, the daughter listening to the record. Could something
interesting and creepy come from that situation? Absolutely; but
nothing did, at least thus far. If something like that is going to
have no bearing on the episode as a whole it could have been cut in
favor of extending another scene. Maybe the morgue scene could have
used a few more seconds to add to the creepy factor, morgues I
imagine should feel creepy. Speaking of the morgue, it did serve as
one of the comedic bits of the episode, when Constantine's spell has
a more far-reaching effect than he anticipated. The humor in “The
Devil's Vinyl” felt better placed than in the previous episodes,
especially after Chas joins John and Zed in Chicago.
The
highlight of the episode was Papa Midnite. I don't know if he's
being set up to be the Big Bad this season, or if he'll pop in as a
sometimes villain, sometimes ally, but the writers should feel free
to use him as often as makes sense. Michael James Shaw definitely
left an impression that leaves me excited to see more of the
character. I know he's appearing in a few of the upcoming episodes,
and I hope that the particulars of Midnite and John's past encounters
are kept vague, allowing us to learn them over time instead of
dumping them all in our laps all at once.
The
conclusion of the episode was a little odd, considering comments made
by Manny earlier in the episode. It was mentioned that John might
not have the courage to do what must be done to destroy the record
forever. It's not made clear whether Manny means simply that John
will be giving up whatever bargaining power possessing the record
might give him, or if doing so is especially difficult. If it's the
former than more should have been made of John's decision to do what
he did, if it's the latter than it sure didn't seem difficult. It's
not a huge problem, just seemed a bit strange.
Conclusion:
The dynamic between the characters and the humor was nicely done,
most notably when the trio is together. “The Devil's Vinyl” did
suffer from a having a little too much to tell us, and not enough
time spent building some tension, but the introduction of Papa
Midnite helped me forgive the writers for that.
Rating:
7.75/10
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