Constantine Review – S01E08 – The Saint Of Last Resorts
By Steve Lam
Tonight’s winter finale of Constantine, titled The Saint of Last Resorts, was everything the promo promised it would be — fast-paced with a nerve-wracking cliffhanger. To put the cherry on top, we also got to see the street-smart Zed kick some butt.
Spoilerific Recap
At a convent in Mexico, a nun, Anne-Marie, visits a newborn baby, Diego, and his parents, Hugo, a cop, and Martina. As Martina is left alone, she’s attacked by a supernatural entity. When Hugo returns, he finds Martina dead and his Diego missing.
At Jasper Winters’s home, Zed Martin has been drawing everything she’s seen since touching Imogen, a fallen angel. The drawing are of biblical events. John Constantine identifies one of the drawings as Invunche — demonic beings who died out after the biblical great flood. Zed and Constantine soon see Anne-Marie standing inside their home. Using bi-location, Anne-Marie has projected herself to their location to get help from Constantine. From Constantine’s reaction, we know that she has a history with him (she was with him during the Newcastle incident and the one who introduced him to the occult). As Constantine packs his things, he tells Zed that she’s not coming with him and that he’s placed a protection spell on the house to keep her safe.
When Constantine and Chas arrives in Mexico, they’re surprised to find that Anne-Marie is now a nun. Conversing in a pew, Constantine finds out that Anne-Marie became a nun to repent for her sins. She sees that Constantine hasn’t changed at all, and is still arrogant.
In the room where the attack on Martina happened, Constantine performs an incantation with rune stones. Performing the spell, the rune stones and the table spontaneously combust. According to Constantine , this means the baby is still alive. Requiring something that is connected to the baby’s soul, Constantine goes off to find a buried placenta.
Alone, Zed explores the strange creaks and noises in the house. She opens a door and almost falls into a giant void.
Digging for the placenta under a tree on Hugo’s property, Constantine notices strange looking fruit. He soon finds that the fruit is made of human flesh. As he cuts into it, the tree starts to rain blood. Constantine explains to Hugo that one of Eve’s (of Adam and Eve) sisters took Diego. Hugo soon receives a phone call alerting him that another baby has been kidnapped.
At an art supply store, Zed runs into Eddie. They soon agree to an ad-hoc date. As Zed leaves to pay for her merchandise, Eddie texts an unknown person that he now has Zed. At the bar, Zed accidentally touches Eddie and has a vision of him in a vault (probably denoting that Eddie has secrets). Pretending not to be phased, Zed invites Eddie home.
Now at the scene of the kidnapping, Hugo interviews the teen mother with the missing baby. Soon, Hugo’s own teen son enters and Constantine learns that the baby is actually Hugo’s grandson. The entity is targeting babies from a specific family. Constantine exits to perform a spell in a fountain that will reflect the entity’s reflection so that he can identify her.
Performing the spell, Constantine is interrupted by Sister Luisa. When she threatens to call the cops, Constantine pretends to go to the fountain to rinse out a bowl. He quickly sees the reflection of Sister Luisa in the water, which points to her as Eve’s sister. Calling out to her real name of “Lamashtu”, Eve’s sister fiercely attacks Constantine. He’s able to fight her off by wounding her with a dagger.
Bringing Eddie home, Zed distract him with a kiss. She quickly overpowers him and demands to know why he’s following her. Eddie tells her that her “father” wants her home. When Eddie calls Zed “Mary”, she knocks him out in a fit of rage.
Constantine tells Hugo and Anne-Marie about Lamashtu — Eve’s younger sister and a vampire. Constantine questions why Lamashtu would only kidnap the babies and not consume them. To find out why Hugo’s lineage is so special, they decide to speak to his grandmother, who was born in Chile.
Hugo’s grandmother tells them that the Brujeria are after them. Only Constantine has heard about them — powerful ancient warlocks said to have disappeared. Hugo’s grandmother’s grandfather was a Brujeria, and her father escaped, freeing the family from them. Outside, while ranting to Anne-Marie how none of this makes sense, Constantine figure out that the Brujeria are the ones behind the rising darkness.
Constantine comes up with a plan to trick Lamashtu — soak a dead chicken with Hugo’s blood, and enchant it with a glamour spell to make her think that it’s another baby from the same lineage. Anne-Marie volunteers to make the offering to Lamashtu.
As Zed holds Eddie hostage, a man and a woman enter the home. She threatens to kill Eddie if they get any closer. The man shoots Eddie, killing him.
Before going through with the summoning, Constantine gives Anne-Marie a medallion — the Icon of Pazuzu. Pazuzu use to be Lamashtu’s soulmate, but they now despise each other. As Anne-Marie starts her summoning, Lamashtu arrives and is tricked into thinking the chicken is a baby. Hugo, impatient, fires his gun and goes after her. They chase Lamashtu to an entry into the sewers. Hugo gives Anne-Marie his gun, and both Anne-Marie and Constantine go after Lamashtu.
Back at home, Zed makes a run for it and the woman chases after her. Zed leads her into a hallway where they fight. When Zed gets her into position, she opens a door and the woman falls into the room with a giant void.
In the sewers, Constantine and Anne-Marie find Lamashtu’s lair with the babies. Taking the babies, the two are confronted by Lamashtu. Constantine then bluffs killing the babies if Lamashtu doesn’t tell him what the Brujeria’s plans are. She finally gives in and tells him that they plan to merge Hell with Earth so that supernatural beings will rule the world. Constantine then takes out the Icon of Pazuzu and recites an incantation. Blue flames engulf Lamashtu, vanquishing her.
Zed tries to navigate her way around the house without being detected. The man sneaks up on her and renders her unconscious with a sedative.
As Anne-Marie hands one of the babies off to Chas, Constantine and Anne-Marie hear the cries of another baby. About to go towards the cries, the two see an Invunche heading towards them. Cornered, Anne-Marie takes out her gun and aims it at Constantine. Her plan is to distract the Invunche by letting it attack him first. She quickly shoots Constantine and makes a run for it. As Constantine lies wounded, the Invunche makes its approach.
“Hell” Yeah! Moments
- Zed showing off some fighting skills when she’s confronted by her “family.”
- The presentation of the Invunche.
The Devil is in the Details (References)
- The Invunche appeared in Swamp Thing #37 (June 1985) and Swamp Thing #48 (May 1986). They were created by the Brujeria. The Invunche presented in tonight’s episode look just like the ones in the comics.
- Anne-Marie Flynn was part of the Newcastle Crew. This is the same crew that Gary Lester was also in (A Feast of Friends). There are also some frequent references to Gary. In the comics, Anne-Marie was also disfigured from her encounter with Nergal. She’s later killed by an Invunche and becomes part of the group of ghosts who haunt Constantine.
- Lamashtu is only one of Eve’s sisters. She has three others — names of which Constantine when through when he confronted Lamashtu — who are Lilith, Durgia, and Naamah.
- The Brujeria are South American warlocks. In Constantine’s earliest appearances in Swamp Thing, the Brujeria were responsible for creating the Invunche. They would create an Invunche by taking a six-month old infant, breaking its joints, and then enchanting it with a spell.
- The people stalking Zed are part of the Resurrection Crusade — a dangerous Christian cult who believe that Zed will conceive an angel’s baby, which will be the next Messiah.
- Pazuzu. Yes, that Pazuzu. The one that possessed the character of Regan MacNeil in The Exorcist (1973). Pazuzu, in actual folkore, is an evil spirit. But because it’s an evil spirit that wards off evil spirits, it can protect people — much like what it did on Constantine tonight.
Final Thoughts
This is what a cliffhanger should be. The Saint of Last Resorts was another comic-inspired episode with multiple references to its source material. However, it didn’t let the comic-centric aspects of the story distract it from good character development.
I’m happy that they finally showed Zed’s survival side. We’ve been really lacking in smart, strong female characters, but Zed filled that void tonight (unintended pun about the room she finds). From her initial discovery that Eddie was hiding something, to her fight scenes, Zed wasn’t your typical damsel in distress or character without a plan.
I’m really looking forward to January when Constantine comes back. The story arc with the rising darkness is getting more and more interesting, and now we have the Brujeria in the mix. My only question tonight was “Where was Manny?”