Constantine – Mid-Season Post-Hiatus Primer
By Steve Lam
At 8:00PM EST this Friday, January 16, 2015, the ninth episode of NBC’s Constantine, titled The Saint of Last Resorts: Part 2, will mark the return of the series from its mid-season hiatus. The last time we saw Team Constantine, they weren’t doing so great — John Constantine was betrayed by an old friend and an Invunche was coming after him, and Zed Martin was abducted by a nefarious group from her past.
How did we get here? Well, just short of sounding like one of Supernatural‘s The Road So Far-type recaps, I’m going to bring you up to speed on what you need to know before pressing play on your DVR (come on, who really watches live television anymore?). Oh, and by the way, if you do have an affinity for Supernatural‘s style of recaps, you’re certainly welcome to play Carry on Wayward Son by Kansas while you read this.
Carry on my wayward son … There’ll be peace when you are done …
The Rising Darkness
From the first episode, titled Non Est Asylum, the driving theme of Constantine has been the arrival of the Rising Darkness — an event that allows dark powers to be amplified and supernatural forces to more easily bleed through into our world. John Constantine is first introduced to us at the Ravenscar Secure Facility — a mental institution. There, he witnesses a demonic event which motivates him to go back out into society and protect the world.
Constantine quickly seeks out Liv Aberdine, the daughter of Jasper Winters — Constantine’s deceased friend. Liv, like her father, exhibits supernatural psychic abilities that allow her to use a pendant to tune into, via scrying, evil events. By the end of Non Est Asylum, Liv has become uncomfortable with Constantine’s world, and so, relocates to the West Coast. However, before leaving, Liv scries the whole map, giving Constantine a way to track supernatural occurrences.
Zed Martin
In the episode titled The Darkness Beneath, Constantine meets Zed Martin — a mysterious woman who has tracked Constantine down and is adamant in joining him on his quest. Against the notion of partnering with Zed, John eventually gives in when he discovers that she possesses strong psychic abilities that could serve him. Suspicious of her unknown past, John also keeps a close eye on her. As the two investigate whatever the map signals as a supernatural event, they learn that there’s a Rising Darkness.
Zed is a woman of faith, and her need to see the good in people has been shown in multiple episodes. However, this optimism should not be confused with naiveté, as Zed is no stranger to the occult. She has also, on several occasions, demonstrated fighting abilities and cunning. Though Constantine wants to preserve his hardened, cynical nature, he has grown to care for her, as he does for his life-long best “mate” …
Chas Chandler
Chas Chandler is Constantine’s confidant, sidekick, and driver. However, Chas himself also has supernatural abilities. First seen in Non Est Asylum, Chas was able to come back from the dead after being impaled by the demon Furcifer. We later see him instantaneously heal and come back to life in Danse Vaudou.
Chas was also with Constantine during the failed exorcism of Astra Logue — which ended in Astra losing her soul to the powerful demon Nergal. This event is now notoriously known as the Newcastle Incident, which brings us to …
The Newcastle Crew
The Newcastle Crew was a group, including Constantine, that was interested in the occult. These friends originally came together as the short-lived punk rock band Mucous Membrane. However, during one fateful night, these amateur exorcists would discover that their underestimation of Nergal, a powerful demon, would cost a young girl her soul and damn Constantine’s soul to Hell.
Aside from Constantine, other notable members of the group were Chas, Gary Lester (a heroin addict who is later used as containment for the hunger demon Mnemoth in A Feast of Friends), and Anne-Marie Flynn (definitely more on her later), the one who introduced Constantine to the occult.
Papa Midnite
Introduced in the Devil’s Vinyl, the powerful Voodoo priest Papa Midnite was shown to be a self-serving individual that is neither good nor completely evil. He has a penchant for collecting powerful artifacts (as evidenced in him going after the acetate) and feels that Constantine lacks respect for the supernatural.
In Danse Vaudou, Papa Midnite and Constantine form an uneasy alliance when Papa Midnite’s own magic in raising the dead goes awry (unintended effects due to the Rising Darkness). At the end, after Constantine leaves, we see Papa Midnite communicate with his dead sister, whose soul is in Hell, via her enchanted skull.
Manny
Constantine’s quest isn’t without guidance though. Whether Constantine finds him annoying or not, Manny, an angel, counsels Constantine in certain times of need. Although he can be cryptic and slightly condescending, Manny has shown that he cares for Constantine. As evidenced in a conversation in Rage of Caliban, Manny has watched over Constantine for most of his life, even during Constantine’s bout with an attempted suicide.
Manny’s involvement with Constantine’s affairs isn’t without complications though. As an angel, he cannot directly intervene in human affairs, but when a fallen angel threatened Zed’s life in Blessed are the Damned, Manny broke his neutrality.
Mid-Season Finale Cliffhanger
In The Saint of Last Resorts, Anne-Marie Flynn (told you we’d come back to her), now a nun and still bitter from the Newcastle Incident, recruits Constantine to help her in the investigation of an infant abduction. Towards the end of the episode, Constantine recovers the infant and also discovers that the Brujeria, a cult of extremely powerful South American warlocks, are behind the Rising Darkness and the kidnapping — the infant was to be used as a means to merge Hell and Earth.
As Constantine and Anne-Marie try to escape, they’re cornered by an Invunche. Anne-Marie shoots Constantine so the Invunche would go after him, allowing her to get away. As Constantine lies wounded, the Invunche approaches.
Meanwhile, back at Jasper Winters’s home, Zed has been pursued by people wanting her to return to her “family.” It seems that Zed’s guarded history was for the purposes of eluding the people after her. Taken by surprise, Zed is sedated and abducted.
Final Thoughts
The first eight episodes have certainly given us a roller coaster ride. But with only four more episodes left in the season after The Saint of Last Resorts: Part 2, Constantine will surely pick up the pace and tension even more. After all, this is the fate of the world we’re talking about. It’s unknown if the Brujeria will be a continuing antagonist in further seasons, but from what they’ve done so far, they’re definitely a worthy adversary for our powerful con artist mage.
The mid-season premiere of NBC’s Constantine will air at its new timeslot on Friday, January 16, 2015 at 8:00PM EST.