Constantine Review – S01E09 – The Saint Of Last Resorts: Part 2

NBC’s Constantine returns from its mid-season hiatus with a vengeance.  The Saint of Last Resorts: Part 2 is a blood-filled adventure that sees John Constantine and his friends working against the clock in a bid to exorcise Constantine from the demon Pazuzu.

Spoilerific Recap

Directly picking up from the conclusion of The Saint of Last Resorts, the Invunche approaches and attacks Constantine.  Constantine quickly summons the demon Pazuzu into him, which causes the Invunche to retreat and Constantine to instantly heal from his wounds.  Manny suddenly appears.  Angered and disappointed by Constantine’s reckless behavior in allowing the Devil’s evil inside of him, he tells Constantine that he won’t help him anymore.

Zed Martin, bound and lying next to a dead body in the back of a van, has a vision of Anne-Marie.  Waking from the vision, Zed tries to escape.  Her kidnapper pulls the van over in an attempt to subdue her again.  Seeing her opportunity, Zed attacks her abductor and plunges a syringe intended for her into his neck, rendering him unconscious.

Back in Mexico, Chas Chandler comes to the aid of Constantine.  Revealing that he is now possessed by Pazuzu, Constantine’s plan is to exorcise himself.  Pazuzu quickly surfaces and takes over Constantine.  Attacking and overpowering Chas, Constantine runs off into the night.

Chas contacts Zed for assistance and gives her Constantine’s current condition.  At an unknown location, Constantine awakens in the middle of the street to a scene of carnage.  He’s quickly taken into custody by a Mexican SWAT team.

At a prison, Constantine meets Stanley Gibson, a representative of the British Consulate.  Gibson informs Constantine that he’s charged with the murder of five members of the Santa Muerte — a violent street gang.  Constantine is quickly taken away when he lunges at Gibson for not being able to get him released.

As Zed arrives, Chas tells her that once Pazuzu fully takes over, Constantine will be cast into Hell and Pazuzu will roam the Earth.  Zed forms a plan to force Anne-Marie to use her astral projection powers to find Constantine.

In the prison yard, Constantine, using money he pick-pocketed from Gibson, makes a deal with another prisoner, Julio.  As Julio leads Constantine into an alleyway, Manny takes over Julio.  Manny still needs Constantine and hopes that he can identify the ones responsible for the Rising Darkness.  Julio quickly returns, and Constantine only requests that he take him to the prison chapel.

At a cathedral, Chas and Zed confront Anne-Marie.  Still refusing to help, Anne-Marie’s mind is changed when Zed mentions that Constantine has the ability to communicate with an angel.

In Gibson’s office, a mysterious man question’s Gibson about Constantine.  After learning that Gibson has arranged Constantine to be held in prison for an indefinite amount of time, the man unleashes his supernatural side and attacks Gibson.

In the prison chapel, Constantine rummages through the closets and drawers for holy relics.  Soon, three Santa Muerte members enter — Julio was paid off by the gang.  As Constantine warns the men not to provoke him, Pazuzu takes over and brutally kills all of them.

Constantine awakens in the prison yard.  Fearing him after the events in the chapel, the prisoners quickly disperse.  As Anne-Marie’s astral projection locates him, he tells her that he’s ready to die.  Promising to pray for him, Anne-Marie disappears.

Arriving at the prison, Zed and Chas plan to exorcise Constantine — they will use a recording of Constantine performing incantations.  If the exorcism fails, they will have to use a ceremonial Tibetan phurba dagger to kill him.  Zed enters the prison under the guise of a prostitute making a conjugal visit.  Chas, lacking Zed’s charms, opts to assault a guard, which gets him instantly arrested and incarcerated.

Reuniting with Constantine, Zed, Chas, and Anne-Marie prepare for the exoricsm.  At that moment, Gibson, dressed in the clothes of the man with the supernatural abilities, enters the gates of the prison.  Closing in on Constantine’s location, the man’s head suddenly morphs into multiple writhing snakes.  As Anne-Marie starts the exorcism, they discover that too much time has passed, allowing Pazuzu to embed himself even deeper inside of Constantine.  The man interrupts them and reveals himself to be Vicente, the trickster — the original serpent from the Garden of Eden.  The Brujeria released Vicente so that he could bring darkness to the world.  Knowing that Constantine will soon be taken over by Pazuzu, Vicente would rather partner with the powerful demon.  When Chas attempts to fight Vicente, he’s quickly killed.  Anne-Marie takes the Tibetan phurba and plunges it into Vicente — killing him and disintegrating the dagger in the process.

As Constantine comes back to consciousness in the prison infirmary, Chas, with his abilities, is also resurrected.  They form a plan to sedate Constantine with a massive dose of narcotics, giving them enough time to bring him back to Jasper Winters’s house.  Enlisting the help of Julio, they collect heroin from multiple inmates.  As Constantine is successfully rendered unconscious, they attempt to leave the prison pretending to be caretakers with a patient.

At the front gates, Chas sees a guard who could identify him.  Anne-Marie forms an astral projection of herself in order to create a distraction.  The four are able to escape just as their ruse is discovered.

Finally reaching Winters’s house, they prepare for another exorcism attempt.  This time, Constantine requests that Anne-Marie, due to her faith and conviction, perform a Roman Catholic ritual.  Initially refusing, Anne-Marie is finally convinced when she understands that she’s Constantine and the world’s only hope.  Before she starts, she warns Zed and Chas that Pazuzu will use their weaknesses against them.

As Anne-Marie initiates the exorcism, Pazuzu immediately goes on the offensive.  With Pazuzu growing more and more powerful, Zed tells Anne-Marie that the exorcism is failing because of Anne-Marie’s own deep-seated guilt — she needs to forgive herself for introducing Constantine to the occult.  Re-establishing her faith, Anne-Marie commands Pazuzu back to Hell.  The exorcism is successful and a content Manny watches them from above.

As Anne-Marie departs to go back to Mexico, Constantine warns Zed and Chas to prepare for their stand against a great evil.

“Hell” Yeah! Moments

• Whenever Constantine went on a killing spree for the “right” reasons.  And when I mean “right reasons”, I mean going totally Hannibal Lecter on the Santa Muerte gang.
• Great visual effects for the Trickster.
• I have to add this in: it’s Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite (2004)!  I haven’t seen Efren Ramirez in a lot of stuff, but it was quite fun seeing him in this episode.

The Devil is in the Details (References)

• The First of the Fallen is mentioned by Manny.  He was the first being in the universe created by God and currently holds the title of Satan after Lucifer Morningstar left the post.  A detailed post about The Fallen and The First of the Fallen can be found here.
• Vicente, the Trickster, and his role as the snake in the Garden of Eden seems to be an invention of the television series.  The snake in the comics is actually The First of the Fallen.
• Nice homage to the Exorcist’s Regan MacNeil during Constantine’s exorcism.

Final Thoughts

With a lot of television shows returning from their mid-season break, Constantine’s return can be ranked as one of the top ones.  It starts out strong and never really lets up until the end.  Though some mysteries could’ve been introduced, The Saint of Last Resorts: Part 2 served its purpose — to wrap up the cliffhanger and segue into the final four episodes of this season.

It would’ve been great to dive a bit deeper into Zed’s past, and shed some more light on why her “family” wants her back (if you’ve a read and collected Hellblazer, you already know the answer).  We again saw Chas come back from the dead, and from Anne-Marie’s nonchalant reaction, it seems that she’s use to it.  So this is another area where exposition would’ve been appreciated.

I’m actually disappointed that NBC is still undecided on Constantine‘s fate for next season.  It seems that the characters are starting to find their stride and a real mythology is being built.  One season is not enough of a chance for a show like this.  I know I’ve made too many comparisons of this show to The CW’s Supernatural, but, conceptually, they are very much alike.  Supernatural was given time to build up, so it stands to reason that Constantine also requires some nurturing.  For such an expansive universe, you need to give it at least two seasons.  Payoffs for long-form narratives like television shows won’t be seen until the fourth or fifth seasons.

The Saint of Last Resorts: Part 2 stays as true as it can to the spirit of the comics without breaking network rules on violence and gore.  If you can catch it, it’s definitely an entertaining fast-paced hour … or forty-something minutes if your DVR strips out commercials.