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Constantine Review – S01E10 – Quid Pro Quo

By Steve Lam

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Constantine‘s tenth episode of the season, Quid Pro Quo, is a well-paced installment that satisfies some long-standing questions and allows each character to shine.  With great character motivations paired with a ticking time clock, Quid Pro Quo was an explosive (it kind of literally was) episode.

Spoilerific Recap

At night, overlooking New York City, a cloaked figure conjures dark forces.  As a little girl plays with her doll, black smoke infiltrates her room and encompasses her.

At Jasper Winters’s home, Constantine demands to know what Zed has been running from.  She tells him about the Resurrection Crusade cult — a group whose leader believes that Zed is crucial to his vision of the future.  Not satisfied with her answer, Constantine wants to know more.  Zed reveals that the leader is her father.  Glancing at the scryed map, Zed notices a signal on New York City.  Constantine tells Zed that Chas is headed to Brooklyn to visit his daughter.

As Chas drives, he recollects back to two years ago.  In a bar, a drunk Constantine is worried about Chas’s state-of-mind after a night of drinking.  To remedy this, Constantine haphazardly chants a protection spell which, not surprisingly, does nothing.  As Constantine leaves to go upstairs with a girl, a band comes on stage to play.  It’s not long before a fire breaks out and everything goes to chaos.  Chas tries his best to save a girl, but is overwhelmed by the fire himself.

Zed informs Constantine that several people in Brooklyn have fallen into comas.  As Constantine packs his required items, he shows Zed the sinew from Achilles — Chas’s favorite trick and a way to paralyze magical opponents.

Chas arrives home and finds that his ex-wife, Renee, has already tucked in their daughter, Geraldine, without letting him say goodnight to her.  After a brief argument, Chas goes upstairs to see Geraldine.  Entering her room, he discovers her on the floor in a coma (she’s the young girl at the start of the episode).

Arriving at the hospital, Constantine and Zed pass numerous coma patients.  After performing a quick examination of Gerladine, Constantine tells Chas that even though Geraldine is alive, her soul has departed.  They only have a day’s time to retrieve her soul before she truly dies.  Constantine’s first step is to seek out a medium who will contact Geraldine.  As Renee enters, she shows total disdain for Constantine.

Flashing back to the past, Chas, in a hospital room, awakens to Renee and Geraldine.  All three are amazed that he’s alive because he died on the night of the fire.

Constantine, Zed, and Chas arrive at an army surplus store where they have a brief confrontation with an uncooperative Fennel — a medium.  As Chas neutralizes the situation, they make Fennel perform a seance.  Channeling Gerladine first, a dark entity soon takes control of Fennel and greets Constantine.  Reluctant to identify itself, the entity chants an incantation and causes Fennel to self-immolate.

Knowing that the spell that killed Fennel is contained in one of five books hidden around the world, Constantine’s next step is to locate the book nearest to them.  Zed holds the spell in an attempt to track it.  She is quickly brought into a vision where she’s able to read the words “Haskins Railroad Yard.”  She’s soon attacked by a cloaked figure.  Exiting the vision, Zed has suffered a wound from the assailant.

At Haskins Railroad Yard, Constantine discovers a magically hidden building.  Entering, they find the cloaked figure to be Felix Faust — a powerful mage.  Felix agrees to free Geraldine’s soul if Constantine performs a task for him — cast a demon, that’s been feeding off of Felix’s powers, to hell.  Constantine agrees and makes a blood oath with Felix.  Outside, due to Chas’s inability to stay objective, Constantine forces him leave.

At the warehouse where the demon is hiding, Constantine and Zed prepare the site.  When Constantine sights the demon, it proves to be extremely elusive.  They form a plan to attract the demon to them.

Flashing back, Chas arrives at a bar asking Constantine how he was able to survive.  Constantine reveals that the protection spell he cast that night actually worked.  The spell was originated by Merlin who used it to protect King Arthur — if a knight is in the presence of other knights who die, that knight will gain their lives.  Because Chas was in the presence of forty-seven people who perished, he can now be resurrected forty-seven times.

Back in the present, Zed volunteers herself to be used as bait.  When the demon is about to consume Zed, Constantine’s lighter fails to ignite.  As a last resort, he runs at the demon and electrocutes it with a cattle prod, killing it.

At the hospital, Constantine and Zed enter to more comatose patients.  They retrieve Chas, but Renee is also adamant in going.  After an argument with Constantine, Renee agrees to stay behind, with Zed keeping her company.

Constantine and Chas meet with Felix, expecting him to carry out his end of the bargain.  Because Constantine destroyed the demon instead of casting it back to Hell, Felix changes the terms of their agreement — to keep Gerladine alive, he demands that Constantine and Chas perform more deeds for him.  Outside, Chase argues with Constantine about giving in to Felix.  Frustrated, Chas knocks Constantine out and goes back inside to confront Felix.

Flashing back to one of Geraldine’s birthday parties, Chas arrives late and ends up in an argument with Renee.  Because of the forty-seven lives he now has, Chas feels that it’s his duty to make each life count.  Renee, however, wants Chas’s obligations to be with her and Geraldine.

Meeting with Felix again, Chas offers up his soul and thirty-two others.  When Felix refuses to believe him, Chas takes his knife out and slits his own throat.

Back at the hospital, Zed offers to help Renee communicate with Geraldine.  Successful at first, Zed is suddenly overwhelmed and falls to the ground in debilitating pain.  On the floor, Renee finds Zed’s open purse.  In it, she discovers a piece of paper with Felix’s address.

As Chas comes back to life, Felix quickly agrees to the deal.  Chas offers a handshake to seal the agreement.  Constantine enters and begs Chas not to go through with it.  Shaking Felix’s hand, Chas binds him with the sinew from Achilles.  Chas reveals a grenade to Felix — now, Felix will die, but Chas will still be resurrected.  Renee runs in just as Chas detonates the grenade.

In a final flashback, Chas asks Constantine to remove the spell.  Unable to do so, Constantine tells Chas to use his new talents to battle the forces of evil.

Chas arrives home and visits Geraldine.  He presents to her a photo album of the forty-seven people who died, giving him his abilities.

At the hospital, Zed comes to consciousness.  Constantine tells her that her novice psychic skills were overwhelmed by the spirit world.  As a still tired Zed turns to go back to sleep, she tells Constantine that his mother said her death wasn’t his fault.

“Hell” Yeah! Moments

  • Chas showing just how hardcore he is when he kills himself right in front of Felix Faust.
  • Chas pulling a fast one on Felix Faust.

The Devil is in the Details (References)

  • One of the objects Constantine packs is from Aleister Crowley — in Hellblazer, Crowley has ties to Nergal, the demon that murdered Astra and took her soul.
  • The band, Lillian Axe, that was used for the fire scene had originally record a song called 47 Ways to Die.  The production team didn’t find this out until after the shoot.
  • The demon that Felix Faust wants Constantine to cast back into Hell may be a Hellhound.  Further research will be needed.
  • The Alder Stone that was given to Constantine by Felix Faust to track down the demon, is actually a real object used by practitioners of magic.
  • This episode was based on the Hellblazer graphic novel All His Engines (January 2005).

Final Thoughts

Quid Pro Quo is definitely one of the strongest episodes to-date.  With a forward-moving plot and revelations into past histories, Quid Pro Quo kept things fresh and interesting.

There have been a lot of speculations on Chas Chandler and his abilities.  How did he get his new gifts that weren’t present in the comics?  When did he get these gifts?  Did he even attain them, or was he born with them?  These questions were all fully answered tonight, and Hellblazer fans can be comforted that Constantine didn’t retcon or change anything about the character.  The writers intelligently made it a temporary talent.

Zed’s past was revealed a bit more tonight also.  Constantine has now learned that Zed escaped from the Resurrection Crusade, and that her father is the leader of that cult.  Will we see Elder Martin in the next few episodes?  Or will this be a story arc that the writers will spread across a few seasons, provided that Constantine is renewed?

This was a great episode and it addressed open questions first proposed in the pilot, Non Est Asylum.  On top of that, they were able to balance some great character work with some mythology-building.  It would be hard to believe that NBC wouldn’t renew this for a second season to see where all this is going.

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