Posted in: Movies | Tagged: constantine, eclipso, entertainment, matt ryan, nbc, television, The Black Diamond, Zed Martin

The Six Important Moments From This Week's Constantine

There will be spoilers here from last night's Constantine… so leave now if you haven't watched it and want to be surprised.

The fate of NBC's Constantine is still up in the air with the season finale coming up next week, but this week's episode has the very important moment. Most of which shows that the series is really hitting its stride. Hopefully enough folks have noticed to save the show. The series got off to a bumpy start, besides premiering later than the rest, the switch from Liv Aberdine to Zed Martin threw things off enough to make it a few episodes in before we really got to see what this show could be. The show that was on last night deserves to keep going.

But let's get to the important moments.

1) One of the main themes of this episode is the cost of magic. The cost John has been paying is the lives of the people he cares about. Chas pays with the extra souls he has. We find out now that the cost of Zed's ability is a tumor in her brain. This is the source of the pain she feels and may end up killing her… but removing it may take away her abilities. She chooses to keep the tumor rather than risk losing her ability. She gets the chance to ask Manny where her powers come from, if they are good or evil. He never gives her an exact answer, but enough of one to help her make her choice. It's also interesting to note that Zed can now see Manny… which may be a good thing, or may be a bad thing.

2) Speaking of Manny, John pulls a cute trick last night trapping many in a human host. Making him deal with the emotions and temptations of humanity. This was a big learning step for the angel as he was no longer just observing man, but he was literally getting a chance to walk in man's shoes. And thanks to the doctor he was locked into having a very amorous girlfriend, Manny got to feel some of the better sensations of being human. But the bigger thing here is John needed Manny to be there. Part of who Constantine is has to do with his persona, the bravado he gives off. Its what gives the others the ability to face the approaching darkness as they believe he believes they can do this. But Zed's condition through John for a loop. He feared losing Zed and he felt guilty for putting her in the position in the first place. Manny is the only one John can be weak in front of and at this point in the war I think John is feeling overwhelmed.

3) The villain of the week here is another moment where the writers tease us with what could be if the series is allowed to continue. The villain himself didn't matter, it's what caused him… a fragment from the Heart of a Black Diamond. The fact that Constantine has a part of it… now a bigger part of it… is like him having the Helm of Fate. It's a promise of more and in this case, that more is Eclipso. A classic DC villain who has taken on the Justice League many times (like Felix Faust has) and who uses the Black Diamond to steal souls. A character like Eclipso could be a villain for a whole season they way Arrow used Malcolm Merlyn and Slade Wilson. And he could be made to fit into the NBC / DC universe easily enough.

4) John calls on God to stop the Black Diamond. Not too long ago, John was about to be killed and instead of calling on the heavens for help, he decided to allow himself to be possessed to save his life. Manny lectured him about taking in the darkness and never even asking for help. Even though he is working on the side of the Angels, Constantine has a problem with them and their hands off approach so for John asking for help is a huge step and more of a sign that he is in way over his head. But he's still Constantine… he doesn't barter. No promise to give up anything in exchange. He simply notes he hasn't asked for anything before and then asks for help… which he gets.

5) You can tell the writers feel more comfortable with what they are doing now, not only in the stories, but in a symbolic yet important moment last night. Manny burns the scry map that John has been using to find the events tied to the rising darkness. The scry map was the one thing left over from Liv's character (besides Jasper's mill house). In the pilot Liv seemed like the character the network wanted to make the show more palatable to the general audience. She didn't work nor did the scry map concept and it was obvious. As the show has figured out what it is, the map has been used less and less. It's destruction last night was the show kicking off its training wheels and saying "let's roll".

6) The end of the show takes place in a church and its where we learn Zed can see Manny. But it's also where John makes his symbolic transition from the network Constantine to Hellblazer. After telling Zed that he wakes up every morning and plays out a scenario in his head where he goes through a list of everyone he cares about and imagines them dead. This allows him to do what he has to do. When Zed asks what he does next he says, "I fry an egg and grab a ciggy." She realizes that she is now on that list of friends. This is as sentimental and open as the character will ever get. Then as a nod to the audience, John lights up in the church using a communion candle. How do I know this was a symbolic gesture of John's transformation to Hellblazer? Executive producer Daniel Cerone:

Next week is the season finale and then NBC has some decisions to make. You can help push them in the right direction by commenting on social media using the hash tag #SaveConstantine. Because every thing I've heard is that the network wants this show to work and though the overnights are not promising, when the +3 and +7 numbers are added in the show jump usually another million viewers each time.

And addressing the rumors of a move to the SyFy Channel. That started as a suggestion from a website as one of the possible things NBC could do with the show since they own SyFy and a marathon of the series they ran there did very well. But there has been no whispers or anything about it being the real fate of the series yet.

And now the latest To Hell And Back that goes with last night's episode.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/DFU7vIQY9hk[/youtube]

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