Constantine (1×04) Review - “A Feast of Friends”

Constantine’s best episode of the young season

Constantine had slow start with the pilot to kick off the season, and a lot of it was due to the need to lay out all the ground rules for this occult universe. The CW’s Supernatural also had its work cut out in having to necessarily establish these rules in order to help viewers understand how their world works, and this is an advantage for Constantine because there are many viewers who are familiar with Supernatural, and although this is a different show entirely, it’s always a bonus to be somewhat familiar with the content. The first three episodes have done a good job of creating the shows own identity which brings us to “A Feast of Friends,” which elevated the standards of this show. The episode opens up with Gary Lester, a former friend of John’s who has come back from a trip to the Sudan along with a demon he’s captured in a bottle – until he’s interrogated by airport security and it gets out! Of course, when a situation like this breaks out we all turn to one man: John Constantine. What’s this demons ability and who is Gary Lester? Read on and discover more about Constantine’s best episode yet.

There’s a solution to end the world’s hunger, but it’s a far from good one

The demon in this episode originated out of Sudan, and managed to travel overseas because of John’s old friend Gary Lester, a drug addict that clearly has his own conflicts with him from the past. What is this demon you ask? In Sudan, a local shaman couldn’t handle the starvation of his people, so he sacrificed a young man and trapped this demon inside of him; a demon of hunger. The demon possesses an individual’s body so they continuously eat, and eventually die. It was a cool concept to tie the demon in to real world problems that take place all over the world.

John makes it quite clear that Gary isn’t one to be trusted because of past issues and his drug problem, which Zed (Angelica Celaya) can’t seem to look past. John also made a visit to an old shaman friend of his own, to share his vision and discover the origin of the demon. To do this though, he had to eat something that gave him a major trip, as some form of extreme high. This was a very funny scene as John looked totally out of it compared to usual while he was experiencing this, and simply because those who are high on television look hilarious.

Gary wasn’t a very intriguing character to start. He was more or so a bit too nervous and gave a first impression of a character you don’t want to keep up with. That was until he and John had a heart to heart conversation at the bar, which was an awesome feel-good moment after Zed touched him and felt all of his pain and suffering – which of course, John thought was just “bollocks!” The story here is about one of their former friends, whose daughter Astra was caught by a demon and dragged to hell, while Gary was a coward and hid. It really was nice to see him trying to make amends with John.

“Get it in you mate. We’ve got a demon to catch… Together.” – John Constantine

The ultimate showdown featured something popular in occult tales, a reverse sacrifice. John realized that because the demon was created through sacrifice, it had to be eliminated or contained in the same manner. Gary was the live human body chosen for this sacrifice and John completed his task thoroughly – carving designs into Gary’s head after using the spell to trap the demon inside him. Though it was messy as expected, this was another occult element that was needed in a show that’s fully revolved around that sort of world. This was a great step taken in Constantine, in the fact that they were able to establish some rules without having to sacrifice some of the story.

The darkness is slowly making progress

We’ve been warned throughout every episode now about the greater darkness that’s on the way. In last week’s big episode Papa Midnite (Michael James Shaw) revealed hints at “The First of the Fallen” – the devil himself. Is he the big bad for the season, or the entire series? These demons that are beginning to appear seem to be stronger than what John’s had to deal with before, and it’s a possibility everything’s just making a routine change in the supernatural world but that would be too simple. It could be the devil sending his stronger demons as a test for a possible takeover, but we don’t know much since little has actually been revealed.

This also brings us to Manny (Harold Perrineau), the angel who constantly watches over Constantine (we just had to say that). He appeared a few times in this episode to ensure Zed could handle the line of work, and if John was willing to do what was necessary to complete the task at hand. What we don’t understand is why he’s teasing John about the darkness, by way of little hints here and there, rather than explain the entire situation. We’d like to see more of Manny and his involvement in the big plot, and since it’s obvious he knows a lot more than he lets on, hopefully he’ll see reason and open up more to John, who’s done a lot more for him already.

Overall, these demons spreading amongst humans are the work of something great possibly building it’s strength, but only time will tell, so for now stay on the edge of your seats with the hype!

Final Verdict

Constantine’s actors took another step for their characters – well at least some of them did. There was little of Chas (Charles Halford) before and there was none of him in “A Feast of Friends.” Matt Ryan did an excellent job in showing us more of John’s emotions, especially when he slightly had some tears while discussing Astra with Gary. Angelica Celaya’s Zed wasn’t on screen as much again this week but she continued to push John’s emotions like she usually does when she feels he’s being stubborn beyond tolerance, which she will have to continue to do along the way. She wanted Gary to redeem himself because of her vision while John thought he was beyond redemption earlier on. Harold Perrineau also displayed some unfamiliar emotion at the end when John was feeling for Gary, which was a great addition to Manny’s personality (if he has one). Jonjo O’Neill was the new face to the series and while his character was a paranoid high end drug addict, he put in a solid effort in portraying a character with so many complex issues.

The visuals were an immediate problem in the pilot and looked very sub-par. Just three episodes later and there’s a noticeable difference. The effects for the bugs looked very cool and much more believable than the ground cracking. John’s extreme experience on that high was also very pleasant to the eye with the visuals of the burning light. Constantine will keep looking better and better as the show runners continue to develop their effects and enhance the show’s appearance, and because of the improvements it enables viewers to better observe the action required for a supernatural show – lots of credit to the effects team!

This week, there were many supernatural elements used as opposed to before, and that’s a major bonus for a show of this nature. The story (and back story) made perfect sense with the addition of many elements (sacrifice, spells, rare herbs/drugs, visions, the mystical blade, etc) and great performances from the actors, which enabled “A Feast of Friends” to be the best episode of Constantine’s young season so far.

Questions, Comments & Concerns…

• Could Zed’s visions possibly hurt her if they’re powerful enough?
• Great usage of supernatural elements; this should continue.
• Manny should become more involved since he’s the one who needed John’s help, regardless of his situation.