Let's talk Constantine....

Okay, sorry to disagree with our renowned TV critic, but this latest episode was excellent and did a great job on introducing Papa Midnite. Far from being a procedural cop drama, this is now bringing the truly anarchic and dangerous Constantine into play.

The inspired use of The Pistols soundtrack while the action was heating up was a great idea. Constantine's character is starting to develop as a major risk taker, just as he was in the original comic.

Recommended by a fucking lowbrow shit.

ThirstyMan wrote: Recommended by a fucking lowbrow shit.

Leave me out of this.

I liked it, and I liked that they didn't work the kissy kissy part that they seemed to have in store in the prior episode.

The show seems to be working the bits and pieces very well. Nice attention to detail.

S.

I think the show is good so far, overall.

The network still seems to be playing it safe, and I think this holds it back from being great to just being good.

It would have been better if this were the second episode. I understand they had to do a lot of back-filling in episode two to introduce the new "Replacement Girl #1" character, but it was pretty dull. This one was much better.

I see what you mean with regards to the network playing it safe. To really push it, as a show, it needs to go to the dubious moral choices that Constantine continually had to make. I think it is definitely getting there. I like the idea that they are showing Constantine is not completely sure of the effects of his amateur magic and sometimes it is downright dangerous.

Papa Midnite is a great character from the comic as is Zed. I thought at one point it was heading to the Robert Johnson legend but then it changed to being the voice of the First which was a better plot choice given the arc revolves around Miltonian Hell.

I've only watched the first two episodes, which are basically back-to-back pilots. The show hasn't exactly hooked me yet. I agree I feel like the network is playing it a little safe and it feels a lot like Grimm. I'll keep checking it out though.

The wife and I watched the second episode last night with the third likely this weekend.
We've been entertained so far, the character seems charismatic enough but not a fan of Chaz. We'll keep watching to see where it goes, not wowed but hooked enough to continue plus it is different enough to record and use our two or so hours a week we get for tv on the show.

I just caught the third and fourth episodes on Hulu. They more than made up for the lackluster second episode revolving around the miners. I was interested before, but I'm in now.

Are folks here still watching Constantine? I just watched episode 10 last night, and I thought it was fantastic.

I dig their Constantine. I dig how they're cherry-picking great bits from the comic as well as the wider DCU. I dig the creepy, detailed magic, which makes the Winchester brothers look like fakers. And I dig the big-boy network budget! I even dig how they try to contrive ways to almost make it look like John smokes cigarettes and drinks beer.

If they couldn't get a real cable channel like HBO or even Starz to pick up the show, they shouldn't have bothered with putting Constantine on network tv. Because then they can't get really edgy like the Vertigo comic, leaving Constantine looking like a Supernatural ripoff to the average tv viewer.

Sorry you're not enjoying it. Me, I'm not finding too much missing from the Hellblazer comics I read (or the Swamp Thing comics I read before that where JC first appeared). The TV stories are just as creepy and disturbing, and Constantine is just as much of an arrogant bastard. And they're even stepping through the main events of his background (like Newcastle) without softening them.

Do you know if it's considered to be a "successful" series? I heard it wasn't doing so well but I have no idea. To my mind, the main thing that prevented civilian TV viewers from getting aboard is the series name. Hellblazer isn't a great name by any stretch, but at least it wouldn't look like a cop show in a TV listing.

They halted production for now, but it hasn't (yet) been axed. I was enjoying it, though.

I love this show. They got John pretty perfect. I like Chas, too. Zed is nice on the eyes, but that girl can't act to save her life.

I'm hoping for season 2 wherever. Syfy sucks for me because I don't have cable, but I'd be happy that it continues regardless.

NBC didn't option it for the full season treatment (only 13 episodes instead of the usual 20-24), which bodes ill for it. Definitely not considered successful when that happens.

But at least NBC recognizes that is has a very devoted following. Which is why there is no definite call on cencellation. I heard vague rumors online about it being placed within NBC sister company, Syfy, for continuation under the Hellblazer moniker. I'm not a fan of syfy in general, but they handled galactica well so there is hope that we can see the more edgy side of constantine that makes him unique among the mainstream supernatural tropes.

I hope it continues, regardless of where its placed.

I gotta say I was stunned & delighted when Felix Faust made an appearance. Very cool fusion of classic old DCU continuity and the Vertigo-filtered Constantine.

In general, I'm really happy with the way they do ritual magic on the show. It seems as if the writers have actually done research into historical forms and traditions of black magic (as opposed to the JK Rowling method of cracking puns and making up goofy-sounding magic words).

I'm also really impressed with the show's SFX. That invisible demon tiger (or whatever the hell that was) in the Faust story was fantastic & terrifying.

But the most remarkable special effect to me on the show is the damn actor. When I think about the number of ways they could have botched the casting (i.e., Keanu Reeves), I have to acknowledge that. Crikey, he looks so much like those painted Glenn Fabry covers it's scary.

Fingers crossed it gets renewed or given a good home elsewhere.