This episode of Constantine is set in a western area of Pennsylvania, where John becomes a savior to a small mining community. The episode starts with a miner ending his day and heading home. He’s already upset, who can blame him? Mining isn’t for everyone. In the shower, his water suddenly turns to mud, before shutting off completely. Argh!!! Flames shoot from the shower head, lighting the poor miner on fire. Come on NBC! Miners have it bad enough as is.
John Constantine is headed to Heddwich, Pennsylvania. A montage shows the female artist, who was drawing Constantine in the last episode. She runs out on the streets and runs right into Constantine. A conversation reveals that the artist has dreams about Constantine, which leads to the drawings. John dropped his license, which the artist picks up and quickly learns John’s full name.
Inside of a bar, John makes small chat with a miner, before dropping a political joke about fracking. He follows it up with another lame joke, involving a dragon being the evil culprit. John makes his way to the mines and begins exploring the darkness. Something underneath the surface seems be following his every footstep. Uh oh! A mine collapse? Ah! Impeccable commercial timing.
Back in Heddwich, everyone is gathering at the house of the slain miner. While everyone is bringing nice gifts, Constantine brings a frozen dinner. Is this guy stupid or are the writers just really silly? Constantine investigates the bathroom and has a run in with Lannis’ wife (Leisha Hailey). She begins to tell Constantine a story, which ends with no merits, before she begins somewhat flirting with John, before kicking him out. Now, the entire town is after Constantine. He does a pretty decent job defending himself, before being overwhelmed by the boss of the mine.
Constantine explains his theory about an evil entity coming out of the mine to attack the miners, before being told to go home. Constantine enters an all-pink room and encounters Zed. Zed quickly unravels John’s secrets including his fake check-in name and him booking the honeymoon suite. Zed grabs John’s arm and begins to see everything. Now, she wants answers and John agrees to grant her wishes.
Constantine plays a mean trick on Zed and makes her experience the last moments of Lannis. Zed simply agrees to become John’s mindless follower, without questioning anything. Of course, he escapes out the window, before she coming to her senses. Constantine fines his way to the cross and church that was visible in Zed’s dream. He enters and catches a couple having intercourse inside. After shooing the two from the church, John begins his ritual and starts speaking in tongues, before dosing himself in water, which causes him to see a black figure.
Back to the show and Zed is searching the local bar for John. She shares a conversation about faith with a father of a former miner. She turns to her apartment, where she finds John asleep on her couch surrounded by paintings, drawings and charcoal sketches of himself. Finally, John explains his profession to Zed and demands answers of his own. Zed is keen on avoiding the questions. The pair are quickly growing romantic towards one another, before a mine collapse interrupts their romance.
John discovers that the miners heard knocking, before the mine collapsed. Constantine jumps into the miner boss’ son’s car and discusses the evil history of the mines. John explains the severity of the mine and the fact that they must shut down the mine to protect the town. The car begins to fill with water, as a hand jerks the boss’ son under. Zed quickly pries the door open, with a crowbar, which saves Constantine. However, the miner boss’ son wasn’t so lucky.
A filthy Constantine walks the streets, with Zed, as the two discuss the situation. It seems that something is climbing to the surface and causing chaos for the town. Constantine seems to think that someone has a hand in helping the spirits. The two meet up at the bar, at night. Zed informs Constantine about Ellis, whose miner son died in the mines. Constantine makes Zed enter the dream world again and she begins to see a waterfall and tent, which Constantine discovers must be a campsite. The bartender explains that Rooster Creek is the closest campground nearby, as the two magically appear at the campground.
Constantine and the former church member being speaking in tongues to one another. The preacher explains that the men above ground that were killed were not miners, but bosses. Now, we’re off to collect spray paint. Thad Bowman is prepared to enter the mine and explore, with his son, who suggests otherwise.
The two explore, before they’re attacked and we hit another commercial break. The show returns, with Constantine wielding two pickaxes in the mines. After a quick prayer, the spirit vanishes and John discovers that Thad is dead, but his son Nathan is alive. The crew leave and emerge outside. It seems that Zed felt that the priest needed to see the end of the mines. The priest is given the honors of blowing up the mines and putting an end to the killing.
Of course, it isn’t over yet. Constantine needs to put a stop to the one that brought the spirits into the mines in the first place. He ends up at Lannis’ wife’s house and is confronted by numerous spirits. Constantine knew all along that it was her, who was summoning the spirits. She commands the spirits to attack John, which they do, before he is able to convince Lannis’ spirit to claim revenge on his wife. Despite being a little shook up, Constantine is safe.
After returning to the honeymoon suite, Constantine attempts to light up a smoke!!! NBC is toying with viewers on this one. Of course, Zed’s presence stops his actions. He warns her that everyone, who trusts him, eventually dies. John falls asleep on the bed.
Review
I might as well face it. I somewhat like watching Constantine. However, the show is lacking. Matt Ryan does a good job of bringing the comic book character to life. Angelica Celaya was interesting enough as Zed. However, there is definitely something missing. There isn’t really a central struggle or evil villain that maintains an interest from episode to episode.
Overall, the episode was good, but not great. Of course, this is only the second episode and the show has time to improve. However, since it is on NBC, the show doesn’t have a lot of time. Hopefully, they’ll be able to put a little heart into the next few episodes and create a lasting evil that can give viewers something to look forward to each week. At this point, the most interesting aspect of the show is how the writers are going to get away with imaginary cigarettes each week. The episode deserves a 7 out of 10 and I really hope it gets better.
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Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.
