Harold Perrineau

Beginning directly after the gut-wrenching ending of the midseason finale, ” The Saint of Last Resorts Part 2″ takes one of the series’ biggest risks yet, by having John Constantine (Matt Ryan) literally bond with a demon to save his life after his old lover Anne-Marie (Claire van der Bloom) shot him because she wasn’t willing to have him sacrifice another innocent to save his skin. Constantine’s new status quo is riveting as, possessed by the Assyrian hunger demon Pazuzu, John slaughters members of a pretty scary Mexican gang and gets thrown in prison, where Chas (Charles Halford) and Zed (Angelica Celaya) must enter and exorcise the demon, or kill him if all else fails. There is also the “Rising Darkness”, but over the course of the season, this have become laughable, even if a big name is thrown in this episode. This inconsistency also extends to the characters of Manny (Harold Perrineau) and Anne-Marie, as writer Mark Verheiden possibly uses the former as an example of Heaven’s impotence in the coming struggle (Constantine’s theology and cosmology is becoming sketchier by the episode) and the latter where the plot dictates. There is also a slight dip in the special effects after the heights of the fallen angel a few episodes back.

So far, the world of Constantine has mostly been filled with frightening demons, cursed objects, and people working under their thrall. “Blessed Are the Damned” looks at the lighter side of the equation, but this episode might be the scariest one yet. Zachary (Patrick Carroll), the pastor of a struggling church, gets healing powers when he is lethally bitten by a rattlesnake while trying one of his father’s old snake-handling routines. This leads to him become a popular cult figure. What seems to be yet another expose about religious fundamentalism becomes an in-depth look at faith, doubt, and free-will, with many trademark John Constantine wisecracks, written by Sneho Koorse and delivered with aplomb by Matt Ryan, in the funniest episode of Constantine so far. After taking last week off, Zed (Angelica Celaya) comes to the forefront, as traces of her belief in a “helping hand” are revealed and rewarded when she meets the angel Imogen (Megan West). Also, Manny (Harold Perrineau) gets something to do other than annoy Constantine and remind viewers of “the Rising Darkness”, and gets a defining character moment towards the end of “Blessed Are the Damned”.

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