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Constantine (TV series)

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Constantine
Based onCharacters published
by DC Comics
Developed by
Starring
ComposerBear McCreary
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes8 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
ProducerJames Spies
CinematographyRomero Tirone
Running time42–43 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseOctober 24, 2014 (2014-10-24) –
present

Constantine is an American television series developed by Daniel Cerone and David S. Goyer for NBC, based on characters appearing in the comic series Hellblazer published by DC Comics under their Vertigo imprint.[2] Matt Ryan stars as John Constantine. The series premiered on October 24, 2014.

Premise

From the popular DC comic book series "Hellblazer" comes John Constantine: a demon hunter and dabbling master of the occult who battles the demons and tricksters of Hell with a wicked wit and a dangerously deep understanding of the dark arts. Struggling with his past sins, his soul already damned to Hell for when he did the same to a child, John is pulled back into events of the demonic world after having given up on it. Now, he'll do whatever it takes to guard the innocent from the converging supernatural threats that constantly break through to our world, which occur more and more frequently, due to the "Rising Darkness". Balancing his actions upon the line of good and evil, Constantine uses his skills and a supernatural scry map to journey the nation to send these terrors back to their own world, all for the hope of redeeming his soul from eternal torment.

Cast and characters

Main

Recurring and guest

Episodes

No. Title Directed by Written by Original air date Production
code 		U.S. viewers
(millions)
1"Non Est Asylum"Neil MarshallStory by: Daniel Cerone & David S. Goyer
Teleplay by: Daniel Cerone		October 24, 2014 (2014-10-24)2968494.28[5]
Following a botched exorcism which caused a demon that he conjured to murder a girl named Astra, John Constantine, a self-proclaimed exorcist and master of the dark arts, is damned to Hell, and now recovers in an asylum. Constantine receives a supernatural warning there, which leads him to Liv Aberdine, who is unaware of a mysterious threat. Constantine gives her a pendant that belonged to her father Jasper Winters and allows her to see trapped souls all around her, and John introduces her to scrying, the art of learning where demonic activity will occur. He learns the identity of the demon chasing Aberdine, Furcifer, who draws strength from electricity. Constantine enlists help from Ritchie Simpson, a pill-popping, paranoid metaphysics professor, who refuses until Constantine threatens to name him as a witness to the botched exorcism. They manage to trap Furcifer and send him back to Hell. Liv later decides to leave town, but gives the scry map and the pendant to John to continue his work. He admits scaring her off on purpose, believing that exorcising is not for everybody. Elsewhere, a woman furiously creates many drawings of Constantine.
2"The Darkness Beneath"Steve ShillRockne S. O'BannonOctober 31, 2014 (2014-10-31)3J55533.06[6]
When a fresh drop of blood appears on the scry map, highlighting a small mining town in Western Pennsylvania, Constantine learns that several miners have been mysteriously killed. He deduces that these were caused by Coblynau, normally benign spirits of deceased miners who are being summoned and forced to kill. In town John bumps into Zed Martin, a woman with a mysterious past, and who recognizes him as the man who has been appearing in her visions. Constantine realizes that she has psychic powers, and uses her in his investigation of the town. They discover that the source of the curse is a Romani woman who summoned the spirits to punish the mine bosses and kill her husband. After the woman is killed by the spirits she summoned, Zed agrees to join in John's fight against the coming evil.
3"The Devil's Vinyl"Romeo TironeMark Verheiden & David S. GoyerNovember 7, 2014 (2014-11-07)3J55543.14[7]
John and Zed travel to Chicago, in search of Memphis bluesman Willy Cole's record, known as the Acetate. Legend has it that the Acetate contains the voice of the devil himself, which was recorded on when the devil came to claim Cole's soul during a recording session. The record is known to slowly freeze things on contact and anyone who hears the song becomes possessed and/or dies. John and Zed also learn that Papa Midnite, a voodoo priest, wants the record to avoid having his soul sent to Hell, and that Midnite's hired men, having become possessed themselves, also want to broadcast the song to as many people as possible. After preventing them from playing it on a radio station, Constantine is able to send it to Hell where it belongs with Papa Midnite swearing vengeance afterwards.
4"A Feast of Friends"John F. ShowalterCameron WelshNovember 14, 2014 (2014-11-14)3J55553.47[8]
Gary Lester (Jonjo O'Neill), an old friend of John's, found a boy in Sudan carved with Containment Patterns and successfully exorcised the demon into a container. He thought he was helping the boy, but the demon was too powerful, so Gary brought it to the US to take it to John. But he was held by Customs and the demon was released. John identifies it as the Hunger Demon from the news; Zed gets more information from Gary, via transference, and sketches out a vision that John believes he can use to contain the demon for good. He meets with Nommo, his shaman friend. Together they use a very powerful psychotropic substance to enter an altered state of consciousness and find out how the demon, named Mnemoth, can be stopped. It seems the only way is to trap it in a human body which will slowly die along with the demon. Knowing this, John takes Gary to trap the demon. Once aware of John's intentions, Gary agrees to be the human container so that his life would finally mean something and as a way to make amends for being a coward when Astra was pulled into Hell. John then takes him to the millhouse, where he holds Gary's hand while Mnemoth tortures Gary from the inside as Manny solemnly stands ready to guide Gary's soul to the afterlife.
5"Danse Vaudou"John BadhamChristine BoylanNovember 21, 2014 (2014-11-21)3J55563.54[10]
The blood on the scrying map becomes wet at the site of New Orleans and the team reaches there. There they meet Detective Jim Corrigan, who the previous night had tried to shoot a female killer wearing face mask, who killed a young girl in front of him and now he is unable to understand what happened. But Zed had already seen a vision of Jimmy being taught to shoot by his mother. When going to their hotel, Zed sees the vision of deadly car crash near a tree with scars. They call and inform Jim and then go looking for it in the morning. But Jim thinks they are con-men and arrests John. Constantine asks Jim to look into similar deaths in the same vicinity. Jim finds similar cases in the past and tracks the earliest possible victims which happened years earlier. So he lets John out and John talks to the people connected from the earliest cases. He soon learns that the attacker of a former model (who had to wear a face mask to hide her scars and then committed suicide) and the grandmother of a young guy (who send him out of the house because of his drug problems and he died in a car crash) had both visited Papa Midnite and used him as a medium to talk to the dead. It turns out that Papa Midnite's medium spell was causing certain spirits to awaken, due to the rising darkness. Chas goes downtown to stop the killer woman ghost from killing again. She attacks him brutally and leaves him for dead, but Chas gets healed and walks away from the paramedics as if nothing happened. Meanwhile, Zed and Jim pick up the young man's ghost and drive him around. Together John and Midnite agree to a temporary truce to send the spirits back to rest. Zed then receives a vision of Detective Corrigan dying and becoming the Spectre.[9] Later John asks Midnite to use his sister Cedella's skull to find out how to deal with the rising darkness. Midnite tells him that the darkness was being heralded by someone close to him and he would be betrayed.
6"Rage of Caliban"Neil MarshallDaniel CeroneNovember 28, 2014 (2014-11-28)3J55523.34[11]
John and Chas learn of a series of murders involving families with young children, in which both parents are violently murdered while the child escapes unharmed. Meanwhile, a young boy begins to act strangely after seeing an apparition in his bedroom. John realizes that he is chasing the spirit of a boy who killed his abusive parents and has since possessed multiple children before psychically killing their parents over the past decades. John tracks the spirit to its current host but struggles to convince the boy's parents that he can help their son. Manny appears to discuss John's own childhood abuse, and suggests that John can only help the possessed boy and the spirit if he truly understands what they are suffering. With help from the boy's mother, John finally succeeds in exorcising the spirit and forcing it back into its original body, which was a very much alive, yet catatonic patient in a mental hospital.
7"Blessed Are the Damned"Nick GomezSneha KoorseDecember 5, 2014 (2014-12-05)3J55573.17[12]
With Chas tied up on a personal matter, John enlists Zed to help him investigate a preacher in a small town who was bitten by a rattlesnake and died, only to revive with the power to heal the sick. John's investigation leads him to an angel named Imogen who was attempting to ferry the preacher to the other side when he removed one of her feathers and caused her to fall to Earth. With Manny unwilling or unable to lend a hand, John secures Imogen in a barn with a barrier spell to keep evil from entering. John and Zed hurry to retrieve the feather and return it to the angel before she dies. Meanwhile, the people the preacher has been healing suddenly start becoming ghouls bent on murder, and are drawn back to the preacher and the feather. Zed feigns interest in a baptism to pickpocket the feather back while John attempts to keep the hoard of ghouls at bay. In a fit of guilt, the preacher confesses to John that he killed someone while driving drunk and was damned as he never moved past his guilt. This causes John to realize that Imogen is a fallen angel from Hell and that she tricked them in order to cross over to Earth. Zed returns the feather, allowing Imogen to fully cross over to Earth, but John's barrier spell set up to keep evil from entering also keeps her from leaving. John is unable defeat Imogen, but when she threatens to kill Zed unless John drops the barrier spell, John convinces Manny to intervene, which he does by possessing Zed and ripping out Imogen's black heart, killing her. John seals the still-beating heart away for safe-keeping, but Manny warns him that the walls between Hell and Earth are thinner than they have ever been before and things are going to get much worse.
8"The Saint of Last Resorts"TJ ScottCarly WrayDecember 12, 2014 (2014-12-12)3J55583.30[13]
John finds Zed drawing a picture of an invunche, a murderous creature he says to have been wiped out during the Great Flood. John suspects Zed is drawing images she absorbed from touching Imogen's disembodied heart. John and Zed are interrupted by Anne Marie, a woman who from John's past who was present during the Newcastle exorcism. She begs John to come to Mexico to help her, which he reluctantly agrees to. John decides to take Chas, warning Zed to stay put. In Mexico, John learns that Anne Marie is now a nun. She works with John and Chas to discover the identity of a supernatural creature that kidnapped a baby and killed its mother. Anne Marie and John discover a tree growing near where the mother's placenta was buried, the tree is bearing fruit made of human flesh. While talking to the infant's father Hugo, John learns another child is taken and that the two babies were blood related. After speaking to Hugo's grandmother, John discovers that the family is descended from a race of warlocks called La Brujería. John suspects the kidnapper to be one of the sisters of Eve, women became demon goddesses, operating at the behest of La Brujería. He conducts a spell at a fountain to flush the culprit out, revealing one of the sisters at Anne Marie's convent to be Lamashtu as she attempts to kill John before being stabbed. Meanwhile, Zed defies John's instructions and leaves to get art supplies. She bumps into Eddie, the nude model she met in a previous episode. They get a drink together and she discovers by touching him that he is working to capture her. She lures him back to the mill and interrogates him, discovering his true intention. She is then attacked by more people working to capture her. After tricking a women into falling out an enchanted door into blackness, Zed is captured and tranquilized. Back in Mexico, John uses a chicken covered in Hugo's blood along with a spell to trick Lamahtsu into revealing herself again. John and Anne Marie pursue her into the sewer beneath the convent. They discover the missing babies alive and rescue them, but on the way out are confronted. John threatens to kill one of the babies if Lamashtu doesn't tell him her plan, she reveals that La Brujería are causing the Rising Darkness. She tells John that the goal is to destroy the walls between Hell and Earth and allow La Brujería and other damned creatures to once again walk free on Earth. John uses an amulet of Pazuzu to teleport Lamashtu away while handing the infant to Chaz, but he and Annie Marie are confronted by an invunche on the way out. Anne Marie uses a gun she took from Hugo earlier to shoot John in the side and leaves him as bait for the invunche so that she and the infant in her care can escape. The episode closes with John about to be attacked.
9"The Saint of Last Resorts: Part 2"[14]UnknownUnknownJanuary 16, 2015 (2015-01-16)TBAN/A
11"Quid Pro Quo"[15]UnknownUnknownJanuary 23, 2015 (2015-01-23)TBAN/A

Production

The series was developed by Daniel Cerone and David S. Goyer, with the pilot episode directed by Neil Marshall.[16] The show remains more faithful to the source material than the 2005 film, although on-screen depiction of Constantine's chain smoking habit will be absent due to broadcast television restrictions.[17][18] Additionally, the character's bisexuality will not be referenced on screen,[19] with Cerone saying, "In those comic books, John Constantine aged in real time. Within this tome of three decades [of comics] there might have been one or two issues where he’s seen getting out of bed with a man. So [maybe] 20 years from now? But there are no immediate plans." This was met with criticism from the LGBTQ community.[20]

Griffiths was originally cast as the female lead Liv Aberdine, the daughter of a late friend of John's called Jasper Winters, who comes to discover that she has the ability of seeing the supernatural world among us. She teams up with Constantine to fight the demons who have targeted her and learn more about her late father.[3] Griffiths was dropped after Goyer and Cerone decided to take the series in a different creative direction.[21] The comic character Zed was chosen as a replacement for the female lead.[21] Angélica Celaya was later announced to fill the role. Some of Griffiths' final scenes from the pilot were reshot, explaining why she does not join Constantine in his adventures as originally intended.[4] Both Goyer and Cerone have talked about a possible return for Liv.[22] In November 2014, NBC announced that they would not be ordering more episodes past the initial order of 13 for the first season. The series still has a possibility to be renewed for a second season.[23]

Reception

Ratings

No. Title Air date Rating/share
(18–49) 		Viewers
(millions) 		DVR
(18–49) 		DVR viewers
(millions) 		Total
(18–49) 		Total viewers
(millions)
1 "Non Est Asylum" October 24, 2014 (2014-10-24) 1.4/5[5] 4.28[5] 0.7 2.90 2.1 7.14[24]
2 "The Darkness Beneath" October 31, 2014 (2014-10-31) 0.9/3[6] 3.06[6] 0.8 TBA 1.7[25] TBA
3 "The Devil's Vinyl" November 7, 2014 (2014-11-07) 1.0/3[7] 3.14[7] 0.7 TBA 1.7[26] TBA
4 "A Feast of Friends" November 14, 2014 (2014-11-14) 0.8/3[8] 3.47[8] 0.9 TBA 1.7[27] TBA
5 "Danse Vaudou" November 21, 2014 (2014-11-21) 1.1/4[10] 3.54[10] 0.8 TBA 1.9[28] TBA
6 "Rage of Caliban" November 28, 2014 (2014-11-28) 0.9/3[11] 3.34[11] 0.7 TBA 1.6[29] TBA
7 "Blessed are the Damned" December 5, 2014 (2014-12-05) 0.8/3[12] 3.17[12] 0.8 TBA 1.6[30] TBA
8 "The Saint of Last Resorts" December 12, 2014 (2014-12-12) 1.0/3[13] 3.30[13] 1.7 TBA TBA TBA
9 "The Saint of Last Resorts: Part 2" January 16, 2015 (2015-01-16) TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 72% critic approval rating with an average rating of 6.2/10 based on 46 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Constantine's creepy atmosphere, high-stakes action, and splendid special effects combine with a welcome touch of humor to overcome narrative flaws and present a version of the title character that's close to his comics counterpart."[31] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 53 out of 100 based on 25 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[32]

Notes

  1. ^ Griffiths appeared in the pilot as a co-star,[3] though she was written out of the series once regular filming began.[4]

References

  1. ^ Truitt, Brian (August 15, 2014). "Exclusive: Shaw cast as Papa Midnite on 'Constantine'". USA Today. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
  2. ^ Kristobak, Ryan (May 11, 2014). "The First Trailer For 'Constantine' Looks Devilishly Fantastic". The Huffington Post. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  3. ^ a b "Lucy Griffiths & Harold Perrineau Join NBC Pilot 'Constantine'". Deadline. March 5, 2014. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
  4. ^ a b Sepinwall, Alan (July 13, 2014). "Press Tour: 'Constantine' Hires Angelica Celaya to Replace Lucy Griffiths". HitFix. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  5. ^ a b c Bibel, Sara (October 27, 2014). "Friday Final Ratings: 'Blue Bloods' Adjusted Up, 'Grimm' Adjusted Down & Final World Series Numbers". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
  6. ^ a b c Bibel, Sara (November 3, 2014). "Friday Final Ratings: No Adjustments to 'Grimm', 'Constantine', 'Hawaii Five-0' or 'Shark Tank'". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  7. ^ a b c Kondolojy, Amanda (November 10, 2014). "Friday Final Ratings: 'Shark Tank' Adjusted Up; 'Blue Bloods' Adjusted Down + No Adjustment for 'Cristela' or 'Constantine'". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  8. ^ a b c Kondolojy, Amanda (November 17, 2014). "Friday Final Ratings: 'Shark Tank' Adjusted Up + Final Ratings for 'Constantine', 'Grimm' & 'Cristela'". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
  9. ^ Fowler, Matt (September 5, 2014). "CONSTANTINE CASTS JIM CORRIGAN AKA THE (FUTURE) SPECTRE". IGN. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
  10. ^ a b c Bibel, Sara (November 24, 2014). "Friday Final Ratings: 'Hawaii Five-0' & 'Whose Line Is It Anyway' Adjusted Up". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
  11. ^ a b c Kondolojy, Amanda (December 2, 2014). "Friday Final Ratings: No Adjustment to 'Grimm', 'Constantine' or 'The Amazing Race'". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  12. ^ a b c Bibel, Sara (December 8, 2014). "Friday Final Ratings: 'Grimm' Adjusted Up & Final College Football Numbers". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  13. ^ a b c Kondolojy, Amanda (December 15, 2014). "Friday Final Ratings: 'The Amazing Race' Adjusted Up; No Adjustment for 'Constantine', 'Cristela' or 'Hawaii Five-0'". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  14. ^ "(#109) "The Saint of Last Resorts: Part 2"". The Futon Critic. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  15. ^ "Constantine - Episode Guide". Zap2It. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
  16. ^ Vejvoda, Jim (May 11, 2014). "Watch the First Trailer for NBC's Constantine TV Series". IGN. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  17. ^ "Constantine Will Not Be Allowed to Smoke on TV". The Escapist. June 30, 2014. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  18. ^ "Neil Marshall Talks Constantine, The Descent, and More at Saturn Awards". Collider. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  19. ^ K, Angel (October 12, 2014). "Constantine's Bisexuality Acknowledged by Executive Producer". The Geekiary. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  20. ^ Roncero-Menendez, Sara (July 17, 2014). "NBC Says Title Character Of 'Constantine' Is Straight. Fans Disagree". The Huffington Post. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
  21. ^ a b Goldberg, Lesley (July 10, 2014). "'Constantine's' Lucy Griffiths Exits NBC Drama". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  22. ^ "Liv returning to 'Constantine' is a possibility". Zap2it. November 15, 2014.
  23. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (November 24, 2014). "'Constantine' To Stop Production After 13 Episodes, Remains In Contention At NBC". Deadline.com. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
  24. ^ "'Constantine' Debut Grows by 80% in Live + 7 Results, Including a 27% Jump via Alternate Platforms - Ratings - TVbytheNumbers.Zap2it.com". TVbytheNumbers. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
  25. ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (November 17, 2014). "'Modern Family' Has Biggest Adults 18-49 Ratings Increase; 'Elementary', 'Parnethood' & 'The Originals' Top Percentage Gains & 'The Blacklist' Leads Viewer Gains in Live +7 Ratings for Week 6 Ending November 2". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
  26. ^ Bibel, Sara (November 24, 2014). "'The Big Bang Theory' Has Biggest Adults 18-49 Ratings Increase; 'The Originals' Tops Percentage Gains & 'The Blacklist' Leads Viewer Gains in Live +7 Ratings for Week 7 Ending November 9". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
  27. ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (December 2, 2014). "'The Big Bang Theory' Has Biggest Adults 18-49 Ratings Increase; 'The Vampire Diaries' Tops Percentage Gains & 'The Blacklist' Leads Viewer Gains in Live +7 Ratings for Week 8 Ending November 16". Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  28. ^ Bibel, Sara (December 8, 2014). "'Modern Family' Has Biggest Adults 18-49 Ratings Increase; 'Reign' Tops Percentage Gains & 'The Big Bang Theory' Leads Viewer Gains in Live +7 Ratings for Week 9 Ending November 23". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  29. ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (December 15, 2014). "[Updated] 'Criminal Minds' Has Biggest Adults 18-49 Ratings Increase; 'Grimm', 'Elementary' & 'Revenge' Top Percentage Gains & 'NCIS' Leads Viewer Gains in Live +7 Ratings for Week 10 Ending November 30". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  30. ^ Bibel, Sara (December 22, 2014). "'Modern Family' Has Biggest Adults 18-49 Ratings & Viewership Increase; 'Constantine' & 'The Vampire Diaries' Top Percentage Gains in Live +7 Ratings for Week 11 Ending December 7". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
  31. ^ "Constantine: Season 1". Rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
  32. ^ "Critic Reviews for Constantine (2014) Season 1 - Metacritic". Metacritic.com. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
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