Constantine - Quid Pro Quo Review

Now this is one episode to remember. Especially for yours truly for two reasons: 1) On my 16th Birthday, I accuired the Hellblazer Graphic Novel All His Engines (hardcover edition) and I've read it religiously aong with my trades and back issues for over a decade so to have it be another line of adaptations the show would do was a real treat (late last summer there was a Twitter pic of the writting staff reading the paperback editions) and 2) I, along with the audience got the chance to learn of Chas' ability to come back from the dead. Adapted for the screen by Brian Anthony and directed by Mary Harron, Quid Pro Quo, tells of a slew of mysterious mystic comas impacting parts of Brooklyn, NY; even to claim Chas' only daughter Geraldine. Upon this, Chas enlists, John and Zed in finding out the source behind it as its all traced back to one powerful sorceror: Felix Faust!

Much like the original 2005 stand-alone, the episode's plot is strong and fires on all cyllinders in horror, suspense and the odd body count. The two stories also put Chas and his family front and center in the drama in providing a glimpse in to the Chandler family. Unlike her comic counterpart Renee divorced Chas and shares custody of their daughter which in a way harkens back to Geraldine

s much older comic counterpart and her strained relationship with the father of her daughter Tricia (the doll TV!Geraldine named). You really feel for poor Chas: juggling the fight against evil with his best mate in John Constantine, making time for his kid. To top it all off, has the lives of the 47 people who died in the club he and John were in; John was reponsible for Chas' multiple lives by casting a spell on him while drunk. Four months prior, I assumed John put a sigil on him. Close but no cigar, eh? DC diehards are in for a treat when the audience is introduced to the episode's big bad (and one of the many member of the Justice League's Rogues Gallery) Felix Faust. For the tale, Faust takes up the role the fat blobby demon Beroul from the original story as the root behind the soul stealing and making Constantine do his bidding in taking out competition; or here, a demon. 

Boy did Matt Ryan and Charles Halford really give their all as the duo flesh out John and Chas' friendship to a T whether in the flashbacks or present day showing the long-surviving relationship in our man's life. Even in the last act will folks on the edge of their seats. Amanda Clayton manages to bring the former Mrs. Chandler to life even edging out her comic counterpart in slapping the Silk Cut out of John. Angélica Celaya bring on more to Zed as we see her endure her fear of the Crusade's neverending quest, acting as bait to the demon Faust wanted taken out and hit a deep emotive subject that hit close home to John: his mother. Special Guest Star Mark Margolyes brings on the dark magic and awe as Faust making the character a bigger threat in a Vertigo-esue level compared to his comic counterpart (pre-52, of course). The set designs from Dave Blass are, as always, nothing short of awesome as is Bear McCreary's music.

Quid Pro Quo joins a long line of episodes that out does itself week after week. Its on par with the very story it's loosely based on and above all another winner to show to new viewers interested in stepping in to the world of John Constantine. Next week, Jeremy Davies returns as Ritchie Simpson in an episode that deals with a different kind of reality. See you next Friday, Hellblazers!

Constantine - The Saints of Last Resorts (2 of 2) Review

Woo boy, was that one hell of a mid-winter return! With a new timeslot (8:00pm), Constantine concludes its epic two parter with the stakes going beyond the call of the smoke. As we last left our man, John Constantine was near death's door having been shot by Sister Anne Marie as a sacrifice to save the kidnap newborn infants. With one desperate effort, John summonds Pazuzu to take hold of his body. Unforfunately for him, his friends, and strangers abroad, catastrophy and bloodshed takes centerstage. Even the prisons aren't safe from #PossessedJohn. Not even out resident angel can't and won't save up.

Part two really gets its meatiest of material as it goes into the aftermath of a Pazuzu posessed John and the aftermath of Anne Marie's betrayal. The plot manages to have Zed breaking free from her Crusading captors as she and Chas challenge the Sister to help save him even if it means infultrating the prison he's being held at. Many diehards can detect bits of Brian Azzarello's infamous 25 issue run in the prison scenes which manage to surpass Hard Time in its own right. Plus we finally treated to some more gore that proves a 8pm time slot is not the family viewing hour some keep percieving it to be in the 40 years since the Circuit Courts deemed the infamous Family Viewing Hour mandate from the FCC got struck down. Here's hoping the overnight ratings.

Matt Ryan pulls out all the stops jugging our boy and in Pazuzu posessed form to where you may assume the scenes in prison and on the exorcism bed  that Pazuzu was really there. Angélica Celaya's Zed brings on the buttkicking and bringing the lads to they yard in her stake in saving herself and John. The Crusade's quest however is far from over.... Charles Halford gives his finest performance yet as we see Chas at his most (and increasing) active as he not only takes his posessed mate on but also one of the best scenes in the prison sequence that'll make you laugh knowing how grusome the beatings from the security guards is. Harold Perrineau's Manny shows how bemused he is with our man whilst still managing to turn up and disappear off behind the scenes in his signature way. Clare van der Boom's Anne Marie manages to snap herself out of her relegious judging of John's bluff and manages to go the distance in one of the most intense exorcisms ever recorded on film. Who would've though we'd find Nepolean Dyanmite own "Pedro" Efren Ramirez turning up of all places, eh?

The Saints of the Last Resorts altogether proves the most epic two parters ever to come out the stable of the WB's DC based shows and the finest hour of television to ever air on NBC. Next week we're treated to a loosely based adaptation of the 2005 GN All His Engines, Felix Faust, and most of all how Chas is able to survive death.

See you in 7!