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Saturday 12 May 2018

Constantine 1.4 "A Feast of Friends" Review

                                             Image result for constantine a feast of friends
Zed and Constantine just enjoying a day out talk of the powers of dabbling, not in magic but drugs of course.  Okay it wasn't just a normal day out!  Where Constantine tells her that seriously psychic energy is all about letting go and she must lower her wall first, what of inhibitions.  She sees coins.  Her visions are too much to allow her to 'dabble.'
Constantine: "pennies from heaven - subtle as a snake."  As Manny appears.  Constantine says that Zed can go her own way after they find out about the Rising Darkness.  Manny mentions how people are scared to be around him.  But she's not afraid and once again why bring that up when he's the one who's big on free will and making their own choices.

There's been a break in at the mill
Constantine: "well bugger me, Gary bloody Lester."  Newcastle and Astra are mentioned.  Newcastle being a town in North East England (for those whose geography has never been a strong point, heck forget geography it's just general knowledge!)  With the most horrible weather and the worst footy team!  Talking of "dabbling" (which of course has more than one meaning) and in walks Gary who has dabbled cos of Astra.  He tells them about the demon in Sudan and of  "power patterns for binding...containment markings" on the boy.  This is Gary's "chance to atone."  Someone put the demon in the man and he must get the demon back into the bottle.

Zed thinks Gary's lucky to have Constantine as a friend, saying also that "nobody's hopeless."  Strong guyliner on Constantine going on in this ep"  Forget about the Rising Darkness!  Ha.

Constantine: "Gary's is a life wasted."  Which is ironic.  The demon has an urge to devour everything related to food and is a 'Hunger Demon.'  Matt's accent was strong in some scenes than in others and this was obvious.
Constantine: "bollocks we are who we are!"
Gary: "charging head first into the face of danger."  Most of the Newcastle Crew just wanted to be around him and to learn some "black magic with John Constantine - who could say no."  Fear not Constantine has a plan which will backfire in some Constantine manner.  Think he was already fully aware the vessel wouldn't work and was just trying it out to humour Gary, buy some time, cos deep down he knew it wouldn't work.

Guess the black tie was appropriate in this ep again and he heads for the meat plant a little flashback to Matt's appearance in Torchwood.  Bringing back memories with the meat suit, ha!  Where you got to ride in that Pontiac Firebird!  Really jealous as it's one of my fave cars!! [The Rockford Files!] This was another one of those eps where you watch it, think of the outcomes/message and then see cute guy in bad mode!! You of course, gosh you stood out so much in these 'little' parts and lodged (ha!) or should that be squatted!?! in my subconscious and mind.  Cos that's where I saw you first, in these Brit shows and somehow you just stood out for me, even in such scenes!  Even after being tasered on the head!!  Shallowness aside, you didn't pull any punches in your portrayals and appearances and that just showed you had a long way to go but that you'd make it!  But as I said the real impact came with Criminal Minds:Suspect Behaviour cos it was hey it's cutie pie again from those shows!! But glad I got to see you in our home grown shows and leading to the future impact you had on me, not just as an actor, but also as a sweet, wonderful, friendly person. Cute Guy person!! ha.
The alien manatee was much like the Doctor who ep with Doctor eleven and the ship that was being carried by ?/ The United Kingdom transport??  Dale's line of wanting to make money and nothing but was so on topic even more these days.  Doing nothing wrong cos he didn't see it as sentient but just a piece of meat, hence the title!  Of course this could be applied to Dale: piece of greedy meat that he was!!
Another Supernatural reference from me of course, literally when he has to cover himself with it, to save himself from the demon.  But that jar was already too small and not strong enough to hold it, let alone blaming it on the Rising Darkness being too powerful.  And stronger than any demon he's come across.

Constantine in his crass way only picks up how Zed "touched" Gary in that way, yeah one track mind and here we thought it was all about dealing with evil.  Zed gets Gary's withdrawal symptoms and heads for help leaving her alone.
Constantine hasn't taken psychedelics for a while.  Once the mist is taken the effects last forever.

Gary says he betrayed Constantine and Astra wasn't his fault.  Gary was high and during the seance he ran and hid.  Constantine tells him it wasn't his fault as he never should've gotten them involved, "because not your world - never was."  Constantine never blamed him and he was right to be afraid but "everyone has the capacity to change."  Gary hasn't heard him say that before.
Constantine: "exactly.  He says the demon needs a living human body and Gary realizes that was Constantine's plan after all.  "You sneaky bastard - my chance to make my life mean something."  There's no going back and it will be painful.
Constantine: "there's no better way to go out and rage?? than  John Constantine." ?? He's proud of Gary as he saved lives even if Constantine tricked him.  It was his choice and his atonement.  Zed doesn't approve and she has to deal with it but on the other hand, she doesn't want to leave Constantine either!  Manny was by Gary's side but what help was he.  Gary exercised his free will and yet there was no help for him to ease his suffering.

Zed and Constantine have a conversation on doing drugs and she doesn't need them and she rightly says they would interfere with her visions.  Conversely she'd also be affected since she needs a clear head, seeing as her visions are always cryptic.  (Yeah like they were sent by Manny being Cryptic Angel.)  Nicely leading onto the appearance of Gary "Bloody" Lester - who incidentally has 'dabbled' and mainly cos of Astra, but in the ep towards the end, he says he already was high and ran away.  Astra's death only made him continue this path of destruction and self-pity.
See in contrast to Constantine's treatment of Ritchie later.

Constantine's comment of Gary's life being wasted is ironic in lots of way as that's what Constantine would've been doing too - had he not turned to the Dark Arts and Magic.  Not something teens should be involved in, but do it anyway.  But in his case, it was something that saved him and how he uses that knowledge to save others.  Gary sees capturing the Hunger Demon as a way of finding atonement and salvation.  Again ironically Gary's mention of atonement is exactly what he'll end up doing.  But unbeknownst to him, he too will become a sacrifice.  Thus the twist: his life will no longer be wasted and would've meant something after all.  Even if Constantine has to bare the slack and amass more guilt knowing sacrificing a friend is the only way the demon can be vanquished.

Also an allusion to the title since his sacrifice is 'fittingly' a 'feast of friends' as one by one the Newcastle Crew pops up and ends up meeting their doom.  But also a double meaning in the demon causing people to devour people?? by its acute urges to gorge itself.

Hunger Demon: possesses a bloody human and gorges on food and then leaves the body - and all sorts of destruction in its wake.  One for the Dean Winchester books if ever he encountered it.  The containment spell can only work on a human and not a jar as was demonstrated by Constantine - the demon was too powerful.  Another consequence of the Rising Darkness.  Yet it leaves Gary in pain for days before the end with Manny standing by and watching, as said.  There at least could've been something he could've done to speed up the process since this surely wouldn't have been seen as an interference with human free will.
You'd think Manny would show some quid pro quo as he was the one who initially came to Constantine for help!

Going back to that opening conversation between  Zed and Constantine - she now experiences the effects of Gary's withdrawals when she touches him.  Funnily enough Constantine can't move past the moment they "touched".  Like Zed would actually do that with someone who he's a friend of, for starters and in the millhouse!

More importantly this ep took me back to Matt's appearance in Torchwood ep Meat, when he was involved in procuring and selling 'alien' meat!  Yet more foreshadowing in many ways for this ep in the future .
The Leviathan in Supernatural season 4?? were into eating humans and they were their primary food source.  This Hunger Demon feeds on food and humans in a roundabout way.

The episode was inspired by Issue #1 Hellblazer (1988) and is one of Matt's fave episodes.
Hellblazer  #1 Hunger and Hellblazer #2 A Feast of Friends.

Nommo was an East African mystic.
Mnemoth: the Hunger Demon.

One review stated Zed did nothing in this but lie on the couch; well she was suffering Gary's symptoms and let's not forget this episode had to be about Gary and Constantine; as Gary was going to be killed off, so they had to settle old scores; so to speak and forgive.

The spell that Constantine uses in the hose to see what happened: phonetically from the script:
"Alworood min alawbee-aa Menemoth walamrad, meltahema min alnefoos, weh-yak nastaa-een fi talqe-hey hathehy alneaam min minwey-et walarad walhawah walnar walmeh.
Soltet al-arady almouqdesa tacht alsamah fowq tamkeen hathehy altahara wa-ahsar aley alabad ra-yeea Menemoth raheeb!"

In English translated.
"Mnemoth, great lord of epidemics, pandemics, devourer of souls, we beseech you to receive these blessings of the spirits, the earth, air, fire, and water"

Gotta give a massive shout out to my friend Ali for helping me when my head wasn't in the right headspace, cos man that English written as Arabic did my head in!! Spelling was not on par at all!  Kudos for rescuing me when I needed it!
In Arabic:
Mnemoth ، رب عظيم من الأوبئة ، والأوبئة ، الملتقط من النفوس ، ونحن نطلب منك أن تتلقى هذه البركات من
الأرواح والأرض والهواء والنار والماء
Alworood min alawbee-aa Menemoth walamrad, meltahema min alnefoos, weh-yak nastaa-een fi talqe-hey hathehy alneaam min minwey-et walarad walhawah walnar walmeh.
Soltet al-arady almouqdesa tacht alsamah fowq tamkeen hathehy altahara wa-ahsar aley alabad ra-yeea Menemoth raheeb!

Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=constantine-2014&episode=s01e04
Alworood min alawbee-aa Menemoth walamrad, meltahema min alnefoos, weh-yak nastaa-een fi talqe-hey hathehy alneaam min minwey-et walarad walhawah walnar walmeh.
Soltet al-arady almouqdesa tacht alsamah fowq tamkeen hathehy altahara wa-ahsar aley alabad ra-yeea Menemoth raheeb!

Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=constantine-2014&episode=s01e04

Supernatural 3.10 Dream a Little Dream of Me Sam and Dean add Bobby's hair to the tea consisting of African Dreamroot (or Serene Capensis-  cool name and how I recall it, well it just rolled off the tongue!) to enter his dream,  see 1.13 where Constantine eats some of the missing girl's Vesta hair to find info on what happened to her.  Yuk forget the gore with Grams in 1.1, this was worse!
In this ep of Supernatural, Dream Dean (or Dreamy Dean ha!) sees himself and his past comes catching up - with his other self berating him.  Dean manages to shoot him and Dean doesn't deserve to rot in hell.  Finally he gets a Demon Dean version of himself; complete with black eyes and he's transformed into this due to his deal with the Crossroads Demon and this version taunts him with, "this is what you're going to become."  In much the same way as the demon Nergal showed himself as Constantine in 1.1 telling him to take a look at his future.
Dean admitting to Sam he doesn't wanna die and got to hell - in much the same way Constantine does in 1.9?

Here Dean says Dad was an "obsessive bastard" Dean’s looking out for Sam now, he always has and says the same thing in 1.18, Dean is the one who bears the responsibility and burden of looking after him, always has, always will.  (For as long as he is around.)
Get the part about Dean not having an original thought in his head – true for where he saved Sam (2.22) would he have thought of doing this if Dad hadn’t done it first.  Anyway, that’s for you to ponder.  See, Dean dreams about becoming a demon, but as I said, only after the thought’s been planted in his head by Ruby and Sam.
 Dean takes the easy way out even in his dreams by shooting Demon Dean. That’d help, so he doesn’t have to listen to the truth.

African Dreamroot, also known as Xhosa. Is used in South African spiritual rituals – containing a “psychoactive” mixture leading to lucid dreams.  In traditional terms, was used to make contact with ancestors.  Xhosa shamen call the plant silene ubulau meaning, white paths.

Gary seems to garner approval from Constantine for what he learned from him in some sort of  schoolboy fashion: "you should have seen me John, I trapped a demon in a bottle."  A reference to Gary's addiction - but also how it's one place where demons can be drowned.  We've seen it with Constantine on many occasions when he needs that drink and to just pick up that "bottle."  Aka 'demon drink.' - it's not called this for nothing you know"
Demon in a Bottle Tony Stark's alcohol addiction story in Iron Man shares this title too.  Thanx to my friend for that.  Massive RDJ fan!!

Daniel Cerone this ep was "literally ripped from the pages of Hellblazer.  It brings back Gary Lester - it's a fantastic story that translated so well to screen...we're breaking episode 17 right now [14 January 2014] and we have a fantastic ride ahead.  Before the end of the season you're going to meet and get tho know everyone of John's friends from Newcastle involved in the exorcism of Astra [leading] to the eternal torment of John's soul."

Apt stage for their 'acting out' at the end where Gary's ready for the sacrifice and to "go out a mage - like John Constantine."  Still in an attempt to impress or atone more likely at this point.  Filmed at Atlanta's Fox Theatre.  Matt would've felt right at home on the stage here, as would Jonjo as Gary.

1.4 & above  "[Zed] did not understand that Gary wanted to go out doing something positive for a change.  He needed to do this - to go out on a more positive bang - than under the bridge doing some drugs.  She starts to understand John has a bigger load to carry than she thought, and there's a deeper side to him than what he lets people see.  That just bought Zed closer to him."  Yes that's what John said.  He's very complicated and what you see is not what you get with him.  It's much more intertwined and multi-faceted.

Zed and Constantine: "I'm waiting for that relationship to evolve 1.9.  Anne Marie comes in and Zed doesn't like it.  She's extremely territorial and vice versa.  There are a couple of guys that come into Zed's life and John isn't happy about it.  I like that we're stretching it out.  That's what happens in the real world.  You don't just jump into bed with someone. [Tell it to John!] You sort it out but Zed is infatuated with John."

Angelica was pleased the show was getting such a response.  Especially with the creative licence of writers.  "The stories are getting crazier and we're really pushing the envelope towards the end of the season."

They had 15 episodes already for season 1 which Angelica said would be re-worked for season 2 (and there's that mention again).  She was contracted for 13 eps - not 15,19 or 20.  They were in uproar over cancellations and fans wondered what happened.  "There are other series that started off slow trying to see what they were doing."
The fan support was humbling.  Especially the #SaveConstantine and on set they thought "we have got to make this good.  Forget whatever the actors want.  No - we have fans to please so we better step this up."

It's in the comics yes.  But it's different on TV since it needs to be brought out before hitting on it for real and how they do have a mutual attraction as soon as they meet in the comics.  They did have that chemistry in 1.2.  Even if they were strangers there was plenty of flirting going on - even if Constantine didn't know her or trust her yet.
Matt on Constantine and Zed's burgeoning relationship and romance.  "There is definitely a sexual chemistry between them, as well as the fact they need each other.  He uses her but he becomes attached to her."  Such as in 1.2.
Matt: "they're flirting (as I said).  There's always stares - these things you - when you really like someone, you don't have to tell them.  When it's there you don't have to say not one thing.  You just feel it - you look at each other - you have a pause - a moment - you might touch."



Angelica "to Zed, she's been waiting for John for years.  He's finally there and she can't let him go."

That Matt Ryan book available here now

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