Constantine swallowed a demon to save himself! Manny admonishes him by telling him he can't take the devil into him and leave God! Now he's "lost all hope of salvation." The demon would heal Constantine and he didn't get any help from God or Manny. Manny can only think of the Rising Darkness and could've stopped the force behind it. So he "acted without considering the consequences." But that's just Constantine, it's what he does.
Daniel Cerone: "'I'm John Constantine, I do stupid in spades.' Quote directly from #Hellblazer."
Manny won't help as if he ever does. He's cast off his spiritual protection. The possession won't take effect immediately and like a flu has an incubation period, so there is hope for him.. If he can't get the demon out of him then Chas will have to kill him.
Constantine: "how much worse can the actual place be? I've been carrying hell around all my life." He must perform a self-exorcism but he can't fight it. With the demon reinforcing, "I will not be cast out!" That's what they all say.
He attacks a street gang, or rather the demon within him and ends up in a Mexican prison, not the place to be. Then came the wolf whistles!! The so-called barrister from the British Consulate is in league with the devil. Yeah bollocks to that!
Daniel Cerone: "don't blame John. Pazuzu made him do it."
Chas explains how the soul is delivered to hell and consciousness is pushed out. And we get another good view of Matt's triangle tattoo on his back. Manny appears again as if to rub it in further and reiterates his same comment once more about cigarettes killing him. Well he's already damned!
Constantine: "I'm John Constantine, I do stupid in spades."
Manny telling him that no powerful evil can hide from heaven and he knows what he's talking about in more ways than one.
Constantine: "I'm not ready to die. I have more work to do."
Constantine: "What if I don't know what I need." Resorting to calling Manny a selfish wanker!" Well we all know what the Winchesters used to call angels and think of them, aside from Cas of course.
Chas tells Anne Marie how they chose to help Constantine in this fight cos really it's not just his fight and if humanity knew what he does they would either take a flying leap or maybe the more open ones, those who believe would be there to help. Though he wouldn't appreciate it the meddling as he says he works alone. As in Winchester fashion too and vice versa, it's long hours and unpaid, without any gratitude aside from those he helps and that's not all the time either.
Zed tells Anne Marie how Constantine got the angel and she didn't, Manny came to him for help and not Anne-Marie but her praying gets her nowhere. Anne Marie feels Zed is a true believer but feels sorry for her since he will also disappoint her too. If she stays alive that long.
Constantine comments his demon is "more real than a rusty metaphor."
Daniel: "my fave thing about this episode - Good honest exorcism. No tricks or angelic saves. Just great actors, straight drama."
"So seriously, strap in for this exorcism - Matt Ryan KILLS IT. Exhausted himself on the day, it was a feat of endurance."
"John jonesing for a fix. See, smoking AND heroine. What else do you want? Oh yeah a bi kiss." From Hard Times episode 2.
Zed and Chas find a way to get inside the prison, with Zed 'losing' her bra and telling Constantine, "I know what I look like, don't get any ideas." She's here for here conjugal visit with him.
Anne Marie also shows up with more unwise words of wisdom: "...his magic and his curse" and how he makes everyone believe he has everything under control. She advises Zed to leave Constantine.
The demon doesn't react to holy water and he has lots of spells on the recorder. The trickster shows up; he's the serpent from the Garden of Eden. Zed's running from people who are trying to use her gift for the wrong reasons. He tells Anne Marie she must perform the ritual since the demon won't listen to him. As they bring him back to the millhouse.
Constantine: "Pazuzu won't listen to a wanker like me." She's experienced divine epiphany. The demon taunts Anne Marie by telling her she to give up cos she did that in the past and ran to Mexico and only felt alive in Constantine's shadow. Zed will return to her father. Zed talks Anne Marie around by telling her she must forgive herself for what happened. She's guilty for introducing him to magic and "for creating John Constantine."
After much excruciating pain, the exorcism proves successful as it would have done.
Constantine: "I could murder a bloody drink." He apologizes to Anne Marie for a second time.
Anne Marie: "John Constantine doesn't do sorry." "Never apologize. It's a sign of weakness" as Gibbs says in NCIS. Gibbs' Rule No 6.
So what was going through his head at the end buckling up and all that apologizing, in anticipation of the exorcism.
So as said, Constantine 'swallows' or rather takes a demon inside of him to save himself from bleeding to death and all he gets for it is fault finding and being berated from Manny. As if he doesn't deserve better than that. Not that Manny would help him. Thus all hell breaks loose. Manny could've/would've seen what was going down with the babies - but still he didn't interfere to help the innocent. How much free will do babies have that they can make their own conscious decisions. Double standards there in staying out of this. So Constantine was right when he said he didn't get any help and really he was going to wrestle with the consequences and his own conscience with doing the right thing - which was not to lie down and die. Or come to terms with his mortality when there were other options available and how he has been "carrying hell around" him all his life anyway. But he wasn't about to let hell win over something as "trivial" as a bullet in the overall scheme of things. And let's not forget what would happen to the so-called precious Rising Darkness fight;" without the greatest asset in this world to fight it!
Once again Anne Marie has nothing but contempt for Constantine even after she shoots him. She's another one who didn't think of the consequences of shooting Constantine and how exactly would that have helped them. Some revenge there on her part for the past and let's also not forget self-righteousness much Anne Marie and leave it at that. Aside from the fact once again she set him into this "career" path, albeit inadvertently in the greater scheme. She was the one who came to him now for help. Thus no, Constantine, isn't the only one who does "stupid in spades."
Chas again was the only one with a semblance of any reason here when he bats for Constantine and defends him too - way to have him in your corner! To reiterate Manny, as Chas also says, they're the ones who decide to help Constantine putting their own lives on the line and choosing to. It's not a question of blind faith or the blind leading the blind. They're old enough to decide - as opposed to a teen who was introduced to it: the dark arts by someone who should've known better.
As for Manny not helping, he could've just revealed his true intentions going on there since there was more going on with him than just angering heaven whether he helped or not. And yeah more self righteousness from an angel of the Lord too. Particularly since angels were responsible for damning his soul to hell as revealed in 1.1. [On a different note, Cas had no qualms about helping his new charge Dean in Supernatural over and over, even if he incurred the risk of suffering heaven's wrath.]
During all this Zed has a vision of Anne Marie praying and pulls out all the stops to help unlike people taking a backseat and procrastinating, if even that. Manny wallows in his earlier angry outburst and still needs Constantine's help in the dark fight. Wonder why the change of heart there? An angel - he's full of so many contradictions.
Vicente eats Stanley, the Consulate rep in a scene reminiscent of Supernatural and the Leviathan - well they had big gobs to devour humans. But Vicente is actually the trickster, the Tempter - the original serpent who tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden - so we're back to that whole allusion for the Brujeria and Lamashtu (not to be confused with mange tout!) Vicente thinks Pazuzu is someone he could get on side too.
Chas has a phurba; Tibetan ceremonial three-sided stake just incase the exorcism fails. [Yeah exorcism in a prison yard forget the exercise! Okay slimy pun was daft!]
Constantine tells Anne Marie if he dies, "then I'll go out riding the world's greatest high - with my first love at my side. There are worst ways to meet your Maker, eh?" How was he sure that's where he'd end up?
Secondly, he still sees Anne Marie as his first love and she thought their relationship was just fleeting. Of course he could just be saying that at this time, you know one of those dying declarations which don't necessarily have to be true.
So divine forgiveness all round then and I said that too; "sorry" is one thing Constantine does not do.
With the demon tormenting her in some ways bringing up what Constantine must've bottled up in his subconscious. Though there's little doubt the demon would say anything to possess and remain inside. To quote Dean, "demons lie." This was where Constantine not only got to meet his "demon" self for real whilst possessed - as in 1.1 where it was a sign of things to come.
Pazuzu's rant to Chas about his family - was also a foreshadowing to 1.10 next episode infact. No mention made there of what Pazuzu said to Chas with his family being "lost."
Matt tweeting to William Shatner: "just like to say I'm a huge fan. Thanks for your support on the show. #Constantine."
Reply: "There's a price. I'm going to hit you up for an autographed item for my charity Horse show in April [2015.]"
My Matt Ryan book. Yeah I know a lot of you are fans in name only which is fine and are only fans of Constantine but this was a labourious one to write so do check it out!! And there's plenty Constantine in it too!!
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