Constantine S1 E1 - 'Non Est Asylum' Review

Trust Him.
I've long been excited about watching the Constantine live action series, which sadly only ran for one season before being cancelled, so here begins my first venture into a new series!
John Constantine is played to perfection by Matt Ryan and proves what I heard from many reviews on the series - that the casting was excellent, just the story disappointed. Well I can confirm that after my first 42 minutes with the character, I was left intrigued about the larger rising of demons from hell and also by John's quest to save his soul and that of a young girl named Astra, whom he failed to save. All these facts are revealed gradually across a well-paced first episode, in which we learn that our titular character is a lone-wolf, who deflects emotions using humour and is scarred by his past failings. Ryan puts in a brilliant performance here, carrying the show with his spot-on portrayal of John Constantine and creating a character I genuinely care for after just one episode spent in his company.
The plot itself was relatively straightforward - Constantine is summoned by an old friend to check out of a mental institution (a location which provided some great comedy in the opening minutes) and rescue his daughter from an evil spirit known as Furcifer. Furcifer himself was very creepy, albeit a one-dimensional 'evil' being hellbent on killing Liv. It seems that the regularly mentioned Nergal is going to be the overriding antagonist throughout the series, and whilst it was nice to flesh out some background on the character, I can't help wishing that Furcifer had time to be developed.
Aside from these niggles however, the pilot episode was very enjoyable. Liv wasn't too annoying as a 'discovering-all-this-for-the-first-time' plot device and Chas and Manny were entertaining side-characters to bring out more emotion from Constantine. The cast has been established, along with Constantine's mission and motives, thus overall this episode did a great job of introducing the universe of Constantine and I look forward to seeing how everything progresses from here.

STARRING: Furcifer

AWESOME MOMENTS:

• Constantine casually saving that mental patient from the demon possessing her only for it to actually have been an old friend taking over her body - feel like that pretty much sums up the tone of Constantine
• Chas' 'death' scene was crazy!! Thought he was going to die but a) didn't see that telephone wire IMPALING him and b) didn't think he would be bloody immortal, although it at least explains why John literally doesn't react AT ALL to the death of his supposed friend
• That final showdown was a cool display of John's powers!! I mean come on, who doesn't love a fire tornado?
• Creepy Nan bleeding black goo out of her mouth? Damn this show really is different to its other Arrowverse counterparts!! Really love the horror aspects, they genuinely made me jump
• The car crash was a tense scene and the effects were actually quite impressive for this, which was a surprise!
• Constantine wielding freaking FIRE from his hands just like in the comics!! WOW that's sick!!! (He better do this more often!)

EASTER EGGS:

- The university Constantine visits is Ivy University. Ivy University is the home of Ray Palmer (The Atom)

- Constantine's business card has an Atlanta, Georgia code - the pilot is indeed filmed and set in Atlanta. At the time that it first aired, fans could call the number to hear a voicemail left by Constantine mentioning Alec Holland, who - in the comics - would go on to become Swamp Thing.

- Towards the end of the televised version of the pilot, Constantine comments that he loves The Sex Pistols. In the comics, Constantine was not a fan, and once accidentally summoned the ghost of Sid Vicious, complete with bass, and was visibly irritated by Sid's inability to play.

- Furcifer, the demon Constantine defeats, takes his name from the Latin word for scoundrel. That word is thought to have inspired the name Furfur, one of the Earls of Hell according to The Lesser Key of Solomon, a 17th-century book that included a list of the demons of Hell

- The computer hacker, Ritchie, first appeared in Hellblazer issue seven. As in the TV series, he was one of the Newcastle crew and a colleague of John's. However, the comic book version is English, and does not have the post-traumatic stress disorder that his TV counterpart has, nor a reliance on medication

- The references to Astra (the little girl who John damned to hell) refer to the "Newcastle Incident" that occurred in the comics, as well

- The Ravenscar Psychiatric Facility for the Mentally Deranged is taken from the Hellblazer comic books (where it had the more mundane title of 'Ravenscar Secure Facility'). It is presumably located near the village of Ravenscar, North Yorkshire, which - like the TV's institution - is located in the North of England

- In the first scenes of the pilot, Constantine is shown talking to Dr Roger Huntoon. Huntoon was a minor DC Comics character who appeared in Hellblazer, Swamp Thing and The Sandman, and was indeed John's psychiatrist in the comics. However, his portrayal there - as a self-serving careerist - contrasts with his portrayal in the show

- Liv's father is called Jasper Winters; in DC comic book universe, Baron Winters was an occultist. In Swamp Thing issue 49 (vol. 2) Baron Winters was manipulated by Constantine into hosting a magical ritual that went badly wrong

- The artist seen at the end of the transmitted version of the episode is Zed, a psychic who made small cameo appearances in the earliest Hellblazer issues before being properly introduced in issue four. Her comic book counterpart could also make drawings based on her psychic visions

- When John tells Liv about his mother, this follows the continuity of Hellblazer, not the New 52 from DC in which John's mother suffers a different fate

- On a chalkboard in the basement next to Jasper's psychic map of Atlanta, the words 'more than this' can be seen written backwards; this is probably a reference to Zatanna, a magician in the DC universe who casts spells by speaking backwards. In the comics, she dated Constantine for a brief while

- The helmet that Liv picks up is the helm of Dr. Fate, a famous DC character seen in such shows as Justice League: Unlimited and Smallville

- Among the pictures that surround Zed in the final shot are a number of comic book covers. These include: Vertigo Secret Files: Hellblazer by Phil Hale (the one at the back of the shot, with a white background, John smoking a cigarette and a hand reaching for him) and Hellblazer #136 by Tim Bradstreet (the one of John lying beaten up in an alley, to the front-left of the screen as the camera pulls out)

- In the basement scene where Liv lifts up Dr Fate's helmet, an Egyptian-looking wand can be seen. This is the stick used by Ibis the Invincible, a minor Fawcett Comics character (later bought by DC)

- The First of the Fallen is mentioned in passing. Along with Nergal, he's one of Constantine's two primary antagonists and is actually a separate character from Lucifer (in fact, he was created by writer Garth Ennis as an alternative to Lucifer, since that character was taken for The Sandman)

- Ritchie's desk features a number of robots - a possible reference to his storyline in the comics, where his mind is trapped in a computer by a psychic trap, and he initially hopes to download it into a robotic body

- One of the objects in Liv's father's cellar is a green brass skull-like object that looks uncannily like the head of Swamp Thing, from whose comic Constantine originally sprang

- When Liv is pressing him for more personal information, Constantine responds with "The sorrid passions of my parents". This line was used by Zed in issue four of Hellblazer in a similar situation, but with Constantine asking the question

- The Helmet of Dr. Fate, Pandora's Box, the Ibisick, Eclipso's Black Diamond, and Psycho Pirate's Medusa Mask can all be seen in Jasper Winter's safehouse

- "Non Est Asylum" is Latin for "there is no asylum"

RATING: 8.2/10