Constantine - Rage of Caliban - Review: "I'm an Exorcist"

After finally catching up with the series yesterday, I decided I would write a review for the latest installment.

Constantine - Rage of Caliban - Review

First thing I want to mention is the absence of Zed, this episode was meant to be episode 2, but got switched around due to the role being re-cast. It does show a lot during the episode, and has a back to basics feel to it. That doesn't mean the episode wasn't good, it was another enjoyable hour, but sadly not the shows finest hour.

This episode saw Constantine and Chas head down to Birmingham (Alabama) to investigate some murders in which only the parents have ended up dead. John is convinced the children are being possessed by a spirit of a child. It was a fun plot line for the episode, and when the kid Henry threw his tantrums because his parents were arguing it did represent that it was indeed a spirit of a child. It was a nice touch. Before John found out that the spirit was in Henry, him and Chas went to visit Marcello who was also a victim to this, and a case from 30 years ago. You could see straight away that Marcello killing his parents had damaged him mentally, John wanted to make sure no one else ended up like him.

We do spend a lot of time with the parents of Henry(the victim), which I would normally hate as I would prefer to spend my time seeing John than one off characters, but I didn't mind it this episode. The main reason being that the father was portrayed by one of my favourite actors from A Town Called Eureka; Niall Matter. I always love it when a show has guest actors from shows I used to watch, it makes the characters a lot more interesting. The father though was still a complete jerk the entire episode; it did show though how mothers tend to know their children a lot better than fathers. Speaking of the mother, she was determined to help her child as she could tell there was something wrong with him, so she entrusted John's help. It was predictable that both the parents were going to survive, but I am glad they did as the show doesn't need the entire episode to be gruesome or scary.

Perhaps the best part of the episode came right at the end when John was in the house of horrors with Henry trying to perform an exorcism. The lights flickering on and off added a nice scary tone to it; I admit I did even jump at one point. I do appreciate that the dialogue John always offers is meant to be serious, but it always comes across as humorous. Which is what I like, it makes the character much more likable and entertaining. It was an interesting idea to have a person’s spirit (Marcello's) split from his body whilst he is still alive. That then made me understand why Marcello seemed lifeless when John visited him. It was a good little twist to the episode.

Manny also made a very brief appearance during the episode to talk a little more about the rising darkness. He also brought up John's troubled childhood. John's character always seems a lot stronger on the back of talking about something that makes him uncomfortable. The one thing I do wish though is to see a little more of Manny as I do like the character, and he could be a great asset to John. Hopefully we will see a lot more of him in future episodes! Season 1 So far has been really enjoyable, and I do not want the show to end here, so please watch next weeks episode live, we need more Constantine! Lastly did anyone catch the three legged dear? That was weird right?

Summary
It was a decent episode, but it felt that it had lost a bit of its momentum, but I did expect it given that this episode was meant to be episode 2. Matt Ryan never fails to deliver a good performance, and each week I find myself liking the character even more. I do wish though Manny would show up more regularly as his brief appearances always seem so rushed.

As always, thank you for reading! Let me know in the comments what you thought of the episode!

About the Author - Robert Fruin

Robert is a sixth form student from the United Kingdom, who is currently studying IT, Media and Business Studies. Robert is a huge fan of the ended ABC series LOST, he has seen it many times over and has even visited some of the filming locations for it. Robert mainly watches drama series such as Game Of Thrones and Person of Interest, but has a soft spot for the comedy The Middle. Some other shows he watches are The Walking Dead, Arrow and The 100. Some other interests include cycling, photography and kayaking. Robert will be reviewing Z Nation,The Librarians, Sons Of Anarchy, Intruders, The Fosters and Aquarius. Feel free to connect with him on any of these social media sites.

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