# Constantine Season One - open spoilers as it airs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 25, 2014, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452 "2014-10-25T13:28:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![mage-girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@mage-girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mage-girl)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452/41 "2014-11-02T23:54:40Z")
My mom slept through Friday’s episode. I watched it but was not impressed. Such a waste of a potentially good concept! Zed annoys me. Flirty Constantine annoys me. (I don’t know how much of a flirt he is in the comics, beyond using it to get what he wants, but it seems weird). Some of the dialogue was just this side of cheesy. No Chaz, no Manny. Boo. Maybe we should count this episode as the second pilot, and hope things improve with the third episode? It’s worth a shot. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452/42 "2014-11-03T00:20:01Z")
The pilot episode wasn’t great by any means, but it was better than this ep. if this episode is more indicative of what the season is going to be like, it doesn’t bode well. Where do I know the priest from? He was very familiar but I can’t place him. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452/43 "2014-11-03T03:27:17Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > The pilot episode wasn’t great by any means, but it was better than this ep. if this episode is more indicative of what the season is going to be like, it doesn’t bode well. > > Where do I know the priest from? He was very familiar but I can’t place him. I think I’ve seen him around in quite a few things, but the one that jumps to mind is as one of the oxy junkies in Justified, that helps drive the runaway girl and save/threaten Raylan at different times. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452/44 "2014-11-03T03:31:57Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > Nope. At the panel I attended for this show at SDCC where they showed the pilot, they said that character of Liv wasn’t interesting enough/didn’t have enough potential storylines/wasn’t strong enough, so they got rid of her in favor of Zed. Liv had a dad with a huge background, plus a secret lair full of interesting things. Replacing her with a homeless artist doesn’t seem to up the quantity of things they can do with the character. On the TV show Lost, they ended up firing Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros, because the two of them were boozing it up and acting crazy. But here’s what the producers said about the event: [ > [@](#): > > Lindelof and Cuse insist that, despite Libby’s burgeoning relationship with Hurley, the creators felt her story wasn’t going to go anywhere in Season 3, and they liked the idea of shocking the audience by killing her off just as things were getting interesting, and before we’d had a chance to learn her backstory. (Which will be revealed eventually in the flashbacks of others.) Regarding reports of Watros’ pilot deal, the producers shrug and note that it’s not fair to a performer’s career to stifle news that could help her find work, and they felt they owed her moral support after she took very hard the news that she’d be leaving Lost. ]([Dotdash Meredith - America's Largest Digital & Print Publisher](http://popwatch.ew.com/2006/05/11/more_on_last_ni/)) ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452/45 "2014-11-03T05:01:01Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > The pilot episode wasn’t great by any means, but it was better than this ep. if this episode is more indicative of what the season is going to be like, it doesn’t bode well. Agreed. Ep2 was just dull. Hope they can get some excitement going with the next few eps. It’d be nice also if banishing demons was a little more than Constantine just muttering a few words… like the effort behind it would be nice. ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452/46 "2014-11-03T15:02:57Z")
My problem with the episode is that I just didn’t give a damn about any of the characters. Oh, Constantine is going to stop a demon, he seems bored. Oh look, drawing girl turns out whiny and annoying. The big CEO of the mine is going to die? Meh, let him, then the episode might end early. Oh, the priest we’ve known for 2 minutes found his faith again? Who cares! I don’t think those were flaws inherent in the characters, I think the writing was just bad. Plus, there was the super obvious Chekov’s gun in the first act: **Constantine** : So, where are you from? **Dead Guy’s Wife** : I’m a Romani princess with access to magic that was tricking into marrying some schlub and now I hate this town and the mine. **Constantine** : Well, I’m sure none of that is plot relevant information. Wanna make out? **Dead Guy’s Wife** : Oh hell yes! **Constantine** : I changed my mind. **Dead Guy’s Wife** : Get out! **Constantine** : Oh yea, pissing off the wife of a dead guy during the memorial when all his beefy friends are here was probably a bad idea. I mean come on, the writing has got to get more clever. The Cinematrography is great, and the theme is interesting, but the episodes are just coming off so BORING. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452/47 "2014-11-03T18:07:31Z")
I’m still on the fence about this show. I want to like it, but little things bug me. I’ll keep watching it, for now. > [@WotNot](#): > > Also, the word “blighter” is not something likely to be said by any Englishman less than 100 years old – certainly not a working class northerner. This is one of the things that bug me: I feel like every now and then his dialect doesn’t _quite_ match his accent. Like, for some reason it bugs me a little every time he says “mate” (just a little). I know the actor is Welsh, and I also know that I’m an American with nothing other than 2 years spent in Yorkshire as a kid (30 years ago) and a love of BBC America programming to go by, so I try to ignore it. But there are moments when I’d swear his accent is fake. It takes me out of the show every time. > [@levdrakon](#): > > Where do I know the priest from? He was very familiar but I can’t place him. That was James LeGros, who – as **Sage Rat** says – has been in a bunch of stuff. I don’t watch _Justified_, but most recently I saw him last year on _Revenge_ (where he also played a priest). > [@yellowjacketcoder](#): > > Plus, there was the super obvious Chekov’s gun in the first act YES. How anyone could hear that and not immediately think “gypsy…hey!” is beyond me. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452/48 "2014-11-03T18:09:08Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > “He doesn’t smoke enough, they only showed him putting a cigarette out at the bar.”, . Actually, they should have gotten rid of the smoking entirely, vis-a-vis the end of the Film. I may stop watching it due to the smoking. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452/49 "2014-11-03T18:18:11Z")
Nothing they were going to do with the smoking was going to make people happy. If he doesn’t smoke people will complain that they bailed on an iconic bit of the character, if he does than people will complain they’re encouraging a potentially deadly habit. Their solution seems to be to try and show that he smokes while never actually showing him with a cigarette. I’m sure it still won’t make anyone happy, but I kinda like it. It’s clever, if nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452/50 "2014-11-03T18:33:05Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Nothing they were going to do with the smoking was going to make people happy. If he doesn’t smoke people will complain that they bailed on an iconic bit of the character, if he does than people will complain they’re encouraging a potentially deadly habit. The iconic bit ended with the end of the Film. Just take it from there. Have him have some of his ex-smokers habits, etc… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452/51 "2014-11-03T18:38:27Z")
I can’t do it. The acting is just awful. The bit where Constantine is standing there telling the girl to close her eyes and focus on the dove in the snowstorm or whatever made my physically cringe. Chalk up another DC universe failure. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452/52 "2014-11-03T18:43:59Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > The iconic bit ended with the end of the Film. Just take it from there. Have him have some of his ex-smokers habits, etc… The Film that apparently absolutely no comic book fan of Hellblazer considers to be canon? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452/53 "2014-11-03T18:46:00Z")
Couldn’t care less if he smokes, myself. Smoking rarely adds much of anything to tv. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452/54 "2014-11-03T18:46:01Z")
Yeah, I could care less about fanboys. ---
**Author:** ![misling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@misling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misling)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452/55 "2014-11-03T20:49:21Z")
It was a major plot point at one time, he was essentially dying of lung cancer. Some of his usual combination con artist/magician crap got him out of it. More or less. With the usual messy fallout. He’s kind of a don’t-give-a-damn (or maybe don’t think things through) character a lot of the time. He does stuff on the fly. He doesn’t take care of people he supposedly cares about. Most of his actions come back to bite him later on. The smoking thing was part of that (I’m talking about the comic here - never saw the movie.). ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452/56 "2014-11-03T20:53:12Z")
Also those comic fans (who were REALLY upset that John Constantine wouldn’t be chain smoking in the show) are, I’m sure, who the network assumed would be the core of viewers for the show. You piss them off, and you are basically asking not to get picked up for a full season order. Of course with episodes like the 2nd one, you are asking the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452/57 "2014-11-03T21:25:14Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Also those comic fans (who were REALLY upset that John Constantine wouldn’t be chain smoking in the show) are, I’m sure, who the network assumed would be the core of viewers for the show. You piss them off, and you are basically asking not to get picked up for a full season order… Hardly. If every one of those fanboys was glued to his set it wouldnt even make a blip in the ratings, sales were under 10,000 per issue. . The comic was _so popular_ it was \*canceled due to poor sales. \* What they are looking for are people who watched the Film, which has the same name and grossed $230,884,728. In other words, maybe 10,000 fanboys bought the comic. Some 20 million people saw the film. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452/58 "2014-11-03T22:01:46Z")
And yet the comic was so popular it spawned a feature film and a television series. The comic character is also somewhat iconic: > **[John Constantine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Constantine)** > > John Constantine (/ˈkɒnstənˌtaɪn/), also known as Hellblazer, is an antihero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. He was created by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, and, John Totleben, and first appeared in Swamp Thing #37 (June 1985). Initially a supporting character who played a pivotal role in the "American Gothic" Swamp Thing storyline, Constantine became popular with readers. As a result, he received his own comic in 1988 titled Hellblazer, which became the longest-runni Th... > [@](#): > > The Hellblazer series was the longest-running and most successful title of DC’s Vertigo imprint.[4] Empire Magazine ranked Constantine third in their 50 Greatest Comic Characters of All Time,[5] while IGN ranked him No. 29 in their Top 100 Comic Book Heroes, and the character ranked No. 10 in Wizard Magazine’s Top 200 Comic Book Characters of All Time. Obviously they aren’t looking at the people who watched the Film considering the premise is more faithful to the comic series, including the whole British lead thing. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452/59 "2014-11-03T22:13:05Z")
In addition, it would just seem silly to have a comic book TV show focusing on a movie released almost a decade ago that was a moderate success but critically mixed. It’d be like releasing a Daredevil TV show based on the 2003 movie and not the super popular comic book. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452/60 "2014-11-03T22:44:34Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > And yet the comic was so popular it spawned a feature film and a television series. The comic character is also somewhat iconic: > > [John Constantine - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Constantine) > Obviously they aren’t looking at the people who watched the Film considering the premise is more faithful to the comic series, including the whole British lead thing. They have to be. Sure it was "longest-running and most successful title of _DC’s Vertigo imprint"but note those last three words. Vertigo is a tiny imprint of the giant DC comics._ It still never sold 10000 copies per issue. \*\* [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constantine-season-one-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/702452.md?page=4)