Constantine. S1E3 ‘The Devil’s Vinyl’ review.

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD

Constantine’s 3rd episode
‘The Devil’s Vinyl’ starts of sort of cliché, a demonic vinyl
record. Long as rock music been associated by the more questionable
fringes of Christianity as being a tool of the dark lord to sway the
impressionable youth, here it it seems to be the truth. Constantine
visits Chicago to investigate the death of an old friend who has
fallen victim to said occult recording.

While it may seem like a pretty
generic story, and for the most part it is save for a few nice
touches, it is still a fun watch nevertheless. Like before the show
is anchored by an energetic performance by Matt Ryan as the titular
warlock, who we first see caked in naked, caked in blood and spouting
magical gibberish. One of the weaker part of the previous episodes
was that there was no real adversary to match the charismatic lead,
and as the old saying goes “A hero is only as good as his
villains”, but here that flaw is pretty much erased with the
introduction of Papa Midnite, a powerful voodoo priest, played by
Michael James Shaw. Despite a wobbly accent Shaw creates a worthy foe
for Constantine and is a very welcome addition to the cast. Midnite
also has an interest in the record which is said to hold a recording
of the First of the Fallen’s voice and thus holds a dark and powerful
magic which compels those in its presence to do terrible things.

The episode flows at a good pace
although it sometimes gets bogged down with magical exposition, but
the magic on show is fun and possesses the imagination that the
episodes storyline lacks. As for the performances Ryan is at his
usual best, and Shaw as Midnite is cool and confident, but everybody
else apart from Zed is really just background noise, Halford’s Chas
is barely there at all. Angelica Celaya is good as Zed, we don’t
learn too much about her as a character but she proves her usefulness
to Constantine.

Still episodic and with no sign of an
arc yet ‘The Devil’s Vinyl’ is still very entertaining if not very
memorable and it does introduce us to a interesting villain and in so
helps build the show’s Universe. An added bonus is the episodes
soundtrack which includes British Punk Purveyors the Sex Pistols, and
is in keeping with Constantine’s anarchic musical roots.