Constantine, Episode 6: A Feast of Friends
In a story that’s
apparently based on the first two issues of Hellblazer, we see
something that’s definitely miles above the first two episodes in terms of
quality and storytelling. Now I haven’t read the comics, so obviously I can’t
do a commentary on where they got things wrong and what changes improve the
story and all that jazz, but I do appreciate how much smoother the execution of
the story is compared to the previous two episodes. The demon of the week is a
hunger demon called Mnemoth, which manifests in the absolutely grotesque form
of a gigantic swarm of roaches… er, sorry, khapra beetles, which will swarm in
the air before entering a person through the mouth – itself a horrifying shot –
before driving the person to basically be a zombie, eating anything in its path
be it normal food, raw meat, hot boiling oil or at one point a chunk of a
security guard. It leaves its victims a desiccated husk, bursting out as a
swarm of beetles again before finding a new host.
Actually seeing these
things in action as they rampaged from host to host when an unfortunate customs
officer broke the jar that held them in place is horrifying by itself – a far
more supernatural yet still tangible threat than just some dude that can
control electricity (granted, Furcrifer does do a couple of scary demonic shit
before we see him in full view) or a haunted vinyl tape. Also, y’know, there’s
just something so primal in seeing something natural like a swarm of beetles
behave so unnaturally.
At the cost of
marginalizing the side cast – Chas barely appears, Manny only shows up to
deliver cryptic dire warnings, whereas Zed has minimal roles hanging around at
the safehouse – we are introduced to Gary Lester, poor poor Gary Lester. He’s
someone who’s involved in the Newcastle incident and an estranged ‘friend’ of
Constantine… if you can even call him a friend. An acquaintance that pisses
Constantine off, more like. Constantine constantly verbally abuses him, calling
him a heroin addict who’s been wasting his life despite all the opportunities
he had.
And apparently Gary’s been
in going around generally making a mess of his life after running away from the
whole Astra incident. And when he saw a young boy with markings that indicated
a demon is trapped within him, he was at least competent enough to seal it in a
jar… except that, as Constantine finds out later, the only way to seal Mnemoth
was with a human sacrifice, whereby the demon will then destroy both the host
and itself with nowhere else to go to. So Gary’s well-meaning act of exorcism
has instead unleashed this unstoppable hunger demon – and Constantine’s attempt
to seal it in a bottle similarly fails.
Granted, Mnemoth seemed
relatively content hanging around in Gary’s initial fancy-looking jar, and it’s
not until it’s gone on a rampage and presumably grew stronger from all the
binge-eating its victims did that Constantine wasn’t able to contain it, so.
We get an absolutely trippy
acid trip thanks to the help of Nomo the shaman, which includes some grotesque
visuals like Nomo ripping out Constantine’s eyeball (in a vision, but still)
and Mnemoth’s original host’s tongue being cut out.
And then, well, Constantine
basically emotionally blackmails Gary to become Mnemoth’s new host. We don’t
know exactly how much of what Constantine says before confronting and
eventually sealing Mnemoth is true – all the talk about how people can change,
all the sweet honeyed words telling Gary that Constantine’s going to break his
‘work alone’ rule just this once… the sheer glee on Gary’s face as he goes
along with Constantine’s plan to break into the museum, and then confronting
Mnemoth and realizing that he was to be the sacrifice… and then the resolve on
his face… granted, yes, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few and
all that, and Constantine’s apology to Gary and whatnot sounds at least
sincere. But there’s no denying that while Constantine absolutely looks guilty
as fuck when Gary agrees to be the sacrifice – it was still a dick move on his
part, and Gary even lampshades this. He goes through with the sacrifice, at
least.
But, hey, we need to show
that Constantine’s morally not as straight as most of DC’s offers, and this was
apparently far more sympathetic compared to the comics version. So I’ve been
told. It was definitely a powerful moment as Constantine holds the hand of a
dying Gary as he trashes against… whatever the fuck it is you feel when a demon
that takes the form of a swarm of beetles rages around within your body.
Meanwhile Manny watches,
presumably in disapproval.
Could Constantine have
found another way? Yes, he could've tried other spells, used a different and
preferably terminal person as the sacrifice. But he didn't. The hunger demon
will continue on rampaging and killing and killing, and it won’t stop. So
Constantine chose the easier and morally more ambiguous way out. Yes, Gary did
give his consent, and Constantine looks guilty and heartbroken as fuck, but at
the same time, he did emotionally manipulate Gary with the express purpose of
having him be the vessel.
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