While this episode does appear to solidify the "monster/strange occurrence of the week" format, the overall tone and feel of the episode is working better than it was last time. The main thing that helps is that this time it feels like we're truly in Constantine's world rather than watching him stumble his way through somebody else's issues, which is how the first two episodes felt.
The main reason that this one feels so much more at home is that various elements feed into Constantine's own back-story. Some of the people involved in this week's weirdness are people he knows to varying degrees, and it revolves around something that he's seen before or at least is able to wrap his head around early on. Something about watching him be a bit of sleuth in the previous episode didn't work quite right. This time he's a fighter, and that suits his personality much better.
The introduction of characters like Papa Midnight are part of what helps this more at home feeling. This whole sense that Constantine has seen this kind of thing before is what the show needs in these early days. Audiences need an anchor in this world, somebody who knows the score. Having Constantine feel more out of his element, be it geographically or in terms of not knowing what's going on, is something that isn't going to play correctly until audiences have had the chance to build more confidence in the guy. And this episode is a step in the right direction.
That said, the show is still very firmly stuck in its format. You know going in that the immediate situation will be fully resolved by the end of the episode and next week he'll be off to another spot to deal with something else. Hopefully there'll start being more connective tissue between the episodes going forward, and someone like Papa Midnight would go a long way towards establishing that. Because right now things are just too disjointed from episode to episode. It's better than the previous episode but still not living up to its own potential quiet yet.
The main reason that this one feels so much more at home is that various elements feed into Constantine's own back-story. Some of the people involved in this week's weirdness are people he knows to varying degrees, and it revolves around something that he's seen before or at least is able to wrap his head around early on. Something about watching him be a bit of sleuth in the previous episode didn't work quite right. This time he's a fighter, and that suits his personality much better.
The introduction of characters like Papa Midnight are part of what helps this more at home feeling. This whole sense that Constantine has seen this kind of thing before is what the show needs in these early days. Audiences need an anchor in this world, somebody who knows the score. Having Constantine feel more out of his element, be it geographically or in terms of not knowing what's going on, is something that isn't going to play correctly until audiences have had the chance to build more confidence in the guy. And this episode is a step in the right direction.
That said, the show is still very firmly stuck in its format. You know going in that the immediate situation will be fully resolved by the end of the episode and next week he'll be off to another spot to deal with something else. Hopefully there'll start being more connective tissue between the episodes going forward, and someone like Papa Midnight would go a long way towards establishing that. Because right now things are just too disjointed from episode to episode. It's better than the previous episode but still not living up to its own potential quiet yet.