Constantine, get your shit together
(via NBC.com)
So we’re up to episode four of Constantine —five as of tonight—and there are some problems that we need to address. It’s about inconsistencies in plot points and continuity problems. My guess is that it mostly comes from having to quickly switch which sidekick was the focus, and I’m assuming some scenes had to be reshot, or quickly written in order to recover from that. However, that doesn’t mean that they get a pass.
Here’s our problems so far
In the first episode they spend the whole episode building this girl up to be Constantine’s sidekick and then promptly write her out because (rumor has it) she didn’t test well, which leaves holes in the entire show from then on. They made up some quick bollocks reason that she was too freaked out, but with her gifts, I’m assuming that the darkness will still come for her, she’s just running away for no reason. Also, they’re still living in her dad’s house. That’s kind of weird.
Also, the way they decide where to go each episode is based on Liv’s abilities. I’m assuming originally they were going to have her work her mojo at the beginning of each episode and then go where the blood led. Now, though, they explained that Live just let a lot of blood, and now there are spots all over the map. They introduce the fact that the blood gets more liquid when some particular place needs help. This is how they know where to go. Two questions come to mind, what happens when they run out of blood spots on the map? And why is only one crisis at a time coming up? Is some supernatural force guiding Constantine, or are the writers too lazy to come up with an idea that actually makes sense.
The biggest mistake I’ve seen yet was in episode three. Chaz is left behind while Zed and Constantine head to Chicago to investigate a murder. Chaz is told to investigate Zed’s background, but no other instructions are given. Later in the episode, though, Zed calls Chaz to tell him to get to Chicago to help out, and then inexplicably Constantine asks Chaz if he brought what he asked for, implying that Constantine called Chaz, even though Constantine was completely incapacitated by Papa Midnight. It seems like a small thing, but Constantine didn’t talk to Chaz, Zed did, so at what point did Constantine tell Chaz to bring things?.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this level of missing small details. These are mistakes that beginning writers make, not ones that work on a major NBC television show. Even when the writing is bad on TV, they usually can keep track of who’s calling whom. They’re so obvious that every person should be complaining about these “what the, who…huh?”
Episode four didn’t have any of the inconsistencies, it was just boring. That was its biggest crime.
So far when you compare it to the other DC shows it is definitely falling to the bottom. I think it has a great deal of potential, and could easily surpass shows like Grimm (which still can’t get its shit together) or Supernatural (which has elements that the show runners have admitted are an ‘homage’ to the Hellrazer comics), but right now it’s not impressing anyone. Even Gotham is better than Constantine, and that’s saying something because the only good episode of that show was the one where Gordon was left on his own while the mob came after him. Why was that only a one episode arc? They built up to that the whole season, why not stick with a plot point that’s actually interesting, instead switching back to a bad procedural?
Arrow and The Flash are going strong. Constantine though, Constantine has a lot of work to do before it’s anything but a waste of time. Give us a reason to watch this show, NBC, I dare you.
