Constantine (TV Series) The Devil's Vinyl (2014) User Reviews

A Progressing and Mysterious Show

[SpoodermanDerp · 8/10 · 8 November 2014]

"The Devil's Vinyl" sets up the standards of this progressing show. The show will continuously provide us with new and mysterious supernatural occurring, introduce us to new characters and let Constantine crack the case. We've seen this in many different shows, yet Constantine handles it in it's own special way.

The episode started with an accident in relation to a music disc that causes people to result in mysterious and gruesome ways. From there the episode caught my attention and it played out fairly well. Zed was more likable in this episode than the recent one. It was implied in the episode that she was indeed needed for both Constantine and the show itself. She's a great companion to Constantine and a strong female character. She's proved herself useful and interesting and will surely be noticed for future episodes. Matt Ryan's Constantine showed a splendid performance in terms of showing his arrogant and dark side. He will not stop unless the case has been solved and will definitely provide us with humor and his dark attitude. However, his supernatural powers are so limited when there are many more in the source material. At start the case and story was supposed to be simple, yet once new characters were added, the story turned to a different direction. Papa Midnite served as a menacing villain in the episode with potential to be even better. The execution of the narrative was fairly similar to the previous episode which is the reason why the episode did not deliver as well as it could have.

Overall an entertaining and great episode for a show thats finding it's feet. +With Zed being an interesting companion, +Matt Ryam's Constantine is splendid, - Constantine having limited powers than in the source material, +An interesting and mysterious narrative.

Verdict: 8.0/10

A Slight Improvement

[dramafreak42 · 7/10 · 12 November 2014]

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.

A record demon

[aegiswiz-accede · 10/10 · 15 November 2014]

Constantine: Lets call it Dr. House on psychedelics instead of narcotics. Instead of curing physical ailments Mr. Constantine deals with demonic type afflictions. This is a hit as big as House if the writers stay solid and the network can endure a dip of ratings here and there, which is unlikely.

Truthfully, however, the network is NBC, who in recent years have been head and shoulders above the other networks in discovering hits. Well, less CW.

Despite the spoiler warning, none are intended. Just not sure where the line is not to cross.

My top rating isn't the true rating which might be a degree or two lower but the wonks who decide to cancel don't get it 99% of the time, so I've given up being honest with them. This is good. If you ever want to see it again give it a top rating and sound convincing.

In this episode some good old demon soul contracts for success are the theme. The evil artifact is a record from the golden age of blues. There are a number of competitors who want to possess this artifact, maybe as bargaining chips with the evil one, but it sets up a multiple plot adventure that is sure to entertain.