Written by Jim Campolongo
Directed by Jamie Childs
Johanna Constantine (to the demon): "Run along and fuck off back to hell."
Morpheus: "You have no idea what you have done."
Johanna Constantine: "I do though. I have just tripled my fee."
You wait a while for more Constantine content and you get enough all at once. With Matt Ryan set to appear in the Harley Quinn series and the HBO Max show apparently still going ahead (I'll believe it when it actually gets released), a right issues meant that John Constantine was off-limits for this show. However his ancestor, Johanna Constantine was up for grabs and a gender swapped version of John has also turned out to be fair game too.
Let's make no mistake, the Johanna Constantine we saw in this episode was in fact a female version of John Constantine, complete with a variation of his backstory and some of his ex-lovers to boot, as well as his most tragic mistake and encounter with the Sandman. That's fine, because throughout the episode it actually worked better than I expected.
Now I'm not gonna deny that a part of me would've loved to see Matt Ryan reprise his role on this show or even had Taron Egerton (who voiced John in the Audible version) on here but credit to Jenna Coleman, I think she did a fantastic job of nailing the core mechanics of the character. I can even see why some are now lobbying for a spin-off for the character, though I wouldn't expect it to happen.
In this episode, we saw Johanna getting a call from her mate, Erica (Meera Syal) or Ric the Vic about a clandestine wedding between a royal family member and a fit but shit footballer. Needless to say one of the pair happened to be housing the demon, one that Morpheus wanted to talk to before Johanna sent it on it's merry way to hell. While Morpheus might not have been pleased about Johanna's actions, he did manage to however persuade her to help him retrieve his sand.
The sand in question being left with Johanna's ex-girlfriend Rachel and because it's Constantine, you can easily tell that things were going to go to hell for Rachel due to her exposure of the sand. At least Morpheus gave Rachel a peaceful death and Constantine herself seemed to renew a little faith in humanity in Morpheus. The latter then ended the episode by taking his new raven, Matthew (Patton Oswalt) to hell in order to get information on his missing helm.
As for Ethel and John Dee, their story took another interesting turn. Ethel spent most of the episode resolute that her murderous son should remain a prisoner, only to sacrifice her life, give him her protection amulet as he escaped his prison after learning the truth about his father. Not so coincidentally, John Dee also had a chance encounter with the Corinthian, who was encouraging of Dee making his destination.
- In this episode alone we saw Johanna lose Astra (but not her arm) to the Newcastle incident, had a Mucous Membrane poster and even the proper way to pronounce Constantine as well. Also mentions of exes such as Sarah, Oliver and Kit Ryan along with Chas and Renee.
- Ethel talked about living for 116 years before she passed on her amulet to John. The latter also mentioned that the ruby only works for him now.
- Mad Hettie (Clare Higgins) appeared in this episode, mostly to warn Johanna of Morpheus looking for her. She's 280 years old.
- Chronology: The episode went between London, UK and Buffalo, New York.
Dream A Little Dream Of Me made for an extremely satisfying use of Johanna Constantine and her scenes with everyone was truly fun to watch. Yes, there's a part of that would've preferred John but the show managed to make Johanna just as well and even Morpheus had his softer moments too. One of the best episodes so far.
Rating: 9 out of 10
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