My Review of Constantine's 1x04: "A Feast Of Friends"

Written by John F. Showalter
Directed by Cameron Welsh

Constantine (to Lester): "I'm proud of you, Gaz. Truly."

In the last few episodes we've gotten mentions here and there about John's past life in Newcastle and in this episode, one of those factors appeared in the shape and form of Gary Lester, who also brought a demon with him in order to keep things interesting.

I have a bit of a pet peeve about episodes with bugs or insects or in the case - beetles. I usually tend to find them a bit naff and the demon in question Mnemoth certainly spent a fair chunk of the episode in this form after being released from a bottle that Gary had acquired in Sudan before invading various hosts throughout. Then came the heroic sacrifice.

Personally while I do like the episode for exploring the complicated history between Constantine and Gaz as well as the latter's addictive personality and plethora of guilt issues and so on, a part of did feel that Lester's sacrificing himself to stop the demon didn't feel earned enough. It might have helped had this plot line had been done about two or three episodes after the character was introduced instead of his very introduction episode.

On the plus side, I really loved the dynamic between John and Zed in this episode. While he only told her a bit about his Newcastle past (makes sense, we're only on episode four), I did find it interesting that she was more sympathetic to Lester (after he hijacked her twice) and quite openly challenged Constantine as well. Basically, I think I'm really starting to like Zed a lot more than I did when she was first introduced.

- Manny really does need to do more than show up and be a dick to Constantine. No Chas in this one.
- Constantine's Shaman friend, Nommo was a good addition to this episode. I really liked the trippy scenes in this one.
- John's security system for his hideout looks more fun than a deterrent for some reason.
- This episode largely followed a storyline from Hellblazer.

A strong enough episode with some nice trippy moments, "A Feast Of Friends" definitely had a lot going for it but like i said earlier in the review, I do think that Lester needed to be in more episodes before the show done his big sacrifice. That being said, I like the way the show is giving us more and more on Constantine's past though.

Rating: 7 out of 10