Constantine S01E01 Recap: Non Est Asylum

Northern England is where we are first introduced to Constantine as he asks his nurse to make his straps nice and tight. Mouth guard in, they shock the crap out of him. He's an exorcist and sometimes he needs to forget. He blames himself for the murder of a girl. He should have stopped it, but he fell short. His psychiatrist thinks that he's manifested the demonic illusion, but the girl's damnation is what drives him to anger.

He sits through all the self help circles he can, boredom overtaking him, when he notices some odd bug behavior. This nut house in bad need of an exterminator. He follows the bugs to a girl painting. He tells her that she needs to stop painting the roach's siren calls. He wants to walk away, let the problem be someone elses, but he has to act. He exorcises the demon from within her. Paint and glass splatters everywhere, and the girl awakens scared. The spirits have sent him a message “Liv Die.” Constantine is ready to check out.

Liv looks at fortune cookies with her co-worker. Her's is mysteriously blank, she has no future. It's closing time, and she goes to head home. Her car warns her that there's something behind her, even though she doesn't see anything. Like any girl in the horror genre she gets out of the car to see what it is, and her car revs, and then loses power. Could have been worse. The power goes out around her in the parking lot, all except a lone light, and like a moth to the flame she heads towards it. Only it too goes out. The cement cracks, and a giant crater opens up before her, in a firey pit. She runs for it, and Constantine arrives in a cab. Liv pulls pepper spray on him, and he gives her his business card. She's being hunted, and tells her to contact him if she wants to live. She doesn't believe him, and he lets her go.

Constantine heads into the hole, looking for who created it, and he finds a dark angel. John came for Liv as a promise to an old friend, and the angel came for John. He damned a girl to hell along with her soul. He can't save his soul, but he can ease his suffering. John's been out of the game for awhile, and the angel wants to make sure he's up to the challenge of a demon attack. He warns that there's something big on the way, but he doesn't have a chance of elaborating before winging off.

Liv gets a ride home from her friend and neighbor Dahlia, telling her of the weird happenings. In the hallway, Liv gets a weird feeling, but shrugs it off as she goes in. A man with a knife is outside her door. She opens up the second fortune cookie she has, and inside it says “Trust him.” Sounds like Daddy is sending messages from beyond the grave. The powerr in the building flickers. A symbol is etched on Liv's door, and salt blocking the entity entrance. Dahlia isn't so lucky. Liv awakens to sounds of a helicopter, and police presence. Dahlia has been brutally murdered. Liv barely notices the carving on her door.

Dahlia's body is loaded up and taken away. Inside the ambulance it begins to thrash around. The Paramedic pulls over to see what all the commotion is about, and the body lies still. He shakes her, and she sits up and he rushes to unzip the bag. The doors close and the power goes out. He uses his flashlight and finds Dahlia white eyed and out of her bag. She pounces on him, sending the van rocking.

Constantine sits waiting with the cab for Liv. He knows her normal arrival times, and that she's late. Her friend was killed, she says. She asks him about the carving on her door. The Eye of Horace, for protection. Constantine introduces Liv to Chaz, his oldest friend, and door carver. He's glad she's safe, but not a big talker. Liv doesn't understand why anyone would want to kill her, she's a nobody, but Constantine knows different. Liv never knew her father, or that he was alive until last year. Constantine gives her a bag to open, as the medical examiner's van plows right through the front window of Liv's work, and her desk. Had she gone inside to work rather than chat with Constantine she'd be toast. The possessed Dahlia gnashes its teeth at Liv. Usually the paranormal are a little more concealed in their killings, and attempted killings. Not this one. As the lights flicker, and sparks fly, Liv disappears.

Liv confronts her mother about her father. Her mother confesses that she isn't prepared to answer any questions about him, that he never showed any interest in her, and he was nothing more than some boy she met at a concert. Liv tells her that one of Jasper's friends tracked her down, but she finds it impossible since Jasper never knew where they lived. Liv opens the pouch Constantine gave her, pulling out a medallion, and she gets quite a shock. She sees her dead Nana stroking her mother's hair. She sees dead people now! But when she says Nana, the vision becomes horrific, as Nana's eyes become black holes, and blood pours from her mouth. Liv rushes out of her mother's kitchen.

Liv barrels down the road, and nearly runs into Constantine, who's waiting for her. She waking up and seeing the things around her like her father could. She carefully pulls it out, trying to avoid touching it, and Constantine grabs her, forcing her to make contact. She can see people in this gray washed landscape. They're trapped souls, which Constantine knows about but apparently can't see. He wants to know what else she can see, and she tells him there's a train coming. She struggles to get them both off the tracks, but he won't let them go anywhere. The ghost train plows into him, breaking the illusion. She has her father's gift, the medallion helps her focus her energy, revealing the hidden worlds around them. Jasper tried to teach Constantine, but he never had the knack for it. Liv leaves her car behind, and hitches a ride in Constantine's cab.

He dozes in the back, and Liv thinks to grill Chaz about Jasper. Constantine puts an end to her questions. Constantine plans to get to the bottom of her bounty. He asks Chaz to turn down the music but “Ring of Fire” refuses to be extinguished, and the stop light begins its own hypnotic beat. Chaz takes his eyes off the road as he deals with the tunes, and the cab is slammed by a semi-truck.

John relives his last case where he wasn't able to save the little girl from the demon who murdered her and damned her soul. He awakens to Liv's screams for help as a power pole sparks nearby. Liv and Chaz are both still in the cab, trapped inside. A power line breaks free, and Constantine works to keep the line at bay. Holding line with his skill, Chaz pulls Liv free of the cab. She reaches Constantine, but Chaz ends up skewered by the power line.

Constantine takes Liv to safety, but she doesn't understand what is going on, or how she could possibly be safe anywhere after just seeing Chaz bite the big one. Constantine insists that things aren't always what they appear to be, and gives her the keys to her father's home as he had promised to do. The place is massive, they could survive an apocalypse in it if needed, or start one. Jasper used it for divinations, no one could find trouble faster than Jasper. Liv finds a golden helmet, but Constantine warns her to put it down before it puts her down. Elsewhere in the cave of wonders is a map of Atlanta with four areas highlighted: Phantom Hill, Damnation Bay, Illusion Falls, Seven Devils. All sound like lovely places to visit. Jasper started drawing maps based on what he saw. Constantine discovers the demon that's after Liv. He has her do a little scrying, and makes some plans to stop the demon.

Plan in hand Constantine runs into the angel. The Angel pauses time, so they can chat. Constantine tells him that a demon from the inner circle is what is after Liv. Something like that can't make it to this plane without some serious help. Constantine feels like the angel is using him. The angel does want to use him for information so that he can save lives, but what about Constantine's life? The angels damned him to hell, so he's not sure he should risk his last days on earth. The angel finds him to be a petty dabbler, and he should risk his last days because he is damned to hell. He just needs to know its not too late for him and his soul, but the angel doesn't answer. The rain begins again.

Constantine goes to see his former mate Reggie. Things may not have ended well the last time they met up. Constantine knows that something big is coming, and Reggie admits that there is something. He's charted all sort of things. Reggie was there for the last job, and he's haunted by it as well. He's resorted to pills to ease his mind, and erase the happenings. He doesn't want to play again. Constantine reminds him that the cops are still searching for the man who murdered the girl. Reggie doesn't exactly have an alibi for that night. Reggie wishes that the demon would have taken Constantine instead, and in all honesty so does Constantine.

Liv is still having trouble adjusting to the powers. She saw a man in the mirror of the fireplace. Constantine arrives back. She was watching the past he explains, and the man she saw was Jasper. He gives her a bag of her belongings, as she questions how he got into her apartment, she's startled to see Chaz there too. She thought he was dead, and he didn't exactly. There's a reason that Chaz is his oldest friend, he's got survival skills. Liv is confused, but that means she's paying attention. Constantine has Chaz prepare his famous rack of lamb, they're out to catch a demon.

Constantine pays off a parking attendant for a little privacy, giving him specific light bulb instructions and then he and Liv get to work on a mural. He paints an elaborate demon seal. It's a propriatary design, made of enochian script. Oh, Dean and Sam Winchester would be so proud. The attendant plays a game, when the lights begin to flicker. He should have been watching his light bulb. Liv tries to get to know Constantine better, and he deflects with a little humor. The man just does not want to talk about himself, and Liv can't help but be annoying. She nettles him more. She's trusting him with her life, and she wants some dirt on him. His mother died in childbirth, and his father blamed him for it constantly calling her killer. Liv wants to know if he wonders what her mother was like. He plans to find out. As a teen he taught himself everything he could about the occult, and one day he'll find her. Small talk out of the way, and it's go time. The attendant stumbles up, they left the poor guy unprotected, what did they think was going to happen? The possessed attendant walks straight into the trap, as Liv just looks on all doe eyed. Constantine cuts the lights, and starts his incantation. The demon turns himself into Constantine, showing him what he'll look like in the future. The demons can't wait to bring him into their fold, knowing the amount of souls he'll be able to take down for them. Everyone who stands at Constantine's side dies. It uses the distraction to turn the lights back on and fuel it's power. Using once again the power lines, it makes a grab for Liz, as it calls upon more energy. Constantine fires his fire, to signal his back up. Reggie knocks out the power supply. Using a zippo, Constantine lights the ring, and the demon fights dirty. He calls forth the girl. She begs for release. The demon offers the girl's soul in exchange for his own release. Constantine apologies to Liv, bent on saving the girl, but its not her. Liv stops him before he can do something stupid. Constantine vows to save the girl, Astra, and take down the demon responsible, as he exorcises this one out of existence. With the ritual finished, he sends Liv down to Reggie, demanding that she leave him.

Liv grills Reggie on Astra. She was the daughter of a friend. A demon possessed her, and Constantine went in on his own and conjured a more powerful demon. He thought the powerful one would drag out the lesser, but it instead took the girl. It tore her apart right in front of them. Reggie warns Liv to stay away from Constantine for her own safety. They pass Edgewood Ave, the place she scryed earlier, and there are a number of police cars there. She tells him to stop the car, as she gets out. In the street there is a man with his throat mangled, and a mother screaming.

Constantine drowns his sorrows in a bar when Chaz finds him prattling on about influential bands. Liv has flown the coop, mentioning a cousin in California. And thank goodness. As interesting as the show is, Liv was the one factor that didn't quite work. She did leave her father's pendant though. Chaz wonders if she's safe out there, and she will be. Before she left she spent some time scrying, marking locations, and there are a ton of them. Liv wants Constantine to keep fighting. Maybe he'll never forgive himself for Astra, but if he wants to give his life some meaning, Chaz tells him to do something about it. He signals for another beer, and the angel hands him one. Constantine was the one that made Liv go by Edgewood Ave, using it to scare the girl away. The angel tells him that Liv's power was valuable, but Constantine knows that her life is as well. He wanted her to have a choice whether she wanted to join the fight or not, and he's ready to jump back in.

Constantine heads into a dark alley, ready to face the hordes alone, thinking that there is no one crazy enough to walk it with him. Little does he know there is someone out there waiting, and sketching him, one of many sketches. He haunts her vision, and I for one cannot wait to see her come!