Constantine - A Feast of Friends

A wise man knows that there are places it isn't safe to stand.

A man coming through customs shows signs of withdrawal. The resulting search releases a hunger demon from a bottle and looses it in Atlanta. The man is Gary Lester, an old friend of John Constantine and a fellow veteran of Newcastle. He trapped the demon and was on his way to John to dispose of it. A lifelong screw up, he longs to make right. John may have a way for him to do it, but it won't be pretty.

'A Feast of Friends' is a direct adaptation of one of the Hellblazer comics, and it brings a harder edge to the series. Apparently it's still a nicer ending than the comics, but if there was any worry that the original Constantine would be sanitised out of existence, this should set most of that to rest; he may be softened, but he's not soft. Perhaps not coincidentally, it is the best episode so far. Gaz may only be a guest star, but the character feels real and substantial, which is vital for the final punch. Jonjo O'Neill and regular Angelica Celaya also do a good job of looking properly sickly as Zed psychometrically shares Gaz's withdrawal symptoms.

The absence of Chas to get the cab fixed does support my suspicion that the series either doesn't know how to write for more than three people at once or can't afford to have that many actors on set.

I've been rooting for Constantine from the get go, in part from my antique love of the rapidly cancelled Strange, but on the strength of 'A Feast of Friends' I would be genuinely sorry to see it go.