While I tend to prefer my TV shows a bit more serialized than the normal fare Constantine is giving us, I generally enjoy the show, especially when it can give television fans something rare: actual supernatural horror.

It’s impossible to talk about this episode without also talking about the entirety of A Nightmare on Elm Street and Freddy Krueger. And for me, it’s also impossible to talk about that franchise without being totally upfront about it: I’m not that familiar with it. Don’t get me wrong, I know who Freddy is, I know his schtick, but I’ve only seen three of the Elm Street movies, and that’s if you include Freddy vs. Jason. So the parallels between this episode and that franchise is easy pickings. I know that much of what made this episode work are tropes from the Freddy series, but since I’m not that familiar with them, they work for me in this case for this show.

Also, as much as I love me some comic books, I’ve never been familiar with the magic/occult side of the DC/Vertigo or Marvel titles. So, again, I feel I’ve got that going in my favor, because I don’t have to worry about picking it apart from an adaptation standpoint (not that I should, but, hey, I’m human) and can just enjoy it from a TV standpoint.

The episode opened with these college students performing an Egyptian spell that they really don’t understand. One thing that stood out to me from the get-go was how this group parallels John’s group of friends. As they’ve all said in each of their respective appearances throughout the series, they were all really just along for the ride. And while they all sort of had their dabblings with the mystical or supernatural, John was the rock star that they were gravitating towards. He was the master. And it seemed pretty clear that Adam was not only the leader of this group, but the one with the most knowledge of how to handle the ceremony. And just like it eventually did for John’s group, it blew up in each of their faces in ways they weren’t prepared for.

And in this other dimension, we’re introduced to the looming Jacob Shaw, played very well by William Mapother aka creepy Ethan from LOST.

And for about half the episode, the dude doesn’t say anything. He’s either staring at people from reflections or just off in the background. It’s an effective use of the character and while some would be tempted to get the monster out there in a hurry to show us how scary he is, letting it be a slow burn lets us feel how scary he is. And while many TV shows try to go for the scares it never works, because it’s TV and it just never works. But it did here. There were a couple of scenes, notably with Ritchie in the kitchen towards the end, that I had no idea what was going to happen and was afraid for the character. Well done.

So when we meet John, he’s wallowing in his own drunken pity party, called to service by Manny. And I’m just so used to angel wing CGI looking bad, but whenever I see Manny’s wings on this show, they just look so badass. There will come a time (hopefully) that we get to see Manny the angel go to war with hell, and I just can’t wait. We’re told that Chas is off having family time in the wake of last week’s episode and that Zed is still on bed rest, also in the wake of last week’s episode, and we’re once again reminded that for all of John’s adventures, it’s always his allies that pay his price.

Throughout the episode, which seemed remarkably long in the best of ways, each of the college students are targeted by Shaw. Carter got the bag over the head, which will always creep me out, and Miranda decided it was best to go do gymnastics in the dark. If I slight this episode anywhere, it will be for falling prey to one of my TV pet peeves, and that’s if anyone’s doing a scene indoors at night, nobody turns on the lights. It’s silly and some people won’t notice it, and, yes, I get that it’s scarier to have a scene in the dark, but who does dance and gymnastics in the dark?

One quick note, when John and Ritchie are meeting on campus, there’s a quick shoutout to Hellblazer cover artist Tim Bradstreet. Like I said above, I’m not familiar with Bradstreet’s covers for Hellblazer, but I’m quite familiar with his Punisher covers, and they are amazing.

Eventually, after John convinces Lily to use his house as a safehouse, she’s sucked back into the Shaw’s dimension, and we got another little surprise, that being all of the other college students, while still very dead, are also very trapped in that house. Even though they never do, I was wondering if, since it’s essentially a dream/imagination dimension, they’d be able to start crafting and creating the world to their whim, like in one of the Freddy movies I’m less familiar with, Dream Masters. Of course, that role eventually will fall to Ritchie, so I’m glad at least someone got to be able to use that ability.

Before John and Ritchie dive in however, John has to do some convincing to get Ritchie to go along with it. And while Ritchie brings up some ambiguity over what would happen to their “souls” in the other dimension if something happened to their physical bodies (1) it never comes up, and (2) Manny stepped in, wordless, and Harold Perrineau, while usually very good as Manny, just nailed that look he flashed to John. “I’ve got this.” Loved that.

It was also fun to see the two supernaturalists plot and plan before traveling to the other house. Usually, people just jump in feet first without a lot of planning or forethought. And while “We’ll meet up” doesn’t really address how they plan to meet up, just the fact that the scene was there was enough to address it for me. And when Ritchie does finally get there, his scene in the kitchen, while relatively quick, had me tense. The show has already proved (with Gary) that John’s former cohorts aren’t safe. And I’ve like Jeremy Davies (another LOST alum and currently a recurring character on Justified) for a while and felt genuine concern for his character. Davies’ stock and trade is his neurotic mannerisms, and that has always translated well for him into panic or fear. And Davies sold it well, and it turned out to be my favorite scene in the episode.

After he meets up with John, we get to see Ritchie conjure up a door, utilizing his ability to affect the dimension in as physical way as possible. And while seeing Shaw watch them do this, smiling in hiding, is creepy, he passed up a perfect opportunity to go after them. Maybe he was just in it for the chase, but that was a good chance.

Eventually, Ritchie conjures up the sun, and this is where I don’t really get it. Is there a reason the sun hurts Shaw? Maybe there was a line of dialogue I missed, or maybe it’s just something as unsubtle as the light overcomes the darkness or something, but the sun was as good a reason as any, I guess.

Also, that house collapsing in on itself after Shaw was gone reminded me of something else… What was it…

And here is where the show really did throw me for a loop. I get that it sort of set up Ritchie staying in the other dimension. That’s certainly where I thought it was going to go. What the hell John was going to do with the physical, living body, no idea, but I really thought we were saying good-bye to Ritchie. In the end, I see John’s point about it just being an excuse to run away from the Rising Darkness, but all things being equal, when there’s enough evil to start frying hard drives and I get the chance to be God of my own dimension, yeah, sorry, humanity, I’m taking the God dimension.

It’s always fun to see more of John’s former cadre, especially John Davies, and the episode was a fun departure from the ongoing story, even if they did sprinkle in a few references to the Rising Darkness. The horror elements, especially for a TV show, really worked well, too, so all in all, I enjoyed the episode, but would also like to see a return to the ongoing storyline.

I mean, unless they want to throw more Jim Corrigan at us. More of that character, please.

@kent_graham