Constantine, Ep. 1.04: “Feast of Friends” is Full of Scares, Moral Ambiguity
In an incredibly faithful adaptation of Hellblazer #1, “Feast of Friends” brings all the disparate elements that have been floating around the first three episodes and fits them together in a coherent whole. John D. Showalter gets to work with a lot of grotesque visuals having to do with this episode’s Big Bad, Mnemoth the Hunger Demon ranging from body horror, creepy bugs scurrying everywhere, and even a drug trip. He doesn’t flinch from showing the disgusting nature of this demon and even zooms out to show the extent of its destruction. Aside from the technical aspects, Matt Ryan continues to play John Constantine as the consummate con-man, who isn’t afraid to piss off angels or use the people around him, but feels bad about it at the end of the day. Irish actor Jonjo O’Neill puts in a nice guest spot as Constantine’s old friend Gary Lester, who was at Newcastle with him and is now a heroin junkie. Gary is Constantine without the charisma or magical ability, and he sheds light on Constantine’s amorality and penchant for getting people around him killed. “Feast of Friends” takes John Constantine to some very dark places, and this is where the show can thrive.