A young girl, Vesta, runs away from home and is hanging out at an abandoned carnival when she is approached by three girls in chaste, old-fashioned gowns. The girls remind me of a mix between Dracula’s brides and fundamentalists: good girls with a brainwashed look in their eyes. The girls chat up Vesta, and tell her about how they don’t have any rules because they are married to The Man. They ask if Vesta wants to marry The Man as well, and show off their “wedding rings” – bruises around their necks. So clearly, these girls are dead, and Vesta is an idiot because this doesn’t scare her away.
The Man, a bayou Creole, watches from a distance, in his truck. When a security guard comes to check on him, The Man chokes him out, then takes him back to his house for some ritualistic branding and killing. While he does this, the girls prepare Vesta for her wedding at The Man’s house.
Detective Corrigan brings John and Zed in on a case that involves the spontaneous desiccation of a police officer, Dupree. The body was found during a blood moon, which also happens to be the night a third girl disappeared. Tonight is another blood moon, and to John, all this points to one thing: Satanism. They go to the cemetery and pull Dupree from his crypt so John can “read” what is going on with the brand on his chest. Yup, definitely Satanists. The corpse sits up, briefly possessed by John’s dead friend Gary, who warns him there is a price on his head.
The trio visits Vesta’s mother, Anna Kate. Zed tries desperately to get a reading off of Vesta’s teddy bear, but nothing comes through. John, in desperation, performs the most disgusting spell ever: he shoves some of Vesta’s hair (taken from her hairbrush) and her toothbrush into his mouth, then chants and electrocutes himself. This allows him to “pierce the veil” and see through Vesta’s eyes. She was taken from the abandoned carnival, so that is where they head.
John checks out the funhouse, and finds something not-so-fun inside: one of Papa Midnite’s voodoo zombies, who Papa spelled to exist “only to reduce Constantine’s life to dust.” The two wrestle, and Corrigan comes in and shoots the voodoo zombie dead. Papa, in his lair, feels this, and instead spells a crow to “be his eyes” and follow Constantine. John returns his attention to the task at hand, and tells Zed to push past her distractions and get a vision. She does, and sees the cop, dying, writing her a message in his own blood. It is an address: 4 Delano St.
Constantine notices the crow as they arrive at the Delano address. This is the security guard’s house, and they find him ritualistically bound and murdered upstairs. John tells Zed and Corrigan to leave so he can deal with his “bounty” problem. Not too long after they leave, Papa Midnite shows up with a shotgun. He shoots John, who, as he chokes on his own blood, begs Papa to take the bounty off his head, all to save the little girl. Papa refuses and puts a finishing bullet in John’s head. But that bullet reveals nothing but the dead security guard, and John appears behind Papa, announcing it was reanimation coupled with a glamour spell. He knocks out Papa and checks in with Zed and Corrigan. They pulled traffic camera footage and ID’d The Man as someone who killed his wife six years ago because Satan told him to.
It’s around this time that The Man and Vesta are about to say their “vows.” He makes her kneel for the devil’s benediction, and Vesta finally comes to her senses and decides she doesn’t want to do this anymore. When he comes at her to give her her “wedding ring,” Vesta runs. The Man gives chase, so when John and the others arrive, the house is empty – except for the corpses of the three other brides, all in their wedding gowns, and spooning in bed.
The trio moves out to check the grounds – apparently The Man lives on or near the abandoned carnival. The Man has grabbed Vesta, and Constantine finds them, threatening him with a shotgun. The Man leaves the girl and runs – right into Zed, who knocks him out cold with a shovel. She would have killed him had Corrigan not stopped her. Zed takes Vesta to safety, and Corrigan cuffs The Man. “What would happen if he tried to run?” John asks, baiting Corrigan. The cop reminds him that he is not a ghost or a demon – just a man. “But is he?” Corrigan considers this, removes the handcuffs, and tells The Man to run. He does, and in the forest, Zed and Vesta hear the gunshots.
John releases the dead girls’ spirits then goes to meet Zed and Corrigan at the bar. As he comes in, he sees Zed and Corrigan kissing (she had a vision of Corrigan dead, and he decided to make the most out of every minute). Zed locks eyes with him, and almost looks guilty. John decides instead on going outside for a piss under the overpass. Manny meets him there, and is both shocked and amused that Constantine is jealous. He believes they can win this war against the Rising Darkness.
The cops, meanwhile, find Papa Midnite laid out in the security guard’s house, and take him into custody. As they approach the station, everything freezes. Papa seems confused, and opens the now-unlocked car door. Manny appears, calling himself Papa’s savior, and drops the cuffs off him. He is canceling the contract on John Constantine. Then he drops this little bombshell: “The Brucharia work for me.” Well, at least they finally gave Manny a purpose. I don’t know if it was supposed to be a big twist, but it sure didn’t feel like it. Manny has been messing with Constantine all season. Whatever “The Brucharia work for me” means, it doesn’t seem out of character.
What did feel odd was Papa Midnite’s arrival. We haven’t heard from him for half the season, then all of a sudden he is jammed into this episode. There didn’t seem to be anything preceding his appearance in this episode; no build up. It’s like the producers were not given a full-season pickup, so they decided they had to get one more Papa Midnite episode in before the show wrapped. Frankly, I thought The Man and his cult of creepy ghost sister-wives could have been an episode all on its own.
So that’s it. The season is over. There hasn’t been an announcement as to the fate of the show. A lot of people seem to think it won’t get a pickup just because it didn’t get a full season order, but I think “Constantine” has a really strong chance at getting a second season. It is a really good companion show with “Grimm,” and the ratings are reasonably steady. I have really enjoyed this show, especially now that the heinous pilot has faded from my memory. But I have to say, if there are no more episodes after this, I will be really upset at the way this was left off.
