CONSTANTINE {PILOT} (TV)
Summary
The pilot of this fantasy series about a trenchcoat-clad sorcerer investigating magical and supernatural threats.
In the village of Ravenscar in North Yorkshire, England, a man named John Constantine is strapped to an operating table and shocked with electricity; his narration explains that this is at his behest. He recounts his story in narration: he is an exorcist and “master of the dark arts” who witnessed a little girl named Astra being murdered and checked himself into a psychiatric institution. He claims to his psychologist that the murderer was a literal demon, and that his true concern is that Astra was taken to hell to suffer for eternity. The psychologist believes that Constantine is inventing these stories as a coping mechanism, although Constantine insists otherwise. During his therapy group he follows a collection of cockroaches through the mental ward and finds a woman with pupil-less eyes painting some kind of message on a wall completely covered in cockroaches. He has a violent encounter with the woman, commanding the demon possessing her to vacate her body. A number of paranormal disturbances occur and the woman is restored to normal; he notices she painted the letters “LIV DIE” on the wall, believing that it is a message intended for him. He leaves the facility, claiming that he has work to do.
A woman named Liv Aberdine working in a car rental store in Atlanta, Georgia runs off when a huge fiery pit opens near her feet in an abandoned parking lot. Constantine arrives looking for her, and says that he is there to stop something from “hunting” her. She is frightened and leaves, but he gives her his business card so she can contact him. Constantine investigates the pit and finds himself confronted by what appears to be an angel. The angel introduces himself as Manny, claiming he was sent to watch over Constantine. Constantine claims he needs no such help, but Manny points out that his soul is condemned to hell because of what happened to Astra, and offers to help him ease his suffering. Manny hints that some kind of dire threat is on the rise, but he flies away before Constantine can learn more.
Liv gets a ride home from her friend Talia and is puzzled by a fortune cookie message simply stating “trust him.” Someone sneaks into her apartment building and carves an occult symbol onto Liv’s door. Another entity attempts to enter Liv’s apartment but is repelled by the symbol. Instead it enters Talia’s room and murders her; Liv finds out about it soon enough when the police arrive to investigate her death. However, on the way to the morgue a spirit possesses Talia’s body and murders the driver of the medical examiner’s van transporting her. Liv decides to meet with Constantine, and she tells him about the murder. Constantine introduces Liv to his personal cab driver, Chas, and explains that he was the one who made the carving on her door. He also claims that he knew her father, Jasper Winters, and despite her claim that her father died before she was born, Constantine says that he was alive until the previous year. He gives her something which belonged to him, but before they can discuss the matter further the medical examiner’s van arrives and crashes through the windows of the car rental store. Liv realizes that the crash was meant to kill her, and Constantine notes that the entity hunting her can somehow track her life-force. They find Talia’s broken body in the car and Constantine attempts to question the possessing creature about who sent it, but seemingly receives no answer.
Liv speaks to her mother, demanding to know the truth about her father. She produces the object Constantine gave her, an ornate pendant, and asks her mother if she recognizes it. While holding it, she sees her long-dead grandmother standing behind her mother before she emits a black substance from her mouth and disappears. Liv is panicked and goes to see Constantine again, demanding to know what is going on. He asks her to produce the pendant and has her clasp it, enabling her to perceive a strange and shadowy version of the world around her, including the souls of the dead unable to pass on into the afterlife. Constantine claims that her father also possessed this ability and that the pendant allows her to activate such abilities. He asks her to accompany him, but refuses to answer her when she asks how her father died. Their cab is hit by an oncoming truck, and Constantine has a flashback of himself attempting and failing to protect Astra from a powerful demon. He awakens and uses a magic incantation to protect Liv and Chas from being attacked by an animate downed power line. He brings Liv to safety but Chas is impaled through the chest by the power line.
Constantine and Liv manage to escape and hide out in an abandoned cabin which he says belonged to her father. He explains that her father lived there for years in order to protect her from hiding. They go to Jasper’s study, featuring a number of tomes and occult artifacts, and Constantine says that he used the place for magical divination. Constantine consults Jasper’s library and discovers the name of the demon hunting Liv, “Furcifer,” which has power over electricity. He theorizes that she is being targeted for her ability to perceive the spirits of the dead. Liv conducts an impromptu scrying ritual under Constantine’s instruction and discovers that something supernatural is to occur on Edgewood Avenue; she wishes to warn someone but Constantine advocates that they lay low in order to protect her. He travels to Ivy University and meets with Manny again, who uses his angelic powers to apparently stop time. Manny indicates that the angels have become more proactive lately in combating the growing evil on earth, although Constantine warns that such actions could inevitably lead to ruin. He feels no compunction to assist Manny due to his impending damnation, but Manny implies that Constantine may be able to somehow save his soul, although he does not explain how.
At the university, Constantine visits Ritchie Simpson, a professor of metaphysics, and asks him for his assistance. However, Ritchie is disgusted with Constantine and is similarly haunted by the memory of what happened to Astra. Constantine changes his mind by threatening to turn him in to the police, who believe that Astra was murdered. Meanwhile, Liv discovers old photographs of herself in the house with the inadvertent help of the image of her father in a mirror. Constantine returns and explains that the mirror’s images are somehow displaced in time. Chas arrives as well, much to Liv’s shock, and Constantine explains this only by noting that Chas has “survival skills.” That night, Constantine bribes a security guard to gain access to a skyscraper rooftop in the city. There he paints an elaborate magic circle which he hopes will protect Liv from Furcifer. She asks about his upbringing and Constantine reveals that his mother died in childbirth and his father blamed him for it, often beating him as a result. He studied the occult as a teenager and learned to conjure the spirits of the dead, but was unable to communicate with his mother’s spirit.
Furcifer appears before them, possessing the body of the security guard. Constantine attempts to repel him with the magic circle and an incantation, but Furcifer laughs it off and uses a power line to entangle Liv. Constantine uses a flare gun to signal Ritchie, who hacks into the city’s power grid and disable it, thus robbing Furcier of his powers. Constantine ignites the outermost portion of the magic circle and brings Liv to safety, trapping Furcifer inside. Furcifer offers to free Astra’s soul if he lets him go, and has Astra appear before Constantine, begging him to free her. However, Liv prevents him from doing so when she uses the pendant to determine that “Astra” is actually a demon. Constantine threatens Furcifer, claiming that he is coming to hell to get Astra back, and then he will wreak vengeance on Nergal, Furcifer’s demonic superior. He utters an incantation that destroys Furcifer in a fiery blaze. He tells Liv to get a ride home with Ritchie, preferring that he be left alone. Ritchie explains to Liv that Astra was the daughter of a friend of his and Constantine’s, and that she was possessed by a demon. Constantine summoned Nergal, a more powerful demon, to drive the possessing demon away, but instead Nergal killed Astra and took her spirit to hell.
They pass by Edgewood Avenue and Liv asks to get out to inspect what appears to be a crime scene. She finds the body of a murdered teenage boy cordoned off by the police. Liv uses scrying to determine more impending deaths and disasters across the country and shows Constantine, but he tells her not to bother with all of them, as attempting to stop them all would drive her insane. She tries to get him to help her, but he dismisses her and sends her away. Manny appears before Constantine and congratulates him; Constantine actually subtly manipulated Liv into going off to help people with her newfound abilities and made her believe that it was her idea. Manny proposes that Constantine serve as a sort of advance scout to determine the nature of the demonic threat faced by the angels. Constantine agrees, but apparently only to save his own soul. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: November 30, 1999 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:44:54
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 116273
- GENRE: Drama, fantasy/science fiction
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, fantasy/science fiction
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 2014-2015
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Daniel Cerone … Executive Producer, Developed by
- David S. Goyer … Executive Producer, Developed by
- Mark Verheiden … Executive Producer
- Kevin Blank … Associate Producer
- Bear McCreary … Music by
- Matt Ryan … Cast, John Constantine
- Harold Perrineau … Cast, Manny
- Charles Halford … Cast, Chas Chandler
- Lucy Griffiths … Cast, Liv Aberdine
- Miles Anderson … Cast, Dr. Roger Huntoon
- Hillary Brant … Cast, Ghost
- Alkoya Brunson … Cast, Clifford
- Angélica Celaya … Cast, Zed
- Rachel Cox … Cast, Frozen College Student
- Jeremy Davies … Cast, Ritchie Simpson
- Daryn Kahn … Cast, Max
- Julie Lehman … Cast, Talia
- Sir Maejor … Cast, Albino Ghost
- Chris Matheny … Cast, Forensics Technician
- Victor McCay … Cast, Security Guard
- Yohance Myles … Cast, Clarke Devereaux