Television: Constantine, "The Darkness Beneath"

Okay, so I only read a handful of Hellblazer comics way back when. But I do recall that I didn't like Zed. And I don't much like her in this, either. You can give me all the arguments about her being a strong character or whatever, but for some reason, I just find her annoying. I think there was a time in the 80s and 90s where "strong woman" = "annoying" and that's just how these characters were written. So maybe the writers of Constantine are merely being true to the source. It's been too long since I read any of the comics for me to make a real comparison.

I'm going to assume the idea was that Zed would make for better sexual tension than Liv (who would have, should have been more of a protegée character for Constantine to guard rather than lust over). Still, it seems they're going to stick with Constantine as unwilling mentor to Zed, who refuses to leave him alone. And while I think the idea of her having dreams about him and then finding him is kind of cool, there's something about Zed's insistence that is off-putting. Again, strong =/= annoying, or it doesn't have to. One can be strong and assertive and sure of something without being obnoxious about it.

Anyway, a lot of the episode seemed devoted to setting up Constantine/Zed. There was a plot, sure, about dying miners in Pennsylvania. The mine bosses kept dying because the spirits of the men who'd died in the mine were killing them off. The spirits of the mines were supposed to be protective, so for some reason Constantine was confused by why they were making the effort to come out and kill. But it made perfect sense to me: they killed those who would put the miners in danger. Derp. No big amount of reasoning involved there. Not sure why Constantine didn't have it figured out after the first scene like I did.

Also, any time you find a guy sitting at the bar twice in a row? He'll be important later.

Constantine is an okay show, a worth pairing for Grimm and much in the same vein. Depending on how much I come to dislike Zed, or if I can learn to tolerate her, and whether the writers make her more tolerable—this will probably determine whether I keep watching. Right now I could take it or leave it.