This week, Constantine faces the music (sorry, I couldn’t resist) while the show’s writers continue to satisfyingly enlarge and enrich his darkly bright world.

“The Devil’s Vinyl” plays off the legend of blues guitarist Robert Johnson by showcasing a demonic LP that possesses and generally destroys anyone who listens to the thing. A talentless no-name with big dreams parlays with the baddest bad in Constantine’s universe, The First of the Fallen, to gain preternatural musical talent and fame to boot. The record, the recording of which killed the demonically enhanced musician, spends years and years dormant but is finally rediscovered, as dark weapons often are, by someone with everything to lose.

The episode introduces us to not only John Constantine’s most wretched and fearsome enemy, The First of the Fallen, but also to his ultimate frenemy, Papa Midnite, a voodoo witch doctor with a professional respect for Constantine. While we don’t get to SEE The First this episode, introducing him as a concept now plants seeds for a hopefully dramatic confrontation between him and Constantine down the road, likely not this season. As his name implies, The First of the Fallen, was the first being created by God and the first to be banished to Hell. In the comics, The First rules Hell with The Second and The Third until Lucifer comes along to spice things up. The First regains his position after Lucifer abdicates to do some soul searching up on Earth. Will the show follow this continuity? Or will it smash Lucifer and Satan together into one character, The First? I’m hoping for Lucifer and Satan to stay separate: not only does it open up super enticing interactions between those two and Constantine, it also opens the door to a potential spin-off in Lucifer.

Papa Midnite, played by Michael James Shaw, is a legendary voodoo master who’s after the Devil’s Vinyl for its tremendous destructive capabilities. While he and John are more at odds than not this episode, we can look forward to unstable alliances and excellent magic-related put downs for the rest of the season.

I’m happy to report that the show is only getting better with each episode as it continues to develop the world Constantine, Zed, and Chas inhabit and defend the best ways they know how. There are a tremendous amount of magical items this episode, which only helps to establish the vast occult universe crawling under the service of waking life. John possesses and then quickly loses (How could you, John, how COULD you!?) an eight of spades that essentially transforms into any card-shaped item the card’s owner could need. Police badge? Check. Credit card? Check. This thing does it all. The Hand of Glory makes the dead speak, with the proper incantation, of course. And Papa Midnite brings the badassery with The Ace of Winchesters, a rifle that never misses its target. Yeah. Hardcore. Oh, and Mucous Membrane, John’s now defunct punk band, gets a courtesy nod this episode. Be sure to check out a YouTubers rendition of a Mucous Membrane song from the pages of ‘Hellblazer’:

It’s not all trinkets and tricks this episode, though, as we begin to see just what kind of con man Constantine truly is. So far, we haven’t been exposed to John’s more deplorable nature. Sure, he’s gruff, cheeky, and arrogant, but we haven’t seen him be selfish to the point of hurting someone else yet. We get our first glimpse—courtesy of our friendly neighborhood (read: suspicious) Angel, Manny—of what Constantine may be willing to sacrifice to avoid a potential after-life in Hell.

This episode continues to lay the ground work for a confrontation with an as yet identified big bad. The stigmata map indicating supernatural issues throughout the U.S. strains my patience; the show would benefit from a tangible goal to keep our heroes on the move, rather than blithely preventing some nebulous “darkness” from spreading. That said, I’m quickly becoming a fan of how ‘Constantine’ revels in its source material. Tune in, and let us know what you think on  and !