Addiction, literal demons, and Machiavellian choices permeate this week’s episode of Constantine.

This week, an old friend of John’s brings a hunger demon to his doorstep, and John isn’t too thrilled about it. A severe heroine addict, John’s old friend Gary Lester (who was at Newcastle when Astra was dragged to Hell by the demon John summoned) stumbles through an exorcism in the Sudan, capturing a nasty hunger demon (taking the form of a swarm of huge brown beetles) in the process. Not knowing what to do, Lester takes the bottled-up demon to the U.S. and to John Constantine. But, as in real-life, the sweaty, jumpy guy with the suspicious container is stopped by the TSA upon landing State-side. And what do the TSA do? They open the damned bottle. Jerks. But that blunder gets the plot rolling, so there’s that.

John also gets to prove that there’s ALWAYS time for a little work-related humor:

Drugs play a huge role in this episode. Not only are they an essential part of Lester’s characterization, John chats casually with Zed about the drugs she hasn’t done, about the effects of withdrawals, and he even takes a little trip with his friend Nommo to “learn more” about the hunger demon. It’s true, of course, that addiction could be interpreted as a type of hunger, an insatiable need for something, but the writers kind of beat the concept to death since it took such an conspicuously central role. I admire the attempt to discuss drug use in this world—it adds edge to the occult circles that John runs in, but it’s arguably clichéd by the embarrassing amount of attention it gets this episode. Having more cavalier mentions of hard drug use would have been a subtler method of making the black magic world more terrifying and corrupt.

Zed was underutilized this episode and was, frankly, annoyingly delicate. With a touch from drug-addled Lester, Zed is bombarded with psychic transference of Lester’s heroine withdrawal symptoms which completely incapacitates her because feeling sick sucks. But, really? She’s proven to be pretty tough in previous episodes, so I was kind of disappointed by her lack of activity.

This episode is a milestone for the audience’s understanding of Constantine, though. We finally get to see John make a morally gray decision for the “greater good” that has disastrous implications for one of his close friends. I don’t enjoy seeing Constantine in pain, but I love seeing him struggle to do what he thinks is right especially at high personal cost. Wait for the hunger demon to start munching on popcorn, and you’ll know what I’m talking about here.

More good news: John recovered his sneaky eight of diamonds somehow! It appeared to have been snatched up by a murderous homeless man last episode. But, apparently, he can just cast Accio Card and he’s good to go. This was a minor inconsistency, so I’ll let it slide. This time.

We get to see Manny, the suspicious angel, again this episode. He’s just as cryptic as ever and still has those creepy contacts in, but he managed to pluck some of my heartstrings in the final scene of the episode when he comforts Constantine silently as Constantine roils in the decision he’s made.

I’m pretty happy with how the show is shaping up, but I’m holding out my full-throated support of the show. More world building, more introduction of interesting characters, and more development of the people we already know makes this a stand-out episode among the four aired so far this season. I want the season’s Big Bad to show up and stop being all Phantom Menace. I’d love a chance to get to know whoever the boss is going to be before the inevitable confrontation between our hero and the monster. Here’s to hoping.