NBC's Constantine premiered to some solid ratings opposite stiff competition in the form of this year's World Series, but the Hellblazer adaptation starring Matt Ryan has overall seen a gradual downtick in its primetime share. While the most recent episode - which introduced Emmett Scanlan as a pre-Spectre Jim Corrigan - represents an overall increase in quality, many of the new show's previous episodes have been uneven to say the least.

We may see a reversal of that trend, however. According to TVByTheNumbers, the November 21st episode, 'Danse Vaudou,' managed to snag a 1.1 share of the TV viewing audience, or 3.54 million viewers. This is a significant increase over the previous Friday's 0.8.

Is this the beginning of a trend towards an expanded audience for Constantine? The show represents the mystical side of DC Comics, although - as Screen Rant's Hannah Shaw-Williams pointed outConstantine still feels somewhat toothless, considering that the source comic is often gory, violent and much more bizarre than its network counterpart.

Still, 'Danse Vaudou' was a worthy installment, touching on plenty of ongoing mysteries:  Zed Martin (Angélica Celaya) and her still-unspooling backstory, Chas Chandler (Charles Halforth) and his seeming immortality, along with two elements which could wind up being the show's trump cards: the ever-welcome presence of Papa Midnite (Michael James Shaw) and the enigma of Detective Jim Corrigan.

These two characters and their potential fates are touched on in the following edition of the ongoing Constantine: To Hell and Back featurette, which you can watch below:

As the featurette points out, there was heavy foreshadowing in 'Danse Vaudou' regarding Corrigan's eventual identity as the Spectre, along with plenty of special attention paid to Papa Midnite. It's possible - even eminently probable - that this latest episode's ratings improvement was thanks to the the combination of a future cult-beloved DC figure in the future Spectre, the exotic locale of New Orleans, and the fun of watching John Constantine and Papa Midnite form an uneasy alliance.

In other words, the show appears to be edging closer to just what makes the Hellblazer series so much fun. While the mix of magic and con men may still ape shows like Supernatural too much, Constantine should have plenty of tricks up its sleeve: there's the Justice League Dark connection and the potential for other outlying, oddball DC characters to make an appearance (Dr. Fate, Zatanna, Swamp Thing, maybe even Deadman).

Of course, it will be up to Constantine's showrunners to deliver the goods. The show may have found its winning formula, but it will need to keep pushing its boundaries to keep our attention.

Constantine airs Fridays @10pm on NBC.

Source: TVByTheNumbers