Season 1, Episode 2:
The Darkness Beneath
The episode opens with a frazzled wife making dinner for her equally frazzled husband. After some rather ominous dialogue, said husband goes to take a shower... where he promptly burns alive. John, ever ready to follow trouble, goes to investigate, and crashes into Zed along the way. Initially happy to run into a pretty girl, he grows more annoyed when it turns out that she's been sketching him, and bails.She follows.
Tropes present in this episode include:
- And This Is for...: When Zed and Constantine decides to close the mine for good, Zed brings Ellis with them, as she thinks he deserves the closure. He coldly mentions "for my son" as he blows up the entrance.
- Asshole Victim: The miner who dies at the start of the episode is hinted to be a Domestic Abuser, and he treats his workers like crap. The Corrupt Corporate Executive who punched out John also counts (and notably, his much nicer son is spared).
- Bait-and-Switch: Whle investigating the old church and noticing symbols painted on the wall, John hears a noise, thinking it a demon, gets out his cross and yells for the demon to show itself. It turns out to just be Bowman's son and his girlfriend having sex behind the pews.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Hinted at between John and Zed. It ultimately ends up going nowhere.
- Black Magic: Romani magic, apparently.
- Blatant Lies: John tries to say he had everything under control when Zed saves him from drowning in mud.
- Bloody Handprint: A sooty handprint in this case. The Coblynau that Lannis Cadogen's wife uses to kill him leaves behind one of these on the wall of the bathroom.
- Broken Bird: The miner's wife, who got letters from her future husband lying about being a "captain of industry", only to be trapped in a loveless marriage with a Domestic Abuser.
- Company Town: The second episode features a West Virginia town that was a Dying Town until a mining company showed up five years ago. Most of the owners are callous jerks, and it initially seems that their operations have unleashed evil spirits, but this turns out to be a Red Herring.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Thad Bowman, The suit who punches John in the face,
- Crash-Into Hello: Zed bangs into the very man she's been sketching.
- Dragged Off to Hell: The fate of the miner's wife.
- Drunk on the Dark Side: Implied by the miners wife, given how she kills her husband first but then keeps drawing on magic, going after his associates.
- Dug Too Deep: The miners.
- The Empath: Zed, who can tell what John's been through just by touching him.
- Fanservice: John goes for a Shirtless Scene.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: "Heel" might be a strong word, but Bowman's partner Owen is showing concern about all of the deaths, and an openness towards John's warning to shut down the dangerous mining vein right before he gets attacked by the curse.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The miner's wife, once John reminds the Coblynau of what they're really supposed to do.
- Noodle Incident: Chas can't go to Pennsylvania, mostly because he's got a warrant out for him after an incident that involved a succubus on a train.
- Not What It Looks Like: Inverted. John thinks the groaning noises he hears in a church is a demon. It's really just a young couple having sex.
- N-Word Privileges: Averted. John drops the g-word at one point, uncaring that it's actually a racial slur, and the miner's wife doesn't respond to it.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Hinted at. John initially believes the killer might be a dragon.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Coblynau, which are the helpful ghosts of dead miners, are the supernatural focus of the episode.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Ellis, a priest who lost his faith and began drinking after losing his son to the mines.
- Percussive Pickpocket: John accuses Zed of this. He's not exactly wrong, but Zed really only wants to know who he is and why she keeps having dreams about him.
- Pet the Dog: John lets a grieving father who lost his son in the mines blow them up.
- Seers: Zed, much like Liv before her. Unlike Liv, however, she decides to actually follow up on what she sees coming.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: John distracts Zed by giving her advice about her art, then disappears.
- Stealth Pun: John calls the miners "poor sods".
- Woman Scorned: Not only does the miner's wife kill her husband, she spitefully screams at John to Get Out! after he refuses her advances, which ends with him getting beaten up.
