Constantine Episode 1.11 A Whole World Out There

John sulks by himself with a drink in his hand, his eyes on the mirror at the mill house that shows the past (today he sees his deceased Newcastle pal Gary Lester). Manny appears and urges him to help the only friend he has left. Reluctant, John knows exactly who he's talking about: Professor Ritchie Simpson.

No sooner does John show up on the campus of Ivy University than the body of a student named Carter collapses to the ground, dead. Ritchie and John investigate and discover that Carter joined his fellow students Adam, Lily and Miranda on a thrill-seeking experiment in the nearby cemetery. Mum at first about the details of the event, John visits the cemetery and performs a spell on the grave where the students met the night before. The floor illuminates hieroglyphics - these kids performed an Egyptian ritual for out-of-body travel. But where did they go?

Ritchie realizes the private journal of noteworthy scientist Jacob Shaw is missing. The journal itself contains details on his experiments... but the writing stops after he killed his protege. According to lore, Shaw collapsed into a catatonic state afterwards, while his consciousness traveled to an alternative dimension in order to escape his trial for murder. The students' experiment unwittingly opened up the gates between Shaw's dimension and the real world - and John and Ritchie are the only ones who can shut it.

Ritchie and John return to the cemetery only to find Adam in a catatonic state, having traveled to the alternate dimension once again. Seconds later, knife wounds appear across Adam's arms and neck - he's being slashed by Shaw in the other dimension, in real time - and John and Ritchie witness his death in the real world. The next morning, Ritchie learns one of the other students, Miranda, died from a strange impalement while practicing in a dance studio. Looks like when Shaw kills the students in the alternate dimension, they die on Earth.

That leaves Lily as the only student left alive. John and Ritchie bring her back to the mill house for protection from the suspected source of Shaw's power - reflective surfaces. Except Lily absentmindedly pulls out her phone and her consciousness zips into Shaw's dimension, leaving her catatonic. John demands that he and Ritchie save Lily from Shaw by following her to his dimension, a risk that could put them both in serious mortal danger.

In Shaw's dimension - a creepy, dark maze of a house - Carter, Adam and Miranda find each other in a torture room. Despite being dead in the real world, Shaw keeps them alive here - and he arrives to address them. To him, this is a game where he murders his prisoners over and over.

Later, a ritual sends John and Ritchie to Shaw's dimension, and the two search for Lily - only to find themselves cornered by the madman, eager to add them to his evil game. Shaw slashes Ritchie's wrists and nails John to the wall - but Ritchie, urged by John, wrestles control of the dimension from Shaw and evokes the sun into his world. The light overpowers Shaw and he evaporates into oblivion. This causes Shaw's architecture to fail and the house collapses, with John, Ritchie and Lily as the only escapees.

Ritchie marvels at his own alternative dimension and mulls a life without fear, suffering or the Rising Darkness, but ultimately rejoins Lily and John back in the real world. His experience rejuvenates his teaching career and seems to instill him with more confidence. On the other hand, when John returns to the mill house he ends up in the same spot where he started - on the couch, drink in hand, his mind on the past...