Spoilers Arrow - Season 4

[Gryffindorian]

I only saw one episode of Constantine, so I don't know much about his character. Nonetheless, that was a fun appearance. His advice to Ollie on how to deal with Dahrk: get out of town. I suppose even his powers are no match against the crimelord's.

 

[Guy Gardener]

John is barely a magician.

His biggest superpower is to be a drunk asshole who tells it like it is.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I only saw one episode of Constantine, so I don't know much about his character. Nonetheless, that was a fun appearance.

I had the same reaction. I think I watched the Pilot and one episode after that out of curiosity. I have never been a fan of the supernatural but I am a long time fan of the DC Universe. So obviously that show was not aimed at me.

I thought this worked because they kept the magic a mystery to Oliver and the rest. I hope he never becomes too much an expert on magical mumbo jumbo himself. Bringing in Constantine as an
guide worked well. I would be happy if it can happen again. I simply love that the star of a cancelled DC show was allowed to reprise their part on another.

 

[Christopher]

This was fun. They integrated Constantine into the series pretty well, and did an effective job tying him to Oliver, even making him the source of one of Ollie's tattoos.

I particularly like it that composer Blake Neely made heavy use of Bear McCreary's Constantine theme. I was expecting maybe a brief quote or just a paraphrase, but it was used as a leitmotif for Constantine throughout the episode and was developed well. This is the second time Neely has resurrected another composer's themes; he previously used Shirley Walker's Trickster theme from the 1990 Flash series when Mark Hamill appeared on the current series.

It bugged me that, after Constantine restored Sara, nobody thought to ask him if he could help Thea with her bloodlust issues.

When Constantine said he'd last performed the soul-restoration spell about a year ago, was that a reference to an episode of his show? I looked over an episode guide and a couple of recaps, but the two instances I could find of souls being restored to their bodies seemed to happen more easily than what was shown here, although the recaps could've been glossing something over.

And I totally missed it, but I read an item pointing out that the bit where Constantine used a feather from a dead peacock to scratch an itch was a dig at NBC, the Peacock Network, for cancelling his show.

 

[Commander Richard]

Yeah, it was nice to hear the Constantine theme and I agree about not doing anything for Thea. In fact, Constantine left rather abruptly. Seemed forced, like the actor couldn't stick around, which is of course the case. Matt Ryan was doing a play on Broadway and they had to work around that schedule. They almost couldn't get him, then they solved that problem by shooting episode 5 before episode 4. Source. They also say that this appearance was a one-off. Don't know why, because it's not like he can never appear again. And I hope we do see him again.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I am reading it as they don't want to make promises they can not be sure to keep. It was hard to get him this time. One of the producers is hopeful he will return again. The problem is this show has such specific long term arcs. Lots of them. If they plan it in advance with him involved in an episode it would really mess things up if he is not available. Obviously they would never recast the role.

 

[Christopher]

Obviously they would never recast the role.

Although I just saw a comment on io9 pointing out that we just had John Constantine and Harry Dresden (Paul Blackthorne) in the same scene. So how about an episode where Constantine's mind possesses Lance's body? Blackthorne could pull out some of his old hardboiled-magical-detective moves.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Easily the best episode of the season so far. I really hope it wasn't a one-off.

 

[DigificWriter]

The peacock feather thing was just the writers having a little bit of good-natured fun since the NBC series is now official "Flarrow"-verse Canon.

 

[sojourner]

Was it just me, or when John is casting the spell it looks like Dresden on his left is giving this look of "this is bullshit"?

Obviously they would never recast the role.

Although I just saw a comment on io9 pointing out that we just had John Constantine and Harry Dresden (Paul Blackthorne) in the same scene. So how about an episode where Constantine's mind possesses Lance's body? Blackthorne could pull out some of his old hardboiled-magical-detective moves.

You don't say?

 

[Jax]

A good episode and I did like Constantine (never saw the show) but the soul bit was a little underwhelming and felt too easy.

 

[sojourner]

I was underwhelmed by the re-use of the Nanda-Parbat sets to represent the "other side".

 

[Commander Richard]

A good episode and I did like Constantine (never saw the show) but the soul bit was a little underwhelming and felt too easy.

It did, I'll admit but at least they destroyed the Lazarus pit so that this is no longer a quick fix every time someone dies.

 

[Reverend]

I was underwhelmed by the re-use of the Nanda-Parbat sets to represent the "other side".

I think the implication of that scene was that something in the Lazarus pit was holding onto her soul: possibly the collective malevolence formed from all the previous Ra's Al Ghuls. So it had some rough justification for the re-use.
But yes, it looks a little cheep and rushed. Still worth it I think to get Constantine on the show, however briefly.

I know it's unlikely, but I couldn't help think that Oliver's "call me when you need me" line may be a sleeper thread on the off chance the 'Constantine' show makes a comeback.

 

[JanewayRulz!]

I was amazed that after 6 (?) years, Ollie still had the guy on his speed dial.

I was also amazed that after restoring Sara's soul to her previously resurrected body, Lance and Laurel just left her alone to run "errands".

How can they be sure that some part of the Zombie Sara isn't still hanging around, just waiting for a chance to kill a young brunette?

How can they be sure a PTSD Sara won't go postal and take out the little old lady next door

 

[Taylirious]

With what ARROW set up in S1 with being kinda grounded it is strange when meta human stuff happens and now supernatural things. That being said I liked this EP a lot.

 

[Christopher]

With what ARROW set up in S1 with being kinda grounded it is strange when meta human stuff happens and now supernatural things.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe did the same thing -- starting off with the relatively grounded Iron Man before getting into more fanciful things like the Hulk and Thor and the Chitauri invasion. And then starting off on TV with Agents of SHIELD, a spy procedural about normal, non-powered people, before phasing in more comics characters and superpowers. Heck, even their Netflix shows follow the pattern -- starting with Daredevil, with his minimal superpowers that the show treated as little more than the practiced use of senses other than sight, then moving on to Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, which both have superpowered leads, and finally (if the original plan holds) Iron Fist, which gets heavily into the supernatural/mystical stuff that was only vaguely hinted at in DD. The idea is to ease the general audience into the universe rather than springing the crazier stuff on them right off the bat.

The Arrowverse has been systematically adding more weirdness each year -- first unpowered vigilantes and villains, then the Mirakuru supersoldiers, then the accelerator explosion and metahumans, then time travel, and now magic in Arrow and Vixen and the multiverse in The Flash. And coming up we've got miniaturization (The Atom), reincarnation (Hawkgirl)... it's pretty much no holds barred at this point.

 

[Gaith]

I was underwhelmed by the re-use of the Nanda-Parbat sets to represent the "other side".

I think the implication of that scene was that something in the Lazarus pit was holding onto her soul: possibly the collective malevolence formed from all the previous Ra's Al Ghuls. So it had some rough justification for the re-use.
But yes, it looks a little cheep and rushed. Still worth it I think to get Constantine on the show, however briefly.

Agreed; what really weirded me out was all the white light. I know it's a common afterlife trope, but darker/redder mood lighting would have helped, as would keeping Ollie and Laurel in their actual clothes instead of magically allowing them to suit up, Matrix-style.

Speaking of Laurel, just running around willy-nilly in said realm... ugh. Have I mentioned she should totally be the person in the grave?!

 

[DigificWriter]

With what ARROW set up in S1 with being kinda grounded it is strange when meta human stuff happens and now supernatural things.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe did the same thing -- starting off with the relatively grounded Iron Man before getting into more fanciful things like the Hulk and Thor and the Chitauri invasion. And then starting off on TV with Agents of SHIELD, a spy procedural about normal, non-powered people, before phasing in more comics characters and superpowers. Heck, even their Netflix shows follow the pattern -- starting with Daredevil, with his minimal superpowers that the show treated as little more than the practiced use of senses other than sight, then moving on to Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, which both have superpowered leads, and finally (if the original plan holds) Iron Fist, which gets heavily into the supernatural/mystical stuff that was only vaguely hinted at in DD. The idea is to ease the general audience into the universe rather than springing the crazier stuff on them right off the bat.

The Arrowverse has been systematically adding more weirdness each year -- first unpowered vigilantes and villains, then the Mirakuru supersoldiers, then the accelerator explosion and metahumans, then time travel, and now magic in Arrow and Vixen and the multiverse in The Flash. And coming up we've got miniaturization (The Atom), reincarnation (Hawkgirl)... it's pretty much no holds barred at this point.

You forgot to add Constantine the series in there.

 

[Beagleman]

I was amazed that after 6 (?) years, Ollie still had the guy on his speed dial.

Well if I knew a guy who knew magic and owed me a favor I would make damn sure not to lose his number!