S06.E10: Bad Blood

[scarynikki12]

Quote

With Constantine obsessed with getting his powers back, he convinces Spooner to join him on the quest to find the Fountain of Imperium.

 

 

[scarynikki12]

Aw Con is sticking to not smoking even when he could get away with it.

I don’t see why Sara had to go venue hunting. We all know she’s just going to go along with whatever Ava wants and then shenanigans mean they’ll probably end up getting married on the ship anyway.

Of course Pink Alf ages rapidly. The grown up version reminded me of the monster from that Bugs Bunny cartoon only pink.

Hee! Con hates priests and had to dress as one. His channeling plan for Spooner and Fernando was pretty good. 

Wouldn’t it save money for Gary to never be in his alien form?

You’re not nothing without magic, Con, but it’s become another limb for you so I get it.

So Con gets his magic back via a vial of something but the price is a nasty LSD trip. He says it scared him but he’s immediately addicted like the vampire said.

I like Con calling her Spoons but I don’t like him erasing her memory. I hope she gets it back.

[cambridgeguy]

23 minutes ago, scarynikki12 said:

I don’t see why Sara had to go venue hunting. We all know she’s just going to go along with whatever Ava wants and then shenanigans mean they’ll probably end up getting married on the ship anyway.

It'll also provide a convenient excuse for Quentin and Dinah not to be there in the likely event the actors are unavailable.  Although the truth is Sara would be a pretty crappy fiance if she just said screw it, you go venue hunting while I kick back and do other stuff.  Plus it mean Caity Lotz gets a full episode's pay for a few hours of work, so it's hardly the worst thing in the world.

And come on Constantine, (magical) steroids are bad!  Find yourself a serum like Nate did, or a magical trinket like the totem.  Then it's all good.

[Lantern7]

This week: Mick deals with impending fatherhood, John and Spooner go off on a main plot, and the rest of the Legends deal with Gus. Also, Sara and Ava go looking for a venue for their wedding.venue . . . both obviously in deep denial that the wedding would go off without a hitch. Remember, the last wedding Sara* attended got invaded by Nazis from another universe.

[*Was that before we got Ava? Sara wound up sleeping with Alex, so I'm guessing Ava wasn't present for the Allen/West wedding]

Good to see John get his magic back, albeit at a high cost and an inevitable storyline where he careens from one bad decision to another. On the other hand, isn't being a total bastard originally the point of John Constantine? Even if he's been a fine character on this series, I would think hardcore fans would think he was nerfed. And now we have Magical Junkie Con, the guy who alters Spooner's mind and sells off Crowley for more magic juice.

While I'm thinking of it . .. "Are you juicing, John?" Sorry . . . Spearman & Lois flashback.

Mick and Lita's story wasn't too bad, in the sense that the "guy about to give birth to tentacle aliens" would translate into "wacky comedy" on other shows. No, the zaniness get put on the rest of the team dealing with Gus's growth spurt, which took place off-camera.

2 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

It'll also provide a convenient excuse for Quentin and Dinah not to be there in the likely event the actors are unavailable.

"Why would DInah be there? She's in the future with NotLaurel and the failed backdoor pilot. [long pause] OH! Sara's mother!!!! A-duh!" I would hope Quentin pops in. I've given up hope of Alex Kingston returning. Maybe the other Doctor Who alumni who have appeared on Legends would convince her? Actually, if neither Quentin or Dinah show up, they could go meta with "Something fucked up will probably happen, so we gotta keep this small."

Edited July 19, 2021 by Lantern7

[legaleagle53]

39 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

[*Was that before we got Ava? Sara wound up sleeping with Alex, so I'm guessing Ava wasn't present for the Allen/West wedding]

 

Before. Sara hadn't even met Ava yet when she and Alex hooked up during the Allen/West wedding.

[Lantern7]

Before I go to bed . . . the scene with the medical equipment examining Mick . . . anyone else think of the classic look of the comic canon Havok?

Ultimate contingency plan for the wedding . . . find a random spot, have Diggle marry Sara and Ava. Hey, we know he’s done it before.

[Cthulhudrew]

24 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Before I go to bed . . . the scene with the medical equipment examining Mick . . . anyone else think of the classic look of the comic canon Havok?

I was actually reminded of original X-Men movie Cerebro. In any event, we were both clearly in the same headspace (pun intended).

[tvwatchergordis]

An episode that showed how dark John Constantine really is. He’s obsessed with magic and after him and Zari Tarazi got together the writers have shied away from that a bit. Almost so that I almost forgot how selfish and obsessed he can be. I was scared for Fernando. Good thing John came to his senses. Honestly though I think we hadn’t seen this side of Constantine since the Dex days like 2 seasons ago? Around there i’d Say.

How will Zari react to this when she returns? She knows John pretty well now and can see right thru him. This is not gonna be good, esp when she realizes he’s getting high on dark, evil magic. I wonder if Astra will notice and step in to help. Particularly since she was also under Crowley’s influence and went dark a few episodes ago. 

Liked the Spanish culture in this ep plus the small emphasis on religion. Spooner is stronger than I gave her credit for. The fountain  rejecting Constantine, dude is not worthy of that magic back. With what he did at the end even less so. 

Mick, Lita, and the eggs. Great scenes and great character development for Mick as a character. Whoa 48 alien eggs inside him? Umm... but he’s learning to love his alien babies.

missed Ava and Sara this ep. Gus was the least interesting part of the story. Though he grew a ton lol. 

Pfft another long break coming. Oh well nothing more but to wait. 

[scarynikki12]

1 hour ago, Lantern7 said:

[*Was that before we got Ava? Sara wound up sleeping with Alex, so I'm guessing Ava wasn't present for the Allen/West wedding]

Before though I believe her and Ava started up a few Legends episodes later.

2 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

It'll also provide a convenient excuse for Quentin and Dinah not to be there in the likely event the actors are unavailable. 

Truth. I doubt they'll even call the actors but they may genuinely be unavailable if they do so it's moot either way. In story Dinah was checked out on motherhood after the Gambit went down and Quentin preferred Laurel to Sara and vastly prefers Black Siren to Laurel so they probably would forget to show up even if they accepted the invite.

I really liked the short scene we had between Lita and Spooner and I'd like to see more with them. They had a nicely compatible snark that could lead to a great friendship if allowed to flourish.

[scarynikki12]

6 minutes ago, tvwatchergordis said:

How will Zari react to this when she returns? She knows John pretty well now and can see right thru him. This is not gonna be good, esp when she realizes he’s getting high on dark, evil magic. I wonder if Astra will notice and step in to help. Particularly since she was also under Crowley’s influence and went dark a few episodes ago. 

Knowing Zari she'll have a five point plan to help Con manage the addiction so the conflict will probably come from how he reacts/rejects her help. What I'd like to see is Zari and Astra working together (with some help from the rest of the team of course) to get him admit his problem and work through it. I think he'll eventually get his magic back without resorting to addictive substances so finding the safer way will be part of it.

[Diapason Untuned]

Whoa, John went full-on Laughing Magician mode this episode. This almost felt like it could have been an issue of Hellblazer. I don't dislike the lighter Constantine this show has created, but seeing some classic stuff mixed in was very nice. 

It was also great to see OZ (can't believe no one thought of that before now) Zari around, though I do wish the joy would just bite the bullet and keep both Zaris around instead of this back and forth. Pregnant Mick continues to be a hell of a thing.

[tvwatchergordis]

18 minutes ago, scarynikki12 said:

Knowing Zari she'll have a five point plan to help Con manage the addiction so the conflict will probably come from how he reacts/rejects her help. What I'd like to see is Zari and Astra working together (with some help from the rest of the team of course) to get him admit his problem and work through it. I think he'll eventually get his magic back without resorting to addictive substances so finding the safer way will be part of it.

Yeah it will be great to see Zari Tarazi and Astra working as a team to save Constantine. Maybe those will be some of the ending episodes to the season. Agreed. I think he’ll get his magic without using the dark magic. Perhaps the fountain will play a part in it again once he’s worthy since it rejected him in this ep. maybe he’ll sacrifice himself again per his magic and the fountain will deem him worthy restoring his magic 

[Machiabelly]

Fun episode and I give this show all the credit 8n the world...but God I hate drug addiction stories in my light entertainment.  Also memory wiping people.

[thuganomics85]

Whelp, Constantine certainly took a dark turn with him using Crowley's blood as some kind of "magic boost", which gets his normal powers back, but clearly is already starting to effect him.  Mind-wiping Spooner is already getting things into dicey territory!  Plus that whole LSD-like flashback bits when he was killing those guys.  I couldn't tell for sure, but I wonder if they actually used some of the clips from the original NBC show as well.

On the flip side, Constantine pretending to be a priest was hilarious.  Matt Ryan really seems to love it when he can camp it up and do various accents.

Despite last week's big revelation, the episode was surprising light on the whole alternating Zari thing.  Didn't even get a reaction from Constantine about that.  But, hey, it looks like I have to retire the OG Zari moniker, because OZ (thanks Behard!) is awesome!  Why did I not think of that?!

Of course Guss would hulk out and the Legends would have to boot him out of the ship.  At least their moms.. err, captains weren't around to see all of those hijinks!

Mick and Lita continue to be great together.  And their family might be growing by 48 soon!

Sara and Ava "looking at venues" was likely just an excuse to get the actresses off screen for whatever reason.  I suspect it won't matter: if anything, the wedding will probably either happen on ship or somewhere completely unexpected.  I also suspect Gary "losing his glasses" was so they didn't have to use Adam Tsekhman for most of this episode.

[tv echo]

This episode was darker than usual for a LoT episode, although they tried to lighten it up with Mick's pregnancy and the stupid Gus development (I didn't find Baby Gus cute at all)...

Constantine is one of my favorite characters on this show, so now I'm concerned that they're setting him up for an exit at the end of the season. He is going down a dark path. I hope that it doesn't destroy him and that he can get his magic back in some other way.

I actually thought that Constantine was going to sacrifice himself defending Spooner and Fernando near the end there and that then the Fountain of Imperium would find him worthy and give him back his magic. But, no.

When he runs out of his current supply of blood vials, what will Constantine give up next to get more? And will this addiction hurt his relationship with Zari 2.0?

I think that Matt Ryan ard Tala Ashe are two of the best actors on LoT. Matt can do dark drama and comedy equally well. Tala can believably portray two very different versions of Zari. 

Edited July 19, 2021 by tv echo

[cambridgeguy]

9 hours ago, tvwatchergordis said:

Pfft another long break coming. Oh well nothing more but to wait. 

That's what happens when the Olympics come on.

[lurker22]

I've been waiting for the episodes that Jes is prepping to see how the writers would treat Sara when Ava isn't around. Turns out, they couldn't be bothered to write for her at all. 

When Sara disappeared for 2 episodes because Caity was prepping, Ava still got lots of scenes on her own with the team. But now when Jes is off prepping, Sara disappears too? If this isn't proof that the writers don't think there's a place for Sara without Ava, I don't know what is. This, and the fact that they still found a way to insert Ava into "Sara's storyline" with the alien abduction, it's obvious that Sara's only role on the show is Ava's girlfriend. Then again, the writers have pretty much admitted that themselves. 

And who wrote the synopsis, making it seem like Sara was involved in Mick's plot when she's not? Last week's synopsis also made Sara's involvement with Mick/Lita seem more than it actually was. 

I just don't find Legends episodes all that interesting when Sara isn't around, so this was a boring one for me.

[benteen]

Episode was all right.  The setting in 1939 Spain is one you don't see often.  I like Constantine but am finally starting to understand those who think there is too much of him when he gets this obsessed.  The writers continuing whining about capitalism is silly.  They are part ot the capitalist system, have benefitted from it and no doubt cash the checks they receive from it regularly and eagerly. 

BTW, yeah, am not expecting Quentin and Dinah to be at Sara's wedding.  That's TV weddings in a nutshell.  At least Ava has an excuse for not having family at the wedding.

 

Edited July 20, 2021 by benteen

[appositival]

On 7/19/2021 at 12:18 AM, tvwatchergordis said:

An episode that showed how dark John Constantine really is.

I was hoping that the 'fountain' would make Constantine a mute healer. That could have been hilarious.

[blackwing]

I liked the main story with Constantine and Spooner going to 1939 Spain and the side story with Mick and Lita and dual pregnancies.  The pink alien, not so much.  I don't understand the point of the pink alien.  They should have saved the money and given us Beebo instead.

I admit that I am a bit confused about what happened with Constantine.  He heard that this Fountain of Imperium would give him his magic back, but he failed because he isn't worthy.  So he resorted to drinking this potion given to him by the vampire.  At first I thought the potion made him trade places with the bald guy, but apparently the potion gives him dark magic.  And the price was that the vampire wanted the painting of the bald guy.  How long does the potion last?  Maybe it's only temporary, because she gave him more vials.

If Astra can learn how to do magic from scratch, why can't Constantine learn again?

Are Original Zari and New Zari still alternating?  We definitely had Original in the beginning, but did they swap again later?  Because when Zari and Behrooz teamed up to take out Gus, they said "Tarazi Siblings, Activate"... and Original's last name is still Tomaz, isn't it?

On 7/18/2021 at 8:00 PM, scarynikki12 said:

I don’t see why Sara had to go venue hunting. We all know she’s just going to go along with whatever Ava wants and then shenanigans mean they’ll probably end up getting married on the ship anyway.

Of course Pink Alf ages rapidly. The grown up version reminded me of the monster from that Bugs Bunny cartoon only pink.

Wouldn’t it save money for Gary to never be in his alien form?

I agree, it's all Ava Ava Ava, what does Ava want so the explanation made no sense.  Are these actors on contract per season or per episode?  I thought that by not having Sara, Ava and Gary on set, maybe they don't get paid the usual amount for that episode?  And maybe just a token amount for their 20 second scene?  I assumed that the actor who plays Gary costs at least something, and the person in the alien suit (no special effects needed, just a suit) was a crew member who costs next to nothing.

The stance of Gus the pink alien as they pushed him into the portal, which opened in a forest, looked very much like the show is suggesting that he is Bigfoot.

On 7/19/2021 at 9:08 AM, lurker22 said:

I've been waiting for the episodes that Jes is prepping to see how the writers would treat Sara when Ava isn't around. Turns out, they couldn't be bothered to write for her at all. 

When Sara disappeared for 2 episodes because Caity was prepping, Ava still got lots of scenes on her own with the team. But now when Jes is off prepping, Sara disappears too? If this isn't proof that the writers don't think there's a place for Sara without Ava, I don't know what is. This, and the fact that they still found a way to insert Ava into "Sara's storyline" with the alien abduction, it's obvious that Sara's only role on the show is Ava's girlfriend. Then again, the writers have pretty much admitted that themselves. 

And who wrote the synopsis, making it seem like Sara was involved in Mick's plot when she's not? Last week's synopsis also made Sara's involvement with Mick/Lita seem more than it actually was. 

I just don't find Legends episodes all that interesting when Sara isn't around, so this was a boring one for me.

 

Fully agree.  So annoying.  Would have been nice to see Sara without Ava... it's everything Ava.  Sara existed on this show before Ava so I don't understand why they can't figure out what to do with her.

[tennisgurl]

This episode gave me a bit of whiplash between the two plots, with a mostly serious main story and a more wacky side story, bouncing back and fourth between them. What helped a lot was that they did at least add some real pathos to the silly pregnancy/Gus B Story, with Mick's feelings of guilt over leaving Kayla to die (although I am not sure she's actually dead for real) and bonding with Lita. Its still a really weird subplot, almost too silly even for this show, but the acting is strong enough to make it work better than it does on paper. 

I am still not a huge Spooner fan, mostly because I still think she feels superfluous with the shows already huge cast, but this was a good episode for her and I liked her paired with Constantine. Their story was pretty dark, which I actually really liked, it could have just about came right out of Hellblazer at various points, especially as the show has become so over the top goofy as its gone on. Don't get me wrong, I adore the shows wacky tone, the best thing the show ever did was stop taking itself so damn seriously and start having fun, but sometimes its gotten a bit too wacky, to the point that it stops taking its characters themselves seriously. This show is at its best when it puts its characters in crazy kooky situations and allows then to engage in madcap hijinks due to their colorful personalities, but also does take their issues and character growth seriously, and knows when its time to be serious, so I am glad that they played the main story pretty straight (so to speak, John) even if they did also throw in a bit of comedic relief, like Constantine going all hammy to play a priest. Not a lot of laughs in the Spanish Civil War, so that feels appropriate. I liked that they went to a time and place that isn't very commonly shown on American TV, even if the history aspects were a bit sketchy and I thought the constant Flamenco music in the background letting us know over and over that this is Spain was a bit much, although who I am to complain about some nice Flamenco music? Constantine is really setting himself on a dark path, manipulating Spooner and an innocent kid to try and get his magic back, using the creepy addictive vampire blood, and, most messed up of all, mind wiping Spooner to keep his secret about where he got his magic. Zari really needs to get back here soon, it will probably take her about five minutes to realize something is wrong with him and start working on a twelve step blood addiction recovery plan. 

Also, vampires exist in the Arrowverse!

Those wacky Nazis and company and their constant quests to steal magical artifacts. Did they learn nothing from those suckers who tried to get the Arc of the Covenant? 

This episode did a lot to make Spooner feel like more of a real character, her conversations with Constantine and Fernando the magical kid showed a lot of interesting sides to her personality. Not only being snarky and angry, but she talked about her faith, more about her family and losing her mom, and her bonding with John was really well done, which made him wiping her mind even more brutal. 

I guess Jess, Caity, and Adam all had the week off. Sara and Ava looking for wedding venues seems pretty pointless as we know that it will just be the main cast of this show, I certainly don't expect to see Sara's mom or any of her other friends show up. Its not like this is really about Sara, she has a character has been sacrificed on the altar of Avalance.