John Constantine boards the WaveRider to call in a favour. He’s trying to exorcise a young woman. And she knows Sara Lance’s name…

This is just a delight from top to bottom. There are three plots here and even the least interesting, in which the two Vixens face off once again, is actually pretty fun. For a show that one episode ago had Vikings worshipping a cuddly toy, there are some weighty issues explored here and explored pretty well. The day trip to Central City is fun too, although surely the Flash would have noticed his favourite coffee shop being trashed? Maybe he was working another case. Regardless, it’s a nice piece of low impact continuity and the payoff sets up something which is looking a lot like an old 1990s X-Men plot only, y’know… good.

But front and centre here is John bloody Constantine, as he damn well should be. Matt Ryan swaggers onto screen like he’s never been away and John is the driving force for both the episode and the story. He’s also now, canonically, bisexual. There is this heartbreakingly sweet moment where he sweeps in, takes over, flirts with Citizen Cold, Cold loves it but explains he’s taken and John moves on. There’s no “for I love men also”, there’s no angst. Just two men who instantly spot a mutual attraction, talk about it, realise it won’t go anywhere and move on good-naturedly. That is vastly important and the show does it with such lightness of touch that the moment is honestly quite moving. The world isn’t different now, but how the world sees itself is and seeing that reflected in mainstream entertainment like this is a piece of good news we should all huddle around for warmth.

Oh and then John sleeps with Sara. Which is the funniest sex scene/post attempted possession tension breaker ever.

Amazingly, all this actually ties into the overall plot too. We get some confirmation on Vixen (both of them) and their roles in this. We get a look at what could hurt Malus. We get the reveal on his daughter. All of this gives the season a shape and direction that Arrow is currently desperately lacking and The Flash doesn’t have to this level. It’s amazing work especially given how little a deal the show makes of it.

There are problems of course. Malus’ realm remains a soundstage with a dead tree in it. The Nate and Gypsy plot is this close to unbearable. But the rest is just a flat out joy.

Verdict: Bookended by Constantine, with some great Citizen Cold stuff in the middle as he signs off to go marry Ray (awww) this is a rock solid episode of the best season this show has ever done. More please. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart