After reading reports that the Queen of England has been indulging in something of a punk rock phase,the team travels to 1970's England to investigate. More specifically, they intend to get close to a punk band called "The Smell", a band that Constantine has never heard of.
John is, of course, right in his element here, which is why the plot passes the ball to Ray, who unintentionally ends up becoming their getaway driver and later friend to the band. While his persona clashes with the other members, it's the team's best shot at figuring out who is behind the mayhem.
Constantine's initial theory that it was a leprechaun is almost immediately proven wrong, but given the fact that prior adversaries this season were a unicorn and a fairy godmother, a leprechaun wouldn't have been that far out of left field.
The reveal was pretty funny, though. Apparently, Ray wasn't the first person to give the Irish band member the grain test. Ray, at least, had some precedence and context for doing it. I guess people were just trolling him or he just knew enough about mythology to pick up on it. Either way, it got a laugh.
As the episode progresses, Ray does actually get close to the group. He has some help from Sara in one instance, but overall, his charm wins them over. Even when his square nature is revealed, the group's lead singer sticks up for him. It's mostly a clue that she's the "mythtery", but it was still a sweet moment.
Said sweetness actually results in one of the more interesting aspects of the episode. Unlike the unicorn or the fairy godmother, this creature doesn't come off as particularly malevolent. Because of this, Ray wants to change course and call an audible.
You can't fault Sara and John for being skeptical. The prior notes that the previous creatures had nice facades but were very real threats. John himself also has more experience dealing with these kinds of things, but Ray can't help but follow his gut, which appears to put him into conflict with his team.
It was kind of weird to see Mick lament Ray's apparent descent. You'd think that he'd be happy to see Ray start to loosen up, even going so far as to get a tattoo; then again, you could argue that Mick has developed a respect for that trait and doesn't want to see it lost.
Rather than follow the formula and have the team send the creature to hell, they choose instead to keep it captive on the ship, though John does make a point to cast a spell that robs her of her magical abilities. It's seen as a dick move on his end, but at the same time, it's a logical move to make given the circumstances. By the episode's end, the team still has no idea what they're going to do with her. It was kind of surprising, to be honest, but we'll see where the plot takes it.
The subplots worked well. John is given some time to brood over his past. It seems that whatever's after him has him so spooked that he tries to commit suicide by self erasure. It was a peculiar bit, but it does answer how the Arrowverse addresses the grandfather paradox. Then again, how many times has Thawne been erased, now?
On other fronts, Nate and Gary seem to be bonding. He clicked with Ava so it as nice to see him do the same with Gary. Admittedly, Gary's overly excited enthusiasm is starting to get a little grating, but Nate doesn't seem to mind and the two actually bond over their own losses (John for Gary and Amaya for Nate.)
The thing with the plant was largely just comedic filler, but it would have been nice to see Nate "armor up". either that or when they faced off against the saber-toothed tiger. Ray suited up, you'd think that they'd want to put Nate's abilities to use. Oh well.
All in all, a strong episode. It was more character driven and wasn't quite as overtly goofy as the two prior episodes, which was a bit of fresh air. There was still comedy to be had, but it was more downplayed and I think the episode benefited from that. We'll see where things go from here.
Click here to join our Patreon campaign
