Legends of Tomorrow season 6, episode 10 review: Bad Blood

Legends of Tomorrow season 6 shifts focus back to John Constantine’s quest for his magic. Is this week’s episode an improvement over the previous one?

Last week’s episode of Legends of Tomorrow wasn’t its best. Yours truly didn’t get the chance to watch it when it aired, but it was clear that it was something of a divisive installment for fans.

In all honesty, it was fine. It paled in comparison to the show’s glory days (we miss you seasons 2 and 3!), it wasn’t even one of the better installment episodes of the highly-entertaining thrill-ride that season 6 has been and it did leave you wondering if the show had pushed the crazy envelope a little too far. But it was fine for what it was and the subplot involving the return of Zari 1.0. was enough to elevate it.

We’re back to business for this week’s installment, as John Constantine’s quest to find the Fountain of Imperium teams him up with Spooner. But is “Bad Blood” an improvement on what came before?

Here’s what went down in “Bad Blood”.

Legends of Tomorrow season 6, episode 10 – Dark days for Constantine

After he was inexplicably absent from last week’s wacky encounter, “Bad Blood” shifted focus back to everyone’s favorite demon hunter as John Constantine’s desperate attempts to reclaim his magic led him to the Fountain of Imperium. To make that happen, however, he did business with a vampire and obtained the map to the Fountain (along with some dodgy blood-like elixir that of course he’s going to drink!). However, he also needed the help of Spooner – who just so happened to check out of Waverider business because it all involved babysitting and pregnancy.

The pair’s quest led them to Spain at the tail end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939, where they came across a young boy named Fernando who obtained magical abilities after drinking from the Fountain of Imperium. While he and his family were attacked by soldiers seeking out the fountain for Hitler, Constantine had the genius idea of going undercover as the one thing he never thought he would (no, not a butler, that was the previous season, remember?): A priest.

His desperation to reclaim his magic was evident throughout so it made his unexpected disguise all the more believable. And it ultimately succeeded because, in spite of a little gunfight, they made it to the cave and, with Fernando’s help, found the Fountain. Unfortunately, for Constantine though, it had dried up and the only remaining essence of it was within Fernando. That is, until John convinced Spooner to use her abilities to transfer the power from the boy to the Legend.

It wasn’t to be, however, as the magic bypassed John because he wasn’t pure of heart, leaving the demon hunter no choice but to drink the corrupt elixir, giving him a demonic high as he disposed of the soldiers that attacked with an uncomfortable ease. And even though he promised Spooner that was it for his addiction to evil, it appears that the Master of the Dark Arts has indeed gotten hooked on the, um, bad blood, wiping Spooner’s mind of their conversation and planting a fake version of events instead – all before he received even more vials of the elixir.

Legends of Tomorrow season 6, episode 10 review: Into the shadows, into the light, repeat, repeat, repeat

The thing that makes Legends of Tomorrow‘s glory days so revered is how it effortlessly walked the line between serious and silly. It never veered too far into one territory and that made for the ultimate viewing experience. But that doesn’t mean the show hasn’t done that at all. It was, after all, a much too serious debut season that resulted in this necessary change to begin with. On the other hand, the fourth season was much too silly, leaving season 5 to balance things once again.

The reason that “Bad Blood” struggles as an episode is down to the simple fact that it veers too far into both territories… at the same time. That’s not a slight on the Constantine stuff because, in all honesty, that was brilliant. It felt like you were watching an episode of NBC’s short-lived Constantine TV series (one of the few times Legends has truly managed to recreate that feeling) but its attempts to balance that with Gus Gus’ growth spurts and Mick’s alien pregnancy resulted in an episode that felt too jarring – which is disappointing because Legends thrives on the fact that this balance is usually seamless.

Another thing that is disappointing is the use of OG Zari here. What was the point in bringing her back from the totem to waste one of her limited episodes on a background role that, save for a cleverly-hidden expositional line of dialogue to remind viewers that she was the “OZ”, could have been played by Zari 2.0.? And shouldn’t the latter Zari have told John about her trip into the totem? And shouldn’t he have told her about his plans to find the Fountain? So many Zaris and so many questions.

Most of the time, Legends of Tomorrow feels like a work of unexpected genius, but sometimes it just feels a little too silly for the sake of being silly. That’s what the subplots felt like here and it was made that much worse by the fact that Sara and Ava – both of whom are known for balancing serious and silly very well – were absent for most of it.

That being said, I don’t want that to take away from the compelling arc that we did get from John Constantine and Spooner. As much as I am struggling to believe that this veteran Legend, who has been forced to overcome his own hubris many times before, would fall back into his old predictable ways for the sake of the plot, the writers did a great job of highlighting both his need for magic and his desperation to reclaim it. And if we are getting Big Bad Constantine as the season’s new villain, this was a solid way of setting the stage for that.

Legendary Leftovers

• So is John Constantine now, like, a vampire? A magic vampire?
• The scene in which John explained his craving for magic to Spooner was very moving.
• “I’m John Constantine, love.” – That never gets old!
• As jarring as the Gus Gus storyline was here, it was entertaining nonetheless. The fact that this cute little puppet creature had transformed into that huge CGI monster was an interesting development, that’s for sure!
• Behrad has a beautiful voice and if he wants to sing every week, I honestly don’t mind.
• It was admittedly nice to see Mick begin to bond with his alien offspring. I still don’t know how I feel about this story or if Mick is the right one for it, but as I’m rolling with it, it’s always nice to see a softer side of Mick.
• “Tarazi siblings, activate!” – now that was funny!
• It was nice to see Sara and Ava but I do feel like the episode struggled without them.
• Legends of Tomorrow season 6 will now be taking another short hiatus from The CW and will return on Sunday, August 8.

What did you think of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow season 6, episode 10? Have you been enjoying Legends of Tomorrow season 6? Let us know in the comments below!