Oliver being a dumbass about relationships is par for the course for him (his interactions with Carrie here reminded me a lot of Helena episodes), but I thought Felicity was super-OOC in this ep. Like, Felicity I know and love would not be beaming by Ray's side at QC's rebranding ceremony -- she damn well knows this would hurt Oliver. Regardless of relationship drama, he's still one of her closest friends. She would have at least *talked* to Oliver about it rather than letting him learn it on TV. And that gushy speech at the dinner about Ray was a real WTF moment. Did we skip a bunch of episodes or something?

I ship Oliver/Felicity pretty hard but I actually don't mind Felicity moving on. What I don't like is when the writers fuck with characterizations to manufacture drama and angst.

Yeah, her beaming at the re-branding felt incredibly callous. She definitely should have had some reservations about it for Ollie's sake, if not her own. And I agree Palmer hasn't done anything worthy of Felicity's speech to the mine owner.

The more I think about it, the more disappointed I am by this episode. And it didn't even have Laurel doing something incredibly stupid to bring it down.

Constantine: This one seemed like a filler, monster of the week episode. I hope this doesn't become the norm. We got more background on Papa Midnite. But he isn't coming across as dangerous and demented enough, I fear. I don't think this episode made it clear that he actually killed his sister and sent her soul to Hell so she could scout for him. He didn't just *happen* to have his sister's skull, y'know? I don't recall Jim Corrigan from the comics, but he might have been there. Given Zed's vision, we're probably going to see him again at least once. I appreciated that it didn't take too much evidence for him to start believing. Most important thing, though, we saw John with a lit cigarette in his mouth! Also we saw Chaz dying a couple times, so we have on-screen proof that he's a zombie or somesuch, if anyone was still unsure. That Japanese ghost creature, that's a real thing, I've heard of it before, but I can't remember what it's called - she asks you if you think she's pretty, but no matter which way you answer, you're screwed, she kills you anyway. Japanese ghosts don't fuck around.

The problem with that is it's hard to believe those stories when there's no way anyone would have survived an encounter to pass on the info.

You with your logic.

I just looked up Jim Corrigan, 'cause it was nagging at me: he was The Spectre in the comics, with a brief connection to Constantine. I'm not liking it.

It's kind of weird that they made him a New Orleans cop rather than NYC, but I suppose giving him a present day origin rather than a WWII-era one opens the door for other changes.

Hrm. NBC Pumps the Brakes on Constantine, Will Halt Production After 13 Episodes. But it's not canceled and it could still be renewed.

Pumps?

I really wish they would team up with the BBC or Sky or someone, and move the production to the UK.