Neron begins to put his possession of Ray to good use as his evil plan is put into motion. Meanwhile, John tries to find Ray in Hell, while avoiding all the demons out for his blood.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Calibraxis looks like a human here, not an Eldritch Abomination.
- Age-Gap Romance: Tabitha and Neron. Despite their human guises, Neron's actually far older than she is.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Strangely enough, even though the world is already crazy enough as it is, a woman in Neron's audience questions the existence of magical creatures.
- Body Horror: Gary wishing for a third nipple, just in case he loses another again.
- Call-Back:
- The scene of Astra being taken to Hell is directly from the pilot of John's ill-fated solo show. Way back in the pilot of said show, John said that one day he'd come to Hell to save Astra.
- After assisting the Legends in breaking the Death Totem's hold over Sara last season, John admitted to her point blank that he would sacrifice the Legends if he could save Astra. He wasn't lying.
- City Noir: This is how Hell is depicted in John's storyline.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Calibraxis and Astra subject John to it for revenge.
- Continuity Cavalcade: There's a brief montage of clips from John's solo shows before Astra begins her torture.
- Continuity Nod: Mick recalls the Legends transforming into a giant Beebo.
- Deal with the Devil: As one would expect, the deal between John and the Ruling Triumvirate has a caveat - Astra doesn't want to leave Hell. So they are now free to torture John.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Charlie distracts one Time Bureau Agent by transforming into Marilyn Monroe.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Neron's fear-mongering is a very unsubtle analogy to anti-immigrant sentiments. That Mona and Zari, both second-generation Americans, end up as the centerpiece of his efforts, just drives the point home. Zari being subjected to a literal witch hunt sports some ugly similarities to Islamophobia as well.
- Dramatic Irony: After years of hunting demons, now John Constantine finds himself being hunted by demons in Hell.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Gary. He knows that the Fairy Godmother is trying to get him to hurt the Legends which is why he's choosing wishes that are just annoying to protect them. When they aren't appreciative of his efforts, well...
- Dwindling Party: John already jumped into Hell the previous episode, and Mona was incarcerated. Then Gary has the Fairy Godmother kidnap Nora, Sara and Ava to suit his whims. Later, Nate and Mick get kidnapped as well, leaving it down to Charlie and Zari...who also wind up in trouble for being exposed as a witch again.
- Easily Forgiven: One of the demons John sent to hell, Masher (a soul trader), seems to be quite chummy with him despite this fact.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Tabitha spares Nora being stuck with Gary because she has no quarrel with her and actually goes out of her way to help her. Subverted in that it's all ploy so she can pass on the curse of being a Fairy Godmother onto her on Neron's orders.
- Evil Costume Switch: After transferring her role as a Fairy Godmother to Nora, Tabitha switches to a black dress and eyeliner.
- Evil Old Folks: The Ruling Triumvirate take on the form of old men.
- Exact Words: Nora was told that if she took on Tabitha's responsibilities as a Fairy Godmother, she can save Mona. Nora accepts the deal, but what Tabitha neglected to mention was that, even under a new bearer she is still under Gary's contract, so Nora has to grant his wishes first.
- False Friend: Tabitha, for both Gary and Nora. She's much more transparent with the act in Gary's case (understandable, as he's too naïve to recognize the truth until she literally says it right to his face).
- Fantastic Racism: A lot of people immediately buy into Neron's hateful rhetoric against magical creatures.
- Forced to Watch: Neron forces Nora to be by his side and smile into the cameras.
- Foreshadowing: Gary and the friggin' nipple turn out to be this. If a small part of your body spending a short time in Hell turns it into an evil artifact that corrupts you when you get it back and lets you brainwash the entire Time Bureau, what do you imagine a whole person who was in Hell for much longer will be like? You should have guessed the answer was "So not the sweet innocent kid you remember," John.
- Friendship Moment: Sara tells Gary that they want him on board for the mission.
- A Girl and Her X: Kid Zari discovers the golden dragon egg her adult version left behind. At the end of the episode, it hatches.
- Heel–Face Turn: Gary, after some hesitation, decides to do the right thing and helps the Legends.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Charlie stays behind so Mona can escape, leading to Neron and Tabitha capturing her and planning to use her to attack humans in various forms.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Mona and Zari are both publicly used by Neron to foster hate for magical creatures.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Gary actually buys Neron's rhetoric of "saving the world from monsters".
- Hypocritical Humor: Zari's mother chides her for eating dessert after breakfast...then takes a bite of the dish herself before putting it away.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Gary's motivation, basically. Unfortunately, while well-intentioned, he's a bit too dim to really think about what said friends want until he reaches his Jerkass Realization.
- I Lied:
- John promises a female demon Holy Water as protection for information. It was just alcohol.
- Tabitha, when Nora finds out that she'd been deceived into becoming a Fairy Godmother.Nora: You lied.
Tabitha: Obviously.
- Involuntary Dance: Gary and Tabitha force Sara and Ava to dance at an extremely quick pace, which seems like a funny, harmless punishment, but they quickly tire out; Mick protests that they'll die if they don't stop, and when Gary relents, they both immediately collapse.
- The Internet Is for Cats: After Neron launches his new Eyes app it's mentioned to be trending at number 3, behind Kanye West's surprise album and a cat getting a bath.
- Jerkass Realization:
- Ava and the Legends realize how horrible they've been to Gary.
- Gary calls off Tabitha when he realizes how he's hurting his friends.
- Tabitha seems to be on the verge of this, and begins helping the Legends. It's a trap.
- Kick the Dog:
- Neron tortures Mona and repeatedly throws Konane's death in her face to provoke her into wolfing out.
- He also tells Nora that her father is suffering in hell.
- The Ruling Triumvirate pretend to offer John a chance to save Astra, only for the whole thing to be revealed as an elaborate con to enable them to torture him.
- Lame Pun Reaction: Gary makes a whole lot of them while being the "captain" of the Waverider, much to everybody's pain.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Attempted by Gary, who orders the Fairy Godmother to go to Hell to help John rescue Ray. Unfortunately, said Fairy Godmother is now Nora, not Tabitha, depriving the team of their only remaining sorcerer.
- Lock-and-Load Montage: The Legends have one before they go on their mission. Zari lampshades it as overkill when it gets to her and a belt of grenades.
- Mean Boss: Ava, by her own admission, made Gary pick up her dry cleaning and work overtime without pay.
- Minion with an F in Evil: Unlike last episode, Gary is back to his useful dorky neurotic self. Tabitha keeps trying to get him to make a wish that will make the Legends pay. All he can think off is to make them join his book club and then to be Captain of the Waverider. Even when he snaps and gets more malicious, his spells are relatively benign.
- Moral Myopia: Tabitha tries to frame herself as a victim, sent to Hell for helping a girl deal with her mother's unjust suffering. She omits the bit about her goading the kid into nearly incinerating Salem.
- Mythology Gag:
- John is able to weasel his way out of being killed because if he's killed his soul will go to Neron which would severely anger Hell's Triumvirate, who all want their hands on him. It's a nod to one of John's most famous stories in the comics where, dying of cancer, he offered his soul to each member of the Triumvirate. They were forced to let him go, lest war break out among them.
- John saving Astra is taken directly from the comics, specially "Hellblazer Issue 96". In this case, it's a case of Not His Sled.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Gary's carelessness leads to Nora, now with the powers of a Fairy Godmother, being sent to Hell before she can help Mona or join the Legends in fighting Neron, although she's now in a good position to help John and Ray escape from Hell.
- Noodle Incident:
- The Legends, under Gary's "leadership", rescue a fairy off-screen.
- Masher, the owner of a club in Hell, has a long history with John but willing to cut him some slack with some help.
- Not His Sled: The famous story of John saving Astra is cruelly subverted when it's revealed that Astra has grown up into a well-dressed adult in Hell and wants payback for John not saving her.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Nora gives a delightfully understated one when she materializes on the Waverider, subject to Gary's idiotic whims. Particularly since the first of said whims is to be sent to Hell to help John save Ray.Nora: Oh, fiddlesticks.
- Zari when she realizes she left the dragon egg at her house back in 2019.
- Nora gives a delightfully understated one when she materializes on the Waverider, subject to Gary's idiotic whims. Particularly since the first of said whims is to be sent to Hell to help John save Ray.
- Poke the Poodle: Under the malign influence of Tabitha, Gary decides to wish...that Ava, Sara and Nora were part of his bookclub. And then to be Captain of the Waverider. However, we get another layer of "you shouldn't have treated me like the Butt-Monkey," as he reveals that he knew Tabitha wanted him to do something horrible to them, but he refused, and they didn't realize it, underestimating him again. For this, he does opt to get a bit of payback.
- Poor Communication Kills: Gary might have avoided a lot of resentment from the Legends if he'd actually told them he was trying to protect them from Tabitha. Instead, they think he's torturing them with his childish whims and end up in serious trouble when they can't fake enjoyment anymore.
- Post-Modern Magik: Neron's idea to get a bunch of souls to sign a deal with him is to create a popular app and bury the deal deep in the terms of service where no one will read it. It's disturbingly effective.
- Prison Break: Charlie frees all the magical creatures, who end up on the Waverider.
- Rage Breaking Point: Sara, Ava, and Nora manage to endure Gary's forced book club until he reaches an ironically appropriate plot point (a character taking hostages because he feels unloved), at which point they all lunge at him.
- Read the Fine Print: Zari comments that the eponymous "Terms of Service" on Neron's app takes too long to read, but she manages to find the line (where all the users of the app sign their souls to Neron) and learn Neron's plans.
- Revenge: Calibraxis, a demon Constantine sent there, is out for revenge against him. As it turns out, Astra also wants revenge on him.
- Running Gag: Mick falling asleep during speeches, this time during Neron's app announcement.
- Sadistic Choice: The Ruling Triumvirate makes John choose between having to save Astra or Ray. In the end he chooses Astra. This is turned back on John since Astra has been corrupted and wants payback for John failing her.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: John's years of guilt over failing to save Astra and his burning desire to save her all comes to naught; she's become corrupted by her time in Hell, and happily aids the Triumvirate in cruelly tricking and torturing him.
- She Is All Grown Up: Astra isn't a little girl anymore...and she isn't innocent anymore either.
- Shout-Out: John tries to invoke the right of parley while in Hell. His captors point out that they're demons, not pirates.
- Skewed Priorities: Sara is annoyed at Zari and Nate being, in her own words, "Dragon Baby Crazy".
- Something We Forgot: Charlie and Zari are hiding out in the latter's childhood home. When Zari's family arrives, the two Legends hurry out of there, leaving the dragon egg behind. Zari only realizes this when they all returned to the Waverider near the end.
- Stupid Evil: The Ruling Triumvirate risk being overthrown by Neron because they can't pass up the opportunity to torture John.
- Take That!: The ruling Triumvirate takes the form of middle-aged businessmen.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Neron quickly gains the public's approval in Ray's body, since Ray is the benevolent head of a philanthropic tech company.
- Wham Episode: Where do we start? Neron's plan seems humorous, sneaking a Deal with the Devil into the fine print of an app's terms of service, but it's true — people don't read those. Thousands have already been consigned to Hell by using it. Tabitha tricks Nora into taking on her role — and with it, being bound to obey Gary, who's still on Neron's side. The Bad Future Zari came from? It starts two years from the present day. Finally, John at long last gets the chance to save Astra, whom his mistake doomed to Hell in his own series. Only she's been corrupted by her time there and wants payback for John's failure to save her all those years ago.
- Wham Line:
- Faced with a Sadistic Choice between Ray or Astra, John chooses the latter.
- When John tells Astra he's come to take her home, she replies with a simple "no".
- Wham Shot: Astra emerging from the shadows...as an adult.
