I’ve wanted to write about John Constantine’s appearance on Arrow since I saw “Haunted,” but wasn’t sure how to do it because I’m new to the Arrow universe. I won’t lie, despite all of my Rat Queens telling me I should watch the show, I didn’t jump in until this season. And by “jump in,” I mean “ignored my usual OCD compulsion to binge-watch from the start and started watching at season four.” I’m still trying to figure out who’s who and what’s what in this ‘verse, and I finally asked Nancy a few days ago what the island flashbacks are about because they’re hella confusing when you start at this point. So full disclosure, this is not a review of Arrow. Instead I’m focusing on John Constantine’s appearance on the show, because John is the real reason I started watching. I’m a Hellblazer for life, and there was no way I was going to miss this reunion with my favorite petty dabbler in the dark arts. You’ve been warned, here there be spoilers.

So, “Haunted.” I want to start by saying that I love how everyone involved made this less of a cameo and more of a crossover. It would have been easy to go the cameo route, given that Constantine got canceled by those bastards at NBC is no more. Why spend a good portion of the story line on a character with no future? Because as we’ve heard repeatedly, this is a one-off (more on that later). But the showrunners, writers, and cast were all dedicated to giving Hellblazers a good final fling with our friend John Constantine, and they did just that, even down to including some of Bear McCreary’s fantastic Constantine theme–a particularly nice touch.

We got several scenes in flashback, making it the first episode I’ve seen all season where I could see a direct link between the past and present (much appreciated, Arrow writers). We need a way to get John Constantine into Star City and Ollie needs an introduction to magic? Awesome, let’s set it up on the island (although yes, John’s trademark shirt and tie seemed a bit out of place there). Coming from the Constantine perspective, the flashbacks in this episode seem to occur before Rising Darkness theme of season one, and might even have happened before the Newcastle incident, given that John’s not protesting the “Master of the Dark Arts” part of his business card yet. He also doesn’t seem as wary when it comes to possible traps around mystical artifacts, as we see when he tries to grab the Orb of Horus and Ollie has to knock him out of the way of swords crashing down from above (honestly, mate, you haven’t seen any Indiana Jones movies?). I liked this back story, although in retrospect there are some plot holes–is this the only time they’ve met? When did they exchange phone numbers? But it gives us a decent amount of time to spend with John Constantine before we get to the main event.

The main event itself (the restoration of Sara’s soul to her newly resurrected body) was a bit anti-climactic. Sure, John slid into the team as easily as a kid zipping down a slide, and the bit where John has Felicity bring him a peacock feather seemingly as part of the ritual preparations only to use it as a back scratcher was inspired. (I would have preferred him scratching his ass with it for a more pointed NBC zinger, but I still have a lot of unresolved anger towards the NBC execs.) But getting Sara’s soul back seemed too easy: John slays an assassin while Ollie and Laurel pull Sara out of the Lazarus Pit. The scene lasts roughly two minutes. On the one hand, who knew John Constantine was that good with a sword? On the other, Ollie and Laurel seem pretty knackered when they get back for only a small amount of work. Still, it was fun to watch John work his literal magic again.

And then there was that opening, that glimmer of hope left to us in John’s final scene, where Ollie promises “any time, any where you need me, I’ll be there.” That doesn’t sound like we’ve seen the last of John Constantine, does it? Particularly given that he’s got information on Arrow‘s big bad Damien Darhk. Add into that Thea describing John as a “very specific kind of yummy.” How much would we love to see some flirtation between Constantine and the ladies (and men, for that matter) of the Arrow-verse? A large part of me now wants a scene between Constantine and Malcolm Merlyn, because that would be hella hot. It’s not just me, right? And with Arrow‘s ratings seeing a rise as a result of this crossover…well, let’s just hope the CW sees the possibilities as well.

So, overall it was a great night to be a Hellblazer–as if we’d been wandering the desert since Constantine‘s cancellation and had suddenly reached an oasis. But what made it even better was a completely unexpected Hellblazer family reunion. Matt Ryan was onstage in Thérèse Raquin, but those of us who watched with the West Coast got a thrill as Harold Perrineau, Charles Halford, and Angélica Celaya took to Twitter just like old times. We didn’t have a drinking game this time, but we did have a group of people who were getting inside jokes like this one:

And I’m not going to lie, I cried a little when Charles Halford responded to my tweet:

I’ve Missed ya’ll too! I maintain, #Hellblazers are the best fandom on earth, in every dimension, Heaven, and Hell. https://t.co/ez7GxYvHt3 — ThatGuyFromThatThing (@Charlie_Halford) November 5, 2015

He’s right, you know. For a show that was given the shaft much too soon, the Hellblazers are still one of the most dedicated fandoms out there, and I loved that Arrow gave us one last (?) time to get out there and be together. Now pardon me, I’m going to go read my Hellblazer TPBs and Constantine the Hellblazer comics until the world comes to its senses and someone, anyone, gets my Constantine family back on TV again.