Written by Matthew Maala & Tyron B. Carter
Directed by Alexandra La Roche
Nate: "This went from John Hughes to John Carpenter."
Nora: "I take it back, high school sucks."
So, this episode was always going to be very much one that would be in my favour. I'm surprised it's taken them five seasons to lampoon the horror/slasher movie trope and boy, did this one have a lot of fun with it as well.
With the majority of our cast heading to the prom, there's a serial killer on the loose and Ava got the chance to prove she's an even bigger serial killer fan than David and Maureen from Psychoville as Freddy Meyers (Seth Meriwether) seemingly survived being executed in 2004 so he could get revenge on his former classmates yet again, including original survivor, Tiffany.
Well, it seemed that's what was happening in this episode, so to complicate matters, Nora ended up as Freddy's fairy godmother and this was where the episode shined. Nora seems to be a dab at this fairy godmother lark and she definitely went out of her way to protect Freddy from rejection and being a figure of ridicule by cliched bullies and when it looked like she had changed his fate, well, more deaths happened including Mick and Sara.
Yes, the twist of the episode was that Freddy wasn't the serial killer after all, it was his mother, Kathy (Beth Riesgraf), who seemed even more determined to save her boy than Pamela Voorhees ever was. It was a nice twist and even better to see when it was reversed that Freddy managed to survive both high school and his mother being a serial killer.
The prom setting was a great place for this Encore plotline. On top of Ava's serial killer fangirling, Nora's current job, the episode also afforded a bit of a plot for Mick as he hooked up with a former flame, Ali while the rest of the gang took some photos. Plus side, at least Mick finally got some decent screen time this season and hopefully it won't be the only time either.
As for Zari, the episode threw some hints of her memories slowly coming back to her as she was able to hack her way out of the Waverider but for now, we're still in Influencer mode with the character, which might grate if they overextend the idea. I do however like the rapport with Zari and Behrad though as the latter actually got to use his air totem during a crucial moment.
Last but not least, there was Constantine. He scarpered from the Waverider, went to his stomping ground with Gary and was somewhat pissed off with Charlie making herself at home in his humble abode. However, Charlie did manage to get Constantine to face up to some old demons and it looks like we're going to be meeting Astra's mother next week now that John has taken another dimensional trip of sorts.
- I had to laugh at Nora's annoyance over kids wanting ponies, including at one point, even Freddy. Also nice she's getting to mix up her looks and her DJ skills were decent.
- This episode managed to quietly reveal that Charlie's pansexual to the absolute surprise of no-one. Say what you want about the Arrowverse, but it continues to bring it's A game with LGBT characters.
- Astra sat this episode out again but given we're meeting her mother next week, she should be back a bit sooner.
- Let's see, 1989, 2004 and 2020 all factored into this episode.
Slay Anything had the wonderful ingredients of horror, high school and utilised them pretty well with nearly everyone getting a sizeable amount of screen time and the serial killer twist was done pretty well. Constantine, Charlie and Gary were divorced from the main story but their shorter screentime was also good to watch.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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