"The Last Temptation of Barry Allen, Pt. 1"
This week's episode of The Flash finally delivers exactly what I've been hoping for since the Season 6 premiere in regards to the storytelling surrounding Crisis and the current season villain. Just when my caution towards Bloodwork being an easily sidelined villain considering the scope of the upcoming crossover started to a hit a high point, the writers managed to perfectly tie the two stories together. The concept of Barry being infected both biologically and mentally by Ramsay's power was notably presented here through excellent visual storytelling.
I do like how the episode first throws a couple of curve balls at the audience by making it seem like Ramsay actually showed up to Barry's home confronting him in person about his identity, to then playing it off as just a nightmare sequence with the world's destruction concluding with the reveal of the infection. Much like the "Into the Speed Force" and "Enter Flashtime" episodes (which are some of the best episodes of the series in my opinion), we're given a very character centric entry here surrounding Barry having to wrestle with something deeply thought provoking in a fantastical setting which allows for some highly engaging character scenes. In this case, we have Barry fighting the temptation to surrender to Ramsay's offer for eternal life thereby surviving the Crisis and being with his friends and family.
It's an awesome idea as it perfectly spotlights the central theme of this season with Barry having to accept his fate in the Crisis and what he will be leaving behind after his sacrifice (much like Arrow's current story). Both the writing and direction is fantastic here with our hero venturing through various dream and nightmare-like scenarios in his mind all nudging him towards making a self made decision on choosing Ramsay's "eternal life" or a preconceived fate to make a world saving heroic sacrifice.
Jumping into the interesting visuals as I do feel the visual storytelling of this episode is by far some of the show's best, there's the Nightmare on Elm Street-esque scene with Team Flash all sitting at a dinner table eating happily as Ramsay comes in with a blood filled lasagna. It's a bit goofy on the surface sure, but the imagery of everyone eating the grotesque black goo and smiling at Barry saying "everything" after Barry asks what Ramsay can offer does get the point across well. You then have the Speed Force at some point making its appearance again choosing the form of Barry's mother to both warn and comfort him surrounding the infection's attacks. There's a deep multi-layered presentation taking place here showing the Speed Force as the Flash's cosmic guide and source of power trying to assist its champion out of an invasion to its connection as well as a mother trying to help her child through a terrible sickness.
The episode expands on this further by transporting Barry to his childhood bedroom underneath the covers grasping onto them like a sick child needing his mother. What's great about this scene is that you can see the Speed Force doing its best impression of Barry's mother encouraging her son to somewhat get back into a mentally stable place about his fate, but as Ramsay's offer beings to show signs of legitimacy, the room begins to ooze black blood from the walls. Such a great use of the visual medium in this scene. As Barry's doubt begins to escalate revolving around the mandatory nature of his sacrifice compared to Ramsay's eternity giving blood, the setting reflects this slow "turn to the dark side". It's a great way to both show and tell (which is essential for great visual storytelling) Barry's decline into temptation without having to just spell it out in the dialogue.
With Ramsay spewing out lines of doubt at Barry from one corner while the Speed Force tries to get him to understand his significant role in this cosmic conflict, things take a surprisingly dark turn as Barry pulls a Reverse Flash and phases his hand through her solidifying where his decision making is twisting towards. We even see a brief insert of the Thawne flashback scene highlighting this furthering Barry's descent into desperation and darkness. That's right. Barry just killed his "mother" because he's starting to feel the weight of being constantly used over the years by different entities throughout his life. This is by far one of the most dramatically powerful moments that the show has ever given the Flash character as it almost turns everything full circle on where we started off.
We begin at Barry's tragedy loosing his mother to the Reverse Flash, then later becoming a speedster (connecting to the speed force), to being manipulated by various powers throughout his hero career, to now facing a seemingly inescapable death as it is told to him by yet another controlling figure. This scene shows our emotionally fractured hero's desire to finally put his foot down and pave his own path to a life that rewards him. This was actually foreshadowed in a previous episode during a conversation between Barry and Joe about the fairness of him having to die after everything that he's done as a hero. There's also a moment in the episode where Barry is surrounded by characters who's lives could be gravely impacted by his absence enriching the appeal of Bloodwork's supposed path to a better future. Having Thawne, Iris, and Ralph toss fear and guilt into Barry's face was perfect as it highlighted character who we've recently established as being a huge part of Barry's present unfinished business and planned legacy.
As Cisco and Frost tries to fight the good fight for the Scarlet Speedster's health in the real world, Cisco injects Barry with Velocity X giving him a boost of speed force energy. This, furthering my geeky praise over the use of imagery in this episode, gives the speed force a boost of power temporarily wiping away Ramsay from the room so that it can try to convince him with the little time that it has left. The bedroom door begins to viciously rattle which distracts Barry as "Nora" tries to have him understand why this offering of life, although true, isn't the best choice to make for his own sake. I loved the detail of Barry not necessarily looking scared towards the distracting monstrous banging on the door but rather looking overwhelmed with the weight of his decision. Again we're seeing our hero slowly genuinely choose the villain's offer, albeit with some crazy mental gymnastics via Ramsay's manipulative methods, making this a very profound and compelling scene.
The Speedforce then grabs onto Barry's hand as Ramsay holds onto Barry's other hand with his blood tendrils showing what is quite probably the most defining piece of imagery of the entire episode with Barry screaming in the middle as speed force energy and Bloodwork's blood covers him from both sides. This leads to what I'll officially call the most effectively creepy scene in the show's history thus far. Keeping the battle for Barry's surrender ambiguous, we see Barry waking up into the real world to Cisco and Frost's relief followed by Iris showing up to check on her husband's well being. After Iris speaks to Barry realizing that he's not responding as he normally would despite his smiles towards her, there's a great halt in the score as the only sound to be heard is Iris's cautious steps echoing towards Cisco and Frost. It immediately put me in a slightly uneasy state stepping into an eerie atmosphere which appealed to my inner Horror fan. Candice Patton also delivers a great performance here facially displaying both fear and caution towards her husband not being himself whatsoever and letting the team know.
This of course leads to our big reveal that Barry has completely (or seemingly as it stands) been taken over by Bloodwork transforming him into a zombie-like puppet like we've seen in previous episodes. Running pass the team in a flash of black and white lightning(?), Barry runs to Ramsay kneeling before him like a servant. This almost feels like a follow up to Season 4's Thinker scheme when Barry was speculated to be taken over by Devoe as some big cliffhanger only to be given to the Season 6 villain instead. I'm not entirely sold on the idea of Bloodwork having the Flash as his puppet for much long considering the crossover is right around the corner, but I do love the dramatic weight of storytelling circling around Barry during this point. In a sense, this entire episode plays out like a dramatic possession-horror story which surprisingly delivered strongly overall given the writers managed to let it be more about Barry's deepest thoughts and feelings surrounding the Crisis more so than just some mind control one off plot with our latest antagonist.
For the first time this season, I can actually say that I'm very intrigued to see what happens with the Bloodwork arc even though Crisis on Infinite Earths is merely days away. Similar to what's happening on Arrow, we seem to be coming to an interesting place with our central heroes struggling to accept their fates completely in the coming world shattering event. By using the season villain to reflect this in a meaningful and dramatically engaging way is absolutely brilliant proving that there is indeed a place for a character like Ramsay at this point in time no matter the scope of the upcoming threat. Knowing that Thawne (who makes a brief false cameo) can show up at any given moment, the Anti-Monitor is somewhere out there, and Oliver Queen is being put through his final missions for the Monitor, I am without a doubt deeply hyped to see what next week's episode brings.
Bonus Thoughts/Easter Eggs
1. The Progression of Iris
Something that I haven't highlighted throughout my previous episode reviews this season was how much I truly admire the show's direction with Iris this season. The writers are really diving into the reporter/journalist side of the character giving her a much more natural feel to her character progression. This episode spotlights this through her investigation into the mysterious organization behind Esperanza's transformation. This segment of the episode does lean a little towards "easily sidelined" territory considering the story with Barry taking place, but I did enjoy seeing Iris in a more standout role that perfectly fits her growing skillset and pre-established passion in addition to her growing her own team of sorts.
I can actually say that I'm liking what can potentially be done with Iris making an impact as someone uncovering clues in particular corners of the Flash world that we don't normally see our titled speedster running around in. Also, it's great seeing the now legendary "Flash Vanishes in Crisis" article being placed back into the forefront with Iris starting to come to peace with writing it. Looking back at Season 1 to now, this is a pretty significant moment to soak in.
2. A Graveyard of Guilt & Easter Eggs
As Ramsay continues to manipulate his way into Barry's guilty conscious, we see a graveyard displaying various characters that died during the show's history. Names like Eddie Thawne, Barry's parents, Nora West-Allen, H.G. Wells, Leonard Start, Harrison Wells (Earth 1 or 2?) and even Martin Stein can be seen.
3. Barry Loses Nora Again
Throughout Barry's struggling battle against Ramsay's infection, a baby Nora is shown in a crib (with the XS symbol design mobile) feeding on Barry's recent loss of his daughter. Barry isn't able to physically hold this false image of his daughter and even acknowledges that he's aware that she's fake to Ramsay. However, he begs Ramsay to give him the opportunity to at least pretend (the performance by Grant Gustin during this episode is fantastic). This moment is then used effectively against Barry later on in the infection stage as Iris is shown holding baby Nora offering her over to Barry which he is finally able to physically grasp her. All of this is of course Ramsay's "promise" being seeded into Barry's mind through using his emotions and senses against him. A teased fulfilled promise to never lose his daughter again. This is a great scene that ties back to Season 5's parent-child centered themes.
Episode Rating: 9/10
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