So far, much of Flash’s sixth season has revolved around the coming Crisis on Infinite Earths. The Monitor has said the Flash must die to save millions, if not more, and Barry’s own investigations seem to support this. Being a hero, accepting his fate to save others, Barry is willing to face his predicted death. The others, a bit less so, and he’s spending a lot of time reassuring his friends, which probably isn’t what he wants to be spending his final weeks doing. This week, he talks with Cisco about what’s to come as other plots move forward in “There Will Be Blood.”

The episode, which is set around Halloween, opens in a hospital. Dr. Ramsey Rosso pays a visit to an old colleague and takes another step along his pronounced path toward being a villain. In a flash-forward, we see the Flash die in one of most iconic images from the original Crisis in the comics, followed by Barry talking to his team about the near future, and beyond. Cisco is very vocal in objecting to Barry accepting his fate, and things get tense. The discussion gets put on hold when Barry gets called in to work at the CCPD.

 

At the scene of Rosso’s earlier attack, Barry and Joe talk the bizarre incident over. The show is clearly going to start stretching things more on some fronts, as there’s no way a captain should be on the scene of a break-in with no fatalities and nothing hugely valuable stolen. They discuss the complications from what they know about the Crisis, and Barry gets an idea about how to handle one of his problems. Back at his own lab, Russo runs some more tests, gets some bad news, and has a flashback to his mother’s illness.

 

Cisco is a lot less impressed with Barry’s brainstorm then Barry had hoped. I’ll also point out that Barry’s brilliant idea seems to have gotten his friends’ roles confused. Cisco does tech, Caitlin is the medical/biological side of things, much like Fitz and Simmons over on Agents of SHIELD. Barry is asking Cisco to work on something amazingly complex that is not at all in his sphere of knowledge, but the show just ignores that. Their debate about what to do gets interrupted by the sudden appearance of “Nash” Wells, the newest in the series. He seems to be one of the shadier Wellses, and has an interesting proposition for the heroes. This gives them both a moral dilemma and a running joke about Nash bugging Cisco. Iris goes to see Ralph, bringing him a lead in his missing persons case, but the private detective is remarkably disinterested. A confused Iris goes back to her own office, which I guess is where Kamilla and Allegra are, as we never see them this episode.

 

Russo, in true mad scientist fashion, keeps experimenting on himself and, true to form, it doesn’t go the way he thought it would. Nash brings Cisco and Barry to McCullough Technologies, wanting their help with a gadget he needs, and offering them a way to accomplish their new goal, helped along by a little breaking and entering. They have a few misadventures, Nash gets to show off, and Cisco makes a questionable decision. We also a notice from Plot Point Theater- the building has meta-dampeners, so Barry can’t speed around to make things easier on them. Iris goes to see Ralph again, and he’s clearly not in a good frame of mind.

 

The Nash/Cisco/Barry caper spins out in various odd directions, and we see that Nash has some really cool toys, although I admit I don’t get how some of them work. In a great bit of CW-verse continuity, we also learn the origin of what Nash is suggesting the heroes use. Russo goes through more bad news and flashbacks with his mother. Back at STAR, Barry has some suspicions about what’s going on, but end up getting a much bigger surprise when he learns something about their heist. The two friends argue over some very different goals, and Barry reveals his future plans for Cisco, which seem to me like he should have at least asked the others about. Sort of resolving that bit of friction, Barry goes to see the person he’s been working to save, and brings a present and a warning. Alerted by Iris’ concerns, Joe has a talk with Ralph, and things turn emotional. There’s even a passing reference to Officer Chyre, a supporting character from both Wally West’s time as Flash and the 90’s tv show.

 

Nash gets his reward and takes off for his next adventure. Suprisingly, Killer Frost offers Cisco some good advice, and the even use a term common from the comics about their future. Rosso suffers another setback and the disappointment and despair push him over the edge to actively evil villain. Flash and Killer Frost go back to the hospital that was attacked in the opening, and encounter Rosso in his powered-up, moraled-down villainy. There’s even some appropriately Halloween themed “henchmen.” Barry’s spirits plunge as the bad guy gets away and the victims can’t be saved.

 

Regrouping back at STAR, the team talks over what happened and figures out what Rosso is up to. Barry is more determined than ever to help the villain. As the meeting breaks up, Ralph apologizes to Iris for his earlier attitude and tells her he’ll be off to Midway City in the morning to pursue her lead. After another inside joke about Ralph’s life in the comics, he wanders off. Finally having done all he can as wise elder/morale officer for the team, Joe has a small breakdown as he contemplates the future without Barry. Joe laments that it’s not fair that Barry’s reward for all his heroics is an ugly, early death. It’s a very touching scene, and shows Barry has not only accepted his fate, he’s gotten very Zen about it.

 

The final scene shows what Nash is up to. Down in the tunnels he discovered, Nash is using some of his toys to apparently look into the recent past, showing a familiar figure. It’s not entirely clear what Nash is doing down there, although he’s clearly about to be very intrusive. But the little we see sort of follows the character path of who he is supposed to be playing in the crossover.

 

What I liked: Cisco utterly refusing to accept Barry’s death as a foregone conclusion is completely in character and makes a lot of sense. Barry’s plan for the team after he’s gone is fitting. Even though the multi-Wells is getting a little old as a concept, I’m at least mildly entertained by this one. I’m enjoying the hints about what might be coming for Ralph. I understand Joe’s breakdown, and the Chyre reference was a nice nod.

 

What I didn’t: Cisco is a tech, not a biologist, and all “science” isn’t the same, despite what comic book writers think. Rosso is kind of annoying, and once again, a villain escaping from the Fastest Man Alive doesn’t make a great deal of sense.

 

It was a decent episode. I’ll give it a 3.5 out of 5.