Even as The Flash prepares for the Crisis coming in December, it finds time to get into the Halloween spirit. At this stage of fall, I’m fully on a horror kick, and it’s always fun when my superhero shows are on the same page. Even if only for one scene. This episode opens on a weapons heist. The crew bickers enough to let us know that their boss, Mitch Romero, is missing, likely dead. They notice one of their boxes is open. Then, the lights shut off. You know what comes next. The goons nervously walk around in the dark while a mysterious, monstrous force picks them off one by one. Yeah, it’s a super common trope, but it’s a fun one.
It’s only when it’s down to the last guy that we see who/what is attacking this crew. It’s Mitch Romero, all zombified and hungering for dark matter. We’ve seen him before. He was the guy Ramsey killed during last week’s episode. Three episodes in and the metahuman of the week is advancing the story in a meaningful way. Killer Frost tags along with Barry on the crime scene investigation for… some reason. Her presence is actually useful though, because she, via Caitlin, has some insight as to who might steal a bunch of dark matter out of some weapons. She just doesn’t confront him in a very by-the-book way. Though knowing what he eventually becomes, an ice dagger against the throat is a pretty smart move.
Danielle Panabaker as Killer Frost and Grant Gustin as Barry Allen. (Photo: Dean Buscher / The CW)
Ramsey actually isn’t behind this particular theft, though. Mitch escaped from his lab last episode, and has been hungering for dark matter ever since. When Barry detects another break in at a dark matter lab, he and Killer Frost try to arrest him. It doesn’t go well. He’s too strong for Flash to get the cuffs on him, and Killer Frost accidentally ice blasts him out a window. He doesn’t die (because he can’t, he’s already dead), but Frost didn’t know that. This is the closest Barry’s gotten to the can-I-talk-to-you hallway all season.
There is some motivation behind it, which helps it not feel too forced. Barry knows he has a hard expiration date of Dec. 10. He needs to make sure Team Flash is able to take over for him after he disappears forever in the Crisis. That includes getting Killer Frost to control her anger. You know, so she doesn’t kill the people she’s trying to capture. Even with her being more of an antihero, this storyline still feels like it comes out of nowhere. Her anger, at least in the early scenes, doesn’t feel like it’s coming from anywhere. It’s here because the story needs it to be. What does work is that The Flash is out of his depth when it comes to teaching her to control her anger. It’s clear that he’s treating a symptom and not the cause. His interactions with Ramsey make that clear.
Sendhil Ramamurthy as Ramsey Rosso and Grant Gustin as Barry Allen . (Photo Credit: Dean Buscher / The CW)
Ramsey offers to work with the dark matter in S.T.A.R. Labs to develop a serum that’ll weaken Mitch. As soon as Barry leaves him alone though, he tries to steal some. He and Barry have a big argument about what it means to live with a death sentence. I’m really loving this. They’re both coming at the problem from different perspectives. You can see the reasoning behind each argument, even though one will lead to the creation of a supervillain. This way of setting up this season’s big bad is so much better than anything this show has done before. Ramsey has a history with one member of Team Flash, and Barry really gets to know him before he turns full evil. There’s no trying to figure out who this guy is or waiting around for what he’ll do next. As those storylines led to absolute slogs of episodes in past seasons, I’m so happy to see The Flash trying something fresh.
Barry convinces Ramsey to make good on his promise to stop Mitch, as that’ll save a ton of lives. He also realizes that he should listen to Killer Frost rather than lecturing her after each outing. After a fun sparring sequence between the two, he learns the source of her frustration. She just started living her life full time, and this Crisis is coming. She could die before she gets a chance to figure out what her life even is. This story might not have had the most organic start, but it has a sweet and satisfying resolution. First though, there’s an undead dark matter eater to catch. And wouldn’t you know it, he’s at S.T.A.R. Labs. At first, he goes after Ramsey, but Barry leads him away with a case full of dark matter. Not before Ramsey makes an interesting discovery though. He can control Mitch’s movements.
Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon, Hartley Sawyer as Dibney, Danielle Panabaker as Killer Frost, Grant Gustin as Barry Allen, and Candice Patton as Iris West – Allen (Photo Credit: Jeff Weddell / The CW)
Barry traps Mitch in the pipeline, but he’s too strong to be held in even those cells. He breaks out and knocks Flash aside. So instead of dampening his powers, they pump him full of dark matter capsules and he explodes all over the room. This episode wasn’t much for action. The only decent fight scene was a playful sparring match. This was over real quick, and not all that spectacular. Boy did that blood explosion make up for that, though. I don’t care how awkward the battle looks, a goopy blood explosion puts an October smile on my face. It looks like we’re in for a lot more too. Ramsey figures out he can control dark-matter infused blood. The episode ends with him injecting some of Mitch’s blood into himself. His transformation into Bloodwork continues. It’s only going to get messier from here.
The main story of this week’s episode was emotionally satisfying, a little bit scary, and just plain bloody fun. That’s a good thing, because the B-plot involving Ralph and Cecile did not work for me at all. It’s Cecile’s first case as a defense attorney, and hey, it’s Ralph’s mom. She’s accused of knocking over a pawn shop, but swears she wasn’t anywhere near it. They have to scheme to get surveillance footage from an illegal gambling den. It’s a fun enough scene I guess, but I remember ’90s point-and-click adventure game puzzles less contrived than this. Compared with the rest of the episode, the stakes feel like they couldn’t be lower. Even on a personal level, this is the first time we’ve met Ralph’s mom, so it’s hard to really care about her plight.
Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon and Hartley Sawyer as Dibney. (Photo Credit: Jeff Weddell / The CW)
Especially since it’s all in service of an emotional end that doesn’t ring true at all. It turns out Ralph’s mom was actually on a date with an ex-boyfriend. Whom she had told a younger Ralph was dead. It turns out after Ralph’s dad left, she didn’t want him to go through that again. So she just told him they all died. I’m sorry, is anyone buying this? In the end, they turn it into a scene where Ralph convinces his mom to let herself find love. It was just awkwardly tacked on from beginning to end.
That’s all OK though, because with the main story being so good, this was still a solid episode of The Flash. And hey, we finally got a glimpse of this season’s Harrison Wells. Allegra Garcia, now working as an intern for Iris, stumbles on footage of Harrison Wells. She thinks she’s found proof that the Wells of this world is still alive. Iris takes over the story, much to Allegra’s annoyance, and investigates the new Wells. For now, he’s kind of a jerk (as usual), but his gimmick is interesting. He’s like an inter-dimensional Indiana Jones. That’s… all we get from him for now, but that’s OK. I was really starting to miss Tom Cavanagh, so I’m just happy he’s back.
The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.
Previously on ‘The Flash’:
- ‘The Flash’ Season 6 Episode 2 Recap
- ‘The Flash’ Season 6 Premiere Recap
- ‘The Flash’ Season 5 Finale Recap
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