The Flash season 6 episode 3, “Dead Man Running”, aired 22 October 2019.
So, The Flash had 2 strong episodes to start the season with and as always there is a point the initial excitement peters out. Such is the laws of kinematics. Activation energy and all that. (Do I sound very Flash-y with my science speak?)
Was this episode the start of the plateau? Yes and no. Plot-wise, I found this episode slightly lacking. But there were some really good moments and interactions.
Days are numbered
Barry, Killer Frost, and Ramsey Rosso end up working together somewhat as the zombie from last episode storms around seeking dark matter. Amazingly, Barry sees through Rosso and stops him from taking Star Lab’s dark matter. During their encounter, Rosso and Barry discuss what it means to know you will die. Rosso also makes a remark the suggests his mother didn’t tell him she was dying of HLH. This sticks with Barry because while he told the team about the Monitor’s visit, he didn’t mention the part where he had to die.
Meanwhile, Killer Frost has been grumpy since Barry dropped the news about Crisis. She is upset that she has barely had the chance to live a life for herself and now said Crisis will ruin it.
Eventually, they kill the zombie by overdosing it with dark matter until it explodes into a splatter of disgusting black goop. But not before Rosso has his own encounter with the zombie and realises he can control it. He manages to snag some of the goop – which responds to him – for himself. He absorbs the goop into his body. Ew.
Mama doesn’t always know best
Sometimes mama hardly knows anything. We met Ralph’s mum this week as he and Cecile tried to clear her of a robbery allegation. This whole plotline felt out of place. It was odd that Cecile would be working with Ralph’s mum without the latter being revealed to be a meta somehow. However it gave us a bit of insight into Ralph’s life pre-The Flash.
Ralph’s father left Ralph and his mother when Ralph was fairly young. Subsequently, Ralph’s mum dated around but never let things get serious out of fear of getting hurt again. At the same time, she also lied each time she broke up with a boyfriend, saying the guy died so it was easier for Ralph to get over.
Ralph is initially upset that she lied to him for so long, but eventually sits down for a heart to heart with his mum. Hartley showed off his acting range here. He presents his mother with The Book of Ralph Addendum about being open to love. While it’s nice to see him help his mother – it shows how much he has matured since we met him – I think his advice will soon apply to Ralph himself. While his mother’s allegation storyline was out of place, the final scene with mother and son sets Ralph up nicely for his eventually meeting with Sue Dearborn.
Side note: his mother’s current boyfriend is called Marv Perez. Sounds like a tribute to Marv Wolfman and George Perez, two big names amongst DC writers. Notably, they wrote Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985) and The New Teen Titans (1980-).
Well well well…
At the CCCitizen, Allegra presents Iris with a groundbreaking story: Harrison Wells is alive!
Iris, of course, knows that it’s actually a Wells from another Earth, but she can’t tell Allegra. Which ends up making her look like a shady boss. Props to Allegra for standing up to that.
Iris and Cisco track down confront Harrison “Nash” Wells. Nash isn’t keen on making friends with Team Flash, despite Cisco’s speech about how all Wells ended up liking the team in the end. He is looking for eternium, some multiversal element. For some reason, his detector keeps getting pings off a very unimpressed Iris.
Nash has major Indiana Jones vibes that I can’t believe we didn’t have some kind of Harrison Ford pun. At the end of the episode, he finds something in a sewer.
Party pooper
In an effort to cheer Killer Frost up, Barry throws a dance party in Star Labs. Is it actually Caitlin’s birthday? Who knows. Maybe Killer Frost technically doesn’t have a birthday and can pick any day she wants. Norvok makes a cameo as the DJ. We also learn that the entire team are really dorky dancers.
However, Killer Frost soon figures out from Barry’s demeanor that his days are numbered. This prompts Barry and Iris to tell the team the Monitor’s full message: The Flash must die in the crisis.
So far this Crisis business sounds very dour. But look on the bright side – the crossover always serves up some brilliant interactions between characters. If someone’s going to go, we’ll have some fun before saying goodbye.
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