The Flash Season 6 Episode 3 Recap and Review: “Dead Man Running”

By
Kevin Finnerty
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The Flash Season 6 Episode 3
Danielle Panabaker as Killer Frost and Grant Gustin as Barry Allen in ‘The Flash’ season 6 episode 3 (Photo: Dean Buscher © 2019 The CW Network)

“Will you help us, Dr. Rosso?” asks Barry (Grant Gustin). “Please, call me Ramsey,” replies Dr. Rosoo (Sendhil Ramamurthy) as he offers to help them find a new meta killing people in season six episode three of The CW’s The Flash.

As the episode begins, Romero’s criminal crew is trying to steal guns that shoot dark matter when they are attacked and killed by Romero (Shawn Stewart), who’s been turned into a zombie-like monster by Dr. Rosso.

The next day at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry and Iris (Candice Patton) tell Team Flash about what The Monitor said about the crisis and that it’s going to happen on December 10th, 2019. Killer Frost (Danielle Panabaker) suggests The Monitor was lying, but Barry explains Jay sent his mind forward in time and he saw it for himself.

Cisco (Carlos Valdes) and Ralph (Hartley Sawyer) both want to start getting ready right away, but Iris suggests they take the day to absorb what they’ve learned and start fresh in a day or two. They agree, and Ralph heads out to help Joe (Jesse L. Martin) with a case. Frost forms an icicle and throws it into the wall and storms off, taking the news about the crisis the hardest. (Barry and Iris left out the part about Barry having to die to save everyone, believing it was too much for the team to hear.)

Deciding to try to help mentor Frost, Barry takes her along to the crime scene where the arms dealers were murdered by Romero. At first, Frost isn’t into it, making off-the-cuff remarks and wanting to leave. But when Barry realizes they were trying to steal guns that shoot dark matter, Frost realizes it had to be Romero. She explains she knows a few people in low places. When Barry tells her all the dark matter was stolen, she quickly realizes Dr. Rosso’s involved.

Over at the CCPD, Ralph’s dealing with a family issue. It seems his mother (Amy Pietz) is the main suspect in a crime and Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) and Ralph are going to work together to clear her.

Frost shows up at Ramsey’s lab holding a sharp icicle to his throat to get him to confess about stealing the dark matter. Barry enters upset with how she’s going about the interrogation. Ramsey lies to Barry and Frost saying he got the dark matter from a friend and even offers to help them in their investigation. Barry appreciates the offer but Frost doesn’t trust Ramsey after what he pulled with Caitlin.

Over at Iris’ newspaper, her new employee, Allegra (Kayla Compton), hands her a new photo of Harrison Wells saying he must be alive. Iris realizes it’s a new Wells from another Earth and tells her she’ll follow up. Allegra’s given some busy work to do as Iris teams up with Cisco to try to track the new Wells.

Back at Dr. Rosso’s lab, Ramsey asks Killer Frost if he can talk to Caitlin. Frost advises him Caitlin can hear him if she wants to. He starts apologizing about going behind her back to get dark matter and feels slighted she didn’t tell him about being a meta. “Guess you two aren’t as good as friends as you thought,” replies Frost with a smirk.

Barry receives an alert about a break-in at Mercury Labs. Barry and Frost speed over to find zombie Romero stealing dark matter. Barry attempts to get Romero into power-reducing cuffs but Romero slams him to the floor. Frost hits Romero with her ice blasts and sends him out a window. Barry’s upset, fearing she killed him. But Frost says Romero got up and walked off.

Barry instructs Frost that she can’t let her anger get the better of her and that he only has seven weeks to mentor her so she needs to start listening to him. She yells back to stop being a crummy teacher and walks off.

Iris and Cisco track the new Wells (Tom Cavanagh) to an alley where he grabs Cisco and pins him up against a wall. He asks why they’re following him and shows Cisco a red gem asking if he wants it. Cisco says no as best he can while Wells has him by the throat. A wrist device Wells is wearing goes off and he walks towards Iris, saying it’s her and asking her name. She quickly tasers Wells and says, “Iris West-Allen.”

Meanwhile, Ralph and Cecile discover proof Ralph’s mom is innocent of the crime she’s accused of. However, in the process, they discover she’s been lying to Ralph since he was a kid about all her boyfriends dying. (Turns out they are all alive and well.) Upset and feeling betrayed, Ralph tells her to leave.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry catches Ramsey trying to steal some dark matter. Ramsey tells Barry he’ll do anything to save lives and find a cure to the cancer that killed his mother – and that he himself has. Barry explains he knows what it’s like to lose a mother but look what the dark matter did to Romero. Ramsey tells Barry he’s counting down the days until he dies and he refuses to do nothing.

“It takes courage to fight death,” says Ramsey. “Maybe it takes more to accept it,” replies Barry.

Ramsey realizes Barry’s close to death too by the look on his face and asks why he doesn’t fight for himself. “I’m marking my calendar with the days I have left to live and I’m going to spend them saving as many people as I can,” answers Barry. He says Romero’s still out there and that Ramsey said he wants to save lives so now he can prove it and help Barry catch him. Ramsey hands the dark matter back to Barry and replies, “Let’s get to work.”

Wells wakes up at Iris’ office and Cisco tries to talk to him and make a connection. However, Harrison Nash Wells has no time for Cisco; he’s on a quest to find a missing artifact. Nash Wells throws a smoke bomb and leaves.

Unfortunately, Allegra saw part of what happened and Iris does her best to explain. Allegra says she won’t work for a liar, but Iris assures her she’ll tell her the truth about Wells and what’s going on when the time is right.

Barry runs off some steam, literally, and then has a talk with Frost while she’s training. Barry tells her he knows she thinks she fights better when she’s angry, so she should try to hit a real target. She moves in and he speeds around her stopping here and there, dodging her every move.

“C’mon! Stop trying to hit me and hit me or tell me what is really hurting you,” says Barry. “I don’t want to die when I just started living,” yells Frost. “Did you know Baskin-Robbins has 31 different flavors? I might die before I figure out which one is my favorite. Or what my favorite song is or have my first birthday party, “ says Frost to an understanding and empathetic Barry.

He tells her there will always be some danger threatening to take away your life. “That’s why you can’t let the threat of losing tomorrow keep you from making the most of today,” says Barry. Frost admits what she wants to do is stop Romero from killing anyone else.

Speaking of Romero, he’s snuck into S.T.A.R. Labs (seriously, Cisco really needs to improve the security!) and attacks Ramsey. Ramsey’s able to get zombie Romero to stop choking him and in an interesting scene notices that Romero begins to mimic and copy Ramsey’s movements, as though they are connected.

The Flash Season 6 Episode 3
Sendhil Ramamurthy as Ramsey Rosso, Danielle Panabaker as Killer Frost and Grant Gustin as Barry Allen in season 6 episode 3 (Photo: Dean Buscher © 2019 The CW Network)

Barry walks in and lures Romero away with dark matter, trapping him in a cell in the pipeline. Frost shows up and is disappointed she missed the fun. Romero breaks out of the pipeline with his great strength in a truly shocking scene. Frost freezes Romero to the ground but sees him inject the dark matter into his shoulder wound. “Dark matter fuels his rage,” realizes Frost and she tells Barry to go get all the dark matter, saying if they inject him with it he’ll overdose. He speeds it back and injects all of it into Romero who overdoses and explodes.

Upset with this turn of events, Ramsey’s leaving as Barry offers an olive branch. Ramsey doesn’t accept, saying he’ll see him in the next life.

Ralph’s mom attempts to apologize to Ralph and tell him she did what she did and lied to protect him from getting hurt the way he did when his father left them. Ralph gives his mom a self-help book on how to find true love and forgives her.

Back at Ramsey’s lab, the doctor’s convinced the black gooey substance that came out of Romero when he exploded will cure cancer cells. He experiments on himself with it.

At S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry throws Frost her first birthday party. Iris, Cisco, and Ralph walk in and join in on the fun, dancing and drinking. Sometime later, Barry’s outside thinking when Frost comes looking for him. “You’re missing out on all the fun. Thanks for the party. I’m thinking next year we go white water rafting,” says Frost. “You should definitely do that,” replies Barry. “You’re not going to be at my birthday party next year, are you? Whenever you talk about life after crisis you never talk about yourself. You’re going to do more than just vanish in crisis aren’t you?” asks Frost.

Frost looks devastated as Barry nods yes. He doesn’t know how to tell everyone else, and that’s when Iris suggests he does it with her at his side.

Barry tells Ralph, Cisco, and Frost all the different futures in crisis and the only one where everyone lives and survives is the one where Barry dies. “I have to die in crisis and none of you can try to save me,” says Barry to a shocked Cisco and Ralph and a depressed-looking Frost.

The Flash Season 6 Episode 3 Review:

With some strong performances and the perfect mix of humor, heartfelt moments, and action, season six episode 3 titled “Dead Man Running” brings Team Flash in on the awful truth about Barry’s dark future. The episode also sees Killer Frost coming into her own as a true human being and not just a weapon for Team Flash to use during fights.

Danielle Panabaker steals the episode as Killer Frost showing off her smart-aleck wit and tough fighting style but also her more human and sensitive side. The scene where she opens up to Barry about not wanting to die before getting a chance to even really live is touching and humorous. It’s kept from getting too dark by the wonderful lines written for the episode. The Baskin Robbins 31 flavors speech is pitch-perfect for the scene and Panabaker delivers the mini-monologue perfectly. Also, a plus is the teaming of Frost and Barry working a case together. Since the first season, it’s been obvious what fantastic chemistry Gustin and Panabaker share in their scenes together.

With Team Flash now in the loop it will be interesting to see how each one deals with the horrible truth that they might lose Barry forever in “Crisis.”

GRADE: B




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