‘The Flash’ Season 6 Episode 4 Recap and Review: “There Will Be Blood”

By
Kevin Finnerty
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The Flash Season 6 Episode 4
Grant Gustin as Barry Allen and Jesse L. Martin as Captain Joe West in ‘The Flash’ season 6 episode 4 (Photo: Robert Falconer © 2019 The CW Network)

“Here’s where the fun begins,” says Nash Wells (Tom Cavanagh) to Barry (Grant Gustin) and Cisco (Carlos Valdes) as they break into McCulloch Technologies to steal a serum which might cure Dr. Ramsey Rosso in season season episode four of The CW’s The Flash.

As the episode begins, Dr. Rosso (Sendhil Ramamurthy) goes to the hospital where his mother was treated for her cancer. He uses his black gooey blood to break into where the hospital keeps their blood supply and steals it.

At S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry and Iris tell Cisco and Frost (Danielle Panabaker) exactly how Barry dies in Crisis. Iris reminds them in six weeks their lives will all be on the line and they need to get mentally prepared. Cisco wants to try to find a way to save Barry but Barry says he can’t. Frost backs Barry and tells Cisco if Barry had any other options he would pursue them and that Cisco needs to get behind it.

Cisco walks off unconvincingly claiming he is. Barry worries about how he’s taking the news but Frost assures him she knows “Professor Barry” will be able to get through to him.

Joe (Jesse L. Martin) and Barry get called to investigate the robbery at the hospital. Joe asks an obviously distracted Barry if he’s okay and Barry tells him about his concerns about Cisco. Joe reminds Barry that Cisco is like Barry – always focusing on saving lives. It gives Barry an idea.

Dr. Rosso experiments on the blood he stole and flashes back to when his mother was first diagnosed and coming to terms with her own mortality.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry tells Cisco he wants them to find a cure for Dr. Rosso. Cisco believes that’s impossible. Nash Wells enters the room (he just climbed up the outside walls of S.T.A.R. Labs – again no security whatsoever!) and claims he knows what they need to save the doctor but he wants to trade for it. He then says he needs Cisco to make him a special device. He also reveals he bugged Cisco and knows Barry is The Flash.

Iris (Candice Patton) visits Ralph (Hartley Sawyer) and gives him a lead on his missing persons case. Ralph’s distant toward her and says thanks. Iris leaves, wondering what’s wrong.

Barry, Cisco, and Nash head over to McCulloch Technologies to steal the serum. While Barry takes out the security cameras, Cisco asks Nash if the serum could protect someone from antimatter. Nash affirms it can. Barry, Cisco, and Nash then sneak in but are quickly seen by security guards.

Nash uses a device to knock out the guards and the threesome continue to the room where the serum is kept. Cisco starts to hack the safe where the serum is housed at 15 below zero and stops to tell Nash and Barry he thinks an alarm is going off. After they leave, Cisco quickly hacks the safe and puts the serum in his pocket. He then closes the safe.

When Barry returns Cisco acts as though he’s opening the safe for the first time and pretends to be surprised to find nothing inside. Nash uses another device to get all three of them back to S.T.A.R Labs instantly.

Iris checks back with Ralph about her lead and Ralph tells her he’s given up on that case and she should spend more time with Barry before they lose him.

Over in Cisco’s workshop, Barry’s worried about giving Nash the tech he wants since they didn’t get the serum. He’s afraid to trust him. Barry notices a cold container set at 15 degrees and asks Cisco what’s in it. Cisco pauses and tells him some of Frost’s stuff but won’t look him in the eye. Suspicious, Barry opens it and finds the serum.

Barry asks what Cisco’s doing and Cisco replies he’s trying to save him. Barry explains that by saving Dr. Rosso, he was trying to show him what it’s like to be a leader and to make tough calls. Barry’s trying to get him ready to be the team leader after he’s gone.

Cisco doesn’t want to hear it and confesses he would lie and steal again to save him. Sad and disappointed, Barry tells Cisco that maybe he made the wrong choice. Hurt and feeling defeated, Cisco gives the serum to Barry and tells him to do what he wants with it.

Barry visits Dr. Rosso and delivers the serum, explaining they came up with it and think it will save him. Dr. Rosso’s very pleased but asks why, and Barry explains Caitlin says if he has more time he might be the man to find a cure for the blood cancer.

Joe shows up at Ralph’s office and Ralph tells him he doesn’t see the point of following the lead, not with the Crisis coming and losing Barry. Joe recalls he was once told by his old partner that “you can’t save everyone but you can save someone.”

Ralph looks at Joe and, holding back tears, says he’s going to really miss Barry.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco gives Nash the device and tells him to leave. Cisco then heads over to the bar where Frost gives him a drink, asking if he’s ready for life after Crisis. Cisco admits he thinks he “exploded” his and Barry’s friendship. Frost says, “You can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved. Barry has made up his mind.” She also tells Cisco he should stop or his determination to save Barry could lead him down a dark path.

Dr. Rosso experiments with the serum but discovers his cancer and infected cells are too far gone. It won’t save him. He realizes the blood from Romero mixed with his black gooey blood gave him a temporary pause to the cancer only because Romero was afraid. The surge of adrenaline mixed with the blood and black blood is the right mixture for the temporary cure. So, Dr. Ramsey Rosso decides to go on a killing spree to save himself, tossing aside the Hippocratic Oath he took.

The Flash Season 6 Episode 4
Danielle Panabaker as Killer Frost and Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon in season 6 episode 4 (Photo: Robert Falconer © 2019 The CW Network)

An alarm sounds at S.T.A.R. Labs and Frost advises Barry and Cisco that Central City General Hospital reports a madman attacking patients. The Flash and Frost speed over to find a dead patient in the hallway. Frost stays with the dead woman to see what killed her while The Flash speeds into a room down the hall to find three dead patients and Dr. Rosso standing over one of them.

The Flash asks why he didn’t take the cure that S.T.A.R. Labs gave him. He confirms he did but it didn’t work. The Flash reminds him he’s a doctor, dedicated to saving lives. Ramsey says as long as he feeds on others’ blood, he can live forever.

Ramsey animates the gooey blood he put in his victims and they rise like zombies to fight The Flash. The Scarlett Speedster speeds around them and throws lightning, knocking them out. Ramsey grabs a doctor who was hiding and threatens to kill him the same way. The Flash tries to talk him down and Frost joins him.

“Hello Cait, playing the hero now are you?” asks Ramsey. “The bad guy was taken, so, yeah,” replies Frost.

The infected zombie victims begin to rise so Frost makes an ice wall keeping them at bay. Frost asks Ramsey to let them help him, but he says he’s becoming the man he was always meant to be and that who he was – a frail human – was the disease. He kills the doctor (who was his mother’s doctor when she was ill) and escapes out a hospital window using his black gooey power to climb the walls.

At S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry tells the rest of Team Flash about Ramsey and swears he’ll stop him. Frost reminds everyone that Ramsey chose to become a monster. Ralph heads out and Iris goes after him. They talk and he apologizes for being a jerk earlier, assuring her he’ll follow up on her lead.

Barry and Cisco also have another talk and Cisco admits he doesn’t know how Barry finds it in him to keep pushing forward with everything going on. Barry tells Cisco it took him years to get to where he is now and he’s trying to teach him how to be the leader when he’s gone. He knows Cisco is the right choice to lead Team Flash.

Barry then heads over to check on Joe. In a powerful and emotional scene, Joe admits he thinks it’s just not fair that Barry has to die in the Crisis to save everyone. Barry tells Joe he’s grateful for everything in his life, Iris, the team, being The Flash and most of all for Joe who taught him when he was younger and growing up how to be a good person.

“You were one of the biggest reasons I was able to become The Flash,” says Barry. “Bar, I’m not ready,” sobs Joe as Barry hugs him and tells him, “It’s okay. I’m never going to leave you…even when I’m gone.”

In the final scene of the episode, Nash is walking around in the old underground subway of Central City and uses the device Cisco made. He sees a hologram of a figure who could be The Monitor or the Anti-Monitor going into a wall. Nash takes a pickaxe and starts to hit the wall.

The Flash Season 6 Episode 4 Review:

In perhaps the most moving and emotional episode ever in the series, season six episode four titled “There Will Be Blood” has each member of Team Flash struggling with the upcoming Crisis and eventual loss of their leader and friend, Barry Allen. Team Flash also discovers their big bad by finding out what Dr. Ramsey Rosso has been doing and what he’s become.

The stand-out performances in this episode are many, with powerful performances delivered by Grant Gustin, Carlos Valdes, and Jesse L. Martin. The scene where Joe finally breaks down and confesses to Barry he’s not ready to lose him in the Crisis is some of the best work ever on the show. Gustin and Martin are truly brilliant in their performances as a distraught father and his loving son who’s determined to be strong for the both of them. These two truly deserve an award for just that one scene alone. It’s one of the most emotional and tear-jerking scenes of any television series, ever.

With Nash seeming to be on the trail of either The Monitor or the Anti-Monitor and Team Flash now determined to stop Ramsey before the Crisis, things should be getting even more intense.

GRADE: A-




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