Welcome to The Pop Break’s weekly round up of all the DCTV that the CW could squeeze into its schedule. Follow this space as we track Supergirl, Batwoman, The Flash, and Arrow as this super-powered quartet embark on a collision course to the epic multi-night crossover event: Crisis on Infinite Earths! With only two weeks until Crisis, Kate and Kara are taking the week off, as the boys tackle their mortality in the face of their imminent deaths.
The Flash Season 6 Episode 7:
“The Last Temptation of Barry Allen Part 1”
The first half of the two part midseason finale that will lead us straight into the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event, this episode had an interestingly narrow scope. There are effectively two main stories, and one half of the West-Allen power couple take center stage in each.
The smaller of the two shines the spotlight on Iris. As Editor in Chief of The Citizen, her digital newspaper, Iris spends the bulk of the episode leading her team, featuring photography Kamilla and intern Allegra, on a bit of a misadventure to hunt down the lead Ralph gave her about this mysterious organization that seems to be kidnapping metas and turning them into weapons. Candice Patton is great here, letting Iris more than hold her own on a quest totally independent of Team Flash. She is commanding, exciting, and focused, never missing a beat, even when Allegra reveals she knows Barry’s secret and has stumble upon the template for Iris’s “Flash Vanishes In Crisis” front page.
The plot presents more clues than answers, and it mostly serves as a tease for what’s likely to come post-Crisis for Team Flash. In actuality, it’s more of a backdrop to allow Allegra to bond with Iris and push her to complete what is effectively Barry’s obituary now before she’s too overcome with her own grief post-Crisis. Allegra’s pushing to write this article that’s based around an event that has yet to occur seems an odd way to force the issue, but it allows them to further develop their mentor/mentee relationship and concludes with a sweet note of Iris finally, truly accepting Barry’s fate and embracing his legacy through her future obituary to The Flash.
Meanwhile, Barry spends most of this episode struggling to come to grips with that fate himself. Last week’s cliffhanger resolves in this week’s opening minutes in quite possibly the single worst CG fight sequence in series history as Ramsay faces off against Ralph. Ralph more than holds his own, but Ramsay gets the last laugh, injecting his blood in Ralph before pulling it out, causing Ralph to go into cardiac arrest. After being rushed to Star Labs, Team Flash realize Barry’s speed healing could be transferred via blood transfusion, saving Ralph’s life. Sadly, a bit of Ramsay’s blood finds its way into Barry’s bloodstream during the infusion.
The bulk of the episode ends up taking place inside Barry’s consciousness. Ramsay’s blood mixing with Barry’s gives him access to Barry’s entire inner world, including his secrets and his fears. Ramsay wants his virus to overtake Barry so he can be a tool for his master plan (which I guess is to end death and turn everyone into zombies?). The Speed Force, personified as Barry’s mom as it has been in past seasons, is also present, trying to encourage Barry to fight Ramsay’s temptations of immortality.
Over the course of the hour, Ramsay forces Barry to confront all the ghosts of his past and the empty promise of a future with his daughter he’ll never know before promising him everlasting life. He’s swayed, but the Speed Force talks him down, before admitting Ramsay isn’t completely lying. His powers could stop the Crisis and save Barry but it would be at the cost of his soul. Grant Gustin does a terrific job as Barry is tormented and racked with guilt, shame, and fear.
In the show’s final moments, Barry seems to have resolved this conflict within himself and beaten back Ramsay’s virus…that is until Iris comes back and immediately realizes the man she loves is missing from the body of the person she’s standing next too. An infected Barry then knocks out his friends and runs to Ramsay, who is now calling himself Bloodwork, as credits roll.
As a villain Ramsay showed a lot of potential early on before becoming a total over the top bust. However, the utility of his character, a man who will stop at nothing to avoid death, during this season that’s been all about coming to terms with the inevitability of loss and grief, comes into sharp focus this week. I’m very hopeful next week Bloodwork will be vanquished and we can move on post-Crisis to more interesting fare. However, for all its faults, this week gave me hope that the season has been building up to a midseason conclusion that will be satisfying before Crisis hits.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1da_mUV7Bs&t=4s
Arrow Season 8 Episode 6 “Reset”
While Barry ends this week’s The Flash allowing his doubts and his fears regarding his fate to overwhelm him, Oliver spends this week’s episode of Arrow in his own fabricated alternative reality learning the exact opposite lesson. Last week, we left off on a cliffhanger where Laurel, Oliver, and John are tranqued after learning Lyla has been working for The Monitor. This week, Laurel & Oliver wake up in an alternate reality where Quentin is alive, and he and Oliver are holding a fundraiser in their official capacities as Mayor and City Council President respectively. However, it quickly becomes clear that they are caught in a time loop which resets every time poor Quentin is killed.
The show name checks both Groundhog Day and Edge of Tomorrow in order to give credit where it’s due for the concept that makes up the central plot device of this episode, and, while it may be derivative (Legends of Tomorrow already did their time loop episode back in season three), it’s a great way to force Oliver to let go of his stubbornness and accept his fate. In some ways, this episode is honestly a clever meta-commentary on just how repetitive Arrow has gotten over the years, trying to teach Oliver the same lessons over and over. In this case, it’s his insistence to pridefully believe he can solve any problem, even his foretold death in the upcoming Crisis.
The pacing of the episode is expertly done. Each iteration of the loop advances the story just enough to not seem repetitive despite the central premise, and once again Katie Cassidy is the star of the show as Oliver’s partner through this episode. She must deal with the trauma of seeing her not-dad be resurrected only to die over and over until she realizes she’s been given the opportunity not to save him but to properly say good bye in the way she could not in real life.
Once Laurel receives closure from Quentin, it becomes clear what’s coming for Oliver. However, that doesn’t rob his final scene with Quentin of any of the emotion that it needs to truly land. Paul Blackthorne reminds us why he was an ace up Arrow’s sleeve for all those years, selling the hell out of his final monologue about accepting death. Oliver has buried a lot of family and friends over the years, but it was smart of the writers to chose Quentin, of all people, to be the person to push Oliver to accept that which he cannot change.
As the episode ends, Oliver and Laurel both are awoken in the real world, resolute in their commitment to The Monitor’s plan to save existence. There’s just one last mission…and it’s, of course, on the island that started it all: Lian Yu.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdzKofPlgnc
