The Flash: The Last Temptation of Barry Allen review S6 E7
Between the build to Crisis on Infinite Earths and Bloodwork, The Flash is enjoying its best season since Season 2 much in the same way Arrow did in its fifth year. The Last Temptation of Barry Allen was the strongest episode of an already strong season.
Ramsey’s fight with Ralph suffered from some shaky CGI, but it was otherwise very cool to see Elongated Man’s powers in action. There was a practical point for this as it provided an excuse for Barry to get infected with Ramsey’s blood.
Some of the series’ best moments have been when Barry gets a visit from the Speed Force version of his mother. That was the case here tonight as well as Grant Gustin always has amazing chemistry with Michelle Harrison in these son/mother scenes.
Ramsey kept trying to tempt Barry to join him with some increasingly creepier nightmares. The Thanksgiving one with Ramsey’s homemade lasagna was exceptionally eerie and a good example why we don’t do potluck with co-workers. Barry’s trip through the STAR Labs graveyard was equally impressive although I was kinda hoping for an Oliver Queen headstone to be extra ominous and foreshadow some Crisis events.
The next stop was at Nora’s crib complete with an XS logo mobile. Ramsey borrowed a page out of the Anakin Skywalker playbook saying he could even stop people from dying. This pitch is kinda crazy and a legit temptation for a hero. Having the power to strike down death in the face of a Crisis that’s going to wipe out a multiverse? The timing is pretty terrible for Barry to resist.
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With Barry stuck between the Speed Force and Ramsey’s temptation and a great visual of the Speed Force and the Bloodwork oozing onto him, Cisco tried to save the day with some Velocity X. Nice callback! That seems like enough to fix what ails Barry, but it’s clear he’s still not right.
Frost also seems out of it as she has a panic attack of sorts and agrees that Caitlin should take over for medical emergencies. With Crisis coming, she’s going to be very busy.
With so much focus on the main storyline, the B-suplot didn’t feel quite as essential yet it did move Allegra more into the Team Flash inner circle. Or make that creating Team Citizen as Iris, Kamilla and Allegra tried to get more intel on an “Uber” delivery method for shady organizations. Allegra also kept tip-toeing around getting Iris to fess up that Barry is The Flash before just coming out and saying it.
I wasn’t sure that I liked Nash outing Barry’s identity to her, but I appreciated this was more to have Allegra bond closer with Iris not to become a suited-up superhero. With Allegra’s prompting, Iris finally started working on The Flash obit for this week’s attempt to get audiences weepy.
Nash’s subplot didn’t advance much at all besides him revealing an arc of symbols on The Monitor’s Central City base. Hopefully next week he’ll actually walk in.
Thankfully Iris picks up right away that Barry is under Ramsey’s influence, but it’s too late. In a cool visual, he runs off in a black and grey flash of lightning and kneels before Ramsey, who’s now calling himself Bloodwork.
This was an exceptional episode. I’ve been wondering how the show will be able to sustain its momentum after Crisis, but that doesn’t seem like it will be an issue at all. The Flash is definitely leading the pack of the Arrowverse shows this season and seems poised to maintain its top spot even after the end of the Multiverse.
Rating: 9.7 out of 10
Photo Credit: The CW