'The Flash' Season 6: How Bloodwork fits into the season's theme of loss, grief and death
The Arrowverse is speeding towards the ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ crossover, with ‘Arrow’ and ‘The Flash’ focusing on the impending doom. In the premiere of the sixth season of ‘The Flash’, the Monitor (LaMonica Garett) had revealed that the Flash is fated to die on December 10, 2019. Barry and his team are given the strange assurance that it’s inevitable, and they cannot fight it, try as they will.
Yet this isn’t the only crisis on the show. Apart from the external conflicts and villains, the characters are going through much inner turmoil.
There are many layers and connotations to the dark and impending ‘Crisis’ that’s about to engulf the sixth season of ‘The Flash’. While Barry struggles to prepare his family and friends for his long-prophesied death, the crisis at hand is overpowering grief, loss and the inability to accept death. Ironically, this is also one of the motivations behind Bloodwork (Sendhil Ramamurthy), who is the main villain for the first arc of the season.
Barry, Iris, and Nora
How do you accept the loss of someone close to you?
Season 5 of the ‘The Flash’ had a heartbreaking ending as Barry and Iris lose their future daughter Nora. Having traveled back from the future, Nora had tried to help stop the notorious killer Cicada. Sadly, this turned out to be for Reverse-Flash’s inclinations, as he was keen on saving his own life. He then changed the timeline and forced Barry and Iris to watch Nora being erased from existence. It’s a painful and heart-wrenching story and slowly explains one of the main ideas of the sixth season: Grief.
At the beginning of season 6, Barry and Iris rush towards the Cortex, as power surges through the building. They realize it's coming from the Time Vault. Sadly, by the time they reach, they’re only able to catch the last few seconds of Nora’s message just before the hard drive stops working. They lose the final words of their daughter as well. It sets the uneasy tone for the season and shows varying stages of the grieving process.
Barry and Iris, for the most part, remain in denial and believe that they’ll see her in the future, not making the grieving process any easier for either of them. Barry gets involved with work in the hope that it will fill the gaping void, while Iris goes searching for a purple jacket as she still wishes to hold on to the memory of her daughter. Finally, the two realize that they can’t keep running from grief and they need to share their pain with each other rather than denying its existence altogether.
Barry’s expected death
When it rains, it pours. While coming to terms with Nora’s death, Iris has to also accept that she might lose Barry. And not just her, the feeling is slowly spreading to the rest of the team. The fourth episode of ‘The Flash’ in season 6, ‘There Will Be Blood’ had several strong and emotional moments, especially when Joe (Jesse L Martin) finally admits to Barry that he fears losing him.
Joe breaks down and in a tearful moment Barry promises he is always going to be there for him. This is a real tear-jerker, as Joe is always shown to be one of the most stable and steady characters on the show.
The episode also showed Cisco’s determination to fight the inevitable, and him telling Barry that he did not want to live in a world without his best friend. The show has been carefully tracing the different stages of grief, with the focus on denial being a powerful focal point.
Bloodwork
Death is a frightening prospect, and its inevitability makes it more so. But given the chance, would you fight it? And at what cost?
Bloodwork’s entrance on the show at this time could not have come at a better time, and it ties in well with the looming sense of sadness and the inevitability of death. His storyline is symbolic as it raises questions about life and death, loss of a loved one.
Dr Ramsey Rosso, before he became the monstrous Bloodwork, is an oncologist, who is desperate to fight death at any cost. His mother had succumbed to cancer and did not wish to fight it, but he has no intention to do so. Rather than facing his mother’s illness, he was furious at her for accepting her fate and he called her a coward for doing so.
His final bit of humanity vanished in the previous episode as he realized that he could inject other people’s blood into his veins, which enables him to control blood himself. He discovers that he can fight death, by giving others death. This grim bloodlust has added to the bleakness of the season.
The links are unmissable. Bloodwork is avoiding his own death, while Flash's team is struggling to evade his death
The storylines for season 6 are woven well together and the themes are deeply connected. Apart from the physical connotations of Crisis, it also delves heavily into the emotional aspect of it.