'The Flash' Season 6 Episode 17: 'Liberation' pulls a rabbit out of a hat by bringing Bloodwork back on show
Spoilers for 'The Flash' Season 6 Episode 17 'Liberation'
The Pre-'Crisis' part of 'The Flash' saw Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) square up against one of the deadliest foes he had been up against. Dr Ramsey Rosso/Bloodwork (Sendhil Ramamurthy) was the chilling villain who played a significant role before the multiverse-shattering crossover. While the show did justice by showing the final form of Bloodwork just like in the comics, the ending was rushed and in many ways abrupt. There was also that question of what happened to 'Rosso after 'Crisis on Infinite Earths'.
'Liberation' brings Bloodwork back and while Ramamurthy may have probably taken up not more than five minutes of screentime, he does make an impact as the menacing baddie. The plotline sees the mirror trio of Iris (Candice Patton), Kamilla Hwang (Victoria Park) and David Singh (Patrick Sabongui) visit Rosso in Argus to get him to work with them. His blood would be needed to reconfigure the molecular stability of the dimensional barrier that burns organic matter creating a safe passage between the real world and the mirror version of it.
However, a necessary sacrifice is needed and Kamilla steps up burning herself to death in order to disable Rosso's containment unit. And he attacks, then proceeds to kill Mirror-Iris who actually reveals she wants to be alive and not Eva's puppet. Rosso returns to the unit and leaves some of his blood on her.
By now, we can assume that this isn't the last we have seen of Rosso. With the blood he's provided out there and with Mirror-Iris dying in the final minutes of the episode, there is still that unresolved matter of what the blood matter could actually do. And as far as the script goes, bringing back the character from the jarring end that was provided earlier was a genius move. Bloodwork was one of the toughest foes Barry had faced as he had the upper hand on the Scarlet speedster in almost every encounter.
'The Last Temptation of Barry Allen, Part 1' was a classic example of the mind games Rosso was capable of and in 'Liberation' there is a hint that his role in 'The Flash' is far from done.
What are your thoughts on the return of Bloodwork?
'The Flash' airs on Tuesdays at 8 pm ET on The CW.