'The Flash' Season 6 Episode 3 Review: 'Dead Man Running' focuses on the origin of Dr. Rosso's Bloodwork and introduces Harrison Wells
This review contains spoilers for 'The Flash' Season 6 Episode 3 'Dead Man Running'
There hasn't been much room for optimism in season six for Barry (Grant Gustin) and the rest of the team. This grim tone continues in 'Dead Man Running', but over the course of the episode, there are also these shards of hope that somehow Barry might not die in the impending 'Crisis'.
The focus is on Sendhil Ramamurthy's Dr. Ramsey Rosso and his journey to becoming Bloodwork. The origin storyline is compelling and crafted in a way that is astounding, yet believable at the same time.
Harrison Wells finally gets an introduction and his Indiana Jones-ish avatar is a treat to watch while Ralph Dibny's family gets some screentime.
Recap
With The Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) giving Barry the bad news, the speedster decides to prepare a team that would go on without him. While they do tell the team about the 'Crisis', they hide the fact about Barry's imminent death during the event.
Meanwhile, a seemingly-dead Mitch Romero (Shawn Stewart) attacks a group of criminals in his dark matter-mutated state. On investigating, Barry and Frost (Danielle Panabaker) realize that the murdered criminals were using guns charged with dark matter.
This leads them back to Dr. Ramsey Rosso who denies having anything to do with it and offers to help instead. Even as Ramsey apologizes to Caitlin, Barry digs up information on Romero.
The duo gets word of a break-in at Mercury Labs and Frost nearly kills Romero, upsetting Barry. Ramsey tries to convince Barry to experiment on Romero and gains access to the dark matter, only for Barry to realize Ramsey's true intentions.
Ramsey reveals that he has the same illness (HLH cancer) as his mother and while she accepted her fate, Ramsey would rather fight it. At the same time, he also learns that Barry is living on borrowed time and offers to help out by returning the dark matter.
At the other end, Barry realizes that Frost is scared of death, especially before even having a life. Ramsey gets attacked by Romero and learns that he could control the dark-matter filled killer.
Barry and Frost lure Romero into the pipeline and overdose him with dark matter. Unable to handle the enormous doses, Romero explodes. Barry throws a party for Frost and during the celebration, the team learns of his death during the 'Crisis'.
Ramsey, meanwhile, leaves Barry saying he'll meet him "in the next life". Ramsey also discovers that he could bond with the dark matter filled blood and absorbs it.
While the episode primarily explained the birth of Bloodwork, there were pivotal plot points that we have broken down that will surely play a role in the episodes to come.
Ralph meets his mother
Hartley Sawyer's love interest Sue Dearborn was the much-expected character. Instead, we are introduced to his mother, Debbie Dibny (Amy Pietz) who has 14 allegations against her but is never charged.
Debbie is seen as a smooth-talking lady guilty of robbing a pawn shop. Ralph, Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) and Debbie, try and gain access to the security footage to prove she wasn't at the store during the time of the robbery.
However, when Ralph goes through the footage, he learns that his mother met up with Marv Perez - a man that she used to date. She reveals that she lied about all of her boyfriends dying after Ralph's father left, but that she did so to protect him from being hurt. They agree to both be more open to love.
Harrison Nash Wells
Allegra (Kayla Compton) gives Iris a story about Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh) resurfacing. She attempts to track him down with Cisco and tase him. When he awakes, he reveals he's searching for an artifact containing Eternium.
Review
'Dead Man Running' is essentially about Barry and Bloodwork. It's still unclear how they cross paths again, but the encounter in this episode sets the tone for what could be a tough battle for the Scarlet Speedster.
The other interesting point is the character arc for Killer Frost. It feels like she is exposed to an alien world and the upcoming 'Crisis' may just have an impact on her as she is bent on getting through the battle alive.
Considering how things have panned out in these three chapters, it's easy to say 'The Flash' has probably worked its way to dishing out the best installment we have seen. The new season is consistent in terms of tone and manages to even out screentime successfully.
'The Flash' airs on Tuesdays at 8 pm on The CW.