The Flash Review: The Last Temptation of Barry Allen Part Two (Season 6 Episode 8)

The saga of Bloodwork comes to an end on The Flash Season 6 Episode 8, “The Last Temptation of Barry Allen Part Two,” just as the long-awaited “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover kicks off. 

Let’s be real — most of us are still a lot more invested in the impending “Crisis” than we are in Bloodwork, so the fact that his story is ending is notable only in that it means the crossover starts next week.

But, to be fair, The Flash deserves serious praise for shaking up its years-long format of 22-episode arcs for its main villains. If Bloodwork proves nothing else, it’s that framing this show as separate mini-seasons works better than we ever thought they might. 

Let’s keep doing it like this, shall we?

It’s rare that a show in the middle of its sixth season is willing to reinvent itself and grow in this way, but the results speak for themselves. Taken as a whole, Season 6 is probably The Flash’s strongest set of episodes to date since the series’ first season, and it’s exciting to think about where the show might go, post-“Crisis”. 

The character work has been nothing short of incredible, giving almost every major character an emotional arc of their own as they’ve struggled to accept the idea that they all might have to continue on without Barry in a post-“Crisis” world. 

Nearly everyone has gotten to have meaningful conversations and engage in some much needed introspection, and it’s all served as a reminder that while The Flash is technically a story about a guy who can run really fast, its heart lies in the people at its center. 

Bloodwork may have not quite been the compelling Big Bad of our dreams — though he was certainly creepy and menacing enough, in the end — but his presence was largely used as a vehicle for the great character work The Flash has been doing all season. And that was worth it, in the end.

Given that Ramsey spent most of the season trashing his dead mom to anyone in earshot it’s a bit convenient that her sudden hallucinogenic reappearance is all it took to emotionally talk him off the ledge, so to speak. 

I get what the show was going for — to show us that, like Barry, Ramsey’s been carrying doubt inside himself all along about the rightness of his actions. Which is actually a twist I like. 

But since this is pretty much the first time the show has shown as Ramsey as anything other than 100% convinced of his rightness in infecting everyone with immortality, it feels…well, kind of convenient. 

Most of the episode is done up in true horror movie style. There are shambling zombies (er…”blood brothers”), poorly lit hospital corridors and a creeping sense of claustrophobic dread whenever Ramsey’s army of monsters appears. 

Yet, despite all the build-up in The Flash Season 6 Episode 7, “The Last Temptation of Barry Allen Part One”, Dark Flash turns out to be kind of a dud. 

After one of his all-time great performances in the story’s first half, star Grant Gustin doesn’t get a ton to do here, other than grunt and look menacing with black goo all over his teeth. 

This makes sense, particularly since Gustin basically carried the entirety of the first installment, but it’s also…kind of a let down? 

There are a few intriguing moments where Dark Barry must face off with Iris and/or Cisco that are riveting television, but it’s Candice Patton and Carlos Valdes who really steal the show this week. 

Watching Carlos and Iris debate whether or not Barry is lost to them, and how they should act without The Flash to guide them is great stuff, and the one aspect of the episode I wish we’d somehow spent more time on. 

Like…Cisco really built a Star Labs protocol to handle the possibility that Barry might turn evil? When did that happen?

Furthermore, there was so much build up to Barry’s “choice” about whether to go dark last week that the fact that it’s barely addressed here feels weird. 

(I get that The Flash seems to want me to think Barry went dark so he could get in Bloodwork’s head. But…Gustin’s performance — not to mention the title of the episodes themselves — seems to suggest that some part of that “temptation” is meant to be taken seriously?)

Oh, well. Even with this slightly messy resolution the Bloodwork arc has generally been more satisfying than a lot of the show’s previous Big Bads — Looking at you, Cicada(s) — so I’m willing to call it an improvement and move on. 

After all, the skies are turning red, and “Crisis” is coming. 

Stray Thoughts and Observations 

• Love the burgeoning friendship between Frost and Allegra, as each sort of figures out what it means to be a hero. 
• Allegra is really growing on me — a fact which I’m admittedly surprised about but also sort of like?
• It was just a small segment of the episode but I loved how The Flash portrayed the crippling panic Cecile felt surrounded by all those people experiencing paralyzing fear. 
• So, Nash Wells is also Pariah now, officially, yes? Or about to be? 

What did you think of this episode of The Flash? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

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