Bloodwork is born, the team takes on zombies and Barry picks a new leader in latest Flash

The first part of the season has given us the origin story of Bloodwork, and he’s officially born as a full-fledged baddie this week. Oh, and Barry has appointed a new leader for Team Flash as he looks to a post-Crisis world.

Spoilers ahead for “There Will Be Blood,” the latest episode of The CW’s Flash, which aired Tuesday, October 29, 2019.

Joe West, patriarch of Team Flash, summed up this week’s theme perfectly: You can’t save everyone, but you can always save someone. And that’s what Central City’s band of rag-tag heroes had a tough time accepting this week.

After learning that Barry is apparently destined to die in the looming Crisis, Team Flash is in a bit of a funk as the action picks up this week. But, Barry is doing his best to try and keep everyone on task, and turns his attention to Cisco as he hopes he’ll be the one to step up and lead Team Flash once there’s no longer a Flash. So, he enlists Cisco’s help to show him there are still people who need saving, and their mission is to procure a cure that can save Ramsey. The new version of Wells, aka Nash, joins in on the fun as his search for Eternium continues on Earth-1.

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The mission works and they procure the cure-all, but Cisco hides it in the hopes it could help protect Barry from the anti-matter that’s expected to evaporate him a few weeks down the line. Cisco still doesn’t want to accept that Barry has to die, though he finally does relent and hand over the cure for Ramsey (though it doesn’t work, as he’s already well on the way to anti-matter vampire zombie-making monster at this point). Barry also tells Cisco he still believes he’s the man to lead the team forward, after getting a taste of what it means to make the tough calls.

Dibny is also having a pity party about Barry’s upcoming exit, even (briefly) hanging it up on the Sue Dearborn missing person’s case he’s been working for a while now. If he can’t save Barry, well, can he even save anyone? Thankfully, a pep talk from Joe gets him back on track and he heads out to follow up on a new lead. He even drops an offhand comment about not looking to get married, which comic fans will certainly chuckle at (in the comics, Sue eventually becomes Ralph’s wife).

Though everyone is grappling with Barry’s death in their own way, it’s the moment between Barry and Joe that really rips your heart out and serves as a teary-eyed reminder this show is still in its prime. After saying he understands why this apparently has to happen, and talks with Barry about his legacy and their relationship, he just breaks down and can only utter “I’m not ready, I’m not ready,” between tears. Put simply, it’s absolutely brutal and if you weren’t crying you’re probably dead inside. Just sayin’.

As for the story of the week that tied it all together? Ramsey realizes that for his cure to continue working, he essentially has to continue killing people and turning them into black goo zombies. He’s a vampire, essentially, with super-strength and some very Venom-y type powers to boot. It’s a unique baddie and a worthy distraction to keep the team busy as we bide our time for the Crisis. It’s also fresh to see the baddie actually turn bad, as opposed to simply picking up with him causing all kinds of nefarious trouble. Sure, it doesn’t justify Ramsey’s decisions, but you at least got to take the ride with him to see why he’s making them.

As for Nash, the post-credit scene this week saw him track down the Monitor’s secret door in the sewer, and he’s looking to crash his Monitor-y dimension for … some reason?

Next week: Cisco is going a little crazy, possibly due to suppressing his powers? It looks pretty trippy.