Recap / The Flash 2014 S 6 E 3 Dead Man Running

Barry and Iris prepare the rest of the Team for the Crisis, while dealing with a meta zombie. Ralph helps his mother with a problem.

Tropes

• Accidental Pervert: Harrison "Nash" Wells accidentally came off as flirty to Iris, but it was because he detected Eternium around her and her office.
• Adventurer Archaeologist: "Nash" Wells is an obvious Indiana Jones reference.
• Alone with the Psycho: Romero sneaks up on Ramsey, who only survives due to his bond with the substance powering his body.
• Broken Pedestal: Ralph for his mother when he finds out that all supposed dead ex-boyfriends of hers are actually alive.
• The Bus Came Back: Norvock is among the guests at Frost's "birthday party".
• Continuity Nod:
  • Barry once again eggs Frost into trying to kill him in order to solve her emotional problem.
  • Ramsey mentions Ted Kord as someone who supplied him with dark matter. Ramsey was obviously lying, however, Kord was mentioned several times in past Arrow episodes.
• A Day in the Limelight: The episode focuses mainly on Frost and her training by Barry for the Crisis.
• Destination Defenestration: Frost blasts Romero out a window at Mercury Labs. Being a zombie, he gets back up and walks away.
• Double-Meaning Title: The title "Dead Man Running" alludes to Barry's attempt to prepare for his possible death at the Crisis, Mitch Romero's corpse, and Ramsey Rosso's attempt to overcome his deadly condition.
• Face Death with Dignity: Ramsey's mother. But in his point-of-view, it's like she gave up trying to fight the cancer.
• Fixing the Game: Cecile tries to help Ralph's mom win at Poker by determining the other players' emotions. In the end, they still lose.
• Freudian Slip: Frost ultimately realises that Barry is going to die in the Crisis because whenever the two talked about the future, Barry never mentioned himself as if he wouldn't be there.
• Good Cop/Bad Cop: Barry and Frost, respectively, when interrogating Ramsey.
• Gory Discretion Shot:
  • What Romero did to his victims in the opening act. All we got is that they were mutilated in various ways.
  • Romero's death itself was never shown, just an explosion and lots of blood splattered everywhere.
• Internal Reveal:
  • Cisco, Ralph, and Frost learn about the Crisis being moved to December 2019.
    • Towards the end of the episode, Ralph and Cisco are told about Barry's fate in the coming crisis.
  • Allegra Garcia seems to have learned about the multiverse.
  • Ramsey learns that Caitlin and Frost are one and the same.
  • Barry learns Ramsey is not to be trusted like Frost warned him when he catches Ramsey in the act filching some dark matter samples.
• Keeping Secrets Sucks: Iris finds hard to keep the secret about Barry being most likely dead.
• Lampshade Hanging: Cisco lampshades how "Nash", like the other two angry Wellses before him, will also eventually soften up and form a bond with the team.
• Ludicrous Gibs: The fate of Zombie Romero after getting overdosed with dark matter: he explodes from the waist up. Gory Discretion Shot is in effect, fortunately.
• Mood Whiplash: Immediately after Frost's birthday, Barry finally tells the Team about his fate in the impending Crisis.
• Mook Horror Show: Mitch makes his entrance slaughtering his former criminal associates, creeping up on them during a weapons deal in the dark.
• Mortality Phobia: Apart from Ramsey, Frost also shows fear in the face of the impending crisis, as she just started to live a normal life.
• Motive Rant: Ramsey has one towards Barry when the latter catches him trying to steal Dark Matter.
• My Name Is Inigo Montoya: Played with. Nash advances on Iris and asks her for her name. She says, "Iris West-Allen," after which she immediately tasers him and knocks him out. She follows this up with, "And don't you forget it."
• Mythology Gag: Ralph mentions a (now-dead) boyfriend of his mom's, Marv Perez. Marv Wolfman and George Pérez were the writer and artist on Crisis On Infinite Earths.
• Non-Indicative Name: Averted by "Killer" Frost, who goes by Frost starting with this episode.
• Other Me Annoys Me: Implied by "Nash" Wells when Iris mentions the Council of Wells, and Nash calls them idiots.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Mitch is pretty much a zombie, one that gets drawn by dark matter. He also has a bond with Ramsey.
• Parents as People: Ralph's mother always lied to him about her ex-boyfriends dying in order to spare his feelings regarding her breaking up with them. She also apparently had a career of petty crimes.
• Pet the Dog: Ramsey seems slightly affected by Barry's speech and helps him stop Romero.
• Shout-Out:
  • The payoff for this episode's Monster of the Week (even though he existed the week before): Mitch Romero is a meta zombie.
  • Ralph calls the Monitor Asgardian Cosplay.
  • Obviously, Cisco compares "Nash" Wells to a certain archeologist.
  • When training with Frost, Barry says, "Come on, stop trying to hit me and hit me!"
• Spotting the Thread: Both Ramsey and Frost notice Barry being aware of his own impending death.
• Synchronization: Ramsey learns that not only can Romero listen to his commands but it also mimics his movements to a certain extent.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Barry towards Frost when she blasts Mitch Romero out of a several stories-high building, not knowing he'll survive the fall.
  • Allegra towards Iris for keeping the truth about the new Wells from her, since journalists are supposed to tell the truth.
• The Worf Effect: Romero actually breaks out of the pipeline.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Just when you are given a chance to live a normal life by your split personality, did you learn that the entire world around you is about to end soon. It's small wonder Frost's temper is at the boiling point in this episode.
• You Are Not Alone: When Barry expresses that he has no idea how to tell the Team about his impending death, Iris tells him to try it with her by his side and that they can tell the rest of the Team together.