‘The Flash’ Gave Us One Last Joe West/Barry Allen Heart-to-Heart Before the End

The Flash just isn’t the same without Jesse L. Martin’s Joe West. The lovable cop and father to Iris West-Allen (Candice Patton) and surrogate father to Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) was off-screen for most of Season 5, due to an unfortunate back injury in real life. But now that we’re nearing Barry’s potential death in the upcoming “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover, it’s great to we got him back this season, for one last heart-to-heart before the end.

Spoilers for The Flash Season 6, Episode 4 “There Will Be Blood” past this point.

The majority of the episode was taken up with Barry dealing with Cisco’s (Carlos Valdes) reaction to his impending doom, which the latter wasn’t (and probably isn’t) totally accepting. And the two friends do reach a détente of sorts by the episode’s end, thanks to some heroics involving new villain Ramsey Rosso (Sendhil Ramamurthy).

But the emotional powerhouse scene that follows their resolution involves Barry and Joe, discussing the day’s events. It starts with Joe lamenting how Ramsey has ultimately gotten away, and will potentially kill more people with his blood-based, zombie-creating powers. But very quickly, it morphs into how Joe doesn’t understand why, after saving more people than the entire Central City Police Department combined, The Flash has to die in the upcoming Crisis, in order to save the multiverse. How is that his reward for everything that’s gone down over the past five seasons and change?

“Without you, I would of– I would have lost our family a long time ago,” West says, getting choked up. “And this is what you get for saving the world, over and over again? How is that right?”

“You know it doesn’t work like that,” Barry answers sadly, shaking his head.

“Doesn’t it?” Joe fires back. “I mean, I’m a cop, if I risk my life every day for thirty years, I get to retire. I get to go home, Barry. To the woman I love. I get to — probably — get to watch my baby girl grow up, each and every day. I get a life, Bar. And here, what do you get?”

Barry, of course, doesn’t answer. So Joe continues.

“Nothing. It’s just not right. The world owes you. You deserve better than this.”

As Joe breaks down, Barry, tears also in his eyes, explains that he doesn’t deserve anything. He’s already grateful for everything he has. “All the blessing in my life? Iris? The team? I mean hell… I’m The Flash. I’m grateful for that. But you… You’re what I’m most grateful for. If it wasn’t for you… Your patience, your courage, the will to keep going… I learned all that from you.”

“Bar, I’m not ready, I’m not ready for this,” Joe says, barely holding himself together.

Gustin and Martin then hold each other, hugging and sobbing as the episode ends. “I’m not going to leave you,” Barry says. “Even when I’m gone.”

I’d say I’m not crying, you’re crying, but I, as well, am crying. Truly, the relationship between Joe West and Barry Allen — due in large part to the real connection between Martin and Gustin — is one of the strongest bonds on any of the CW superhero shows, let alone any TV show, period. It’s something that (again, due to regrettable real life circumstances) has been missing on the show for a good long while, and almost seemed unnecessary as the characters have grown up and moved out of the West household. But credit to writers Lauren Certo and Sterling Gates for making sure the series touched on the two before we barrel into the Crisis, and director Marcus Stokes for letting Martin and Gustin have enough time to really live in the moment.

Though the show is continuing past “Crisis,” and there’s every reason to think that Gustin is not leaving the show (because, you know, he’s probably not), it’s clear the tears being spilled in that scene are real. It’s a powerful moment, and good that we got a chance to revisit this relationship one last time, before the end of the universe.

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

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