The Flash boss explains what that Nash Wells twist means going forward
Warning: This article contains spoilers from the latest episode of The Flash, “License to Elongate.”
It turns out Nash Wells isn’t the caustic loaner he initially appeared to be when he zip-lined onto The Flash earlier this season.
In Tuesday’s Danielle Panabaker-directed episode, “License to Elongate,” Tom Cavanagh’s multiversal myth-buster ends up teaming up with Iris’ (Candice Patton) new intern Allegra (Kayla Compton), who uses her metahuman powers to help find the Monitor’s supposed hiding place. Along the way, Nash helps Allegra embrace her powers, and at the end of their adventure, he tells her she reminds him of someone. Not only that, but as he walks away from her, he turns back for one more loving look, implying that the two of them are related — quite the surprise since Nash doesn’t seem like the type of guy who would have a family.
“That’s really a huge launching point for his story,” showrunner Eric Wallace told reporters after a recent screening of the episode. “What Tom does so well is he’s very friendly most of the time, but this is a more abrasive character. So he’s a man of action and when he stops, looks back at someone in a caring way (not a creepy way), loving, it means something that definitely plays — and also it’s gotta tie into what it means for ‘Crisis [on Infinite Earths],’ what does it mean for after ‘Crisis.” (Nash also revealed in the episode that he wants to kill the Monitor.)
At the end of the of hour — which sees Barry (Grant Gustin) and Ralph (Hartley Sawyer) infiltrate a swanky arms deal in Midway City — season 6 big bad Ramsey (Sendhil Ramamurthy) attacks Ralph. Wallace said that cliffhanger sets up the midseason finale, which is ominously titled “The Last Temptation of Barry Allen” and goes “straight to cuckoo crazy dark town.” As the title suggests, Ramsey ends up tempting Barry with something.
“What’s great about his character is that he really has a good point of view that when you heard, I think, it next week, [you’ll think], ‘It’s insane, but it kinda makes sense.’ And that’s what’s tempting to Barry,” said Wallace, adding that tonight’s episode also sets up things in the back half of the season, too. “Remember what you see in the audience there,” he said, referencing the hour’s climactic fight sequence. “There might be people who have already filmed episodes in ways that you don’t expect. Everything, we’re trying to be circular and plant seeds. That’s why it’s so important to us when we have a director like Danielle, somebody who knows the history of the show. That’s what she brings, to me, that’s so invaluable.”
The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the CW.
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