Here Is How the Flash Midseason Finale Sets up for Crisis on Infinite Earths

Tonight’s episode of The Flash saw the team make a final stand against Ramsey Rosso/Bloodwork (Sendhil Ramamurthy) — as well as the Dark Flash Barry (Grant Gustin) became when he was infected last week. However, even as the team attempts to save the world from Bloodwork, the clock is running out for the arrival of “Crisis on Infinite Earths” which means the episode set up for the epic event kicking off on Sunday in a deeply moving and terrifying way.

Spoilers for tonight’s episode of The Flash, “The Last Temptation of Barry Allen Pt. 2,” below.

In the episode it’s revealed that Barry may be infected by Ramsey, but he isn’t fully under his control. It was a calculated move by the Speedster who allowed himself to be infected in order to use that as a means to put a stop to Bloodwork once and for all. After some truly tense and terrifying moments where it appeared that The Flash was truly lost and the entire world doomed to come under Ramsey’s sway, all of the team’s heroes rose up and won the day. By the time it was all said and done there were just a few minutes remaining before the long-predicted “Crisis” was due to arrive.

How does a hero face the end of the world? In tonight’s episode, it was time for heartfelt goodbyes of sorts. Barry’s friends and family each took their turn telling him what he meant to them and pledging to be there until the end. Iris (Candice Patton) tells Barry that their love story will not end even with Crisis and Barry also applies that to Team Flash. Nothing will ever be able to take away who and what they are and feel for each other — even Crisis.

The clock then strikes midnight and in the reflection of Barry’s watch face we see it. The red skies of Crisis first teased in that future newspaper headline we saw in The Flash’s series premiere arrive. The episode then moves from the heroes staring at the coming Crisis together to the stinger scene we’ve seen on both Supergirl and Batwoman previously in which Nash Wells (Tom Cavanagh) submits to The Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) and presumable the entire Multiverse opens to him.

The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW. “Crisis on Infinite Earths” begins Sunday, December 8 at 8/7c.