THE FLASH Team on ‘License to Elongate’ and What Comes Next

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Tuesday, November 19 episode of THE FLASH.]

It was THE FLASH meets 007 on Tuesday’s episode, “License to Elongate.”

Though the episode was mostly light—Ralph (Hartley Sawyer) and Barry (Grant Gustin) saved the day as their human selves—Bloodwork (Sendhil Ramamurthy) popped back up and attacked Ralph. So what comes next? Showrunner Eric Wallace and series star (and episode director) Danielle Panabaker shared a few teases with reporters…

Just how dangerous is Bloodwork going to get?

Wallace teased to reporters that episode 7’s title—“The Last Temptation of Barry Allen”—gives a good insight into what’s to come.

“I wonder who’s tempting him?” he joked. “Let’s just say it’s Bloodwork. And what’s great about his character is he has a really good point of view that when you hear it. It’s insane, but it kind of makes sense. And that’s what’s tempting to Barry.”

Wallace acknowledged some of the upcoming insanity was set up in this week’s episode “in plain sight.”

But for the core group, “There’s a few moments in next week’s episode where Danielle, Grant, everybody, Candice [Patton], I think went above the call of duty to to bring something really special next week. So I’m very proud of this run that we’re in right now.”

Directing (again) had its own set of challenges.

“I was a little more confident this time, for sure,” Panabaker admitted. “The fun thing about FLASH, and particularly this season, is every episode really has its own flavor. They’ve been really distinct and unique and to get to play with a lot of like the BOND homages and stuff was really fun for me. This episode had less special effects than ‘Godspeed’ did, so it’s a different skill set to get to do more with the stunts.”

Though the double fight sequence was complicated, ”I prepped it in a specific way…in four parts,” Panabaker said. “When you break it down like that, and then we shot it in that way as well, it ended up being less complicated than I think I’d made it out to be in my head.”

Panabaker did execute a series-first, as Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) attempted to help Chester P. Runk (Brandon McKnight) woo his crush via an earpiece “We actually shot those scenes simultaneously,” she said. “It was an idea I had early in prep, and I talked to our DP about it…I was so glad we pulled it off. It was a probably one of the more challenging things for me to act in a scene that I’m also directing, listening to the other performances to try and see if we’re getting what we need. That was logistically challenging for me, but I think it made it fun for everybody else.”

How many of those super villains will return?

The series briefly touched on a number of bad guys who were bidding on an explosive machine during the hour. But when the fights broke out, they scrambled.

“You might see quite a few people in that episode again,” Wallace said. “It doesn’t seem like it, because this is the fun one, [but we were setting things up.] We deliberately did [a light episode] before we go straight to crazy cuckoo dark town with part 1 and part 2 of the mid-season finale…hoo, that’s not kid friendly.”

Is Chester’s return on the horizon?

Panabaker acknowledged cutting Chester’s montage in STAR labs down was difficult. “It’s hard to sort of kill your darlings and say goodbye to stuff that is so great, but isn’t necessarily serving this specific story,” she said. “I could have had a seven minute montage of Chester. I had so much fun shooting him. There was so much material and I cut it down in my cut that I gave to Eric. But I was like, ‘I know it’s too long. I just can’t decide what goes away. That’s your job.'”

The duo actually cut another fight sequence to include more Chester—”I said, ‘Chester is funnier,'” Wallace said—and he’ll pop up again at some point. “We love Chester. Brandon McKnight, as an actor, is just a delightful, delightful person.”

What’s going on with Nash (Tom Cavanagh) and Allegra (Kayla Compton)?

Nash’s tie to Allegra will be confirmed very soon, Wallace said. “What Tom does so well is he’s a very friendly guy most the time, but this is a more abrasive character,” he said. “He’s a man of action, so when he stops, looks back at someone in a caring way…it means something. What does it mean for ‘Crisis’? What does it mean for after ‘Crisis’? That’s really a huge launching point for his story.”

“He does a beautiful job, I think in that moment, of saying so much without actually saying anything,” Panabaker added.

THE FLASH, Tuesdays, 8/7c, The CW

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