‘The Flash’: Hartley Sawyer Teases Why Barry, Ralph Dibny Don’t Get Along

Barry will be reunited with his nemesis Ralph Dibny in tonight’s Season 4, episode 4 of “The Flash.” While the installment will reveal what exactly went down between the two in the past, series newcomer Hartley Sawyer teased Barry and Ralph’s conflict ahead of the episode.

“Barry (Grant Gustin) ruined Ralph’s (Sawyer) life basically,” Sawyer said in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. “Ralph was Barry’s superior officer [at CCPD]. When they first meet, and still in these episodes that we’re doing now, there’s a lot of resentment there. There’s a lot of issues there and it gives a lot of opportunity for comedy too, but also gives a lot of opportunity for character building. There’s also obviously some blame there going around with this metahuman stuff. When he becomes a metahuman, it’s kind of like it all started with Barry Allen, so he’s the cause of all that in a way.”

Sawyer added that the episode will also explain why Ralph, aka Elongated Man, is no longer a cop when Barry meets him again. “Due to something that I don’t want to reveal because it will be in the episode, he’s no longer a cop when you meet him and he’s working as a private investigator,” the 32-year-old actor said of his character. “He’s really let himself go, so he’s just not really in a good place.”

While Ralph is very much down on his luck and is now working as a sleazy private investigator, Sawyer revealed that his character has a connection to the mayor. “The mayor has hired him to do some work,” the “Young and the Restless” alum said of Ralph. “It plays into the whole story that’s coming up and it’s great because it’s an opportunity for Ralph and Barry to really butt heads again. They do not like each other at all. But he’s not a bad guy. He’s a good cop and he’s got a good heart. He needs some help bringing that back.”

In an interview with TV Insider last September, executive producer Andrew Kreisberg revealed that there’s going to be a lot of conflict between Barry and Ralph “in terms of how to be a good guy” this season. “Ralph is hitting on everybody all the time. He’s brash and loud and doesn’t listen,” Kreisberg described the private detective, before revealing that the new character is hiding something about how he acquired his powers of malleability. “That’s one of the big mysteries of the season,” teased the exec producer.

Elsewhere in tonight’s episode, according to the synopsis for the hour, Gypsy’s (Jessica Camacho) father, Breacher (Danny Trejo), shows up on Earth-1 and takes an immediate disliking to his daughter’s boyfriend, Cisco (Carlos Valdes).

“The Flash” Season 4, episode 4, titled “Elongated Journey Into Night,” airs tonight at 8 p.m. EDT on The CW.