Fans Worry Joe West Is Leaving 'The Flash' After What Went Down in "So Long and Goodnight"

Pssst: This post contains spoilers for Episode 16, Season 6.

After Tuesday's episode of The Flash (Episode 16, "So Long and Goodnight"), fans are wondering if Joe West (aka, Jesse L. Martin) is leaving the show. After Rag Doll gets hired to kill Joe (because he's leading the RICO investigation), Joe barely escapes the planned assassination. Rag Doll gets into the car Joe is driving and rigs it so that Joe can't hit the breaks. He keeps accelerating and once he realizes the car can't stop, he jumps out. (How he survives without a scratch is suspect, but we'll take it.)

But Joe isn't so lucky the second time Rag Doll tries to take him out. Joe rejects being put into the Witness Protection Program and insists on leveraging the "opportunity" to lure in the leader of Black Hole. He ends up getting shot in the shoulder while Joe interrogates Sunshine. Barry, who wasn't fast enough to stop the bullet, finally figures out it's Rag Doll who's been behind the attempted murders, but by that point it's a little too late. And it doesn't stop Rag Doll from kidnapping Joe's wife, Cecile, and using her as bait.

Barry and Joe get to the location where Cecile is being kept. Although they find her, the bad news is that she's tied to a pressure bomb. Barry and Joe can't seem to disarm the bomb, so Joe sacrifices himself and takes Cecile's place and tells Barry to go someplace safe. Just when we think that's it for Joe, he figures out a way to disarm the bomb. 

Apparently, third time's the charm, because after all his near-death experiences, Joe finally agrees to Witness Protection Program so he can protect his family and prevent things like this from happening again.

Will we see Joe again? The promo for Episode 17 of The Flash seems to focus on Barry and "Iris," and doesn't give us any clues about Joe's potential new identity and life. Most likely though, Joe West won't be leaving the show anytime soon, and no, it doesn't look like actor Jesse L. Martin

We know that Joe *should* be sticking around this season, since he's listed on the remaining episodes on IMDb. 

Still, fans are worried Joe is not long for The Flash after watching the episode. Which is pretty unfair considering Jesse got back from medical leave in Season 5, so we've already missed out on a lot of time with Joe. 

Another clue that points to the possibility of Jesse leaving the show is that he's got two projects in pre-production listed on IMDb: Sexual Healing (in which he stars as Marvin Gaye), and Silent Rhythm (he plays Reverend James). The first is a biographical film and Silent Rhythm is a musical. However, it's not uncommon for an actor to be working on several projects at the same time — somebody's gotta pay the bills, you know? Jesse himself has not said anything about his role on The Flash.

Will Joe truly be killed off? Would The Flash really do us dirty like that? We'll just have to watch and see. New episodes of The Flash air every Tuesday at 8 p.m. EST on The CW.