The Flash is back with another great episode in, “Things You Can’t Out Run.” It’s interesting that the show has been able to keep up week after week with outstanding episodes. The show has been hitting all the right strides, and this week is no exception.
Barry Allen is such a great character, but it’s the supporting characters that make this episode. Yes, of course he has some great scenes, but getting more back story into some characters, especially Caitlin Snow, was a great change of pace for the show. Caitlin’s character showed great depth for being a side character and allowed for great dialogue with Barry in sharing their grief. Caitlin’s significant other, Ronnie Raymond (Robbie Amell), risked his life to save people from the blast after the collider tests went awry. Her angst was brought back up when they decided they needed the area to trap a certain someone. While we were given a chance to see Caitlin’s battles and how she’s overcoming them, we get the same old Cisco. The Goofy Cisco is at it again with his naming conventions. This week he ended up on the name, The Mist, for the villain with overwhelming excitement. I really hope they delve into his backstory because it’ll be interesting to see if he’s using excessive humor as a coping technique, or if he’s really just that funny. While these back stories allowed for some nice, tender moments to be solved, Dr. Wells’ backstory is, once again, shady as ever.
Dr. Wells is a uniquely evil character. On the surface, he just seems like a nice and caring scientist, which he is. But, there is something quite sinister below the surface, especially considering the final scene shows that he wanted Barry Allen to be where he was during the explosion. Could this mean that he, in a sense, used Barry as a lab rat? We shall soon see, but one thing’s for sure, he’s definitely brewing something up for the future.
Another week, another villain. This time we have The Mist: a meta-human composed of poisonous gas, an affliction caused by being in a gas chamber during his execution while the reactor exploded. Through the episode, The Mist is checking people off his list, and I’m sure you’ve guessed it, Joe is on that list. As a quick aside, that’s the only real negative I have to say about the show as a whole. A show definitely needs structure, but The Flash may be a tad formulaic, with little to no progression in an overall story arc. We really haven’t gotten anywhere with the big mystery of who killed Barry’s mom. It’s obvious they can’t delve too much into that, but it would be nice to know that they are at least making some sort of headway. They may be able to if villians didn’t keep getting in the way. But, back to The Mist. The character in and of itself is pretty bland. Although, the way in which The Flash had to dispatch of him was quite neat. I do feel that they need to get back to the more human-y meta-humans and less of the misty variety.
While Barry Allen was able to get to The Mist before he killed Joe, he wasn’t able to save the judge. It was impossible for him to save her, but he expressed to Joe that he failed. It was a great short scene showing that Barry does have the weight of the world on his shoulders, but Joe is able to keep him level-headed. Once again, Grant Gustin really becomes Barry Allen. All the small emotional cues and moments of eye contact make you believe that he really is the character. It can’t be stressed enough how well he embodies the character.
The Verdict
Another week passes, and we were given another great episode of The Flash. The supporting cast was given some great backstory. We learned more about Barry’s psyche in trying to save everyone, and we had another new villain, albeit a subpar one. The Flash is easily the best superhero show on tv at the moment; I just hope they can keep up the momentum by giving us something new each week and can avoid the trap of being too formulaic in its approach.
+ Supporting cast was exceptional
+ nice special effects for Barry
+ Got a look into Barry’s drive to save everyone
+ Some nice Easter Eggs for future reveals
– Maybe a bit too formulaic
– Sort of a weird enemy again
