The Flash S1 E3 - 'Things You Can't Outrun' Review

No One Can Outrun Pain.
As The Flash entered its third episode, a familiar pattern has fallen upon the show as Barry continues to develop as a hero whilst another villain-of-the-week terrorised Central City.
Said villain was dubbed by Cisco as The Mist - Kyle Nimbus was convicted with a death sentence on the day of the particle accelerator explosion. The result is a one-dimensional villain hellbent on 'getting revenge' as it appears all meta-humans apart from Barry are. This path has been tread for the last two episodes and I was really hoping for some kind of mix-up to the formula here, but it seems we will have to wait. Nimbus was creepy enough, but the CGI on his mist affects was poor and his confrontation with the Flash, whilst it did fit in with the idea of being unable to fight some things in life, was a short-lived and dull affair.
Elsewhere, Iris and Eddie came out with their relationship to Joe who acted the stereotypical protective father unsurprisingly. Joe did have some stronger moments in this episode however, including an emotional encounter with Henry at Iron Heights. The scene felt somewhat rushed by Nimbus' attack, but was still effective. The final emotional drive in this episode was Caitlin facing her past as we learned about Ronnie's death. I enjoyed getting these glimpses into the past, particularly the one where we saw Wells enter his secretive side-room and survey Barry as he was struck by lightning. The most compelling story aspect right now is still undoubtedly the mystery surround Harrison Wells, however the show focuses far too little upon this as it nestles into its repetitive framework pattern.
Overall, the third episode of The Flash doesn't quite meet the standards set so far. With another weak villain at the helm, it seems that the show-runners need to come up with some better bad guys and quickly.

STARRING: The Mist

AWESOME MOMENTS:

• The introduction of the meta-human prison for the first time!
• Barry's swift armed robber arrest at the start of the episode was fun and showed just how fast he can be as he returned without Iris even noticing he had gone.
• Ronnie's sacrifice!

EASTER EGGS:

- Barry and Iris leave a theater that has two movie titles on its marquee.  The first is Blue Devil II.  In the comics, the Blue Devil is a mystically powered DC superhero.  After being cast as the lead role in a movie titled Blue Devil, stuntman Daniel Cassidy creates a full body devil suit with various special effects built into it. When some of his castmates accidentally release a demon on set, Cassidy uses the suit to fight it off, but is hit with a blast of mystical energy in the process.  The suit fuses to his body and turns him into a literal Blue Devil. Cassidy becomes a member of the Justice League.  He is later killed by the Mist's daughter, Nash, before being resurrected,and eventually joins the mystical team Shadowpact. Blue Devil first appeared in Fury of Firestorm #24.  He was created by Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn. A Blue Devil movie was referenced in Season 2 of Arrow, when an ad for the movie appeared on a bus that Ollie saves from getting hit by a train in "Time of Death". 

- The other movie title displayed on the theater marquee is The Rita Farr Story.  In the comics, Rita Farr was an Olympic swimmer turned movie star that gained size changing abilities after being exposed to volcanic gases in Africa.  Unable to initially control her powers, Rita joins the Doom Patrol along with several other "freakish" members.  She eventually marries fellow Doom Patrol member Mento and adopts Gar Logan, who becomes the Teen Titan Beast Boy.  Rita dies saving a small village from the Brotherhood of Evil and is later resurrected by the Doom Patrol's leader, Dr. Miles Caulder

- Barry chases a criminal down Waid Boulevard.  Mark Waid was the writer of a prolific Flash run in the 1990s.

- This week's villain is a Golden Age supervillain who made a revival in the 1990s Starman series. In the comics, the Mist was a scientist who created a device that could transform his body into a gaseous state. He periodically battled the Golden Age Starman, Ted Knight, until the superhero retired and passed on his mantle to his eldest son, David. The Mist also operated under the codename Nimbus for a while. Later on, the Mist and his two children, Kyle and Nash, plot revenge on Starman, by killing his son and ruining his legacy. In the resulting struggle, both David and Kyle are killed and Jack, Ted's younger son, becomes the new Starman. The loss of his son drives the Mist insane, which leads the Mist's daughter Nash to become the new Mist. Nash later rapes Jack and conceives a son by him, which she names Kyle. At the conclusion of the Starman series, the Mist and his daughter plot one last revenge on Ted Knight and his son. While trying to detonate a nuclear bomb in Opal City, the Mist kills his daughter (who was trying to protect her son) but is thwarted when Ted Knight flies the bomb into the stratosphere, sacrificing himself to detonate the bomb harmlessly. The Mist was created by Gardner Fox, who also created the original Flash. The Mist was played this episode by Anthony Carrigan, who played Victor Zsasz in several episodes of Gotham

-  The officer who Joe congratulates for capturing the criminal that the Flash caught is named Paulson.  In the comics, Paulson is the original chief of Central City's Police Department.

- When seeking some credit for his recent capture of a criminal, Barry mentions that he doesn't want a museum built for him. In the comics, Central City eventually builds a Flash Museum dedicated to the Flash, which becomes a central setting in many Flash storylines.

- The jury needed only 52 minutes to convict Barry's father.  There's your weekly 52 reference.

- According to several signs on the walls, the area of the particle accelerator that Barry, Caitlin and Cisco spend time in is called Reactor Area 52. 

- Ronnie Raymond gets his formal introduction to the Flash TV show (although he was mentioned in the first two episodes, too).  In the comics, Ronnie forms one half of the superhero Firestorm, along with Dr. Martin Stein (and later Jason Rusch). After being caught in a nuclear meltdown, Ronnie and Stein discover that they can fuse together to become Firestorm, who has the power to rearrange and transmutate inorganic molecules.  Ronnie primarily acts as "the driver" of Firestorm and controls the superhero's physical movements and actions. Dr. Stein has no direct control over Firestorm, but can communicate with Ronnie and lend his scientific knowledge to Firestorm's physical transformations. While Ronnie is an engineer in the TV show, he's only a high schooler in his first appearance, with little scientific acumen or experience.  Much of the internal conflict between Ronnie and Stein came from Ronnie's lack of scientific knowledge, and his general youth and inexperience. Ronnie Raymond was created by Gerry Conway and Al Milgrom.  His first appearance was in Firestorm, the Nuclear Man #1, where he fought Multiplex, the villain from last week's episode. Ronnie is played by Robbie Amell, cousin of Arrow's lead star Stephen Amell. Robbie previously had the starring role in CW's Tomorrow People reboot, which was also produced by Flash producer Greg Berlanti.

- Captain Singh asks Barry for a fiber sample related to the Orloff case.  In the comics, Pytor Orloff was a scientist who assisted the Flash from time to time.

- Caitlin mentions that she and Ronnie were like Fire and Ice, which is funny because she and Ronnie are ice and fire elementals in the comics

- The Big Belly Burger gets another shoutout in today's episode

- Barry vibrates his face to hide his identity from his father.  In the comics, Barry's able to keep his identity a secret because his body constantly vibrates, thus preventing anyone to actually get a good look at it

- The entrance to the particle accelerator is a subtle nod to Firestorm's icon

- At the beginning of the episode when Barry and Iris are leaving the theater they walk over an advertisement on the ground for the Marvel film Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). Marvel and DC, which produces the comics on which this series is based, are rival comic book conglomerates

RATING: 7.5/10