The Flash - Things You Can't Outrun Review (Spoilers)

Things You Can't Outrun i.e. Poison Gas and Emotional Baggage

This week, The Flash returned for its third installment, "Things You Can't Outrun." The title is a not-so-overt nod to our antagonist, The Mist (guest star Anthony Carrigan), as well as our cast of protagonists' emotional baggage. Barry faces off against a new meta-human. (Noticing a pattern here?) Kyle Nimbus was a criminal on death row. While he was literally being executed for his crimes, he went through the meta-human transition. As a result of his exposure to deadly gas during the STAR Labs "accident," he gains superpowers which enable him to become poison gas. And what does a homicidal maniac do with poison gas powers you ask? Revenge? Give this reader a cookie! So, surprise, surprise, the former death row convict is on a mission to kill everyone who put him away, including Barry's father figure, Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin). Joe was the arresting officer on the Nimbus case, so naturally, he becomes the final kill on The Mist's death list. This story also dealt heavily with the fallout from the particle accelerator accident, focusing on Caitlin's (Danielle Panabaker) loss of her fiancé Ronnie Raymond (Robbie Amell, cousin to the Amell of Arrow fame).

The action in this episode centered around the first super power foil that we've seen on the show so far (don't worry, I'm sure there are plenty more to come). Barry found himself useless to fight The Mist in his gaseous state and nearly dies when Nimbus "gasses"  him for the first time. But thanks to a scene worthy of Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction, Caitlin takes a serious needle to Barry's chest to avert certain death. While the super power foil is an overly used trope, it works well on this episode to set up an excellent super-powered battle as the climax. We see The Flash and The Mist pushing the limits of their powers against each other. This is a result of Caitlin and Dr. Well's advice for Barry to push The Mist to exhaust himself. They claim that since gas is the least stable state of matter, it will be very difficult for Nimbus to keep it up. So Barry runs. And The Mist goes all green smoke monster on him for a while. Somehow, even on a TV budget, this fight was really enthralling. In a superhero storyline what else do you want to see more than large volumes of super powers? Nothing, I tell you. NOTHING!



At the onset of the last fight, Nimbus gasses Joe and for a minute there, I thought they might actually let him die. NOPE! The Flash delivers the one and only dose of "poison gas antidote" just in the nick of time to save Det. West. After pushing Nimbus to stay gaseous for sometime, The Mist runs out of steam leaving himself open for a concussion-inducing slug from The Flash. So, what does one do with a meta-human after besting him in physical combat you ask? Good question! This week's meta-human villain opened up a new aspect to the operations of STAR Labs. To incarcerate The Mist (and presumably a number of future baddies to come), STAR Labs opts to turn their ruined particle accelerator into a subterranean high-tech version of Arkham Asylum. A super villain prison buried underneath STAR Labs, what could go wrong? Meanwhile, Cisco (Carlos Valdes) continued to please as the comic book fan analogue, giving Nimbus his super-villain namesake without missing a beat.

All of our protagonist characters (except for the two-dimensional Iris and Eddie) faced the darkness in their past head on in this episode. Joe finally owns up to the fact that Barry's father has been wrongfully accused and incarcerated for 14 years. Caitlin and Cisco deal with what seems to be a mild case of PTSD from the night of the accident at STAR Labs. Barry continues to wrestle with the murder of his mother. And later in the episode we see Barry's father commiserate with him for the first time. The character development here is thoughtful and heartfelt, but beginning to wear thin. The Flash has gotten us to care about the characters, so hopefully in episode four and beyond we will see the balance shift to less character development. It's time to let some of the sob stories go to the back burner or they may begin to feel forced or tired. The Flash has proven to have a handle on its pacing so far, but the emotional back stories are the first sign of stumbling, although a minor one. With Arrow team-ups coming just around the bend, a shift to more action-based and world-building storylines will be a welcome injection of excitement after this week's episode.

The Flash is riding high as The CW just order an additional nine episodes bring the show's first season to a full 22 episodes. The Flash airs Tuesday Nights on The CW.

Side notes:

Did anyone else notice the 52 placards on the walls at STAR Labs this week?

Also, Dr. Wells continues to increase the sci-fi creepy factor week after week.

What do you think it's like to crop dust someone as the Flash? Do you think they would even smell your fart? Or do you just crop dust 3 square miles of the city because you can cover so much ground with a single SPD?