TV REVIEWS: FTN Review The Flash Season 1 Episode 3: Things You Can’t Outrun

It’s amazing how a few episodes can really show what your series is trying to do. Many thought the first few episodes of Arrow were very rough, and that some of the acting really needed to be improved. Clearly the writers of Flash took that to heart when making their first couple of episodes. As “Things You Can’t Outrun” not only further differentiated Flash from Arrow, but did something that Arrow didn’t do until much later. Focus on the supporting cast a lot.

Now true, “Fastest Man Alive” did focus a lot of Joe. But here, we got not only some focus on Joe, but on Caitlin and Cisco as well. That’s a big thing, especially since by the third episode of Arrow (“Lone Gunmen”) we were just seeing the beginning of Team Arrow.

A big difference from last week was the more relevant use of the flashbacks. As we not only got to see the meltdown of the particle collider from the view of Wells and the Star Labs crew, but we got to see the arrival of Ronnie Raymond. Who will soon become Firestorm. I really did like these scenes, mainly because it showed a side of Caitlin, Cisco, and even Wells we hadn’t seen before. And then to watch as Caitlin and Cisco were forced to watch Ronnie “die” was actually quite heartbreaking. Especially for Cisco who had to lock a door with Ronnie still inside.

I’m happy that Caitlin got a lot of scenes this week, ones that showed her various emotions instead of just ice cold (*insert joke here*). Her scenes with Barry were very nice. I’m not sure if this’ll grow into anything more than a good friendship, but with a superhero show? You never know…

Though smaller, Joe West’s storyline was nice. Seeing him pour back into the case of Barry’s dad was great, especially as he talked about how he would “have to live with the guilt of making a mistake”. Meaning that he truly thought Barry’s dad killed his mom, and now that he was wrong it tore him apart. The prison scene between the two was excellently done. Especially when Barry’s dad went off on Joe.

And then there’s Barry, who got to show off a little bit of a dark side as he told both Joe and Cisco how he’s had the idea to break his dad out of prison for a long time. True, he didn’t act on it, but it is nice to know that the power Barry now has is tempting him to do some dark things.

Which obviously leads us to the villain-of-the-week. In this case, The Mist. Sadly, this is the one thing that Flash and Arrow have in common, they don’t mind using villains as nothing more than showcase. “Lone Gunmen” did little better with Deadshot (an established villain in the DCU), Flash didn’t do much with The Mist. True, the science and logic behind what made The Mist was again awesome. And the fight scenes were great, but it was still lacking. Luckily for us…a certain “Rogue” will be appearing next week to possibly but a “chill” on things…

Aside from the villain, the two lowpoints for me were some again clunky dialogue and the now recurring Iris/Eddie story. The former is getting better, the latter is just weird. And them going through the typical “I can’t tell my father we’re dating” was a little sad. Thankfully, there’s movement in that storyline now, so let’s hope it doesn’t draw on.

And finally, Harrison Wells. I’m actually really excited now for the last few moments of Flash now because of Harrison wells. First, the future paper reveal, then he killed Stagg, and now we find out he’s been watching Barry for quite a while. Add to that the “I’ve waited centuries” line and you really have to start to wonder how much does he know?

In the end, “Things You Can’t Outrun” did a great job of shining a light on the supporting cast of the show. Team Flash is truly shaping up, and the show is getting better with every episode.