What They Say:
Thing You Can’t Outrun – Barry and the team track The Mist – a dangerous new metahuman with toxic gas powers; Joe decides to visit Henry in jail Eddie and Iris continue to conceal their relationship.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With The Flash gaining well in the ratings and generally being quite well received, it’s really enjoyable to have a more positive and outgoing – and dare I say fun – superhero show out there. So much of what tends to get made tends to be a little more grim in a way than I care for as we get so many shows trying to compensate for the old campy shows and some of the cartoon iterations. The Flash has been a real delight in its first two episodes with what it does and the characters its brought in so far. Similar to Arrow, each episode is pretty well packed with things but it really feels like it’s moving at a breakneck pace to get to certain key points while doing it rather naturally within the shows framework. In a lot of ways, it feels like what was covered in the first two episodes could have taken half a dozen episodes or more in a more traditionally done network series.
The cold open to the episode this time around is a lot of fun as we get Barry and Iris hanging out together at the movies, where we see that Blue Devil II is playing alongside The Rita Farr story, two moments that delights this fan, and we see just how much Barry can get his nerd on while talking about the things he’s passionate about. We also see just how fast he is as while Iris turns away for a minute or two to talk to Eddie on the phone, he zips off to deal with a crime going on in a hilarious way that sells his power in a cute way. Of course, it also makes him hungry, which means that he’s off to eat a bit. The food reminders will be nice to see here and there with some quick gags associated with it. It’s also good to just see the way Barry and Iris can get along even though he’s feeling outside of things in a way.
The show does start into the villain of the week as we see how The Mist is doing a bit of killing within the organized crime realm for reasons all his own, but the character side of the show is what really draws us here. Barry and Joe are definitely fun to watch, and some of the one-off gags make me laugh out loud to the poor reaction of the non-hardcore fans around me, but the nod to the Flash Museum that’s made is naturally going to make me grin. The two are drawn into the work side of things though as the murders caused by The Mist has them trying to figure out a locked room event. Barry’s analytical side is decent here with the way the bodies are laid out but it’s also good to see that there is such a weirdness about it that they don’t bother trying to go a different route and opt the idea that it’s a metahuman that’s causing the trouble.
In the midst of this, we also get a nice flashback piece to nine months prior with the particle accelerator going online and we see how things go bad quickly. But the time before it is fun as we get to see Caitlin with her fiance that died during it, Ronnie, and the kind of optimism they all had with each other over the project. We also get a clue as to what Wells is all about as he makes an intriguing comment about how it feels like he’s waited centuries for this moment to come. Could that make him someone that has been around for a long time, or does that reinforce him as a visitor from the future that has come back to tweak things for his own plans. There are some great seeds to work with here and Robbie Amell fits in nicely right from the start as Ronnie. We know where things are going with him – and it’s likely to be a whole lot sooner rather than later – and getting some context in the past with a flashback works well.
Ronnie’s time in this does work us through the further events that cause his situation, which is predictable enough to be sure as he has to go and do what’s necessary to stop a complete meltdown of the system by putting himself at great risk. It’s a tough moment in the past for Cisco as well as he’s the one that has to lock him in there after the time limit is reached, which adds a little more for us to chew on with the normally upbeat character. He’s been superficial to be sure so far, but this helps to expand on him a bit. Using him in the present by going back down to the chamber as part of a plan to come up with some makeshift holding cells for metahumans since Iron Heights won’t be able to hold someone like The Mist helps to draw us back to the events prior to the series that have been touched upon. And we again see how Wells is trying to to prod and nudge him in some curious ways with his words, seeming like a kindly mentor but really coming across almost as malicious in intent with his words.
Events with The Mist move quickly as we see him continuing his hit list of those that wronged him, which is admittedly a simple past that’s lightly touched upon. The second attack against a judge isn’t stopped but Barry is able to make contact with The Mist and that leads to a fight that doesn’t go well as his speed seems like it doesn’t help him against his opponent. But what we get is a sample within Barry that can be extracted back at STAR Labs that will provide them with some clues. It’s a pretty good sequence overall and what we get is a smooth progression of events here that works the team angle earlier in the series than I think most would have expected. They’re not a great team as they’re not in sync in a lot of ways, but there’s a strong curiosity from all of them about what metahumans can do.
With some good exploration of the past, including Ronnie’s final moments that helps to establish a better bond in the present between Barry and Caitlin, we see the solid investigation of events getting the team the clues they need to figure out who The Mist is. Which in turn provides the list of targets that the guy is working through. That makes things personal since the last one on it is someone that Barry is quite close to and that puts a new kind of pressure on him to try and figure things out quickly in how to deal with The Mist. Shifting events to Iron Heights makes for a pretty good locale to work with, especially as it focuses on The Mist trying to take out Joe for his involvement in his original arrest. It also has a quick nod that makes for some fun as we see Barry’s father seeing The Flash for the first time, with a bit of recognition that he has to work through of course.
In Summary:
Facing a villain like The Mist is definitely a challenge for Barry, which is what the final act eventually focuses on in a fun way. What helps is that we get a good visual effects design on it with a bit of a budget that keeps it from looking cheap. It may end quickly overall, similar to what we saw with the past two villains, but the end result is a solid one that helps to build up his rogues list a bit. The episode as a whole is another strong one with some really great moments. Ronnie’s introduction is welcome for what it portends, the character interactions across the board are good and the main villain storyline of the week is well handled, especially as it starts touching on ways to deal with containing the metahuman villains as they come across them. We also get a lot of little easter eggs, including some well place 52 numbers in the background that makes you really pay extra attention to the details. The show continues to hit some great notes and is pretty much my favorite new show of the fall season. The team behind this has totally found the right tone and approach to make this work. New episodes cannot come fast enough.
Grade: B+
