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Published on October 22nd, 2014 | by Sharp-O

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Flash Facts: “Things You Can’t Outrun”

Can I get away with listing all the references that made me squee and just call it a review? 
Things You Can’t Outrun is the third episode of The Flash and GRODD DAMN this show keeps getting better. The story, the characters, the dynamics, the effects and the whole package is just the perfect superhero TV show. I’ve seen a lot of people criticize The Flash and compare it to Gotham. Now, I’m not blind, I can see the correlation between Gotham introducing a bunch of characters who will be big deals down the road and Flash doing the same thing but the key difference being that The Flash is building a world, while Gotham is just in it for the “nudge-nudge, wink-wink, that guy might be the Joker” teasing.

Let me put it this way, The Flash is incredibly corny, invests you in the lives of these characters and just tries to have fun in the sandbox its building with Arrow. While Gotham is trite, doesn’t care that for this show to work, Batman would be chasing a 60 year old Riddler across roof tops in 30 years and is trying to Nolan itself so hard it’s wearing Batman Begins like an ill-fitting jock strap. The Flash has heart and Gotham has no soul.

tumblr_ndu3sbxJOW1rz1p45o2_500 tumblr_ndu3sbxJOW1rz1p45o3_500One rant over, and another begins! Iris West annoys the piss out of me. Not because she’s a poor actress (quite the contrary, she’s quite likable), not because she’s dating a future bad guy (Fuck you, Eddie!) and not because of her race (If that’s the case, what are you? Retarded?) it’s because she will end up with Barry Allen in the future and I think Caitlin Frost is a much better match! … What? I’m allowed my pairing preferences! The scene Iris and Barry share at the start of the episode is quite cute though I’ll give them that.

Flash Fact: The theatre marquee shows two movies; Blue Devil II: Hell to Pay and The Rita Farr Story. Both Blue Devil and Elasti-Girl (Rita Farr) were movie stunt performers who gained super powers.

tumblr_ndue8gv81i1qhw5ldo2_500The meat of this episode is with Caitlin Frost. Caitlin lost her fiancé Ronnie, when the particle accelerator exploded and we see those events unfold while Barry deals with some D-list villain who is an atrocious actor in the A-Plot. Engineer Ronnie Raymond is played by Robbie Amnell, cousin to Arrow‘s lead Stephen Amnell and fresh of the recently cancelled The Tomorrow People. He’s a solid actor but is ultimately given the Red-Shirt treatment, making a selfless sacrifice to save everyone while developing very little. He has pretty good chemistry with Danielle Panabaker and it goes well with their relationship as Caitlin herself describes them as “fire and ice”, noting that they’re very different personality-wise.

Flash Fact: The chamber door that Ronnie is sealed behind bears the Firestorm logo, foreshadowing his eventual return, perhaps?

The budding relationship between Caitlin and Barry is pretty sweet, it’s just a shame it won’t turn out the way I want and they’ll just be good friends. Then again, his last love interest was Felicity Smoak and she’s putting in an appearance next week to act as his Science-Bro! Barry and Joe’s father/son dynamic again proves to be an immensely satisfying and emotional part of the episode but old Joe West knows how to make me laugh, threatening to shoot Eddie Thawne when he and Iris try to reveal they’re in a relationship.

tumblr_ndtqsaOcv51qht9lao1_500 tumblr_ndtqsaOcv51qht9lao2_500Harrison Wells continues to be a shady fuck and I’m no wiser on his possible identity. Theories?

Be sure to wrap up warm for next week, there’s a cold snap coming and we’re Going Rogue!

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