This week’s episode was yet another world-builder, but unlike the first two episodes, this one was focused on the particle accelerator incident, which continues to influence the show considerably.
1. “The Red Blur”
I presume this is a winking nod to a prior CW superhero show, where we had a character who was known as “the Blur,” with and all sorts of superheroics happened. That show’s first season was also charming and full of potential. However, The Flash is already head and shoulders above Smallville in a whole number of ways, the most obvious being that Barry Allen is already a superhero, and wasn’t a whiny brat for 9.9 seasons before finally embracing his role.
2. Not Your Mama’s Ronnie Raymond
Much like Ray Palmer on Arrow, or even Barry on the same show, this version of Ronnie Raymond isn’t exactly who we are used to seeing in the comics. Gone is the jock persona, the attitude, the irresponsibility – all that is left is the name and the good looks. But that isn’t a bad thing – as long as the show creates a compelling character out of Raymond, we all win. How, exactly, everyone thinks he is dead is a little unusual, especially as we’ve seen others affected/transformed by the particle accelerator.
3. Fire and Ice, Har Har
There is a nice bit of foreshadowing here, with Caitlin Snow (get it?) saying that people called her and Ronnie “fire and ice.” Get it? The future Firestorm and Killer Frost? Fire and ice? Get it? Do you get it? Do you get the joke? Are you sure you get the joke? Would you care for me to explain it to you again? Explain the joke to you? The fire and ice joke? Do you get it? The joke? The fire and ice joke? Get it?
Are you sure you get the joke? The fire and ice joke? Do you get it?
4. The Mist
The fact that the Mist was just on television is a minor miracle enough on its own, but it also leads to the possibility that we’ll get a Starman at some point – Ted or Jack Knight, most likely – and if this show brings a Starman onto it, good lord, I will lose my mind.
But this choice of villain also did two important things for the show: it showed off its special effects acumen with gusto, really nailing the menacing nature of the Mist, and not just having it be a cheesy looking smoke (although there were times it wasn’t great). The other thing it did was give Barry a villain that didn’t have a clear and easy to distinguish weak spot. This is the first villain that seemed to really give him fits.
5. The Wells Stinger
Yes, it is a little cheesy to have each episode end with Wells being cryptic and creepy, but it is certainly working for me right now. Wells is a character that has been handled so perfectly, that in each episode I convince myself he’s good, and then almost instantly convince myself he’s evil and responsible for everything bad that has ever happened on the planet. Tom Cavanaugh is doing a hell of a job with the part, and coupled with the overall tone of the series being so hopeful, his machinations and creeping appear even more sinister and bizarre than they would on a show like Arrow. It is a really, really fun way to end each episode.
