“It doesn’t matter if you’re the slowest kid in gym class or the fastest man alive; every one of us is running. Being alive means running. Running from something. Running to something…or someone. And no matter how fast you are, there are some things you can’t outrun. Some things always manage to catch up to you.”

Life is an ever changing series of events. There’s good and bad. There’s the mundane and, in the case of Barry Allen, the impossible. This week’s ‘Flash’ continues to solidify our connection to the fastest man alive.

Hanging out with his bestie Iris, Barry gets a call from Caitlin and Cisco about “a bad man with a gun”. He’s able to take the guy out and return to Iris’s side without her ever knowing. As they continue their night, the Darbinian crime family’s business meeting ends when a toxic gas cloud takes out the entire clan. At the station, West presents Barry with the box housing the evidence on his mom’s case. The detective is all-in, determined to prove Henry Allen’s innocence. Thawne interrupts the two with news on the deaths at the restaurant. Barry hypothesizes about the poisonous gas but there’s a bit of a hiccup in there; how were some of the men able to get away from the table when they all should have been affected at the same time? West knows they need backup and tap Barry’s STAR team for more research. Not only do they bring forth questions on the newest meta-human but West, ever the police man, understands they need a place specialized enough to handle such powerful individuals. Cisco suggests using the Particle Accelerator as that place.

9 months ago…

We’re taken back to that night. Cisco warns Wells of the weather report while we get our first glimpse of a happier Caitlin alongside her fiancé, Ronnie. And then the weirdness—or “the loud bang”—begins…

Now

Barry’s first encounter with ‘The Mist’ doesn’t go too well

Cisco and Wells head down to the Accelerator but without Caitlin. She’s not ready to venture down that path just yet. Reading her apprehension, Barry enlists her aid in IDing the poisonous gas samples he’d taken from the earlier victims. Barry saves Caitlin from going down to Accelerator. They return to the precinct where they end up discovering two separate DNA strands present in the lung tissue sample. This brings the meta-human’s power into focus—he can’t control poisonous gases, he BECOMES the poisonous gas.

To fulfill his obligations to Barry, West views Henry Allen’s interview after the murder and the guilt is etched into his face. But the seriousness is expertly broken up when Detective Thawne arrives in an attempt to surprise his girlfriend and getting a surprise of his own when his partner comes to the door. After the awkward moment, he gets Iris alone long enough to tell her the sneaking around has to stop. They need to tell West about their relationship.

Back at the Lab, Cisco and Wells are going over some of the details on retrofitting the Accelerator and after Wells goes to make some adjustments, Cisco’s thoughts return to

9 months ago

The system is collapsing and they have to shut it down. Ronnie follows Cisco down to the Accelerator, much to Caitlin’s fears. “I have to go,” he tells her and when he and Cisco arrive down at the main level, Ronnie—the structural engineer—orders Cisco to shut the main doors if he’s unable to get back from shutting off the emergency valve within 2 minutes…

From Cisco’s involvement, he’s dealing with his own levels of guilt for locking his friend in the Accelerator. Somehow, Barry’s able to get Caitlin to open up about Ronnie. It’s guilt all around as she confesses that her fiancé was there only for her. She’s interrupted by the analysis results of the tissue followed by the call of another gas attack. Caitlin tries dissuading Barry from taking this newest villain on but he tells her “I have to go”, ominous words for Caitlin, indeed. He’s too late to save the latest victim but confronts the baddie in the back corridors of the mall. The fight is a one-sided affair with the Mist (Cisco’s idea) gassing Barry but not before letting slip that he has one more name on his list. Despite being poisoned, Barry’s able to get back to the lab where his team not only saves him but is able to get an active sample of the gas.

Waking from his latest brush with death, Barry returns to the station to give West the newest details on their meta-human murderer. But their talk goes beyond the current case. With his speed, Barry would have no trouble breaking his dad out of prison. He couldn’t save the Judge in the mall but he could save his dad. And then Detective West gives the newly groomed super hero sage advice. Not only does he put into perspective the issues with breaking Henry out of jail but the dilemma all heroes face. “For every person you save,” West says, “there’s going to be somebody you can’t.” He continues with “Some things, Barry…you can’t fight. Some things you just have to live with.”

Seeing things a bit more clearly, Barry returns to the lab and apologizes for leaving Caitlin. His words were a cut across an unhealed wound, bringing back memories of Ronnie. He sees her pain and shows they’re kindred. His mother’s death still hurts and he reiterates Joe’s words, telling her “there are some things you can’t fight.” She’s afraid to revisit the Accelerator but with Barry’s help, she does and

9 months ago…

She races down and realizes Ronnie’s trapped in the Accelerator. After giving Cisco orders on how to continue the manual override, Ronnie has a few seconds with Caitlin, to say their goodbyes before it’s all over…

Now

Caitlin takes on the memory when Cisco and Wells identify the toxin. Barry’s intuition points to Kyle Nimbus, a hit man for the Darbinian crime family who was executed during the

Visiting an old friend

explosion. Going through the case file, Nimbus’s final target just happens to be Detective Joe West, who’s visiting Henry Allen at Iron Heights. At the prison, Henry has a heart to heart with his former friend. The anger Henry still feels at Joe’s perceived betrayal is wiped clean when the detective lays his guilt-ridden soul to bear. Nimbus interrupts the moment when he attacks the guard posted before enveloping West in his cloud of death. Barry arrives in time to administer the antidote Caitlin made to West (while obscuring his face from his father) before tracking Nimbus down. The plan is simple yet effective. Avoid exposure to Nimbus’s gaseous state until he tires himself out. Barry’s able to do just that, KO’ing the misty villain when he runs out of juice.

West wakes from his brush with death to have Barry watching over him. The world’s fastest man admits to the complications breaking his father out would present as well as Iris coming clean on her and Thawne’s relationship. Caitlin and Cisco have a moment where she finally realizes she’s made peace with Ronnie’s death. Speaking of peace, Barry pays another visit to his dad. He gives his dad an update on Joe’s health and admits to thinking about his mother. Henry Allen tells Barry the story of him walking for the first time. “You didn’t just walk,” he said of Barry’s first steps, “you ran.” He had some place to go.

“I thought being the fastest man alive would make my life easier; that I could outrun anything. Turns out, no one can outrun pain. Life is tragic, but it’s also precious. And sweet. And extraordinary. And the only way I know to honor my mom’s life is to keep running.”

End Credits

Wells stares at the Flash suit and smiles..

9 months ago

He gets word on Ronnie successfully averting disaster and retreats to the hidden alcove where he watches Barry moments before the fateful lightning strike. But was it fate? “See you soon, Barry,” Wells says as the screen goes black…