| "Out of Control" | |
|---|---|
| |
| Air date | September 27th, 1990 |
| Writers | Gail Morgan Hickman |
| Director | Mario Azzopardi |
| Producers | Stephen Hattman; Gail Morgan Hickman; Steven Long Mitchell; Craig W. Van Sickle; Don Kurt; Danny Bilson |
| Starring | John Wesley Shipp; Amanda Pays; Alex Desert |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous "Pilot (Part 2)" |
Next "Watching the Detectives" |
"Out of Control" is the third episode of the superhero action/fantasy series The Flash. It was directed by Mario Azzopardi with a script written by Gail Morgan Hickman. It first aired on CBS on Thursday, September 27th, 1990 at 8:00 pm. The main stars of the show include John Wesley Shipp as Barry Allen, aka the Flash, Amanda Pays as scientist Tina McGee, and Alex Désert as Barry's scientist lab partner Julio Mendez.
Plot
Someone is targeting the homeless people in Central City. A mysterious figure offers a homeless man money, but after he accepts it, he finds himself the victim of unspeakable horror. His friends ultimately find him dead, having been horribly disfigured.
A priest named Father Michael goes to the Central City Police Station to express his concerns about the rising disappearances in the homeless community, but Lieutenant Warren Garfield doesn't have the resources or the manpower to pursue an investigation.
Meanwhile, Barry Allen attends a science lecture with Tina McGee hosted by Doctor Carl Tanner. The three of them speak after the lecture and continue their discussion on genetic reorganization. Barry has some moral issues with Tanner's developmental ideas, but is more concerned with Tanner's obvious attraction to Tina McGee, with whom he shares a history with.
Tanner offers to drive Tina home and she accepts. They talk about the work in genetics conducted by Tina's late husband, David, which ultimately resulted in David's death. Before saying goodnight, Tanner steals a kiss, which greatly flusters Tina.
However, she does find himself attracted to both Tanner and his work, and invites him to dinner the following evening. Tanner mentions how he wants to get a hold of some of her husband's old notes, but Tina refuses, citing how it was his work that killed him. Tanner slips a drug into Tina's drink, then takes a scan of her eyeball while she's unconscious, which he can use later to get into the laboratory vault to get the notes all for himself.
While all of this is going on, more homeless people are dying under gruesome circumstances. Father Michael leads a protest at the police station demanding action, but the situation becomes explosive when one of the homeless men manages to grab a cop's gun. Barry is present and uses his super-speed to disarm the man and return the gun to the officer's holster without anyone being the wiser.
Barry later learns that one of the homeless people in attendance is Charlie Wright. Barry recognizes Charlie as one of his classmates from high school. He tries to give the guy a hand, but Charlie scoffs at his efforts, saying he doesn't like being treated as a charity case. Barry continues in his efforts to help however, and arranges to get Charlie a job as a night watchman at S.T.A.R. Labs. As it turns out, it is the same laboratory that Doctor Tanner needed Tina's visual ID for to fool the retinal scan.
Doctor Tanner, who is also the man who has been experimenting on homeless people, uses David McGee's notes to finalize his genetic reorganization serum. He takes the serum himself, which transforms him into a hulking blockbuster.
The mutated Tanner goes on a spree of violence through Central City, prompting Barry to change into the Flash to stop him. Tanner is physically stronger than Barry and dashes him about with a series of blows. Ultimately Barry takes a length of chain link fence and wraps Tanner up in it, securing him until the serum burns out of his system. After which, he is arrested.
Cast
Starring
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| John Wesley Shipp | The Flash, Barry Allen |
| Amanda Pays | Tina McGee |
| Alex Desert | Julio Mendez |
Guest Starring
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Vito D'Ambrosio | Tony Bellows |
| Biff Manard | Michael Murphy |
Co-Starring
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Mike Genovese | Warren Garfield |
| Stan Ivar | Carl Tanner |
| Jeff Perry | Charlie Wright |
| John Toles-Bey | Father Michael |
| Robert Benedetti | Doctor Mortimer |
| Michael Earl Reid | Mickey |
| Mario Roccusso | Sam |
| Bill Dunnam | Jack |
| Macka Foley | Cop |
Notes & Trivia
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