EPISODE 5: "Plastique"
SYNOPSIS: An explosive female creates serious problems for Team Flash and no, I'm not talking about Plastique!
RECAP (Beware of spoilers!):
With last week’s rerun due to election night, it’s so nice to have a new episode of THE FLASH back on our TV screens! Not only that, we also have our first female meta-human, Plastique (Kelly Frye). Bonus points that she’s a fellow redhead.
The theme for tonight's episode is friendship. As Barry says in the opening voiceover, some friends come into your life and stay forever, and some quickly leave; others :cough: Iris :cough: will hopefully become something more. However, in a deviation from the norm, Barry's new friends (Caitlin and Cisco) prove they are trustworthy and in it for the long haul, whereas his long-time friendship with Iris begins to show cracks. In what is easily Iris' best episode to date, we finally get a little more oomph out of her character; boyfriend drama is sidelined for a look at her relationship with Barry, and the negative effects her exposé blog about "The Streak" is beginning to have. If we have more episodes like this, I may start to come around to the whole Barry/Iris saga.
As a way to introduce his old friend to the new, Barry, Caitlin, Cisco, Iris and Eddie decide to gather at a bar to have some drinks. Apparently, Barry hasn't had alcohol since he became the Flash because although he may be able to walk on water and scale buildings, poor Barry discovers he can't get drunk. Stupid hypermetabolism! Thankfully, Caitlin has a blood testing kit on-hand and promises to find a cure for the terrible affliction.
Across town, a woman is seen breaking into the file room of a Veterans Affairs office. When security discovers her and attempts to apprehend her, she creates a huge explosion. Although she is able to escape, a window washer isn't so lucky and is dangling from a fraying cable. Why is a window washer working in the middle of the night? Regardless, Eddie gets called to the scene, which tips off Barry.
Iris also takes the initiative and goes to the crime scene to investigate. She hopes "The Streak" will appear so she can report about it on her blog. Luckily for her, she catches Barry as he is recovering from running up the building to save the window washer. Using his face vibration trick, Barry conceals his identity. However, Iris now knows there is a man behind the streak.
While investigating the crime scene, Barry discovers there is no evidence that the mysterious woman used an actual bomb to set the explosions. Meta-human alert! But what was she looking for in the facility? Using his super speed, Barry is able to go through the files to somehow figure out what was stolen and discovers the perpetrator, Bette Sans Souci, lifted documents from her own file. Bette is a military veteran that specialized in explosive ordinance disposal (EOD). Think THE HURT LOCKER.
As it turns out, the military already knew Bette was the perpetrator, so they send General Eiling into the Central City Police Department to take over the case. Back at the lab, Barry and co. find out that General Eiling has a history with Dr. Wells. Years ago, Eiling was working on gene therapy for soldiers; he wanted to create a mind-reading capability that would help in interrogations. Dr. Wells was not a fan of this practice to say the least (see the Stinger section for more). Thanks to the file Barry grabbed at the office building, the team find an address for Bette and Barry sets off to track her down. When Barry starts to talk to Bette, however, she reveals her dangerous super power; anything she touches turns into a bomb. Bette touches the lightning bolt emblem on Barry's chest and accidentally puts a bomb in his suit. However, he is able to strip down before the suit goes kaboom. Thankfully the suit allows room for underwear.
Never one to give up, Barry sets off on another mission to talk to Bette. This time, the team tracks her down to the office of Dr. Harold Hadley, who performed experimental surgeries on her after the accident. But before Barry can get to her, General Eiling and a group of soldiers surround the office and shoot Bette in the arm. Just as a grenade comes through the window, Barry speeds in and brings Bette back to S.T.A.R. labs for tests. As the only other meta-human the team has been able to examine, they are interested in studying Bette's biological make-up. Before the accelerator explosion, Bette was recovering from a war injury caused by shrapnel. However, thanks to the meta-human creating effect of the explosion, dark matter fused with the bomb particulate in her body, creating the explosive super power. Unfortunately, because the shrapnel fused with her cells, her powers cannot be reversed. This means, anything Bette touches for the rest of her life will explode. This creates a serious issue; she can't be part of the team because she's dangerous, but she also shouldn't go in the Pipeline because she's not a villain. What do you do with her?
Unbeknownst to Barry, Caitlin and Cisco, Dr. Wells decides to use Bette, or as she's now known "Plastique", as an assassin. He manipulates her into trying to kill General Eiling, saying she is the sheepdog and every good meta-human is a member of her flock; she needs to protect them from the evil General. In a weird twist of fate, now it is Bette, the ex EOD specialist, who starts bombing soldiers. But before she can finish the job, Barry steps in and tells her to stop hurting people. The General uses this cessation in fighting as an opportunity to shoot and kill Bette. Yet another moment where Barry's lack of focus leads to death.
Before she dies, Bette tries to warn Barry about Dr. Wells, but of course, like in any TV show or movie, she dies before she can get the whole sentence out. Now, Bette's body is a ticking time bomb (literally) and Barry has to get her away from the city before she explodes and kills everyone. Traveling at over 600 mph, Barry skids across the surface of the ocean and drops her body a la THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. Thankfully his high speed didn't cause her to disintegrate, thus setting off the bomb too early. Barry makes it back to land just in time to avoid the explosion.
Throughout the episode, Barry pleads with Iris to stop working on the blog. He even visited her as "The Streak" to ask her to stop, disguising his voice and zipping around so she couldn't fully see him. After all, villains may target her if they think she has inside information about the superhero. But Iris won't listen. Throughout their entire childhood, Barry preached that they should believe the impossible is possible. Now that the impossible is proving to be possible, and there is a red flash like he described seeing after his mother's death, Iris doesn't understand why he is asking her to stop looking into it. After saving the city, Barry makes one last plea to Iris to get her to stop working on the blog, saying he wants to put his family issues behind him. However, Iris refuses and Barry is forced to put their friendship on a break. Thankfully, though, Caitlin has concocted a 500 proof alcohol for Barry to drown his sorrows in… even if the buzz only lasts 5 seconds.
STINGER: General Eiling comes back to talk to Dr. Wells, giving props for sending Bette to kill him. He says he saw The Flash and wants to work with him, but Dr. Wells puts a quick kibosh on that. Dr. Wells lets General Eiling know that if he ever threatens him again, he will end him (not just his career). General Eiling leaves, but not before telling Dr. Wells he knows the accelerator explosion was intentional. Flashback to 5 years ago: Dr. Wells tells General Eiling that he will not stand for the test subject they are working with to be treated so cruelly; that test subject is revealed as Gorilla Grodd! Dr. Wells whispers that he has big plans for Grodd.
DC UNIVERSE EASTER EGGS: Gorilla Grodd is a major villain from the comics; one of his main powers is mind-control. At one point, the team tracks Bette down to a residence in Englewood, the home of Cameron Scott. Cameron Scott is an alias for Captain Atom.
COOL ALTERNATE USE OF "THE FLASH" POWERS: Barry is able to use his super speed to scale a building and save a window washer dangling from a fraying wire. Since he maintains the same speed going up as he does going down, he doesn’t go “splat” as Caitlin delicately puts it. Barry is also able to disguise his voice, when talking to Iris, by vibrating his vocal cords quickly. Glad he didn't wind up sounding like Alvin, Simon, or Theodore.
FAVORITE QUOTE: When trying to figure out how to save the window washer, Barry knows he can't catch him because he doesn't have super strength so he asks the team, "Is there a bed store around here? What if I get a bunch of mattresses and stack them?" Caitlin replies, "Barry this isn't a Roadrunner cartoon!"
Final Verdict: