EPISODE 6: "The Flash Is Born"
SYNOPSIS: A strong, new villain comes to Central City and sets his sights on blogger-extraordinaire, Iris. In order to save her, Barry will need to reach new speeds… and utilize his super sonic punch.
RECAP (Beware of spoilers!):
There you have it, “The Streak” is out and “The Flash” is officially in. Finally! But, now that we can cross the competing superhero name issue off of the list, we are still left with another looming problem, the continuous use of one-off villains. It looks like THE FLASH is holding off on bringing back Wentworth Miller’s Captain Cold until perhaps the mid-season finale? I pray it’s sooner because these single-episode villains, especially tonight's generic baddie (Girder), are getting a little tedious and a lot predictable. Hey, at least we have THE FLASH vs. ARROW cross-over event to look forward to in the upcoming weeks! I wonder whose side Felicity Smoak will be on.
Tonight’s episode begins with Iris’ narration instead of Barry’s. In full Carrie Bradshaw/SEX AND THE CITY mode, Iris reads an article about “The Streak” from her blog, asking her readers to believe in the impossible because there is someone out there who is truly “extraordinary”. Although Iris and Barry are not speaking, that doesn’t stop Barry from donning his red suit to go speak to her incognito. Much to the delight of Iris, “The Streak” uses his powers to jet into the coffee shop and quickly transport her to the roof to talk. There, we see where her priorities lie after she ignores a phone call from Eddie, eliciting a smirk from Barry. Barry lets Iris know how much he dislikes the moniker “The Streak” and warns her again about the dangers created by her blog (:cough: FORESHADOWING). Still, Iris refuses to stop writing about him because he brings everyone hope. Before he can argue, Barry hears sirens and off he goes to save the day, dropping Iris back off on the way.
The sirens lead Barry to this week’s baddie, a drunk meathead driving a yellow Hummer. Police are unable to slow the perp down with bullets, since he turns to metal and the bullets bounce off. Once on the scene, Barry first saves the most oblivious kid of all time, who was crossing the street right in the path of the speeding Hummer. Those must be some awesome noise-canceling headphones! Barry then focuses his attention on stopping the metallic man. However, during their first showdown, Barry cannot inflict any damage. When he punches the criminal in the face, Barry breaks his hand and then gets his ass kicked. Thankfully, he is able to run back to S.T.A.R. Labs just in time.
Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, the team discovers a badly beaten Barry, who has a concussion, broken ribs, 14 fractures in his hand, and a bruised spleen. Thank goodness for super healing! After taking such a beating, Barry and the rest of the team wonder how they will successfully defeat this “man of steel” and why does Barry feel like he knows him? As it turns out, the new metallic villain does have a history with Barry; they went to school together. Tony Woodward (aka Girder) was Barry’s childhood nemesis, a heartless bully who made fun of Barry and the fact his father was in jail. Now it’s payback time. Cisco and Caitlin go full-on Mr. Miyagi and help Barry train to fight Tony using a metal robot. However, Barry is unable to land any punches without breaking his hand. What now?
As Caitlin and Cisco try to find a way to defeat Tony, Barry and Eddie get some bonding time in. First, the two men go to Rusty Iron Brewing Company, since kegs from the company were found in the back of Tony’s Hummer; unlike Barry, apparently alcohol still affects Tony. There, an employee tells Tony’s back-story and how he acquired his super powers. As it turns out, on the day the accelerator exploded Tony got a pink slip from his job at Keystone Iron Works. Of course, he didn’t take this well and proceeded to pummel his boss. During the beat down, however, there was a power surge and Tony somehow fell into a vat of molten scrap metal. Thanks to the dark matter from the explosion, Tony received his superhuman strength and durability from the metal.
Barry and Eddie also let off some steam at the gym by taking turns hitting a punching bag. Unfortunately, Barry doesn’t punch Eddie in the face, but Eddie does unknowingly foreshadow how Barry will defeat Tony, explaining that sometimes it only takes one punch to defeat your enemy. Predictably, Barry can’t hold back his powers forever and punches the bag so hard the sand comes out and Eddie goes flying. In a cheesy, yet funny scene wrap-up, Eddie tells Barry he needs to “work on his [punching] speed”.
Meanwhile, Tony visits Iris to get information about “The Streak”. Although she doesn’t give any information away, Iris notices Tony’s metallic super power, which shows there are more meta-humans out there. When Barry finds out Iris was threatened, he tries to fight Tony for a second time and again gets his ass kicked. Thankfully, Cisco and Caitlin trace his location and save him. A dejected Barry is upset that even with powers, he is powerless to defeat his childhood bully. However, Cisco finds a solution. In order to land a harmful punch (and awesome sonic boom), Barry must hit Tony at Mach 1.1 (837 mph), faster than the speed of sound. Barry will have to start his attack from 5.3 miles away in order to build up enough speed. The downside is, if he does it wrong, he will "shatter" every bone in his body.
Tonight’s episode marks the first time Iris is a damsel in distress. After Tony thinks he killed “The Streak” in their second face-off, he abducts Iris hoping she will now focus her blog on him. In a dramatic, eye-roll worthy move, Tony brings Iris to their childhood school. Thanks to Iris pulling the fire alarm, Barry is tipped off to their location and goes to fight Tony one last time. When Barry starts to lose to Tony again, he flashes back to advice Joe gave him as a kid, telling him it’s okay to run away if he can’t beat his opponent. Barry runs out of the school, 5.3 miles down the road, and speeds back to punch Tony at Mach 1.1, taking him down for the count. As Cisco says, “Super sonic punch, baby!” Off to superhero jail (The Pipeline) with you, Tony.
In what was possibly the shortest fight of all time, Barry and Iris make up. Barry pretends he found out about her kidnapping and doesn’t know what he would do without her. Iris thanks her “guardian angel” for saving her, and then the two come up with a better name for "The Streak". He will now be known as “The Flash!”
On the fringes of tonight’s episode, Joe is still investigating Barry’s mother’s death. When Joe saw Barry rescue the kid in the middle of the road, he realized how reminiscent that red and yellow streak is with what Barry claims to have seen the night his mother was murdered. Joe starts to wonder if a meta-human could have killed Barry’s mother, so he asks Dr. Wells for “help”. However, Joe’s questions are actually part of a fact-finding mission, meant to discover whether Dr. Wells should be a suspect since he opened S.T.A.R. labs only a month after the murder. Does anyone else think this is a bit of a stretch? How is opening up a lab in a large city, a month after a murder, sufficient evidence? Anyway, Dr. Wells’ story of moving to the area for a fresh start after his wife died convinces Joe he had nothing to do with the case. The two men then discuss the fact that meta-humans did not exist before the particle accelerator. But let's be real, that doesn’t discount the fact that they could go back in time. Dun dun dun.
STINGER: Tonight’s stinger didn’t focus on Dr. Wells… or did it? While at home investigating the murder of Barry’s mother, Joe’s electricity goes out. All of a sudden, the red and yellow flash, which Barry saw the night his mother was murdered, starts swirling around the room. When the flash finally leaves, the electricity comes back on and against the wall is Iris’ picture, with a knife going through her head and “Stop or else” etched into the wall. Dr. Wells, was that you?
DC UNIVERSE EASTER EGGS: An off-handed nickname for Tony, “Man of Steel”, harkens back to the other big guy, Superman! Also, both Girder's warehouse and the Rusty Iron Brewing Company were located in Keystone City, which is the second mention of a city that was home to to Jay Garrick and Wally West in the comics. The Firestorm reference at the end of the episode leads me to believe we will be seeing him really, really soon.
COOL ALTERNATE USE OF "THE FLASH" POWERS: In order to defeat this week's villain, Barry zooms to Mach 1.1, which breaks the speed of sound and creates a sonic boom!
FAVORITE QUOTE: After some super nerdy science banter between Cisco and Caitlin, Dr. Wells asks what the two are debating. Cisco replies, “The average number of bugs Barry swallows in a day of running.”
FINAL VERDICT: