The Flashback: ‘The Flash’ – Episode 6 ‘The Flash Is Born’

The Flash is DC’s television adaptation of the comic book of the same name. It airs Tuesday nights at 8/7 Central on The CW. Our writer, Nicole Drum recaps the series each week updating you on the latest episode here in The FlashBack.

Howdy, Flash fans! Last night’s episode finally takes “The Streak” to the destiny of his proper name, we touch on the subject of bullies and abuse, and I get more of my Dr. Wells’ Creeptastic Creepiness that I love so much. Let’s recap!

Okay so our episode opens up just like normal with Barry…wait.  That’s not Barry narrating our opening. It’s Iris, but she’s not really narrating because we’re reading along with her blog, the unfortunately named “The Streak Lives.” Barry doesn’t really like that name and, of course, he tries again to get Iris to stop with the blog but per the usual it’s to no avail. Also per the usual something dramatic takes Barry away.

Barry responds to a high=speed chase and ends up right in front of Colossus!  GUYS IT’S…oh, wait.  Wrong comics franchise. Okay so this guy is not my favorite Marvel Russian, but he does have that nifty super muscle-bound body with solid metal skin action that I think could be sexy in the right situation. This is definitely not the right situation and Barry may be super fast but he’s not exactly super smart all the time. Fist fights with metal men usually end poorly and Barry shatters a bunch of bones and is pretty hurt. For once Barry’s super speed enhanced pseudo healing factor actually takes some time to do its magic so Barry has a minute to lie back and figure out where he knows this shiny dude from. Guy’s name, Tony Woodward, triggers a childhood memory and we get a Lil’ Barry flashback. Turns out Tony’s always been kind of big and mean. He bullied Barry as a kid and Barry and the team have a very special moment of sharing all their own bully stories. Then Cisco shows off a fancy robot boxer made of metal that he made special so Barry can train. Cisco and his awesome naming skills call the robot Girder, and DC fans will be facepalming hard right about now.

Image Credit: CW

Recovered from both his encounter metal man and getting his butt kicked by a robot Barry is out doing his day job on the scene of one of Woodward’s robberies. Good ol’ Eddie Thawne is there, too, and tries to make with the friendy time with Barry because Iris. I am so over Thawne.  Seriously, but we do get a cute Lil’ Barry and Lil’ Iris flashback that involves boxing? Anywho. Barry gets a sample of Woodward’s metal shavings for the lab (which begs the question of how Not!Colossus sheds metal.) Thawne and Barry investigate a Keystone Ironworks in relation to the heist. Barry almost forgets himself and chases after one of he workers when they bolt, but catches himself as he isn’t in his costume and his identity would be spoiled since Thawne is, y’know, right there. Instead we find out that Woodward worked with these guys at the ironworks and was laid off. He sort of flipped out on his boss, that Tony and started a fight and ended up falling into a nice vat of molten scrap metal. Oh, S.T.A.R. labs, your accelerator disaster, happening at just the right time.

Meanwhile back at Jitters, Woodward decides to go visit Iris. Seems our childhood bully just wants himself a date with the pretty lady and also to show off his awesome metal powers. Oh. And to let her know that he knows about The Streak because he ran away! Iris, obviously, isn’t interested but she does warn “The Streak” about this guy and Barry again tells Iris that he doesn’t want her writing this blog. He also tries to smack her with the metaphorical clue by four and explain that Woodward hunted her down via the blog so stop! Iris just never learns, but then again neither does Barry. He tracks down Not!Colossus to a scrapyard and ends up in a fight with him. Again. Guess who gets hurt again? Awesome. Seems losing fights with metal robots doesn’t teach Barry anything. Since Barry never learns Cisco and Wells get all physics on things and figure out that if you hit Woodward at a fast enough speed you should be able to disrupt his sweet metal skin. That speed? Mach 1.1.  That’s over 800 mph, kids. Faster than Barry has gone before and totally sonic boom territory. This could be really awesome, or Barry could fail hard and ended up a bag of bone splinters. Yikes.

Back at the station Thawne lets Barry know that traffic cameras have spotted Woodward leaving Central City in a stolen car so the FBI have taken over. Then the two of them have some bro time and hit a punching bag. Turns out Thawne wasn’t always fabulously handsome. He used to be short, overweight, and the son of a politician who sort of closed a factory and turned his kid into bully target. We’re still on theme, folks! But this workout is cut short because  our metal dude has driven his stolen car someplace interesting: he shows up at Iris’ house.

Not!Colosus kidnaps her and drags her off to their old school. He wants her to write about him now that he claims to have killed The Streak. Iris uses some of the smarts Joe must have imparted on her by flirting with her captor and keeping him calm so she can alert the police by pulling the fire alarm. Woodward is not happy about this, but Joe has dispatched Barry to go save Iris. Barry gets Iris sort of out of the way and then squares off with Woodward. Since our show continues we know that Barry doesn’t end up a bag of bown shards. Barry hits his Mach speed and the sonic boom is freaking glorious. It’s worth noting here, though, that even with his super fast awesome punch he still breaks his hand. Who actually knocks out Woodward? Iris. FINALLY SHE IS USEFUL!  Not!Colossus ends up in the special S.T.A.R. Labs meta-human prison and Barry gets to have his own special moment of justice: he reveals himself to his now-imprisoned old bully. How do you like me now, creep?

Barry later pays Iris a visit and they patch up their friendship. Iris also informs Barry that she’s found out about other special ability folks (she specifically hints at Firestorm) and at the end of the conversation Barry gives Iris a hint about a much, much better name for The Streak: The Flash.

And now we get our Dr. Wells time! This week we see this combined with our Joe time. Joe is keeping his word about trying to solve the murder of Barry’s mama. As he’s been thinking about all the cool things Barry can do and compares it to the things Barry claims to have seen the night his mom died Joe decides he needs to go talk to Wells. Could someone like Barry have been around 14 years ago? Dr. Wells doesn’t really like this line of questioning, honestly, so he and Joe go out to have a drink (because dudes?) Joe’s theory is that maybe there was another sweet particle accelerator back then that could have made another Streak, only an evil one. And then of course, he asks Dr. Wells when he came into town, which was just one month after Mrs. Allen’s murder. Ah. Dr. Wells’ no likey face is great. He’s pretty upset but tells Joe that if he wants answers he should question Tess Morgan. Joe does, then comes back and apologizes to McCreepy. Wells shares his own tale of woe as to why he came to the city and started his accelerator in part to move on from his broken relationship. There’s more drinking (definitely because dudes.) Joe goes home and is crossing Wells off the his list of people who might be involved in Nora Allen’s murder. Just then that crazy yellow blur that killed her rolls up and catches Joe! It doesn’t kill Joe, though. Instead it leaves a message on the wall of “stop or else” and has driven a kitchen knife through a picture of Iris. Warning indeed.

Is Dr. Wells really Reverse Flash or is this just too easy? When do we get to see Firestorm? So many questions! Let me know what you think in comments and stay tuned here as later this week we have a very special bonus: an interview with a member of the cast!