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FLASH: SPOILER Review 1×06 “The Flash is Born”

The Flash (1×06) –
“The Flash is Born”
Written by: Jaime Paglia and Chris Rafferty
Directed by: Millicent Shelton
This week’s episode opens with a bit of a twist on the now
familiar format; Iris is giving us the opening voice-over.  She asks us to believe in the impossible and
we quickly learn that she in the middle of posting a story to her blog. 
Mere seconds after posting, she is raced to the roof of
Jitters and confronted with The Streak. 
Barry tries once again to convince her to shut down the blog but Iris
continues to refuse.  She begins to
question him he evades her before frustration can color their argument Barry
hears sirens in the distance.  He leaves
Iris back in the coffee shop and is gone.
Cut to a police chase, a man has stolen a yellow Hummer and
driving recklessly with two patrol cars in pursuit.  Two more patrol cars set up a road block and
are joined by Eddie and Joe.  As the
Hummer is heading their way a kid in headphones is crossing the street.  Joe tries unsuccessfully to get the kid’s
attention but Barry saves the kid and deposits him by the side of the road.
Joe and Eddie open fire on the driver, as Eddie hits him
between the eyes the man’s skin turns to metal moments before he crashes
through the road block with Barry in pursuit now.  Barry gets ahead of him and the man skids to a
stop.  After he gets out of the hummer,
re tears off the door and throws it at Barry; he ducks the door and punches the
man in the face.  The man turns to metal
again and Barry breaks his hand on his face, the man then pummels Barry before
declaring he was “born to take a beating.”  Before he can land a killing blow, Barry
speeds away.
At STAR Labs, Caitlin and Cisco are attempting to figure out
how many bugs Barry swallows as he’s running when they are met by Dr.
Wells.  The Trio finds Barry unconscious on
the floor of the main lab, when he wakes up in the medical area he learns that
he broke his hand in thirteen places, bruised his rips and spleen and suffered
a concussion.  They ask him what happens
and when he describes what the driver can do, Dr. Wells mistakes him for
another prominent DC Universe personality and Barry says that the man seemed
familiar.  Particularly something he said,
Dr. Wells instructs Barry to get some rest and they will deal with the problem
in the morning.
The next morning, Joe is at the police station looking
through Barry’s statement from the night Nora Allen was murdered.  Seeing Barry in action has jogged Joe’s
memory and he finds Barry’s description of a “ball of yellow and red
lightning with a man inside.”  Barry
arrives and after he tells Joe the driver is another meta Joe asks Barry to try
to explain away what Eddie saw the man do the night before.
Barry arrives at a briefing with Captain Singh; the driver
stole three ATMs that night and was identified by security cameras as “Tony
Woodward.”  Barry seems to recognize
the name and flashes back to his childhood where he and Iris are confronted by
Tony.  It quickly becomes clear that Tony
is the class bully as he knocks Barry down and says that Barry was “born
to take a beating.”
When he snaps back to reality, he and Eddie are alone.  Eddie tells Barry that he saw the bullets
bounce off Woodward and created sparks. 
Barry tries to imply that he was wearing body armor but Eddie counters
“on his face?”
Barry is interrupted by Iris’ arrival, after she greets him
coolly she asks Eddie about the kid Barry saved the night before.  Eddie then announces that he and Barry are
going to find Woodward.  Iris gives Barry
a cold look before she leaves and Eddie asks Barry what’s wrong.  Barry shrugs the question off before leaving
an unconvinced Eddie in his wake.
Joe arrives at STAR labs and asks Dr. Wells for help on the
Nora Allen case.  Before we can find out
more the scene shifts to Barry with Cisco and Caitlin discussing Barry’s bully
becoming a regular iron- err, metal-
that’s no better, Tony’s abilities.  Barry asks how they are going to handle the
problem and Cisco reveals he’s put together a robot to help Barry learn how to
fight.
Unsurprisingly, Barry is soon nursing a dislocated shoulder
as Caitlin tends to his injuries.  Eddie
calls him and tells him that they’ve found Tony’s getaway car.  On the scene, Barry investigates the car
while Eddie tries to talk to him about his fight with Iris.  Barry remembers Joe and Iris trying to teach
him to fight as a boy for a moment before Eddie asks him what Tony was doing
with the hummer.  Barry notices some kegs
which lead the pair to a Keystone City brewery.
Back at STAR, Joe is describing Nora’s murder to Dr. Wells
and asks him for input about the murder. 
Wells is unconvinced but Joe says that seeing Barry save the boy fits
his description of the “Lightning Man” almost exactly and Joe
suspects that perhaps there was another person with Barry’s powers.
At the Rusty Iron Ale brewing company, Barry and Eddie
question the employees about Tony, when one of the employees tries to run Eddie
and Barry chase after him.  Barry makes a
show of falling behind before he speeds ahead of the pair but realizing he’s
with Eddie, Barry decides to take a punch from the man so Eddie can tackle him.
The man reveals that the night of the Explosion they were
coworkers at an Iron Works facility.  The
manager fired Tony and he turned violent. 
As they were pulling him off the manager he fell into a vat of molten
iron at the moment of the explosion and disappeared.
At Jitters, one of Iris’ co-workers asks why she hasn’t seen
Barry around recently but she avoids the question.  Tony arrives and alternates between hitting
on her and trying to get Iris to tell him how to get his hands on the Streak.  When she sees Tony’s wanted by the police on
TV she tries to call Eddie, Tony crushes her phone then leaves.
Barry is about to try training with Cisco’s robot at STAR
Labs when Cisco and Caitlin come in with information.  Cisco found signs in a soil sample that Barry
took that could only come from the now closed Keystone Iron Works.  Caitlin shows them Iris’ blog, she has
information on Tony and she’s asking for Barry to meet with her at Jitters.
Barry runs to the iron works and looks for Tony but he gets
the jump on him.  He knocks Barry down
and tries to crush him a shelf-unit full of weights.  Caitlin and Cisco find him and take him back
to STAR Labs for aid.  Wells is livid and
he and Barry argue about Barry chasing off without a plan: which they now
have.  It Barry strikes Tony correctly at
the right speed he can injure him. 
Caitlin points out that the speed he would need to hit Tony at is faster
than he’s ever ran and his he’s going at the wrong speed he could break every
bone in his own body.
At the Police Station, Joe and Barry talk about the
situation when Eddie tells that Tony may have skipped town and that State
Police are looking for him. 
Unfortunately, Joe thinks that Tony will soon return.  Eddie asks Barry to help him work out on a
heavy bag.  Eddie tells Barry that he was
bullied as a child too and that was why he learned how to fight, Eddie teaches
Barry and it seems he’s starting to get the right idea about fighting.
Joe and Wells meet at a local pub and discuss Nora’s murder
again.  Joe is convinced that Barry saw
something and he believes it was a meta-human. 
Wells quickly deduces that Joe thinks he was somehow involved and he
leaves.
Iris is at home, updating the blog with police posted
outside.  Tony arrives and takes care of
them before he kidnaps Iris.  Barry
learns about the abduction and calls Cisco and Caitlin for help while he tries
to find Joe.
Tony’s takes Iris to their old school where he tells her
she’s going to start writing about him under threat of violence.  Barry arrives and he and Tony fight
again.  Barry uses his speed well but
Tony soon overpowers him.  Barry seems to
run away but it turns out he only ran far enough to get a good enough running
start to deliver what Cisco describes as a “Supersonic Punch.”  It only dazes Tony, but Iris delivers the
knockout punch.
Tony wakes up in The Pipeline where Barry confronts him
without the mask, after he leaves Tony behind Cisco tries to convince Barry to
help him takedown his childhood bully. 
Joe comes to Wells to apologize for accusing him, and for the loss of
his wife.  He and Wells talk about why he
came to Central City and the accelerator. 
Joe hopes that Wells will help him find Nora’s killer.
Barry meets up with Iris at Jitter and both quickly
apologize for the way they acted last week. 
The pair end up talking about The Streak.  It’s then that Barry inspires Iris to offer
up a new name.  The Flash.
Joe’s working on Nora’s case at him and he’s attacked by a
ball of yellow lightning with a man inside. 
The man takes all Joe’s evidence and leaves a clear message: Stop his
investigation or Iris dies.
This week’s episode had strong points and weak points.  The Girder stuff was a bit after-school bullying
special but allowed for some good character moments for Barry, Cisco and even
Eddie.  Joe’s attempt to enlist Wells’
help led to some very interesting character development for Wells.  Iris and Barry’s strained relationship worked
very well.  Also, Iris mirroring Barry’s
opening and closing monologues from the pilot were a great touch.
The effects continue
to impress and helped showcase Barry’s expanding abilities.  It was all wrapped up with the second appearance
of the presumed Reverse Flash.  Lastly,
I’m very glad to see taillights on the name “The Streak.”  This episode may not be something to write
home about but it still had enough entertaining moments that it was enjoyable.
Three Things We Learned This Week:
1)     
Nora Allen was murdered either late March 17th
or early morning March 18th, 2000.
2)     
Eddie was the son of a local politician.
3)     
The Reverse Flash is watching Joe.
Three Questions:
1)     
Assuming Wells is associated with the Reverse
Flash, why attack now when Wells has thrown off suspicion?
2)     
Now that Eddie has seen something related to
meta-humans will he be inspired to seek out more?
3)     
Speaking of Eddie, why did they have to make him
so likable just when I was starting to enjoy hating Detective Pretty Boy?

Just another guy on the internet.