The Flash Review: Episode 1×06 - “The Flash Is Born”

The Flash Goes Back To High School To Fight A Man Of Steel, and Reverse-Flash Strikes Again

Though Barry is still in a disagreement with Iris, he must fight off his childhood-bully-turned-metahuman, Tony Woodward, whose metallic strength is being used to support his criminal activities. Every hit injures Barry more than Tony, so Barry will have to dig deep and run fast enough to break mach 1 if he expects to defeat this opponent. The stakes are further upped when Tony kidnaps Iris, as Barry isn’t the only one with unresolved feelings for her, but can Barry save her in time? Meanwhile Joe is continuing his investigation into Barry’s mother’s death and with his newfound knowledge of metahumans, could Mrs. Allen’s killer be closer than he thought? Let’s discuss.

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Just Can’t Stay Away

While Barry and Iris are keeping their distance (at least as themselves), we’re treated to a series of flashbacks of the two as children being raised by Joe. These flashbacks not only serve to provide backstory on Barry’s experiences with childhood bully Tony Woodward but to further demonstrate the depth of the bond between Barry and Iris. In particular, we liked the scene where Joe is training Barry in boxing and has Iris show him some moves (baby Iris lays baby Barry out). The bright day and lush green in the background gave another layer of warmth to the interaction. In the present arc, Barry is still speaking with Iris as “The Streak” and there’s something rather exhilarating about seeing what he is capable of when he’s able to step outside of himself. He’s quite flirty and cheeky with his question-dodging and zipping her up and down from the roof of the building in which they’re meeting in. It will be interesting to see how Barry will reconcile these different sides of himself whenever Iris finally learns the truth.

“I get that you two go way back. To be honest, I was a little threatened by you at first.” ~ Eddie Thawne
“You were threatened by me?” ~ Barry Allen
“Sure, I mean, I’ve seen how close you two are. You seem like a good guy and Iris, I just want her to be happy. From my experience, good friends are hard to find.” ~ Eddie Thawne

Barry also bonds with Eddie throughout this episode and though there was some nice chemistry between the two, we have a sneaking suspicion that this is serving as a set-up for a bigger fall-out when the Eddie and Iris’ relationship finally ends and she gets together with Barry. Perhaps this is what will send Eddie spiralling into his villainous Reverse-Flash state. The physical training was a nice touch, as it gave Barry the opportunity to further develop his fighting skills which he will no doubt need as he has more meta-humans thrown his way. But by far, the most touching scene is the reunion and making up of Iris and Barry. Grant Gustin and Candice Patton make their characters light up when together and it makes their relationship all the more compelling to watch. It was also cute the way Iris became the one to officially name “The Flash,” from that conversation she had with Barry. It was a nice way to wrap up their reconciliation.

We’re Not In High School Anymore

The meta-human of the week is Tony Woodward (comic alias: Girder). He starts off stealing a car and when Barry tries to fight and apprehend him, he ends up with a broken hand from Tony’s (literally) steel jaw. Barry also realises that Tony is someone he went to school with and was bullied by. After Barry heals, he and Eddie investigate Tony’s former place of work and learn that Tony was thought to be dead after an accident in which he fell into a vat of molten scrap metal. Barry is baited into hunting Tony down at his place of residence after Tony passed that information on to Iris, for whom he is still carrying a torch. At the advice of Caitlin and Cisco, Barry must run and hit mock 1 so he can land a punch that will knock Tony’s abilities down (at least for a while). It was a nice touch to have the recalling of Joe’s advice about it being okay to run the other way worked into the buildup of Barry’s run-turned-sonic-punch, as it showed just how much of an influence Joe has had in Barry’s development.

“The thing that happened to you Tony, it happened to me too. But it didn’t just give us abilities; it made us more who we are. You got strong; I got fast. Fast enough to beat you. You used your gift to hurt people; not anymore.” ~ Barry Allen

In looking at Tony as a character, he doesn’t offer up much we haven’t seen before as a large amount of his characterisation feels like a regurgitation of the same old bully-that-peaked-in-high-school trope that we’ve seen time and time again. Actor Greg Finley can hold his own as far as action is concerned but right now, Tony needs to be developed much further. The good thing is that much like the vast majority of meta-human adversaries before him, he’s still alive and thus can be brought back again to be explored further. The special effects were top-notch with him being metal and transitioning between that and his normal human state. With Barry’s sonic punch sequence where he went flying through the air in slow-motion to hit him, it could have been too cheesy but the crackling light gave it an added flair that when paired with the racing score made for an exciting watch. The shattered glass also further enhanced the sequence. But we were rather confused at the end by Barry’s decision to reveal his “secret” identity to Tony. Sure, he’s locked up in the particle-accelerator-turned-human-prison but Barry won’t even tell his best friend Iris. It seems entirely out of character for him to reveal himself just for a brief moment of gloating. But we will admit that Barry’s speech was well-written and we’re assuming that this reveal is going to be something that will come back to bite Barry in the future.

Joe West: The Original Super-Sleuth

Joe West is continuing his mission to help clear Barry’s father’s name and find the true murderer of Barry’s mother. Now that he knows about the meta-humans, he believes that Barry’s childhood testimony about the killer which makes more sense if you factor in super abilities. Joe thinks that someone with abilities much like Barry’s is responsible. Clearly, this is another foreshadowing to Reverse Flash. (Remember that from the comic mythology, Flash/Reverse Flash eventually develops the ability to travel through time). Joe meets with Wells to try to gather information on meta-humans but eventually things become more clear; Joe wants to know if Wells was involved with the murder since his lab was opened not long after Barry’s mother’s death. This was a juicy revelation for us but Wells reveals that he wanted a fresh start after the death of his own wife. With all the sneaking that he’s been doing, we’re not sure if we believe him but for now, he and Joe have formed a friendship.

“If we know that meta-humans were created by the particle accelerator, and testimony shows that a meta-human may have been involved in the murder of Barry Allen’s mother fourteen years ago, it seems to me that way back then there must have been another particle accelerator.” ~ Joe West

We were struck by the number of parallels present with this plot/characters . Joe and Wells have embarked on a friendship just as Barry and Eddie have. We have already seen explicitly seen that Wells is plotting and scheming. Though we haven’t seen this type of behaviour from Eddie, canonically he is set to become Reverse Flash (a villain). Reverse Flash’s signature costume is yellow, so when you combine the flashes of yellow seen by the murderer when he visits Joe to steal his files on the case and try to scare him off and the knowledge that Flash/Reverse Flash (eventually) has the ability to time travel we’re assuming that this is future-Eddie wreaking havoc on those he has yet to but will at some point have a falling-out with. All of this foreshadowing and opportunity to make predictions based on the comic mythology was one of the most fun parts of the episode.

FINAL VERDICT

Though not the strongest episode as far as the character content of villain Tony was concerned, The Flash still delivered solid action between him and Barry and nicely moved along the mythology with bountiful foreshadowing and the official naming of “The Flash” himself. Director Millicent Shelton nicely wove the flashback sequences into the story to balance the flow of Barry’s journey to find resolution regarding the schoolyard bullying he received with the eventual reconciliation of Barry and Iris after last week’s falling out. Writers Jaime Paglia & Chris Rafferty infused great comedy in to balance some of the more dramatic content. Our favorite comedic gem was that of Caitlin and Cisco trying to use their brilliant scientific minds to calculate how many bugs Barry swallows in a day of his running at super-speed. Most of all, we’re thrilled that the show is getting back to the main premise of the hunt for Barry’s mother’s killer instead of only introducing a villain to be defeated by the end episode (for now).

Questions, Comments, Concerns…

• Iris… are you asking The Flash what else he can vibrate? *sips tea*
• That’s one hot piece of metal. *fans self with hand*
• MAN OF STEEL. I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE. #DCShoutout
• Barry looking all proud that Iris lied to her man about spending time with The Streak. xD
• Puberty did that schoolyard bully good… #JustSaying
• WAS threatened? You still should be, Eddie!
• Man in yellow killed Barry’s mother… OBVIOUSLY it was Reverse Flash. Why is this even a question?
• My my Joe, you’re so sharp! Look at you being quick to determine that Wells is SHADY!
• Break any and every law, just help me save my lady. #LiterallyWhatBarryJustSaid
• Tony’s so fixated on reliving the glory days SMH
• We are all Cisco and Cisco is us. #SonicPunchWOOHOO
• YAAAAAS Iris landing that last punch!!!
• These two couldn’t even make it through one episode away from each other. WestAllen FOREVAHHH!
• THEY’VE NAMED HIM. WESTALLEN NAMED HIM.
• WHAT DID I JUST SAY. THAT WAS TOTALLY REVERSE FLASH. LA LA LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF I WAS RIGHT.