The Flash is Born

"Looks like you were born to take a beating."

—Tony taunting Barry

"The Flash is Born"
Information
Season 1 » Episode 6
Episode number	6 of 184
Original airdate	November 18, 2014
Written by	Jaime Paglia Chris Rafferty
Directed by	Millicent Shelton
Chronology
Preceded by	"Plastique"
Followed by	"Power Outage"

"The Flash is Born" is the sixth episode of the first season of The Flash, and the sixth episode overall. It aired on November 18, 2014.

Synopsis

The Flash faces a new meta-human named Tony, who can turn himself into girded steel at will. While Dr. Wells and Caitlin are concerned about Barry's safety, Cisco comes up with a plan to take Tony down. Meanwhile, Iris's blog on The Flash gets her into trouble, and Eddie witnesses Tony's abilities firsthand and begins to ask questions that Joe doesn't want answered. Joe asks Dr. Wells to help him solve Nora Allen's murder.[src]

Cast

Starring

• Grant Gustin as Barry Allen/The Streak/The Flash
• Candice Patton as Iris West
• Danielle Panabaker as Dr. Caitlin Snow
• Rick Cosnett as Detective Eddie Thawne
• Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon
• Tom Cavanagh as Dr. Harrison Wells
• Jesse L. Martin as Detective Joe West

Guest starring

• Greg Finley as Tony Woodward/Girder
• Patrick Sabongui as Captain David Singh

Co-starring

• Lauren Lee as Stacy Conwell
• Austin Dunn as Young Tony Woodward
• Amina Elkatib as Young Iris West
• Daniel Mallinson as Officer Doyle
• Travis MacDonald as Tat man
• Logan Williams as Young Barry Allen

Plot

Iris is blogging about "The Streak" again. The Flash stops by and tells her once again to stop writing about him. When he says he does not like the name "The Streak," Iris asks what name he wants, and he responds "anything but The Streak." The Flash then saves a boy who is almost run over by a man in a Humvee. Eddie tries to shoot at the man but fails to stop him, and we see his face change into steel. The Flash confronts this new meta-human, a fight ensues, and Barry is severely injured. He is found on the floor of S.T.A.R. Labs, and has thirteen fractures and other symptoms (which is a new record). When asked what he ran into, Barry stated it was a man who can turn to steel, and that he sounded familiar.

The next day, Joe asks Barry what happened and he is told that Barry got beat up by a steel-plated sociopath, stating he is another meta-human. A meeting ensues in CCPD and the man from the day before is identified as Tony Woodward. Barry has a flashback during his younger school days when a bully picked on him for being the son of a murderer, noting that it happened after his father was arrested. At S.T.A.R. Labs, the team comes up with a steel dummy for him to practice his fighting skills. Barry dislocates his shoulder because of the steel dummy, and Caitlin fixes his shoulder painfully.

Tony visits Iris due to her blog and asks about knowing anything about The Flash. When he realizes he can't get any information, he crushes her phone and leaves her unable to contact Eddie. Caitlin unhappily tells Barry about Iris's new blog post of Iris recounting her visit with The Streak. Later, Barry gets beaten up by Tony again.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Wells is angry with Barry for putting his life in danger. Barry is frustrated that he is helpless, powers or no powers. Cisco calculates the speed Barry needs to reach in order to bring down Tony, and states that it would be fun to be faster than the speed of sound. But Barry says he can't achieve that speed - but Wells implies "yet."

At the station, Eddie steps in after Barry tells Joe how bad he feels about Tony, and asks him to join him in blowing off some steam. After throwing some punches with Eddie on a punching bag, he punches a hole in the bag.

Joe and Wells have a conversation that doesn't end well, with Joe implying that Wells knows more about meta-humans than he is admitting. Meanwhile, Iris has been kidnapped by Tony and asks her to post about The Streak's death and to name Tony the "new man on campus". Iris breaks the emergency glass to notify the police. The Flash rushes to the scene but is unable to bring down Tony. Barry decides to try Cisco's theory and, with some inspiration by Joe, he runs out until he is 5.3 miles away. In the meantime, the team in the lab realizes what is going to happen, with Cisco happily cheering on Barry, and Caitlin obviously not happy with the idea. After the punch, both the Flash and Tony goes down, and Tony stands up again only to receive another punch in the face by Iris.

Tony wakes up in the S.T.A.R. Labs prison and Barry shows himself to him and tells him he can't hurt people anymore. Cisco and Caitlin both congratulate Barry. Cisco then cheerfully asks, "Which childhood bully are we gonna take down next?" He volunteers his while Barry and Caitlin exchange looks and walk back to the lab. Cisco follows, insisting it's not a joke.

Barry goes to visit Iris and makes amends with her. After Barry drops some hints naming the "The Streak" into "The Flash," we see Iris updating it on her blog and her viewer's counter increases. Meanwhile, Joe brings wine to Wells.

Joe is seen at home continuing his search for the real murderer on Barry's mother. Reverse-Flash pays a visit and takes most of the evidence and case-related items away, only leaving his notebook. Joe is shocked to see a picture of Iris with a warning for him to stop his search or his daughter will be hurt, symbolized by the knife through the photo.

Trivia

• Iris' voice-over at the beginning: "To understand what I'm about to tell you, you need to do something first. You need to believe in the impossible. Can you do that? Good." And at the end: "A friend [recently] gave me [the] an idea for a new name, and something tells me it's gonna catch on." These are nearly word for word the same as Barry's voice-over at the beginning and the end of the Pilot episode of The Flash.
• The title of this episode is a reference to the fact that The Flash is officially named as a superhero.
• Dr. Wells refers to Girder as a "man of steel" upon hearing of his power. In DC Comics, the nickname largely refers to Superman, a superhero known for his great strength and durability.
• Iris references Tony's "Iron Fist," possibly a reference to the announced Marvel Netflix series, the Iron Fist, based on a Marvel comic of the same name.
• Iris mentions getting posts about a man on fire who doesn't burn up. This likely refers to Ronnie Raymond, known in the DC Comics as Firestorm.
• A sign can be seen on the brewery in Keystone City that says "Garrick's Wharf", a reference to the original Flash in the comics, Jay Garrick, who subsequently appears in the series' second season.
• The police unit outside the West household is named Unit 52, which is a reference to The New 52 storyline, which The Flash is based on.
• This is the second appearance of the Reverse Flash, following his first appearance in the first episode of this season.

Goofs

• To break through Tony's metal skin, Barry had to reach a velocity of Mach 1.1, which is faster than sound (Mach 1). But when Barry broke the sound barrier and created a sonic boom, the sound arrived to Tony's ears before the Flash did which doesn't make any sense, since Barry was travelling faster than sound.
• Caitlin asked Cisco if he wanted Barry to travel at 800 mph, when he said that he would have to travel at Mach 1.1, and Cisco corrected her and said 837 mph, when in actuality Mach 1.1 is 844 mph.

Gallery

Promos

The Flash 1x06 Promo "The Flash Is Born" (HD)

Promo

The Flash 1x06 Extended Promo "The Flash Is Born" (HD)

Extended promo