The Flash
Barry (Grant Gustin, right) had to go faster than the speed of sound to stop Tony (Greg Finley, left) in episode 6 of "The Flash" Season 1. The CW

In episode 5 of “The Flash,” Barry (Grant Gustin) became concerned about Iris (Candice Patton) writing about the Flash. Despite her not knowing his superhero identity, the two fought over the issue and Barry and Iris decided to put some space between each other. Things would get worse in episode 6, “The Flash Is Born,” when a new enemy puts Iris right in the middle of the action.

The new episode of the CW series began with Barry paying a visit as the Flash to Iris to talk her out of writing about “the Streak” in her blog. But he was not able to convince her before being interrupted by a robbery.

Barry rushed to an in-process robbery where Joe (Jesse Martin) and Eddie (Rick Cosnett) were trying to stop an armed thief from stealing a truck. However, when Eddie got a couple shots at the man’s face they appeared to just bounce off. The robber’s skin also appeared to change into steel -- he was a meta-human.

Barry showed up and tried to take the man down, but when he punched him the new meta-human’s skin did more damage to Barry than the criminal. Barry returned to S.T.A.R. Labs and told Dr. Wells (Tom Cavanaugh) and the team about their new foe. Cisco (Carlos Valdes) then built Barry a steel dummy to help train him to punch fast enough to do damage to his new opponent.

The next day the police were able to identify the thief as Tony Woodward (Greg Finley), Barry’s high school bully.

Barry and Eddie went to the shipping company where the stolen truck had come from and found a former co-worker of Tony’s. When the man tried to run, Barry had to use a little Flash magic to catch him before he got away -- raising the eyebrows of Eddie, who was already asking uncomfortable questions after his bullet issue with Tony. The captured man admitted to being present when Tony allegedly died in a work accident, the same night as the particle accelerator accident.

Things got interesting when Tony visited Iris, searching for Barry after seeing her blog. He also showed off his powers by destroying her phone. Iris later used her blog to get into contact with Barry and tip him off.

Furious that Tony had involved Iris, Barry went looking for the criminal. But Tony got the jump on Barry at his hideout. The S.T.A.R. Labs team had to recover Barry after Tony left him to die.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco determined that for Barry to do damage to Tony he would have to hit him at 837 miles per hour -- faster than the speed of sound, and fast enough to create a sonic boom (to Cisco’s delight). However, attempting to do so could be deadly for the superhero.

Meanwhile, Joe and Dr. Wells began meeting in secret as the detective sought out the scientist to assist in opening Barry’s father’s case. While Dr. Wells insisted that it was unlikely that a meta-human could have existed before the particle accelerator, Joe wasn’t giving up. He asked if there was another particle accelerator before and asked some questions about Dr. Wells’ past that did not make the doctor happy. He did give Joe a name -- Tess Morgan.

Elsewhere, Iris got another visit from Tony. He kidnapped her and took her to Barry’s old high school.

Barry found out about Iris while training (and bonding) with Eddie. He rushed to the scene, but had no more luck taking on the new enemy and appeared to flee. However, he was just gearing up for a supersonic punch, bursting threw the doors again to land a devastating punch. Iris helped to finish him off.

Tony woke up in the S.T.A.R. Labs prison where Barry revealed his identity to his former bully.

The episode ended with a series of visits. Joe paid a visit to Dr. Wells. He looked up Tess Morgan and found out that she was Wells’ wife. He moved to Central City after she died.

Barry visited Iris to make amends and also gave her some inspiration to start using a different name for the superhero in her blog -- the Flash.

However, the biggest moment came in the last scene of the episode when Joe was visited by a red and yellow streak spinning around him in his living room, exactly the way that Barry had described the night of his mother’s murder. When the streak leaves there is a note behind warning him not to look into the case anymore or his daughter will be killed.

What did you think of “The Flash Is Born?” Tweet your thoughts to @Ja9GarofaloTV.