“The Flash is Born” is episode six of season one of The Flash.
The episode begins with Iris narrating. Some of the words she chooses are almost identical to what Barry was saying at the beginning of “Pilot” to, as it happened, the Arrow. She says she needs the listener to believe in the impossible. As it happens, Iris is writing for her blog and, as soon as she finished the article, she is whisked out of the coffee shop by Barry. In his suit, so she doesn’t know it’s him.
Barry tells Iris she needs to stop writing her blog, but that’s not something that’s going to happen. Irish wants to know what to call Barry, and he says anything but the Streak. Barry tells Iris that her blog risks putting her in harm’s way and that the person she is writing it for (Barry) would be upset if she was hurt. Iris says that she is bringing hope to a lot more people. Barry hears sirens and rushes off, but drops Iris back in the coffee shop first.
A yellow Humvee is being pursued by a couple of cop cars. Joe and Eddie are setting up a roadblock ahead. Eddie asks what sort of tool steals a yellow Humvee; Joe wants to know what sort buys one. When the Humvee arrives, it doesn’t slow so the police open fire. This doesn’t do any good; Eddie even sees his bullets bouncing off the driver’s face, as it appears to turn metallic.
After the Humvee ploughs through the roadblock, Barry follows and confronts the driver. Who gets out and rips the door off to throw at Barry – he’s a big, strong-looking guy. When Barry punches the man in the face, said face turns to metal. Which really hurts. The man then punches Barry with a metallic fist, sending him flying.
At S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin is arguing with Cisco, saying that he got the maths wrong, because the reproductive models don’t correlate. Cisco says that they do, allowing for seasonal variations. Dr. Wells wants to know what they are talking about; it is, as can be guessed, not something major. Namely the average number of bugs Barry swallows in a day of running. Then they discover Barry himself lying on the floor in pain.
According to Caitlin, Barry has 13 fractures in his hand alone, a concussion, three cracked ribs and a bruised spleen. Even with his healing powers this will take a while. Dr. Wells wants to know what Barry hit; when Barry replies that it was a big, bad metal man, Wells comments on it being a ‘man of steel.’ Which is, of course, Superman’s nickname. The man Barry confronted was a meta-human but, although Barry didn’t know who he was, he felt that he recognised him, when the man mentioned that he was born to take a beating.
At the precinct, Joe is watching the interview with young Barry after his mother’s murder when Barry arrives. Joe tells Barry to speak to Eddie, because the latter saw something he couldn’t believe. Joe wants Barry to make up some sciency stuff. The Humvee thief also stole several ATMs and has been identified as a Tony Woodward. The reason why Tony seemed familiar to Barry is that Tony bullied him at school.
At the lab, Cisco has made a metal robot thing for Barry to spar with. Cisco says that fighting is physics, it’s energy and power. The sparring session does not quite go well.
Iris’ blog does cause problems for her, because she’s writing about the Streak and Tony knows her as well. Barry also has to stop letting his emotions cloud the issue; Eddie helps in this, telling him that it’s not how many times you hit someone, you just need one blow that counts. Of course, Eddie doesn’t know who he is talking to; the advice is sort of inadvertent. Eddie also wants to know what’s going on between Iris and Barry, as in the previous episode, “Plastique”, their relationship took a bit of a hit. Again, Eddie helps here.
Joe goes to see Dr. Wells, to ask for his help. When Barry saved a kid from being run over by Tony, what Joe saw resembled Barry’s description of what he saw and what happened to him on the night of his mother’s murder. Which is why Joe was watching the interview again. Joe says that the description matches that of a meta-human, however the accident that created them happened 15 years after the murder. So, was there another particle accelerator?
Finally, by the end of the episode, Barry gets his proper name.