“The Nuclear Man” is episode thirteen of season one of The Flash.
The episode begins with Barry getting ready for a date with Linda, the reporter who gave him her number in the karaoke bar Barry and Caitlin visited in the previous episode, “Crazy for You”. Being fast, Barry can change many, many times. Eventually Joe tells Barry that if he changes one more time, he will shoot him. Barry arrives at Linda’s and she compliments him on being punctual. Barry replies that he’s known for his punctuality amongst his friends. He really isn’t; even with superspeed, Barry can be late to appointments.
The date involves visiting a restaurant with extremely hot tacos, and Barry loses the challenge. As Linda goes to the bathroom to clean her hands – really spicy sauces are not the sort of thing you want to leave on your hands – Barry gets a call from Cisco about a robbery at a convenience store. Barry explains that he’s on a date, but Cisco guilt trips him into going. Which Barry manages to do, and return from, before Linda returns from the bathroom. Later, Linda gets a call from work and Barry gets a call from Joe. Whilst Linda is speaking to work, Barry manages to get a jumper down from a building and deposits him next to Eddie. That’s a bunch of light-hearted stuff out of the way.
A man named Quentin Quale is greeted by Ronnie Raymond as he leaves work. Ronnie tells Quale that they went to school together; not as a student but as a classmate. Ronnie informs Quale that he knows the truth about Quale’s brother, and that he committed suicide and Quentin found the body. Something Quale only told one person – Martin Stein. In the previous episode it was revealed that Ronnie had merged with Stein on the night of the particle accelerator accident. Stein wants Quale’s help, but he bursts into flames and there are screams. Which doesn’t sound too good.
At Jitters, Barry is telling Caitlin and Cisco about his date with Linda and that he already has another. Cisco tries to warn about going too… ‘fast.’ Skirting around the topic. Caitlin chips in and tells Barry that with his increased blood flow and heart rate, he could ‘finish’ really fast. When Iris is told about the date she says that it’s great – but she doesn’t seem that happy. Cisco gets a call which he says is about helping out a friend and there’s an article on the news about the burning man when he leaves.
Cisco’s call was actually from Joe. He’s at the house that Barry’s family were living in when his mother was murdered. Joe has a theory about who committed the murder, and wants Cisco’s help in examining the crime scene. Cisco suggests getting Caitlin and Dr. Wells to help, but Joe wants to keep them out for now, for if too many people know Barry will find out. More to the point, Joe clearly – but not to Cisco – considers Wells to be a suspect.
The woman who lives in the house now, Sherry (Chase Masterson, who played Leeta in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), clearly takes a shine to Joe – and makes a point of saying she’s divorced at one point – and lets them examine the room. The investigation does reveal a couple of things, one of them expected and one of them, well, not so much. Which opens up new possibilities.
Wells, Caitlin and Barry are discussing Firestorm; it appears that Stein is the one in control of Ronnie’s body. Ronnie/Stein has badly hurt an innocent man, so something needs doing about him. Barry says that he doesn’t even know what Professor Stein looks like – and when he’s shown a picture he recognises him. The two chatted on the train the day of the particle accelerator accident; Barry was reading a book and Stein didn’t think anyone his age did that. Barry stated he was the only one. There are scenes from the accident, focussing on Stein – it seems he was carrying something when the accident happened.
The problem with Firestorm is that he’s not stable as a combined form. And the episode’s title suggests that bad things could happen if he becomes truly unstable.