In episode two of The Flash, entitled Fastest Man Alive, we see Barry, well… being Barry now though.. he is the fastest man alive (or the Red Streak as the people of Central City now know him as). We start off the episode with Barry (Grant Gustin) being in full Flash gear as he is going to save some people from a burning building. Cisco is helping Barry via an ear piece back at S.T.A.R Labs monitoring the situation and Barry himself. Just when they thought they couldn’t get caught, one Caitlin Snow comes in and sees what they are up to. Caitlin shows concern (well in a frustrated manner) to Barry because she knows that Barry doesn’t fully understand what he is capable of or what the possible side effects are for him in the long run.
This episode has a lot of father/son moments, one is during one of the first flashbacks of the episode. In the wake of everything that has happened to Barry’s parents we see the young one running away to try and go see his father in jail. His attempts fail as he is caught by Joe West (Jessie L Martin). When the two arrive back home they begin to have an argument which leads Joe to tell Barry that he can not go see his father. Barry then tells Joe that he isn’t his father and that he hates him.
Coming back to the present, Barry is called in to his day job with the police, and before he knows it he is at the crime scene (but without any “civilian” clothes to wear). So after zipping though a clothing store he finally goes and sees Detective West and company. Security cameras indicated that there was a robbery that showed one man in black. In true Barry fashion he notices that there is more than one footprint at the scene but several all with the same shoe size and same type of shoe.
Later that night (and after a discussion with Iris), Barry accompany Isis to a function that she is covering for her journalism course. When Simon Stagg ( guest star William Sadler) receives his Man of The Year award for his work on regeneration, Iris tries to get a quote, but he refuses. Before they know it the place is surrounded by gunmen. As they begin to leave, Barry pursues them but in the mist of trying to get to them he falls to the ground and passes out.
Back at S.T.A.R Labs, tests are being done on Barry as he finally comes out to tell the team how he has been feeling. As the team determines what he has been suffering from, Barry goes under for more some tests including a treadmill that has been cisco-ed. The team finds out that Barry has been suffering from hypoglycemia and needs to keep his metabolism up. As Barry is at the lab, Joe has gone to Barry’s office to find him with no luck. Instead he finds Barry’s board about his mother’s murder. After finding his board, Joe goes to S.T.A.R labs and finds Barry and the team. He ends up showing concern for Barry’s safety and well-being and doesn’t want him to play the hero. We then see even more tension building between Barry and Joe in which Barry tells Joe that he isn’t his father. You can tell this hits Joe pretty hard.
We come to find out later in the episode that the masked man trying to attack Stagg and kill him would be the one and only Danton Black (guest start Michael Christopher Smith). Black seeks revenge on Stagg because he stole his research on cloning (which Black specialized in). Once Joe and the rest of the police are aware about who is Stagg’s attacker both Eddie and West come to protect him. Three black copies come to finish the job. As Joe sees Black duplicating, Barry arrives just in the nick of time saving Joe but gets a beating himself saving Stagg for the moment.
After his beat down, Barry is feeling defeated after encountering metahuman Black. Barry tells Wells that maybe Joe was right that he isn’t a hero. He tells them “I’m fast but I’m no warrior.” We then go back in time once more to see young Barry finally getting to his father at the prison. His father tells him that it wasn’t Joe’s idea to not take Barry to see him, but his own because he didn’t want Barry to see him like this. You see Joe in the background as Barry is looking into the eyes of his father once more.
Trying to encourage Stagg to have his team protect him, Joe begins to speak with him when Wells decides to show up. Stagg and Wells throw some not so nice jokes to one another before Stagg leaves, leaving Wells and Detective West alone. The two of them begin to talk about Barry. In the end Wells claims that he is also concerned about Barry’s safety. Lets be honest, though; after the end of last week’s episode do you think Wells is telling the truth?
Back at Jitters, Iris and Barry have a sincere conversation which ends with Iris telling Barry that her new story is about the “Red Streak” that has been saving people all around Central City. Before Barry could say anything, S.T.A.R Labs calls Barry’ss phone. When he says that he is through, Caitlin tells him he needs to get to the lab really quickly. As Barry gets to the lab, he gets ready to fight until he realizes that its not the real Black but a clone. Caitlin tells Barry to get to the Prime, once the Prime is defeated so are the clones. Before the team knew it, the clone “wakes up” just before he could do anything and Detective West shoots him. With the clone getting ready to fight the team knows who exactly they are after. Joe tells Barry that the only person that can defeat Black is Barry.
Black ends up confronting Stagg at his office, but before he knew it, Barry had already whisked him away from his office. The effects for this Barry/Black Battle are top notch. In the midst of battle Black tells Barry that the revenge isn’t about Stagg stealing his research, but about the women he loved, Elizabeth. Black said he was close to finishing his research that would have been able to grow her a new heart until Stagg stole it. Barry tells him that given the situation that shouldn’t lead him to murder. The battle continues as Barry is getting his butt kicked, he is almost ready to give up. After a little re-insurance from both Wells and Joe. Barry runs through the mob of clones and finds the real Black and knocks him out and takes the clones with him.
Before you knew it, Black was up and leaping out a window. Barry speeds over and grabs his arm,although you get a sense that Black really doesn’t want to be saved because a few moments after duplicates another arm and releases himself from Barry’s grip and he falls to his death.
As the episode ends two things happen. We start with Joe bringing Pizza into Barry’s office. Joe tells Barry that he found out the board that had all of his clippings linked to his mothers murder, along with that the two of them will find out who killed his mother together. Joe later on admits that Barry was right, he isn’t his father. Although Barry agrees he lets Joe know that he has been the one to feed him, cloth him, teach him how to drive, take him to college, etc. Barry ends the conversation with “sounds like a father to me.” Joe smiles and sits down to have pizza with Barry having a new light on one another.
On the flipside, we see Wells visiting Stagg at his office, as they start to talk about the Metahuman, Stagg refers to Barry as “the man in the red mask.” He then tells Wells that he is determined to find out who he is. When Wells arises from his chair, which stuns Stagg, Wells lets him know that the man in the red Mask will be known as The Flash in the future. Wells then stabs Stagg and leaves him for dead. Whether it was concern for Barry or just watching out for himself we will find out soon enough I’m sure.
So that is it! What did you think about this episode? Comment below with some of your favorite moments of the episode!
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