'The Flash' Season 1 Episode 5 'Plastique'

The Flash was all new this week and it was as explosive as ever. Our heroes are met with a former soldier who now has the ability to explode anything she touches. We also find that Iris still will not stop writing her blog about The Flash and how it could potentially put her life in danger. Struggling to reveal his identity, Barry Allen must decide whether or not he is making the right choices to keep his best friend.

While at a bar with Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes), Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker), Iris West (Candice Patton) and Eddie Thawne (Rick Cosnett), Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) reflects on friendship as they play darts. He then realizes he cannot get intoxicated due to his high metabolism. This of course ignites Caitlin’s desire to know how Barry's body works, saying she needs samples for tests. A call is made in of a bomb explosion somewhere in the city and the gang rushes off to the scene.

While dressed as The Flash, Barry sees a window washer hanging from scaffolding, asking Cisco and Snow as to what he should do. After throwing ideas back and forth, Barry decides he must run up and down the side of a building in order to save the worker, Snow to tell him to maintain his velocity as he descends to prevent him from going “splat.” After doing so, Barry safely returns the worker to the ground, where his gaze is met by Iris, who arrived at the scene by taxi. The two stare at each other for a brief moment, wherein Barry moves his head rapidly to blur his face to keep his identity a secret. He then rushes off.

Investigating the scene, Barry tells Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) that bombers usually have their own signatures. He then reveals that he hasn’t found a sign of an oxidizing agent that would allow the bomb to go off, saying “it’s as if the floor just blew itself up.” Eddie then walks in, telling the two that the bomber was a red-headed woman and that someone broke into the room filled with filing cabinets. Eddie says it could take days to go through what was stolen, whereas Barry uses his super-speed to search through the cabinet, finding an empty file.

Upon arriving at the Central City Police Department, Detective West is met by army men, saying that they are taking over the investigation of the bombing case. West questions as to why the army would want to take over a civilian case, to which General Eiling (Clancy Brown) says the woman in question was one of their own. Barry then hands over his evidence on the case, just before taking a file from the box before the soldier could turn away. Detective West then says that Barry and some S.T.A.R. Labs employees should get to the bottom of the case.

While at the lab, Barry mentions that the bombing case is in the hands of the army now, Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh) sharing that he had met General Eiling 10 years ago when he wanted to work in genetics for mind control. After searching through some records, Cisco finds out the name of the woman is Bette Sans Souci (Kelly Frye), known as Plastique in the DC Comics universe. Finding an address that could lead to her capture, Barry confronts her, saying he needs to take her in. Bette then tells him not to touch her, she to touch his chest, a black spot to appear after she lifts her hands. She then tells him to quickly remove whatever he is wearing quickly, Barry to run, his suit to explode off of his body.

Bette is then categorized as a meta-human with the ability to turn anything she touches into an explosive. Looking over the case file that Bette was trying to steal, Barry finds that she was looking as to the whereabouts of a doctor who performed surgeries on her. Rushing to the scene, Barry finds Bette confronting the doctor, telling her he’s just like her. They are then fired upon by army men outside, led by General Eiling, seeking to capture Bette.

Barry then rushes her out of there and to S.T.A.R. Labs, where they examine her. Upon inspecting her wound from a grazed bullet, Caitlin finds that Bette has been implanted with a tracker, the army infiltrating the lab. Barry and the crew take Bette to an unknown location while Harrison confronts General Eiling, Eiling to comment on how the lab used to have potential.

Out in a field, Bette throws Frisbees to test her powers, Cisco and Caitlin to research the findings. Walking away from the two of them, Bette reflects to Barry of her time in the field, she to be a former soldier in Afghanistan. She tells him that she used to dismantle bombs until one exploded on her, shrapnel to embedded into her skin. She was then flown stateside for surgery, which is when the particle accelerator explosion happened. Bette then comments on how she has become the thing she tried to stop.

A call is made by Detective West to Barry, saying that Iris has now put her name on an article about “The Streak,” her blog previously being anonymous. Barry then takes it into his own hands to convince Iris to stop writing about him. Donning The Flash outfit and disguising his voice by vibrating his vocal chords, he visits Iris at her work, asking as to why she is writing about him. She reveals that her friend Barry for years has been taking about the impossible ever since his mother died, and now that the impossible is happening, people need to know that these things are real. She also mentions that she wants Barry to believe in the impossible again, Barry in all actuality to live the impossible day-to-day.

After discovering there is no way to remove the shrapnel that is still embedded into her body, Harrison confronts Bette at the lab, saying that now she is a meta-human now, she must act as a soldier would and protect the flock. Harrison tells her that General Eiling is not an enemy to make, and that the only way for her flock to be safe is that she kill him. Bette then leaves the facility, Barry to find out upon returning from work.

After finding her location, Barry meets up with Bette, General Eiling and his army men at a standoff. Bette has already attacked them, throwing charged balls that explode on impact. As she is about to touch General Eiling, Barry intervenes, saying that just because she is a soldier doesn’t mean she is a murderer. Just as soon as Bette thanks him for stopping her, Eiling shoots her in the chest, causing her to begin to combust. Quickly thinking with the help of his S.T.A.R. Labs friends, Barry finds out just how fast he needs to run to avoid the blast, dropping Bette in the middle of the body of water next to Central City. Later a telecast airs and the army says that the explosion was a weapons test to hide the fact that they killed Bette.

Barry returns to the West residence to talk to Iris, asking her one more time to stop blogging about “The Streak.” She fires back asking what is wrong with him and why he isn’t interested about this impossible being, Barry to lie and say that whatever happened to his family he’s put behind him. From talking with Detective West in the beginning of the episode, Barry decided that he must tell Iris the truth. However when confronting her, he struggles to do so, as he has with telling her how he really feels. He then makes the decision to not see her for the next couple of weeks, possibly to distance himself in order to keep her safe.

Back at the bar, Caitlin and Cisco meet up with Barry, saying that they’re there to make a toast to Bette. Barry reminds them that he is incapable of getting intoxicated, to which Caitlin hands him a small bottle of 500 proof alcohol, saying that if anyone, he needs a drink. After giving their toast, they drink their shots, Barry to feel the alcohol for an instance, then feel sober just seconds later.

We are then taken to a memory of five years ago, where an abled bodied Harrison is discussing with Eiling about the prospects of genetics. Harrison is against it, not wanting to work with Eiling anymore as long as the subject in question is at the facility. Eiling then walks out, Harrison to walk up to a cage in a comforting manner. We then see a plaque on the cage, the name “Grodd” on it, refereeing to the genetically altered gorilla Gorilla Grodd from the DC Comics universe.

The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.

Image courtesy of Karl Larsen/INFphoto.com