The Flash Episode Recap, Season 1 Episode 9: The Man in the Yellow Suit

Episode Recap of The Flash, Season 1 Episode 9: The Man in the Yellow Suit

The mid-season finale of The Flash begins with Barry racing someone else that can run at super speed like him.

Then we back up the story to one day earlier, when Barry and Joe are trimming the Christmas tree with Iris. Joe gets a phone call from the DA and has to leave. Iris excitedly exchanges gifts with Barry. Her present from Barry is a replica of her mother’s wedding band, which she lost on a field trip in 5th grade. Barry helps her put it on as a necklace, and she is touched that he remembered. They hug. Barry’s gift from Iris is a microscope. Just then,Eddie arrives to help trim the tree, killing the mood for Barry.

Barry goes to STAR Labs and distributes gifts to Cisco, Caitlin, and Dr. Wells. Dr. Wells seems depressed. Cisco explains that the accident happened around the holidays.

Eddie and Iris are out for coffee. Eddie comments to Iris that he thinks Barry may like her, but she brushes it off, saying they’re just best friends. Eddie gives Iris the key to his place, and she seems very happy about it.

As Caitlin goes to her car in a parking garage, a very disheveled man approaches her, then walks off. She follows him, and sees the man light up with fire. She also realizes that it’s her former fiance, Ronnie.

Over at Mercury Labs, in the Superluminal Development department, there is an attack. The security guards direct the doctor to lock himself in another room. A man wearing a yellow suit runs in very quickly, and kills both security guards. He can’t get to the doctor, so he leaves.

Later, when the police investigate the crime scene, Barry concludes that only a high speed collision could have done this. The doctor says that all he saw was a blur, which looked like a man in a yellow suit. Barry talks with Joe, alarmed that the man that killed his mother is back. Joe says he knows, and admits that the man appeared to him at his house and stole all the evidence from Barry’s mom’s case, but couldn’t tell Barry because he threatened to kill Iris.

Barry and Joe go to STAR Labs and tell them what happened. Dr. Wells tells them about Mercury Labs, which was STAR Labs’s major competition. Dr. Well realizes that Mercury Labs is working with tachyons – which can cause someone to travel faster than light. They start working on a trap.

Caitlin goes to see Iris at work to ask about someone she wrote about on her blog – a man whose head and hands burst into flames. Iris says she’ll send Caitlin some reports on “The Burning Man.” Iris then asks Caitlin for some advice about Barry. Iris feels like Barry’s keeping something from her, and asks Caitlin if she has any idea what it is. Caitlin says no, but says Iris should ask Barry herself.

Barry has Dr. Tina McGee of Mercury Labs to come into the police station for questioning. Dr. Wells is also present. Barry asks if they can borrow their tachyon prototype to use as a lure to catch the guy who broke in. However, she declines, saying that Mercury can protect its own assets.

At STAR Labs, Caitlin tells Cisco that Ronnie is alive, and asks Cisco’s help with finding him.

Barry remembers when he was a child, and his mother and father tucking him into bed. Later, he awakens to noises, and then comes downstairs and sees yellow and red blurs swirling around his screaming mother. In the present, Barry snaps out of his flashback when Iris comes into his office. She sees that he is looking at an evidence board about his mom’s case. Iris tells Barry that Eddie asked her to move in with him, and that she said yes. Iris tells Barry that Eddie thought he might feel weird about it, because he thinks Barry “likes” her. However, Barry says Eddie is wrong. Barry also says that if he has seemed weird, it’s because this year has gone by really fast for him, and he didn’t realize how far along their relationship was. Iris seems convinced, and leaves.

Barry looks out the window and sees the man in the yellow suit. He follows him at super speed down to the sidewalk. He asks the man why he killed his mother. The man says if he wants to know that, Barry is going to have to catch him. Then we are brought back to the scene at the beginning of the episode of Barry chasing the man in the yellow suit.

They meet at the football stadium in the middle of the field, colliding into each other. Then they race around the stadium a bit, and fight. Barry asks the man who he is, and the man says Barry knows who he is. Barry says he doesn’t know. The man insists that Barry knows, and that they’ve been at this a long time, but that the man is always one step ahead. The man tells Flash that it’s his destiny to lose to him, just like it was his mother’s destiny to die that night.

Barry goes back to STAR Labs and tells Joe and Dr. Wells what happened. He is distraught because the man in the yellow suit is the fastest man alive, not him, so he doesn’t know how they can catch him. However, Dr. Wells is confident that they trap they are setting up will work.

At the police station, Joe and Barry meet with Dr. McGee. Barry strong arms Dr. McGee into letting them borrow the tachyon device. Eddie insists on having his task force to catch the Flash join in on the operation that Joe is running.

Meanwhile, Caitlin and Cisco go searching for Ronnie, and find him. However, he doesn’t seem to recognize them, and says that he is not Ronnie. Then he bursts into flames from his head and hands.

That night, the tachyon device is put in place and the trap is set. However, Joe and Dr. Wells tell Barry that they think it best if Barry weren’t present. Barry gets angry and storms off.

Cisco comforts Caitlin, who is distraught about Ronnie. She says she wishes he had just died that day.

Barry pays a visit to his father in prison, and tells him that he found the man in yellow that killed his mom, but that he screwed up, and was so close to having the guy, but he got away. His father tells him it’s not his fault, and that he knows that everything Barry has done the past 14 years was because of him and his mom. He says that he even knows Barry gave up pursuing Iris because of it, and tells Barry not to let the man in the yellow suit take any more of his life.

Barry goes over to Iris’s house, and confesses that he’s in love with her, and that he wanted to tell her so many times, but didn’t because he was scared of losing her if she didn’t feel the same way. He says he couldn’t lie to her anymore, and apologizes. She silently cries, and he leaves.

Meanwhile, the man in the yellow suit gets caught in the trap. Joe and Dr. Wells move in with Eddie’s task force. Joe asks the man why he murdered Nora Allen. But he ignores him, and instead greets Dr. Wells. Dr. Wells tells the man that he knows so much about him because he is just like The Flash. However, the man replies that he’s not like the Flash at all, he’s more like the reverse. Caitlin and Cisco warn them that the containment field is fluctuating, and they need to get out. Dr. Wells gets too close, and the man is able to grab Dr. Wells and starts beating him up. Joe yells at Cisco to turn off the barrier, but Cisco refuses, saying that if it turns it off, that thing will get out. Joe takes it upon himself to smash the machine controlling the barrier. The man in the yellow suit grabs the tachyon device and speeds to the door, while everyone points their gun at him.

Caitlin texts “S.O.S.” to Barry. The man in the yellow suit takes down the task force, takes Eddie’s gun from him, and then grabs Joe at the throat, saying he warned him not to hunt him. But just then, the Flash runs in and pulls the man in the yellow suit off. The two fly up into the air in a swirl, then go outside and fight. It seems that the man in the yellow suit has gained the upper hand, when Ronnie appears and shoots some flames at him. The man says their mission is not yet done, and that he’ll see the Flash soon. Cisco and Caitlin rush over to help Barry. Ronnie tells Caitlin not to look for him again, then he uses his flames to shoot up into the air and fly away.

Back at the police station, Eddie wonders why the man in the yellow suit didn’t kill him. Joe says he doesn’t know, but Eddie guesses that Joe knows more than he’s been telling him. Joe gives in and tells Eddie about meta-humans, but swears him to secrecy. Joe answers that he knows who the Flash is – he’s the guy that saved both of their lives today.

At STAR Labs, Cisco apologizes for the failure of the containment field. Dr. Wells is disappointed that they didn’t tell him Ronnie was still alive. He promises Caitlin that they will bring Ronnie home.

Joe stops by Barry’s office. Barry says that he’s stuck in Central City because of his mother’s death. Joe reminisces about when Barry first came to live with him, and how he brought brightness to the household. He encourages Barry not to lose that light. They go home together and find Iris, Eddie, Caitlin, and Cisco there. Barry tells Eddie and Iris he’s happy for them that they’re moving in together. Cisco tells Joe that when the Flash and the man in yellow were going at it, he saw yellow and red electricity coming off of them. He goes on to point out that when Barry was a kid, he saw red and yellow lightning in his house the night his mother died. Joe realizes there were two of them. Cisco says that the man in yellow may have killed Barry’s mother, but there was another “speedster” there that night. Then Joe puts the angel on top of the tree, and Barry and Iris exchange a longing glance.

The episode ends with Dr. Wells walking into his secret compartment and using a ring to open a panel in the wall. He then inserts his ring into another slot where a suit is being held – the same suit that the man in yellow was wearing. Dr. Wells then places what looks to be the tachyon device over the suit, and says “Merry Christmas” using the same robotic voice that the man in the yellow suit had used.