The Flash Episodes 1-5

After witnessing his mother's strange murder and his father's wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen is taken in by Detective West and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and bleeding-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one believes his description of the crime—that a ball of lightning with the face of a man invaded their home that night—and Allen is fiercely driven to vindicate himself and to clear his father's name. An advanced particle accelerator malfunctions during its public unveiling, bathing the city center with a previously unknown form of radiation during a severe thunderstorm. Allen is struck by lightning from the storm and doused with chemicals in his lab. After a nine-month coma, he discovers he has the ability to move at superhuman speeds. Harrison Wells, the disgraced designer of the failed accelerator, describes Barry's special nature as "metahuman"; Allen soon discovers that he is not the only one changed by the radiation. Allen vows to use his gifts to protect Central City from the escalating violence of metahuman criminals. He is aided by a few close friends and associates who guard his secrets.