Girl on Fire

“I believe you're a hero, Barry.”


 * ~Elizabeth believing in Barry when he starts to doubt himself.

Girl on Fire is the second episode of Trial of the Elements, and the 2nd episode overall. It premiered on March 3, 2016.

Synopsis
As Cisco attempts to uncover the mystery of the 'girl on fire', Barry and the others take on a meta-human named Danton Black. Meanwhile, Hartley and Harrison try to prevent everyone from figuring out Elizabeth's secret, when she struggles to control her body temperature.

Plot
Elizabeth starts her day like always, stopping at C.C. Jitters before going to S.T.A.R Labs. There, she runs into Iris and Gracie again and the two girls find out about her negative condition regarding her body temperature. After bonding with Gracie, Elizabeth hurries to the labs.

Meanwhile, Cisco is researching more about the meta-human he dubs the 'girl on fire' but Hartley puts a stag in his work, trying to prevent him from finding out about her identity. When Elizabeth arrives, she is told by Cisco that Dr. Wells told him to find out more about the girl on fire. When she confronts him and Hartley about it, they unveil a modified, more feminine suit for her to wear as well as an insulated backpack to store ice water to help her stay hydrated. Later, Barry arrives at the labs from the university and reveals he is having fainting spells and after training on Cisco's treadmill, it's revealed he has a very high metabolism and must eat high amounts of calories.

After Joe confronts Barry and the team at S.T.A.R. Labs about the dangers of taking on the meta-humans alone, Barry begins to have doubts and believes Joe is right, while Elizabeth begins to feel bad for herself after Joe remarked about her lack of a child. After gaining confidence and a new friend in Gracie Vanderbilt, Elizabeth tries to get through to Barry and tells him that he is a hero and should defeat the meta-humans because he wants to, not because he is told to.

After accompanying Dr. Wells to the CCPD as his self-proclaimed bodyguard, Elizabeth and Barry go to Stagg Industries to face-off against the meta-human Danton Black who is able to clone himself. Before his defeat, Barry finds out about Elizabeth's secret identity when Danton pushes her out the window and therefore falls to his death. When all's said and done, later the next night, Dr. Wells arrives at Stagg Industries and kills Simon Stagg after he shows interest in taking Barry and Elizabeth's power.

Differences from Fastest Man Alive

 * Hartley Rathaway is not featured.
 * This is Eddie Thawne's second episode, while this is his debut in Trial of the Elements.
 * Many scenes involving Danton Black and Simon Stagg were not featured due to them having nothing to do with Elizabeth.
 * Danton's wife is named Elizabeth. She is given no name in this episode.
 * Danton Black killed himself because he didn't want to be caught, while here he died because Barry could only save Elizabeth in time.
 * The ending is slightly different with Simon Stagg becoming interested in both Elizabeth and Barry.

Trivia/References

 * At S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco built a treadmill designed to handle Barry's speed. It is possibly a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Cosmic Treadmill from the comics.
 * Barry's metabolism weakness is first seen in this episode. Much like the comics, Barry needs to eat massive amounts of calories to replace the energy he uses while running. Failing to do so will cause dizzy spells and eventually shock from low blood sugar. Likewise, Elizabeth rise in body temperature is also explored more in this episode.
 * Hex's Gun Shop is probably a reference to Jonah Hex, a hero that uses guns.
 * Meteor Dash is a reference to Spyro's fire elemental attack in Eternal Night called Comet Dash.
 * Harrison refers to Elizabeth as 'Project Dragon', a reference to an arc in the New 52 Draconia comic, where Elizabeth has to fight her clone, a product of that version of 'Project Dragon'. In the show, he mentions it must reach completion giving a further unknown meaning to this version of Project Dragon, but is speculated to have something to do with the meta-human blood from the previous episode.
 * Elizabeth being dubbed 'the girl on fire' as well as the episode title is a reference to the corresponding Flash episode 'The Fastest Man Alive' which is what they call Barry Allen.