News | Jesse L. Martin

7 May 2015

INTERVIEW: 'The Flash': Jesse L. Martin On Iris West's Reaction To Learning Barry's Secret

Iris West found out Barry Allen's metahuman secret in last week's "The Flash," and on Tuesday night, as the show continues, viewers will see she is not pleased she was kept in the dark.

"We will touch on that," Jesse L. Martin, who plays Det. Joe West (Iris' dad), told Access Hollywood of Iris' reaction. "Iris learns the secret, basically. She learns the secret and she didn't learn it from me or from Barry, so unfortunately, she's very angry that we did not tell her what was really going.

As “The Flash” speeds toward its season one finale on May 19, secrets are finally being revealed; last week’s episode ended with the Reverse Flash — aka Eobard Thawne, aka Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh) — kidnapping Eddie Thawne (Rick Cosnett), for reasons that have yet to be uncovered. Meanwhile, Eddie’s girlfriend Iris West (Candice Patton) finally figured out the secret identity of Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) as the Flash, which should lead to a painful confrontation between Barry, Iris and her father, Joe (Jesse L. Martin), once she realizes that the men in her life have been lying to her for months.

That's basically where we are at the start of The Flash Season 1 Episode 21, as the big hairy gorilla becomes the main objective for Barry Allen and his squad.

And while the dastardly Wells (who everyone now knows is actually Eobard Thawne) may put some distance between himself and his pursuers, we still have a few episodes to go in The Flash Season 1 for Wells to make a mistake.

For now, the gang has Grodd to contend with - and Jesse L. Martin, who plays Detective Joe West, gave me a preview of what we're going to see.

Central City's Detective Joe West has encountered some pretty menacing super-powered adversaries since S.T.A.R. Labs' particle accelerator exploded. So far, they've all been human in nature, but that's a streak that's about to end because tonight, the savage primate Gorilla Grodd is unleashed.

Introduced by DC Comics' "Flash" team of John Broome and Carmine Infantino in 1959, Grodd was once an average ape until an alien crash landed on Earth and imbued him with super-intelligence and psionic abilities. The CW series reimagines Grodd as a lab experiment gone horribly wrong -- or right, depending on your point of view. Tonight, after lurking in the shadows over the last few months, Grodd finally makes his move, targeting the Flash and Joe.

Ahead of tonight's episode, Jesse L. Martin spoke with CBR News about Joe's confrontation with Grodd, the newly revealed villain's head games, how Joe will continue to protect his daughter Iris now that she has learned the truth about Barry, and what to expect from the wrath of Harrison Wells. Plus, Martin hints at Barry's potentially game-changing decision to come in "The Flash's" Season 1 finale.

As The Flash gears up for a dramatic season finale, Iris (Candice Patton) has finally learned the secret identity of her best friend – and will soon learn that she was the last to know.

In a chat with PEOPLE, Jesse L. Martin, who plays Iris' father, Joe, tells PEOPLE that she'll react to that lie of omission from her loved ones about as well as you might expect.

Martin, 46, also reveals a little bit about the events surrounding the Flash finale and the "huge decision" that Barry (Grant Gustin) will need to make if he wants to save his parents from the man purporting to be Dr. Wells (Tom Cavanagh).