Julio Mendez (Earth-90)

Julio Mendez was a forensic scientist for Central City Police Department and the best friend of Barry Allen.

Early Life
At some point as a kid, Mendez almost got recruited by a gang leader but with the help of his childhood friend Wayne Cotrell, they both fought the gang until they left Mendez alone.

At some point, during his years as a forensic scientist, he befriended his colleague Barry Allen to the point that they would frequently do double dates.

The Dark Riders Attack
In 1990, he arrived at the crime scene at the Central City Armory where his arrival caused the journalist Linda Park to realize that he and Barry weren't detective. Mendez then criticized the fact that she isn't a good journalist if she doesn't know what it is to be forensic scientist. Back at the lab, he noticed the violent storm outside and wonder what bad could happen from it. they then watch on TV what chief Cooper has to say about those Dark Riders that cause problem to the city, but Kline doesn't believe him, but the storm cause the TV to glitch and Barry then ask Mendez to go get some material, but Mendez would fall asleep with pissed Barry to the point that Barry sent him home but before leaving, he witnessed the lightning striking the station and went back to the lab to see if Barry was okay and only found him unconscious. He would then call for help. The next day Mendez would be surprised that Barry has already woken up from his coma and warn Barry that his doctor has called. After the call Mendez would ask what it was and Barry told him that it was some kind of cell damage and that his doctor wanted to send him to Star Labs which surprised Mendez because he has heard a rumor that someone got killed last year. Two days later, Mendez told Barry that he got samples from the crime scene, and they process to run the machine to identify the criminal. After the Dark Riders attack during the promotion of the new squad, Mendez witness the Barry's brother's interview where he openly threatened the Dark Riders. Later, at the lab, after that Jay and his squad departed to protect a convoy, Mendez met Dr. Tina McGee from Star Labs and Mendez commented on the fact that he should marry her due to Barry recent break up with Iris. Mendez then inform Barry that the result of the samples are in, and they revealed that it belonged to Nicholas Pike Barry's brother's former partner who went rogue. They quickly deduced that since Jay ambushed him at Highway 61, and that Jay is currently heading the same highway, that Pike is planning to ambush Jay as a payback. The day after Jay's funeral, Mendez joined Barry at the lab where Barry informed Mendez that he has identified the gang's location, but before Mendez could tell Barry that they should inform the chief, Barry was already gone. After Pike's arrest, Mendez went to celebrate the arrest at the Allen house.

The Homeless Disappearance
The next week, Mendez brought a letter from Iris who moved to Paris that he finally burn because she won't come back for Barry. He asked question about what was going on with Tina and Barry told him that she met someone else that pleased her. Their talk were interrupted by a riot of homeless people at the entrance of the precinct and one of the homeless took a weapon from a cop before the weapon disappeared, and the riot was calmed down. When Barry took on the case for the homeless disappearance, Mendez and Barry listened to two witness claim: Sam and Charlie that Father Michael brought. They revealed that one of them was seen dead before the body disappeared. The next day, after Barry managed to recover a homeless body, Barry brought the class photo from his childhood and Mendez mocked the young appearance of Barry before Barry seriously showed him that Charlie was, in fact, a childhood classmate. Barry told Mendez that now he must find "something weird" with the corpse simple. Later, Mendez revealed to Barry that the DNA sample came up different every time he tested it and Barry told Mendez that they may not have the equipment Star Labs does.

The Fires
During the event where multiple mysterious fires happened around the city, Mendez was arguing with Barry about him and his frequent double date where he invited Barry. Barry complained about always getting a weird woman as a date. They then enter the shop of a witness that saw all recent fires. Mendez asked the witness if he could buy a birthday present for the woman of his dream which was Sabrina. Once they exit the shop, Mendez told Barry that he told Judith that he was a good person for her. Barry then accepted the blind double date. That night, Mendez found Barry looking after another woman, and he and Sabrina introduced Barry to Judith. Upon realizing that Judith was a woman that pretend to read aura, Barry told Mendez that he was a dead man. The next morning at the precinct, Mendez apologized to Barry and upon seeing Bellows and Murphy placing bets on the next Flash's sighting and Mendez chose Chinatown at first before being convinced to bet on Central City Park. At the lab, Mendez retrieved an FBI document that matched a bomb that could have caused the fires. Days later, Thomas Castillo came to the lab and asked to talk to Barry. Mendez left to give those two a bit of privacy.

The Museum Theft
A week later, Mendez accidentally bumped into Barry while going to the security briefing about the Death Mask of Rasputin. Mendez recommended Barry to stop eating too much sugar as he saw that his briefcase was full of it. During the meeting, Mendez asked Agent Mitch Lestrange how much was the mask worth which was about fifty millions. After the briefing, Mendez told Barry to not call him or Sabrina because he deserved a day off. Sometime later at the lab, Mendez tried to get Barry to drink some of Sabrina's herbal tea despite him not wanting to. He quickly noticed that the table was trembling and asked what was happening which Barry answers that it was just a small earthquake. Mendez then tried yet again to get Barry a new girlfriend by telling him that Sabrina has another friend from New York who was a model, but Barry still refused due to the fact that Sabrina's previous friend was "spacey". Mendez then noticed that Barry was a little tense to the point where the mud of coffee splashed all the coffee on his hand and Barry left stating that he would go to the gym. Days later Mendez made a list of all jewel thief who stole important object in the last five years due to Barry being aware of a certain theft in the gang of robbers. Mendez noticed that Barry had a sunburn all over his body and he believed that it must be because he took some time off and went to crystal beach. Barry then instructed Mendez to go get some snacks at a new place over little Moscow while Barry search through all the files.

Day of the Dead Festival
During the Day of the Dead Festival, an incident occurred at the local church in the Hispanic part of Central City where multiple saint statues moved during the night and blocked the circulation in the streets. Mendez called Barry to come to the scene as he needed help. At the scene, they both tried to find samples on the statues and Mendez told Barry that it was a rough night to which Barry answered that he wished he remembered his. When Barry noticed that someone was watching him, Mendez told him that the man who was looking at him was the local Santero. They were introduced to Father Becerra who revealed more details about the incident, but they did not believe him as it was crazy to believe that statues moved by themselves. Once out of the church, Mendez watched Barry interrogating the Tomarquin family and saw the Santero convincing them that it was the spirit of Chango who caused those events. Barry then left when Paloma asked him if he wanted her number which made Mendez laugh. They then both went to the Santero's shop to ask him questions but the Santero only tried to convince them that his belief was right which made Mendez uncomfortable, so he asked Barry to leave. Outside, they met Paloma who criticized the craziness of the Santero which caused her aunt to show up and asked her to go home. When Barry told her that everything was fine, she replied that Barry was not in position to judge her which make Mendez question if Barry really was her favorite customer. The next day, they went to the Santero's shop again but this time it was because the shop was trashed during the night. Amused, Mendez asked if Chango was the god of the storm to which the Santero answered that he was a "winrider". Moments later, he witnessed the Santero faint in the middle of the street after Paloma rejected the chicken foot. The following day, he went to the lab where he saw Barry busy and accidentally scared him. Mendez, who has noticed Barry being on edge lately, asked if he wanted to come to the Day of the Dead Festival so that he could forget work. Barry then told him that he would find Paloma and Mendez revealed that Garfield had half of the precinct looking for her not counting the feds, but Barry still left anyway.

Trivia

 * Alex Désert would later play his character's Earth-1 doppelgänger in 2017 in a guest role.
 * The episode is the only centric episode about him.
 * The Jazz theme is a reference to the fact that Alex Désert is also actually a singer.