Line #15 Recap/TheFlash2014S2E1TheManWhoSavedCentralCity


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flash_s02e01.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:It's gonna be awkward when they find out the background's white now.]]
3
4	'''Season 2, Episode 1''':
5	!The Man Who Saved Central City
6
7	Six months after Barry's FinalBattle with the Reverse-Flash, he is now hailed as the hero of Central City. However, a new threat is emerging.
8	----
9
10	!!Tropes:
11
12	* ActorAllusion: Thawne's lawyer is from [[Series/EliStone Weathersby-Stone]]. Thawne is played by Tom Cavanagh, who played the main character's father, Thawne in his true form was played by Matt Lescher, who played the main character's ''brother'', and Martin Stein is played by Victor Garber, who was the "Weathersby" in Weathersby-Stone, making this a triple Actor Allusion.
13	* AdaptationalVillainy: ZigZagged. Atom Smasher, a hero in the comics, is a villain here. He eventually reveals that he was targeting ''only'' Barry, and that he may well have had a somewhat sympathetic motive. However, future episodes establish that all the metahumans from Earth-2 are villains that work for Zoom or independent criminals he recruited so the trope may stand.
14	* ArcWords: "Run Barry, Run" returns as Barry is luring Atom Smasher into a trap.
15	* ApologeticAttacker: Barry apologizes to Atom Smasher for contributing to his death.
16	* ArtisticLicensePhysics: When you flood an area with radiation, the area's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_radioactivity not going to be safe to enter]] when the radiation source is turned off.
17	* BatSignal: Used, with LampshadeHanging, to lire the Atom Smasher out.
18	* BittersweetEnding: Henry is finally proven innocent, but he soon leaves the city.
19	* ButNowIMustGo: Much to Barry's disappointment, Henry leaves Central City after being exonerated believing his presence would hold Barry back from being the Flash.
20	* CelebratingTheHeroes: Central City now has a "Flash Day" that celebrates Barry's heroism in reaction to him saving the city from the singularity last season (and Firestorm but no-one knows about them). Despite his guilt over Ronnie and Eddie's death, Iris convinces him to attend where the Mayor gifts him the key to the city.
21	* CosmicRetcon: Averted. Despite Eddie killing himself to stop Thawne, nothing in the timeline has apparently changed. At least not the things caused by Thawne since he arrived at this time period. However, Al Rothstein was said to have been a victim of the Particle Accelerator back in Season 1, while now he's said to have been in Hawaii when it went off. Whether we're meant to take this a Cosmic Retcon, an error of Thawne or if it's just a simple continuity error is up in the air.
22	* ContinuityNod: Cisco gives Barry a new chest emblem - white background, yellow bolt based on the one his future self will have.
23	* DespairEventHorizon: Ronnie's death has been this to several characters:
24	** Caitlin has been working at Mercury Labs, avoiding all contact with Team Flash.
25	** Barry has been also been working alone, not wanting anymore of his friends to be killed.
26	* EnergyAbsorption: Cisco deduces how Atom Smasher's powers work after learning multiple X-ray machines became defunct around the time he used his powers.
27	* FriendshipMoment: After months of Cisco and Joe trying to convince Barry that he is a hero and to show up at the rally, only one visit with Iris the night before and her words of encouragement is enough to at least get Barry to show up the next day, solidifying their unbreakable bond as best friends, and her future as Barry's closest confidant.
28	* GenreBlind: Atom Smasher is defeated when The Flash lures him into quite an [[SchmuckBait obvious trap]].
29	* GoingToGiveItMoreEnergy: Barry defeats Atom Smasher by luring him into a nuclear reactor and overloading his ability to absorb the energy.
30	* HalfArcSeason: The episode mostly focuses on PuttingTheBandBackTogether so Barry can defeat Atom Smasher, but there are two big arc hooks: 1) Atom Smasher was coming after Barry because he'd been forced to by "Zoom", and 2) a man named [[Franchise/TheFlash Jay Garrick]] walks into S.T.A.R. Labs at the end of the episode and says, "Your world is in danger".
31	* HeroicSacrifice: It's revealed that Firestorm unfused in the middle of the Singularity. Dr. Stein made it but Ronnie didn't.
32	* HollywoodLaw: The Supreme Court has ruled that proof of innocence isn't sufficient to overturn a conviction and get someone released from prison. Only the fact that the DA here isn't a political animal (and the fact that the person confessing to the murder is already a pariah) can really explain why Henry Allen gets out of prison so easily.
33	* HowWeGotHere: The first half shows why Barry pushed everyone away and started working alone.
34	* ILetGwenStacyDie:
35	** The death of Eddie and Ronnie really shook up Barry to the point where he insisted on working alone to prevent further casualties in Team Flash.
36	** Caitlin also thinks this of herself with regards to Ronnie's death, as she believes that if she had left Central City with Ronnie when he asked after he had returned to her, he would still be alive.
37	* ImNotAHeroIm: Barry believes Ronnie is the ''true'' hero who saved Central City, and resents being the one praised for it all.
38	* ImagineSpot: The episode opens with one of Barry imagining the team still happy and whole.
39	* IWorkAlone: Barry develops this attitude after losing Ronnie and Eddie. He changes his mind by the end.
40	* LargeHam: Leonard Snart, in Barry's opening ImagineSpot, is much more bombastic than usual, as an easy way of showing that this didn't actually happen.
41	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: The MythologyGag regarding Franchise/{{Batman}} (see below). Both ''Batman'' and ''Franchise/TheFlash'' are published by Creator/DCComics.
42	* MalevolentMaskedMen: Atom Smasher's costume.
43	* MoodWhiplash: The episode's beginning has Barry in a fight scene between Heatwave and Captain Cold and is congratulated by his team for his success, including [[WhamShot Eobard and Eddie Thawne]]. The scene then fades to Barry alone in the unlit lab.
44	* MundaneUtility: Flash spent the last few months fixing the damage to the city with his powers.
45	* MyGreatestFailure:
46	** Barry blames himself for the death of Eddie, who sacrificed himself to stop the Reverse Flash, and Ronnie, who died helping stop the singularity. To really rub it in, the Flash has become known as the titular "man who saved Central City".
47	** Caitlin blames herself for Ronnie's death for not taking up his offer to leave Central City and start over somewhere.
48	* MythologyGag: Atom Smasher is lured into a showdown with [[Franchise/{{Batman}} a spotlight bearing the Flash's insignia]]. Cisco admits he got the idea from a comic book. It doubles as a reference to how the 1990 Flash series was heavily inspired by Tim Burton's Batman film.
49	* NeverFoundTheBody: Ronnie, ''again''.
50	* NotHisSled: Season 1 concluded by emulating Barry's iconic HeroicSacrifice from ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''. But here it turns out it's actually ''Ronnie'' who gave up his life to save Central City.
51	* OnOneCondition: Barry inherits S.T.A.R. Labs - provided he watches Thawne's VideoWill.
52	* OutOfCharacterAlert: The episode opens with Captian Cold, not his calm smug self, but screaming angrily at Flash wanting him dead. It's a strong clue to the fact that none of this is real.
53	* PetTheDog: Thawne left a video will confessing to killing Nora. However he makes it a KickTheDog moment by claiming that even though he's giving Barry what he wants he knows his enemy well enough that he'll still never be happy, aside from the fact that said will still counts as slandering the real Wells.
54	* ThePlace: Central City is on the title.
55	* PhlebotinumOverdose: How Team Flash beats Atom Smasher.
56	* ProtagonistTitle: The title refers to Barry, though he insist that it's [[SecondaryCharacterTitle Ronnie]].
57	* PuttingTheBandBackTogether: Barry pushed everyone away after Ronnie's and Eddie's deaths, but everyone else refused to accept that. Basically, [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive the band moved into the lead singer's living room]] and refused to leave.
58	* SecondaryCharacterTitle: Well, Ronnie ''did'' do his last and greatest act to save the city.
59	* ShoutOut:
60	** Greg Turk, the lawyer who delivers Thawne's VideoWill, is from Weathersby-Stone, the law firm formed by Eli Stone and Jordan Weathersby in ''Series/EliStone'', a previous Greg Berlanti show.
61	** Before Cisco activates the alarms at the power plant, he says "Come on, Feel the Noise", after the song of the same name by Slade (more known for the cover by Quiet Riot).
62	* SpotTheThread: While there are ''many'' tells that the opening scene was an ImagineSpot Barry was having, the ''most'' telling was that Eddie and Eobard Thawne were ''still alive''. ...well, so was Ronnie, but [[RewatchBonus it wasn't revealed yet that he was dead]].
63	* SwissCheeseSecurity: The use of this trope in Season 1 was lampshaded, with the characters swearing to improve security - which doesn't stop Jay Garrick from entering in the slightest.
64	* TemptingFate: Cisco brags about beefing up STAR Labs' security system. And then everyone panics when someone ''did'' walk in undetected: Jay Garrick.
65	* TimeSkip: Starts out six months after the previous season finale.
66	* ToAbsentFriends: Martin Stein does one at Henry's welcome-home party.
67	* TookALevelInBadass: Barry is seen to have gained greater control of his powers as during his fight with Atom Smasher he whips up cyclones that the villain has to ''struggle'' against and Barry seems to escape him by vibrating through his hand.
68	* UnexpectedInheritance: Thawne made Barry his heir in the event of his disappearance, which mean Barry is now the owner of STAR Labs.
69	* VideoWill: Eobard Thawne left one behind for Barry and, in it, he confesses to the murder of Nora Allen.
70	* WhamLine: A mysterious visitor shows up to S.T.A.R. Labs at the end of the episode and we get this line:
71	--> My name is [[Franchise/TheFlash Jay Garrick]] and your world is in danger.

Context Recap / TheFlash2014S2E1TheManWhoSavedCentralCity