A criminal can travel back in time several seconds and anticipate Batman's every move.
Tropes for this episode include:
- 11th-Hour Superpower: After watching his son die due to his own plan for revenge, Francis gains the ability to turn back 17 years in time as he wanted to; the moment before he screwed up his life by stealing the pocket watch. He decides not to steal it this time.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Francis loses all his cool on the rooftop when he hears a sudden arrival ask, "Dad? What are you doing?"
- Big "NO!": Francis when his son is exposed to the gas and dies.
- Book Ends:
- Francis is seen holding his crying infant son early on. The end of the bad timeline near the end of the episode has Francis crying while holding his deceased adult son who was killed by his own victory.
- The first timeline (and the episode as a whole) begins with Alfred complaining to Bruce that the grandfather clock is damaged and they have no one to properly fix it in time for New Year's Eve. The episode ends with the second timeline, where Francis and his son help fix said-grandfather clock.
- Brought Down to Normal: Because Francis gained his time-travel abilities in prison, he doesn't have them in the new timeline where he stays out of trouble. Either that or he is so happy with the second chance he got that he refuses to use them on the off chance that he might lose it. Although it's perfectly possible he's still using them for minor things, just not for evil.
- Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Francis didn't think it would hurt to try and steal the golden watch. But between a series of bad luck and his clumsiness which results in a downed power line and the destruction of a gas tanker truck, Francis is caught and sent to prison for seventeen years.
- Chekhov's Skill: In the bad timeline, while serving time in prison, Francis was tasked with fixing clocks for the guards. In the good timeline, the episode ends on the note that Francis has long started a clock-repairing business alongside his son, with Bruce's grandfather clock being their latest case.
- Disaster Dominoes: Francis stealing a watch combined with his clumsiness results in a gas tanker truck blowing up. This apparently bumps up his sentence to 17 years.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Goes both ways. He only stole a watch, but in doing so toppled the Disaster Dominoes that got him locked away for 17 years. He gets back at the city by killing everyone in it.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After wasting a lifetime in prison away from his wife and son (and becoming a bad guy along the way), Francis finds himself back in the past, where he decides to not steal the watch. Because of his choice, he gets to be with his son and raise him, and the two run a clock-repair business together as father and son.
- Hero Killer: When Francis succeeds in releasing the gas, Robin and Batgirl have already been knocked out and thus can't put on their gas masks. Batman also passes out before he can reach his.
- Hope Spot: Several in the climax.
- When the bomb is about to go off, Robin points out that while Francis can turn back time, he can't be in two places at once, so Robin splits from Batman and tries to disable the bomb. Francis anticipated this and programmed the bomb to shock anyone who meddles with it, thus Robin is electrocuted.
- Batman's sense of Déjà Vu strengthens throughout the episode, to the point where he is able to counter all of Francis' tactics no matter how many times Francis turns back the clock. This lasts until Francis tricks Batman into chasing him around a corner and knocking the Bat out with a pipe as he comes around.
- Then after Batman is taken down, Batgirl returns (with Matt Grey). Francis catches her off guard and hits her with the pipe as well.
- And finally, Matt Grey tries to stop his father from committing mass murder, but he arrived only seconds before the bomb went off.
- The Klutz: Francis isn't the most coordinated man in the world. In fact, his clumsiness played a part in landing him in jail. After gaining his ability to rewind time, Francis uses it to make up for his tendency to trip over his own feet.
- Little "No": Francis when Matt starts succumbing to the gas.
- Manly Tears: Francis, as Matt passes out from the gas.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The civilians once the gas is released.
- Mood Whiplash: The episode is mostly comedic...and then the bomb is about to go off in the climax and it's revealed that Francis anticipated he can't be in two places at once and Robin is electrocuted when trying to disable the bomb, starting the emotional finale.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Francis won, but his moment became a Pyrrhic Victory as his son got caught in the gas, killing him.
- My Greatest Failure: One of Francis' biggest regrets is that his powers aren't strong enough to rewind back to the moment before he stole the gold watch.
- My Greatest Second Chance: After successfully reversing time to the moment in the clock shop, Francis chose to not steal the watch and goes home.
- Oh, Crap!: Francis when he sees that his son has arrived right before the gas is released.
- Outliving One's Offspring: What makes Francis's win a Pyrrhic Victory. Matt gets caught in the gas along with everyone else and dies in his father's arms.
- Sanity Slippage: When talking about his time in prison, Francis says he was put in charge of repairing the guards' clocks. Being surrounded by all those clocks and hearing the constant ticking got him thinking about all the time he had lost in prison, slowly unnerving him until he finally snapped and activated his power.
- Save Scumming: Francis exploits his power both to avoid his sloppy mistakes and to learn how opponents will react to him. He adjusts his tactics appropriately each time, to the point where he can effortlessly dodge Batman's punches with little effort.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Both a big one and a small one come from Francis deciding not to steal the golden watch. The big one? Gotham won't be poisoned and will live to see more New Years to come. The small one? Francis and his son go on to run a clock repairing business and fix Bruce Wayne's grandfather clock.
- Simple Solution Won't Work: One might wonder early on in the story why Francis doesn't just use his time travel powers to simply go back in time and not steal the watch. It's explained that despite his efforts to undo his crime, he can only go back twenty seconds at most, making this impossible. It's not until the death of his son that he finally gains the ability to return to the shop and choose not to steal the watch.
- Spanner in the Works: Batman advises Francis that he always has a choice. The Dark Knight also tracked Francis' son as a way to help persuade Francis against destroying Gotham. Unwittingly, while he doesn't stop Francis in time, the shock of it sends Francis back to the moment before he stole the watch. The advice ends up convincing Francis to make the right choice.
- The Story That Never Was: Thanks to Francis changing the past most of the episode's events never happened.
- Strong as They Need to Be: You'd be forgiven for thinking that a guy as strong and skilled as Batman could easily knock out Francis with one attack. For whatever reason, Francis can handle things with just "mild" discomfort.
- Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Being tasked with fixing all the broken clocks while in prison eventually drove Francis mad, as he could literally see the time he was losing pass him by. This stress is what led to him unlocking his powers. Then, after accidentally killing his son, the grief gives him enough strength to return to the moment before he stole the watch.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In stealing one watch, Francis triggered the chain of events that caused a massive amount of property damage and completely ruined his life with a 17-year prison sentence.Francis: I took a watch! Everything else was an accident. For that, they put me away for 17 years? You make one little mistake, and you spend the rest of your life paying for it.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Francis was a klutzy, unassuming guy who stole a gold watch out of desperation. The unintended chaos that followed got him sent to prison for 17 years, which caused him to lose his family. After his sentence, he seeks revenge on a massive scale.
