Recap / The Flash 2014 S 3 E 14 Attack On Central City

Grodd begins his invasion of Earth-1 Central City leaving Barry and Team Flash as the only people in his way.

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Tropes

• Alternate History:
  • We get another reference to Earth-2's War of the Americas, which was apparently their equivalent of World War II as Jessie assumes Casablanca is about it.
  • We also get more tidbits about Earth-19: Weird Al is a famous poet there, "Friends Day" apparently exists in place of Valentine's Day, and Luke Skywalker is known as Luke Starkiller (the last name George Lucas originally thought up for him).
• Batman Grabs a Gun: Barry seriously considers killing Grodd, in order to deal with him once and for all, but Iris and Harry convince him not to do so.
• Big Damn Heroes: Harry saves Barry from a brainwashed Gypsy with his gun just in time.
• Big Damn Kiss: Gypsy finally gives a real one to Cisco before leaving back to Earth-19.
• Book Ends: Both the opening and closing scenes involve Iris walking into her living room and finding Barry has decorated the place.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Gypsy at the beginning of the episode and the US general Grodd uses to get nuclear launch codes.
• Call-Back: Grodd previously forced Joe to point his gun at his own head. In this episode, he does the same thing, but actually makes him pull the trigger. Guess he doesn't think guns are bad anymore.
• The Cameo: The Accelerated Man, The Flash of Earth-19, makes his live action debut when Gypsy informs him she took care of the breacher who escaped from their Earth to Earth-2.
• Continuity Nod:
  • H.R. decorates the Speed Lab for "Friends Day," since Cisco has forbidden him from doing so in the Cortex after Christmas.
  • Caitlin brings up Lisa Snart when discussing relationships with Cisco.
  • When Barry and Harry are talking about Barry's stance on killing Grodd in an attempt to save Iris, Barry points out that Harry was willing to do the same to save Jesse from Zoom. Harry counters it's something he regrets.
  • Grodd is now an ARGUS prisoner, so Cisco wants to see how he and another Metanimal, King Shark, are going to "get along".
• Contrived Coincidence: The fugitive Gypsy was hunting just happened to run away to Earth-2's African jungle.
• Cool Versus Awesome: Cisco notes that he would pay money to see a King Shark-Grodd cage match.
• Curbstomp Battle: Grodd only gets a handful of hits during his duel with Solovar and even tries to run from him.
• Defeat Means Respect: Solovar agrees to help Team Flash defeat Grodd despite Barry kicking his ass last episode without showing any signs of grudge. Judging by Gorilla City's display of the Might Makes Right mentality, this is justified.
• Double-Meaning Title: The second part of a two-parter episode that began with "Attack on Gorilla City," as well as referencing the attack on Earth-1.
• Dude, Not Funny!: Due to the impending threat on Iris' life being the main arc in the latter half of the season, Harry invoking You See, I'm Dying as a prank so his daughter won't leave him is really not a good idea.
• Elite Mooks: The nameless gorilla soldiers are every bit as tough as Grodd and Solovar himself, effortlessly ignoring the combined assault of Jesse and Wally and then sending them flying with glancing blows.
• Event Title: The title refers to Grodd and his army's Evil Plan.
• Exact Words: Harry implies that he's dying by saying "I don't know how much time I have left" (no one really knows how much time they have) and "I have seen a doctor" (he's certainly seen doctors at various times in his life). Wally is completely fooled, but Jessie sees right through it.
  Jessie: Hey, dead guy! You told Wally you're dying?
  Caitlin: [concerned] You're dying?
• Fanservice: Iris during the opening scene, wearing presumably nothing but a sweater.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Once again, both Harry and Jesse, although this time the latter appears to be staying with Team Flash as a permanent fixture.
• Handwave: A quick one by Cisco to explain away Joe's acquired artistic ability to draw a memory artificially retrieved from Brainwash Residue of Grodd's mind control.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Despite Harry insisting otherwise, H.R. once again proves his value by suggesting that the man they are looking for has a hair cut typical for military men.
• Insufferable Genius: Harry is pretty blunt about him seeing himself as superior over H.R..
• It Gets Easier: Harry warns Barry that he won't stop after killing Grodd and will just spiral down a dark path.
• Just Friends: Caitlin says this about her and Julian. Cisco doesn't seem entirely convinced.
• Just in Time: Barry defuses the nuclear missile launch codes 2 seconds before they start.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Harry is not the king of friendliness, but spitting with toothpaste on H.R.'s coffee is too much.
  • Grodd tries to force Joe into a Psychic-Assisted Suicide.
• "King Kong" Climb: A variant. Both Solovar and Grodd leap over Central City skyscrapers during their battle.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Barry's decision to show mercy to Solovar when they fought is what allowed his Take a Third Option solution for ending the incursion without a loss of human or gorilla life during the final confrontation.
• Le Parkour: During their battle, Grodd and Solovar climb over skyscrapers, but not in the traditional way. They did so by leaping between buildings.
• Lightning Bruiser: Both Solovar and Grodd rapidly leap over Central City skyscrapers during their battle.
• Nuke 'em: This is in fact Grodd's original plan to destroy Central City. The episode's heavily advertised army of gorillas engaging in on-the-ground warfare is actually his Plan B, which he only deploys once The Flash foils his first plan.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Cisco learns he can now Vibe a person's emotions. Good thing, too, as it helped in convincing Gypsy that she really does want to help Team Flash.
  • Of course that could be Cisco pulling something out of his ass to try and convince her to help them.
• Oh, Crap!: Wally's response to seeing Savitar suddenly appear in the street.
• Other Me Annoys Me: Harry's annoyance evolves to outright hatred of H.R. and tears him down for not being a scientist like himself and the Earth-1 Wells.
• Papa Wolf: Harry warns Wally to not hurt his daughter in any way before leaving back to Earth-2.
  Harry: This is my daughter, there is nothing more important to me. So you do right by my daughter, or else there is nowhere in the Multiverse I won't find you.
• Password Slot Machine: The nuke can only be disarmed by a five-digit password, which the heroes don't know, forcing them to try the brute force method. Fortunately, having a speedster makes this task at least somewhat manageable.
• The Place: The title obviously refers to the main setting of the series.
• Put on a Bus:
  • Harry goes back to Earth-2.
  • Grodd is taken into ARGUS custody.
• Psychic-Assisted Suicide: Grodd tries this on Joe, controlling him to point a gun at his own head and pull the trigger. Barry just barely manages to save Joe, and even then, the bullet still grazes him.
• Reaction Shot: As Gypsy kisses Cisco, we get a shot of Jesse, Wally, and Caitlin's reactions.
• Refuge in Audacity: The basic premise of the episode is this, which the characters acknowledge:
  Barry: We're gonna need all the help we can get. Can you talk to Joe, see if he can rally CCPD?
  Iris: Yeah, yeah, I'll let him know that an army of sentient gorillas is about to storm the city. He's gonna love that.
• The Reveal: Gypsy was on Earth-2 hunting a fugitive from Earth-19, when Grodd ambushed her.
• Shout-Out: Gypsy suspects that Cisco is trying to pull a "Luke Starkiller" on her.
  • On a meta-level, Starkiller was the original surname to Luke Skywalker, guess Lucas didn't change it on Earth-19.
  • Before they are able to identify General McNally, Cisco jokingly refers to him as "Jason Bourne."
• Somebody Else's Problem: Gyspy's excuse for not helping to stop Grodd until the end.
• Spoiler Opening: Keith David's listing in the guest credits gives away that Solovar will be showing up.
• Summon Bigger Fish: Team Flash defeats Grodd by recruiting Solovar to fight him in one-on-one combat.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The general Grodd Mind Controlled is obviously a stand-in for Gen. Eiling since the latter's actor is unavailable during the filming of this episode.
• Take a Third Option:
  • Grodd could put his gorilla army (armed with melee weapons) up against humans with far superior weapons and any metahumans who happened to be around in order to destroy Central City. Or, he could mind-control a general into nuking the city first.
  • Instead of confronting Grodd themselves, Barry has Cisco and Gypsy bring Solovar to Earth-1 and fight Grodd for them.
• Took A Levelin Badass: Barry says this of Grodd, noting that every time they fight, Grodd has become smarter, stronger, and tougher.
• Try Everything: In trying to disarm some nukes, Barry has to once again use this tactic. The two Wells even discuss how many combinations could there be.
• Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny: When Caitlin suggests sticking Grodd in the same cell as King Shark, Cisco says he'd pay good money to see that.
• Valentine's Day Episodes: Played with; Friends Day (the Earth-19 pendant, to be fair) coincides with the holiday. But it's not the theme of the entire episode. However, it does play somewhat of a background role; Barry/Iris, Jesse/Wally, and Cisco/Gypsy all get a Relationship Upgrade, and Caitlin/Julian and Joe/Cecil at least get mentions.
• Villain Ball: Team Flash would not have found out until it was too late about Grodd's invasion (or having arrived in Earth-1 for that matter) had he not send Gypsy to attack STAR Labs. She gets beaten quickly and Team Flash pieces some clues together, allowing them to try to prepare for his attack. Especially jarring considering the dialogue of this episode emphasizes his The Chessmaster genius.
• Villainous Valour: Despite claiming in "Attack on Gorilla City" to not have the skills needed to best Solovar, Grodd still faces him in combat when presented with no alternative.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Jesse gives this to her dad, after learning that Harry used the "I'm Dying" card on Wally to convince him to push Jesse away from moving to Earth-1.
• Wham Shot:
  • Barry proposes to Iris.
  • Wally discovering Savitar's escaped from the Speed Force.
• Written-In Absence: According to Caitlin, Julian is settling business with family in England, thus taking Tom Felton out of the episode.
• Writers Cannot Do Math: Harry mocks H.R. for not knowing that the five-digit passcode has 90,000 combinations. Except it should have been 100,000; Harry seems to have assumed that the first digit can't be a zero (meaning the code would be written as a five-digit number) for some reason.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
  • Barry considers abandoning his Thou Shalt Not Kill policy in regards to Grodd, out of fear that if he doesn't he'll just come back even stronger, and also in doing so he may prevent the headline from the bad future. Iris tries to convince him that he can't do such a thing, that his kindness, compassion and mercy are what make him Central City's hero, and she won't allow him to compromise his virtues by taking another creatures life, even for her own.
    • Later, Harry completely agrees with Iris, and takes it a step further by warning Barry that once he goes down that path, it's hard to turn away. And he knows this from experience.
  • Cisco later pulls this with Gypsy, vibing to Earth-19 to appeal her to help save his home and the people he loves, especially after he reveals he can supposedly vibe her feelings that she does truly want to help.
• You Monster!: Caitlin finally concedes that whatever good was once in Grodd, is now gone, and that he deserves to be caged at ARGUS.
• You See, I'm Dying: Harry pulls this on Wally in order to get him to make Jesse stay with him, though he uses Exact Words on this, only saying that he doesn't know how much time he has left and that he has seen a doctor.