As Cicada II plans her final massacre, Team Flash tries to protect the metahumans by giving them the cure. Meanwhile Nora discovers that her brief time in the Negative Speed Force has unforeseen complications...or blessings.
- Badass Boast: Cicada II, after Team Flash disarm her of her dagger.Cicada II: I don't need a dagger to kill you.
- Batman Gambit: Thawne's entire plan was to manipulate things in order to have Cicada's dagger destroyed in the past.
- The Big Damn Kiss: Sherloque and Renee, before the latter has to leave for another Earth.
- Brought Down to Badass: Even after taking away her dagger, Grace still wipes to floor with Team Flash, seeing as she didn't even have it before coming to the present (the latter doubles as a Wham Line for Ralph).
- Butterfly of Doom: Invoked by Thawne. Everything he's done in manipulating Nora is to get her and Team Flash to destroy the dagger in the past in order to deal with the immediate threat of Cicada, not realizing that the dagger is the very thing allowing Thawne to be imprisoned and executed.
- Call-Back:
- Renee mentions the fight between Gorilla Grodd and King Shark.
- Barry remembers trapping Thawne in the containment cell.
- Fallout and the parallel Earth where Vibe sent his siphoned nuclear energy both get mentioned.
- Ralph mentions that David Hersch was supposed to be Cicada in the original timeline, before Nora changed it.
- The Chains of Commanding: Joe gets a little overwhelmed by all the responsibility Captain Singh left to him.
- The Chessmaster: Thawne, of course. As Ralph puts it, "his plans have plans".
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Barry about to destroy the dagger, just as Ralph realizes the dagger's destruction was Thawne's plan.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Thawne's ticking clock has been going on for fifteen years before the date of his execution. Turns out this is a poorly-thought out fate to inflict on a bonafide The Chessmaster, as it gave him plenty of time to scheme out of it.
- "Eureka!" Moment:
- Sherloque tells Renee that Grace wants to kill every metahuman on Earth — so he opts to send her to a different one.
- Ralph realizes that the chestpiece used in the future to keep Thawne's powers suppressed contains Cicada's dagger as the means of doing it, and he's been manipulating everyone to destroy it in the past.
- Extra-ore-dinary: Renee's powers are revealed to be this.
- Flashback-Montage Realization: Ralph flashes back to his previous observations about Thawne and the timeline as he realizes "The dagger is Thawne's plan."
- Final Solution: Grace doesn't just want to purge all the metas from Central City — she targets the whole country.
- Hallucinations: Just like Slade Wilson had visions of Shado egging him to kill Oliver Queen, Cicada II has visions of her uncle Orlin telling her to launch genocide on all metahumans.
- Helicopter Parents: Barry and Iris still try to keep Nora out of everything to keep her safe, until Nora convinces them that she is not as reckless as before and genuinely believes she can help.
- Hope Spot: Fortunately subverted. At first it looks like Cisco's plans to disarm the virus disperser didn't work, causing Grace to gloat, but then it ultimately succeeds after all.
- Ignored Expert: Ralph gets blown off every time he tries to bring attention to Thawne's plan.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Defied. Despite the looming threat of Cicada's genocidal virus, Renee adamantly wants to keep her powers.
- Internal Reveal: Renee learns of the existence of different Earths. She isn't too surprised by it, considering she witnessed a giant gorilla fighting a man-shark a few weeks back.
- It's Personal: When Killer Frost confronts Cicada II, she comments that they have "unfinished business", indicating she's still enraged about Grace killing Caitlin's father.
- Lured into a Trap: A bomb waits for Barry at Ollins' place.
- Mind over Matter: Renee has telekinetic powers.
- Near-Villain Victory: It takes all of Team Flash (minus Nora, who's recuperating from scrying on Grace) to subdue Grace while Cisco defuses the virus disperser, and they just barely manage to win, knocking her out in the process just before she kills Cisco in revenge. And then it turns out their hard-fought victory plays right into Thawne's plans anyway.
- Not Now, Kiddo: Barry isn't entirely dismissive of Ralph's concerns about why Thawne would send Nora into the past to stop Cicada only for another one to take his place, but he's too distracted by wanting to stop Cicada II to give it full consideration.
- Not So Similar: Nora notes that she and Grace have a lot in common...but she decides to let go of her anger, something which Grace refuses to do.
- Oh, Crap!: Ralph realizes that them using the Mirror Gun on the dagger is all part of Thawne's plan.
- Outrun the Fireball: Barry does this when Cicada plants a bomb in Ollins' lab. Super-Speed helps.
- Person as Verb: Ralph refers to Cicada "Supergirling away".
- Properly Paranoid: As it turns out, Barry was right about not trusting things when he learned that Thawne was involved.
- Psychic Link: Nora and Grace are still connected, which causes Grace's anger to transfer towards Nora. Nora tries to use it to the team's advantage, trying to find out Grace's location.
- Psychopathic Man Child: Nora lampshades this, noting how even all grown up Grace is still the same angry little girl she's always been.
- The Reveal: The chestpiece that Thawne wears in his cell actually hides Cicada's dagger to keep his powers suppressed.
- Rousing Speech: Joe gives one to the frightened metas, after a pep talk from Cecile.
- Sensory Overload: Cecile gets a huge rush of nervous emotions coming from metas going into CCPD just before they all arrive.
- Shout-Out:
- Ralph finds the 'timey-wimeyness' of Thawne and Nora's situation very confusing.
- Cisco says "Hold on to your butts" when he turns on the containment cell.
- Cisco uses Stan Lee's signature line, "Fear not, True Believers!".
- Smug Smiler: Thawne allows himself a particularly vicious, self-satisfied smirk when it's revealed that he had Cicada's dagger in his chestplate the whole time.
- Speak of the Devil: Just when Sherloque tries to warn Renee about Grace, she arrives and tries to target her.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Trying to calm down and protect a large group of scared, directionless people is very difficult, even for the cops; not helped by most metahumans' reputation for being criminals.
- Despite going through the effort to test the cure to assure its safety, getting it legally approved to be distributed at medical facilities would still take weeks of navigating through red tape.
- Take a Third Option: Sherloque offers Renee a way out of danger from Cicada's metahuman virus while keeping her powers by sending her to his native Earth.
- This Cannot Be!: Cicada II is left staring in complete disbelief when Cisco successfully defuses her weapon, barely seconds after she's gloating about how he's too late.
- Timey-Wimey Ball: Ralph lampshades this noting that something doesn't make sense with the timeline changes regarding the Cicadas, specifically what happened to all the metahumans they killed/will kill and why Thawne would send Nora to the past to stop Cicada I if Cicada II would just take his place. He finally realizes what it is — Cicada's dagger that Grace never got until she came to the past is what's being used to keep Thawne depowered in prison.
- We ARE Struggling Together: There is visible discontent and arguing amongst the metahumans who are scared for their lives.
- Wham Episode: Thawne is still the same villainous bastard he's always been — the entire season has been his Batman Gambit to escape from his execution.
- Wham Line: Cicada II drops one that gives Ralph the final clue to Thawne's plan:Cicada: I don't need a dagger to kill you. I didn't have it before I came to this time.
- Wham Shot: Just as Thawne is about to be executed, we see his chestplate get taken off, revealing Cicada's dagger glowing from his restraints.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Cecile picks Joe up after all the sudden responsibilities overwhelm him.
- You Are in Command Now: As Singh deals with city hall, Joe is left in charge of the CCPD as Caitlin administers the cure.
- You Are Too Late: Cicada II gloats about this as Cisco seemingly fails to disable her weapon...only to be stunned as it shuts down at the last second.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!:
- Singh's reaction to being told to let a huge number of metahumans inside the CCPD.
- Cisco has this reaction upon learning that his college roommate wins a Nobel Prize in the future.
- Young Future Famous People: Cisco is indignant to learn that in 2049 his mediocre college roommate Sebastian Ollins, who only got by with his help, is a Nobel Prize-winning tech mogul.
