Barry enlists a host of speedster allies, including Iris and his children from the future — Bart and Nora — to end the speedster war and defeat Godspeed.
Tropes:
- Affectionate Nickname: Because of the Speed Force using their grandmother’s form, both Allen children have them for her. For Nora, she's “Big Nora” and the Speed Force in turn calls her “Little Nora”. Bart calls her "Speed Force Nana".
- Amnesiacs are Innocent: Subverted. August (who has time-travel induced amnesia) is distraught to learn that he's a power hungry villain and tells Cecile he'll try to be different after he gets his memory back. Unfortunately, the moment he recovers he goes right back to being evil.
- Back for the Finale:
- The Speed Force comes to lend the team a hand against the Godspeed clones. As does Cisco.
- Thawne returns after an extended hiatus.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Barry and Iris during the fight with the Godspeed clones.
- Badass Fingersnap: As befitting a Force of Nature, the Speed Force takes down several Godspeed clones with one of these.
- Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Barry enlists Thawne's aid to take down Godspeed, and Thawne brutally does so...nearly killing him. While Barry is horrified, Thawne nonchalantly mentions that he did exactly what Barry asked him to.
- Battle Couple: Barry and Iris are this in the battle against the Godspeeds, the latter getting her speed back thanks to the Speed Force.
- Big Damn Heroes: Allegra arrives on the battlefield, with a fully charged S.E.E., taking out all the Godspeed clones in one hit.
- Boomerang Bigot: After all her heavy-handed treatment of metahumans, it's only fitting that Kramer learns that she's one too. This causes a Heel Realization regarding her actions, and she takes a leave of absence from the CCPD.
- The Cast Show Off: Bart sings Jonah Mutono's "1949" at the vows renewal. His actor Jordan Fisher has starred in Broadway musicals.
- Continuity Nod:
- In the previous episode, Bart mentioned how Wally taught him how to meditate; during the battle with the Godspeed clones, Bart proceeds to throw lightning bolts in the shape of throwing stars, reminiscent of Wally using his lightning to create the image of a lotus flower in his last appearance.
- Barry recalls how he and Iris missed out on having a "proper" wedding, which is what prompts them to renew their vows at the end of the episode.
- Thawne angrily recalls how he "created" the Flash and taught him everything he knows.
- Savitar is indirectly mentioned, when August Heart declares he's the real God of Speed, unlike Barry and his "spawn".
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Barry easily overpowers Thawne when the latter tries to double-cross him.
- Deal with the Devil: Barry makes one with Thawne, somehow using the Speed Force to give Thawne his body back (after he was previously reduced to being an Energy Being) in exchange for helping him deal with Godspeed.
- Dual Wielding: Heart fights with two lightning blades in order to fight Barry and Thawne at the same time.
- Empowered Badass Normal: Iris is given superspeed by the Speed Force due to the spark she possessed.
- Enemy Mine: Barry and Thawne join forces to beat Godspeed. It doesn't last after they defeat Godspeed, as Thawne inevitably betrays Barry the moment he can.
- Energy Absorption:
- The Godspeed clones feed off of the Speed Force's energy, forcing the latter to retreat from the battlefield.
- After he gets organic speed and regains his memories Godspeed absorbs his remaining clones around Central City giving him a temporary boost in speed that makes him faster then the Flash.
- Evil Is Hammy: Heart screams a lot of his lines.
- First-Name Basis: Joe and Kramer by the end of the episode, after everything they've gone through together.
- For Want Of A Nail: As Chester pointed out, if Allegra hadn't chosen to stay behind while Esperanza went on to attack the Black Hole remnant, she wouldn't have been there to save Barry when the Godspeed clone was about to kill him.
- Get Out!: Barry threateningly tells Thawne to leave immediately after Godspeed is incapacitated. Thawne initially refuses and tries to kill Barry, but when Barry easily defeats him in combat he reconsiders, vowing to get faster and defeat Barry some day.
- A God Am I: Godspeed considers himself worthy of his name after absorbing some of Barry's speed and reabsorbing all his clones.
- Godzilla Threshold: Barry, Iris and the Speed Force bring Thawne back in their plan to beat Godspeed for good.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Heart is very similar to Thawne in this regard, with his sole motivation being jealousy over not being a true speedster.
- Happily Ever After: The final scene of the episode, and the season, is Barry and Iris renewing their wedding vows in front of their friends and family. This also means that for the first time in the history of the show, the season doesn’t end on a Cliffhanger.
- Have We Met Yet?: Jay is surprised when Bart calls him "Uncle Jay", but soon starts to bond with his future protégé.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: When receiving the organic speed and his memories back, Heart promptly declares to a distraught Cecile that
he actually enjoys being the bad guy. - Heel–Face Turn: Kramer seems to finally solidify herself as being on the side of good and is putting an end to her anti-metahuman crusade.
- Hijacked by Ganon: Defied this time. Thawne tries to reassert himself as the Big Bad after taking down Godspeed, but Barry effortlessly puts him in his place and chases him off.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Speed Force Nora was able to inflict Laser-Guided Amnesia on Godspeed because he was now connected to her, unlike before when he previously relied on artificial speed.
- Hold the Line: Mecha-Vibe and Frost are forced to keep the Godspeed clones busy, while the rest of the team is working on a solution to deal with Heart.
- Identical Stranger: Jay’s reaction to meeting Speed Force Nora is comment on how much she resembles his wife.
- Idiot Ball: Barry needs an extra speedster ally. So instead of asking Jay for help, or calling in Wally, Kara, Clark, or J'onn, he decides to have the Speed Force resurrect Thawne. No way that's going to come back to bite him.
- In Barry’s defence, Wally had already been confirmed to be unavailable in the previous episode, Martians and Kryptonians are generally agreed to be slower than a Speed-Force-powered speedster, and Jay, Nora and Bart may have just not been fast enough to match the level of speed Barry needed. By contrast, Thawne has often been described as the fastest known ‘natural’ speedster outside of Barry himself (Savitar absorbed energy from his time in the Speed Force and Zoom relied on Velocity for the extra boost before he learned about the side-effects), and Barry and Jay agree after the fight that Thawne’s greatest ‘asset’ is that he has no real limit beyond his obsession with Barry.
- One would think, however, that he could've just had Speed Force!Nora just take away Godspeed's Speed Force connection (as she just did with several of the clones) or give Jay a boost.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Thawne to Godspeed with his lightning blade. It doesn't actually kill Heart, though, and allows him to be captured offscreen and sent to Iron Heights later.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: The Speed Force erases Heart's memories of Barry's identity from his mind after he is captured and send to Iron Heights.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: During the climatic battle, Godspeed summons lightning from the sky and shapes it into a sword to wield, then Barry and Thawne proceed to do the same for themselves. This is entirely without any buildup, especially since shaping Speed Force energy was previously established to require training over a period of months to learn to harness it in such a manner.
- Noodle Incident: Barry's kids have already met the Speed Force in Nora's form.
- Oh, Crap!: Thawne when he realizes how fast Barry has become - it’s to the point that when Thawne throws a punch at super-speed, Barry just enters Bullet Time and casually steps out of the way.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. This episode features Barry and Iris's future daughter Nora and the Speed Force manifested in the form of Barry's mother Nora.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Other than being given a physical body again this is the main reason Thawne agrees to help Barry take down Godspeed, as he can't stand the thought of someone aside from himself killing the Flash.
- Post-Final Boss: After Heart is defeated, Thawne attacks Barry, but is swiftly dealt with.
- Power Copying: Kramer's metahuman ability is revealed to be this. She can copy the ability of any meta in close proximity for a short period of time. Thus she survived the explosion that took out the rest of her unit by copying Adam's immortality and later gains superspeed to save Joe from a Godspeed clone.
- Power Perversion Potential: Downplayed; As they kiss during the renewal ceremony, Barry pulls Iris into Flashtime so that he can make the moment last longer.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Caitlin and Frost’s wardrobe choices at the vow renewal invoke this trope.
- The Reveal: Kramer is a metahuman.
- Rule of Cool: Precisely why there is a Speed-Lightsaber battle.
- Sadistic Choice: At the beginning of the episode Heart gives one to Barry while they are both in his mindscape; either give him organic speed so he can truly become a speedster, at which point he will absorb all of his clones, or refuse and allow the Godspeed war to destroy the world. Barry initially refuses to give Heart organic speed but once the Godspeed clones prove to be too much of a challenge he reluctantly complies with Hearts demand.
- Season Finale: Of season 7.
- Shout-Out:
- Barry, Thawne, and Godspeed wield lightning bolts like lightsabers. The fight choreography, too, is taken right out of Star Wars.
- Whilst performing the renewal ceremony, Cisco describes it as “the best sequel since The Empire Strikes Back” - a sentiment that Barry, Chester and Allegra are shown agreeing with.
- Cisco awards Barry “10 points for Gryffindor” after his vows.
- Super-Empowering:
- The Speed Force not only gives Iris Super-Speed, she also boosts the powers of all the other Flash family members.
- After gaining organic speed Heart proceeds to absorb all of his clones around Central City which gives him a temporary boost that allows him to outpace Barry.
- Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Justified, since with the Speed Force gone, the other forces are all working overtime to keep the universe in balance.
- Surpassed the Teacher: Thawne is horrified to discover that Barry has become better than him.
- Surprisingly Happy Ending: After 6 consecutive cliffhangers, this season finale instead ends with Barry and Iris renewing their vows, with nary a Sequel Hook in sight.
- Turn in Your Badge: Kramer, after having a Heel Realization and after discovering that she herself is a metahuman.
- The Unreveal: We never find out why Iris was fading in and out of the timeline.
- Unwitting Pawn: Thawne comes back to help his nemesis out, but when he tried to double-cross Team Flash in the end, Barry not only anticipated this, but also shows that he has finally outmatched Thawne in power.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Invoked by Barry, who tells Thawne to leave after Godspeed is dealt with. This could be considered as "thanks" for helping to defeat Godspeed.
- Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Barry has officially surpassed Thawne in speed, to the point where even when he's tired and drained from his fight against Godspeed, Barry effortlessly takes Thawne down when he double crosses him. When Barry notes that all he did to get better than Thawne is that he "got faster," Thawne admits no, he himself did not, though he will.
- Villainous Breakdown: Thawne is shocked and degenerates into ranting when he realizes that Barry has surpassed him in speed.Eobard Thawne: ...What did you do? I created you...I taught you everything you know. Everything you are...is because of me! What did you do?!
- Villainous Rescue: Thawne arrives when Heart is just about to finish Barry off.
- Wedding Finale: Vow Renewal in this case, but the principle is the same. The episode ends with Barry and Iris renewing their vows in a private ceremony with all their friends and family in attendance.
- We Will Meet Again: Thawne swears to return after Barry defeats him, before running off.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Chester successfully snaps Allegra out of her guilt over Esperanza's death, pointing out that the latter chose her own path and that Allegra actually saved Barry's life by not going with her cousin.
- You Wouldn't Shoot Me: August Heart calls Barry's bluff when the latter indirectly threatens to hand him over to the clones who want him dead, saying he is too much of a hero for that.
