Barry tries to find out and prevent whatever causes him to go mad in Despero's future, even as things go increasingly wrong for him.
Tropes:
- Arc Words: "Leveling Up" is once again repeated a lot.
- Big Damn Heroes: Chester and Allegra show up just in time to stop Despero from killing Barry.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Barry, at first thought to be by the villain Xotar, but it still continues, even after the latter is in meta cuffs.
- The Bus Came Back: Frost returns in this episode.
- The Cameo:
- While Barry and Kramer are discussing the case about Black Hole (because Barry was framed as an inside man), a short clip shows Sunshine.
- At the end of the episode, Barry speeds to a familiar hangar, asking for help...from Black Lightning.
- Continuity Nod:
- When bringing up the possibility that Barry's enhanced speed may be what turns him crazy Chester brings up how Barry's Speed thinking thanks to the ASF made him cold and unfeeling to his friends.
- When Frost asks Chester to design a weapon against Despero, she mentions Bloodwork.
- At the end of the episode, Barry meets Jefferson in the Hall of Justice, with even the theme from Crisis on Infinite Earths (2019) playing quietly in the background.
- Darkest Hour: Barry is framed for being The Mole for Black Hole, with Kramer asking him to Turn in Your Badge, STAR Labs is shut down, Barry's friends nearly turn against him, the whole city becomes convinced that the Flash has gone rogue, and Joe West is revealed to have been Killed Offscreen. Such a Trauma Conga Line drives Barry straight through the Despair Event Horizon.
- Dude, Not Funny!: How everybody reacts when Barry mentions that they should have Joe make them some food, unknowing that the latter has been dead for 6 months.Allegra: That's...not funny, Barry.
- Extremely Short Time Span: Everything that happens throughout the episode occurs over the course of a single day.
- Foreshadowing:
- When she suspends Barry, Kristen comments "If Joe were here right now, he'd say I should learn from last year and keep an open mind." The last act of the episode reveals what happened.
- Cecile mentions that things have been very difficult for her recently.
- Idiot Ball:
- Pretty standard of Barry by now, but when told of Xotar's psychic powers, his first and only plan is to confront her head-on like he did the Royal Flush Gang an episode ago. This obviously bites him in the ass, but it can be explained away by his overconfidence due to his enhanced powers. Where he really grabs the ball is the second fight, where Flash doesn't just immediately slap the meta cuffs on Xotar before she knows what's happening, instead standing still and taunting her, allowing her time to grab Flash before he can speed past her.her.
- Everyone grabs hold of one for not having an encrypted cloud backup for their data and Gideon at STAR Labs, forcing them to wipe everything once the lab is closed off.
- Immigrant Patriotism: Despero came to love Earth like his original homeworld Kalanor.
- It Has Been an Honor: Gideon to Barry when he prepares to remove the evidence of the Flash from STAR Labs.
- Killed Offscreen: Turns out Joe died months ago, and somehow Barry doesn't remember it.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The audience is probably just as shocked as Barry was when it's revealed Joe is dead.
- Madness Mantra: All of Xotar's victims keep repeating her name. Barry does not, which is an early indicator that he is actually not affected by her, but by somebody else.
- Mind over Matter: Aside from being a telepath, Xotar is also telekinetic.
- My Greatest Failure:
- Despero tells Barry a story of how he used to lead a rebellion against the tyrant of his planet Kalanor. Out of compassion, he let the tyrant live, only for it to bite him in the ass, since he later returned to power and banished him. He then went to Earth, coming to see it as his adopted homeworld over the years and has vowed to never make that same mistake again, which is why he is so determined to kill Barry.
- Chester reveals that he is a pacifist because he set a friend's home on fire by accident as a child, trying to build a ray gun. This is why he has a big problem with Frost requesting a potentially deadly weapon against Despero from him.
- No Ontological Inertia: All of Xotar's victims snap out of their madness after the latter is in meta-cuffs.
- Red Herring: Xotar is initially thought to have been responsible for Barry's madness. Unfortunately, it continues even after she is in meta-cuffs.
- The Reveal: Joe is dead after some undisclosed incident months prior.
- Sanity Slippage: Despero tells Barry that the reason he is going to turn on the city is that he will suffer a series of tragedies so shocking that it will slowly cause him to snap and eventually go on a rampage. He warns that the first sign of his slippage will occur on the next day which is exactly what happens.
- Shout-Out:
- In the past, Chester built a Ray Gun inspired by Marvin the Martian's weapon.
- Chester also name drops Granville T. Woods, the first African-American inventor, who had over 50 patents to his name after the Civil War.
- Shrouded in Myth: Until Despero tells Barry his story, the Team is unable to find anything about him at all. Even Alex is only able to confirm to them that there were rumors about the Flame of Py'tar and that they've basically confirmed them.
- Sickening "Crunch!": When Xotar attempts to twist Barry's body.
- Smart Bomb: The Flash defeats Xotar by unleashing a powerful electrical surge.
- Spotting the Thread: Allegra notices Chester being conflicted about something, which is because Frost asked him to make a weapon against Despero.
- Superman Stays Out of Gotham:
- Justified; Alex mentions Kara and J'onn being currently off-world. J'onn would have made short work of Despero otherwise. Though no justification is given why Dreamer, Brainy, or Superman weren't called.
- Unbeknownst to Barry, the Legends are currently unable to return to the present, and Kate obviously is no longer Batwoman (it's unknown if Barry has ever met Ryan yet) so they aren't available to help when he goes to the Hall of Justice.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Despite Kramer genuinely wanting to see justice done for Barry, she has to order him to hand in his badge and stand down from investigating the latest crime scene since he is under investigation.
- Title Drop: Despero mentions that he will find and stop Barry before he brings about Armageddon.
- Trash the Set: STAR Labs is shut down and prepared to be demolished.
- Trauma Conga Line: Barry suffers a major one throughout the episode. First, Barry is suspended from CCPD due to a federal investigation suspecting him of being a mole for Joesph Carver. Then Team Flash loses STAR Labs and all its resources, including Barry having to shut down Gideon. Finally, he learns that Joe has been dead for half a year and doesn't remember it. Compounding this is him having blackouts during which he attacks both his friends and Central City, the latter of which causes the city to believe he's turned against them.
- Turn in Your Badge: Kramer requires Barry to do it due to a federal investigation against him, as they suspect him to have been a mole for Joseph Carver.
- Wham Line: Several.
- Kramer telling Barry that he is under investigation for federal crimes.
- The cops telling Team Flash that STAR Labs is on the brink of a radioactive meltdown and has to be shut down.
- The team telling Barry that Joe is dead for half a year now.Caitlyn: Barry, Joe died six months ago.
- When Black Lightning asks what is going on, Barry replies with one word: "Injustice."
- What the Hell, Hero?: Rare example from the villain, as Despero is furious that Barry's friends would still attempt to stop him from saving the world from Barry.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Team Flash theorize that one of the reasons Barry might go insane is that his new enhanced speed, thanks to the Forces, has caused him to become too powerful to fast, even referencing how the ASF turned Barry cold and dangerous when he used it (not that this would make sense, as he's shown no sign of going insane up to this point).
