Team Flash throws a surprise birthday party for Barry but things go terribly awry when Ramsey Rosso crashes the festivities.
Tropes
- Ageless Birthday Episode: Almost literal. It’s Barry’s 30th birthday due to Speed Force shenanigans, whereas his actual 30th anniversary of his birth was in 2019.
- All-Powerful Bystander: Oliver is only allowed to intervene when the multiverse is in danger.
- And Knowing Is Half the Battle: The TV show that Ramsey puts Barry into in his mindscape has a segment for this, called "Flash Facts".
- Back for the Finale: A variation. With the Arrowverse's adventures on Earth-Prime concluding with the final season of The Flash, Stephen Amell returns to the franchise his show launched one last time (as does David Ramsey for Diggle's final appearance). Likewise, Keiynan Lonsdale returns to The Flash for Wally West's Arrowverse swansong.
- Back from the Dead:
- Since the multiverse is in danger, Oliver briefly returns to the world of the living, following the ending of Arrow and his death during Crisis on Infinite Earths and "Fadeout".
- Barry dies and gets revived during the span of this episode.
- Bad Liar: When Barry denies that a part of him wants to stay dead, Oliver tells him that he was never a good liar.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The goal that lead to Ramsey becoming Bloodwork in the first place was attempting to cure his HLH. Along with purging him of his tainted blood cells, Oliver cured him of his disease, meaning that now he can spend the rest of his life in prison as a regular criminal.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Khione freezes all of the infected guests solid, saving Chester, after Oliver guided her to do so.
- Diggle blasts Ramsey in the back, assisting Oliver.
- A Birthday, Not a Break: Barry's birthday party is rudely interrupted by the reappearance of Bloodwork, who is plotting to take over the multiverse.
- Bookends: Barry made his first Arrowverse appearance on Oliver's show. Oliver, likewise, now makes his final Arrowverse appearance on Barry's show. Oliver also says that Barry is running through his city like a guardian angel, bringing hope, and that the bolt of lightning did choose Barry — just what he said all those years ago.Oliver ("Pilot"): I don't think that bolt of lighting struck you, Barry. I think it chose you. [...] You can be better. Because you can inspire people in a way that I never could. Watching over your city like a guardian angel, making a difference, saving people in a flash.
The Spectre: Do you give people hope? Are you moving through your city like a... guardian angel? Do you make a difference? That bolt of lightning chose you. Don't ever forget it. - Brainwashed and Crazy: Wally spends much of the episode under Ramsey's thrall.
- Breather Episode: The very last interlude episode before the series launches into its closing arc.
- Brought Down to Normal: Happens to Ramsey at the end, when Oliver eliminates all his Bloodwork cells throughout the Multiverse, including within him. He also cures Ramsey's HLH — but only so he can live out his life as a normal human and die of old age.
- The Bus Came Back: Oliver Queen returns to the Arrowverse for the first time since the conclusion of Arrow in early 2020. Keiynan Lonsdale likewise returns for the first time since Season Six. So do Ramsey, Diggle and Singh.
- Call-Back:
- Oliver and Barry reminisce back to when they first met.
- Diggle presents Barry with Oliver’s bow, which was believed destroyed on Earth-38, but recently found in National City.
- Cecile states that Barry’s last 30th was derailed by a battle with Cicada.
- Catchphrase: Oliver gets to say his famous "You have failed this city!" line one last time.
- Continuity Nod: Barry asks if Oliver is going to "boop" him again, mentioning that it killed the Speed Force last time. Oliver reassures that he's not going to do that, before punching him back to life.
- Contrived Coincidence: ARGUS agents "just happened" to find Oliver's bow (thought to have been lost) right before he'll need it to fight Bloodwork. Of course, given that Oliver is now a Cosmic Entity, it's questionable as to just how much of a "coincidence" this really is.
- The Corrupter: Ramsey has his sights on Wally, sympathizing with him over his past hardships and promising him that he can be part of a multiverse without death.
- Crisis Crossover: A variation. With the return of Oliver and Diggle, this episode serves as one last team-up between Arrow and The Flash (and is for all intents the final Arrowverse crossover, albeit more in line with Season Eight's "Armageddon").
- Cruel Mercy: Oliver uses his powers as the Spectre to cure Ramsey of his HLH, purely so he can live out the rest of his days in prison as a normal human.
- Death Seeker: Coupled with Survivor's Guilt, as a tiny part of Barry does not want to return to the world of the living, as he still feels guilt over everyone close to him that died. Oliver eventually snaps him out of it.
- Died on Their Birthday: Barry is killed by Wally on his birthday. However, this is only temporary, as Oliver is able to bring him Back from the Dead.
- Episode of the Dead: Since the villain is Bloodwork, this is at play again, with most of the cast becoming infected by him and him even setting his sight on the entire multiverse.
- From Bad to Worse: Bloodwork is bad enough on his own; but with Kid Flash under his thrall, he now has the ability to spread his virus across the multiverse.
- Fully Absorbed Finale: Downplayed, as Arrow had already ended its run and had its series finale back in 2020. However, this episode does serve as a final coda for the inaugural Arrowverse show (such as Diggle finally getting to say goodbye to Oliver this time).
- Harmless Freezing: Despite Khione freezing "all the water in their bodies", none of the infected are worse for wear afterwards. In real life, that would be fatal.
- The Immune: Not only is Khione immune to Ramsey's infection, she even manages to cure John of it.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Barry successfully manages to talk Wally down, curing him of Ramsey's infection.
- Internal Reveal: Barry finally learns that the multiverse was restored at the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths, which the audience has known all along.
- Lampshade Hanging:
- Khione assuring Chester that her freezing all the water in Allegra’s body is harmless seems like a hand wave for the Artistic License – Biology at play.
- When Oliver clarifies which alternate Earth the Red Death is from by number, Barry is incredulous that he's been numbering the realities in the new multiverse. Oliver just says he's had a lot of time on his hands.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
- When Ramsey places Barry in a mock-up production room and tells him that he is the star of the show.
- Towards the end of the episode, Oliver asks Barry how many times he’s saved Central City before making a guess of 170, and Barry responds by correcting him with 180. Arrow finished on 170 episodes, whilst this was episode 180 of The Flash.
- Lightning Lash: Wally and Barry use their lightning to form whips, holding Ramsey in place for Oliver to take the shot.
- Man Hug: Barry gives one to Oliver when he realises that he's really Back from the Dead; Oliver admits that he only let Barry hug him for as long as he did because of the circumstances.
- Mind Rape: Ramsey is up to his old tricks again, this time focusing on Wally.
- Multiversal Conqueror: While he previously only wanted to infect the world, with the help of Wally Ramsey sets his sight on the entire multiverse this time, wanting to give everyone across it eternal life.
- Mythology Gag:
- The "Flash Facts" are a reference to a Catchphrase from the comics where a Flash would express a scientific fact relevant to a ploy he's about to pull off.
- One last Green Lantern reference for Diggle when Oliver says his "brightest days" are ahead of him.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: While John and Oliver can finally say their goodbyes this time, Oliver is still not allowed to see Felicity. Thankfully, we already know they'll reunite in the afterlife in 2040.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Ramsey manipulates Wally by telling him that he also lost his mother to a terminal disease.
- Resurrected for a Job: Oliver temporarily comes Back from the Dead to help Barry deal with Bloodwork.
- The Reveal:
- Ever since Crisis, many speculated whether Oliver was Deader than Dead or if he retained his Spectre powers, allowing him to return if needed. This episode definitively answers that question: he can indeed, but there is one limit to his powers, in that he cannot interact with Felicity or his children in any way, so as to keep the timeline leading up to Felicity joining him in the afterlife intact. He also mentions that he can only get involved during multiverse-level threats, explaining why he hasn't made contact with any of his allies until now.
- Turns out the Red Death is not from an alternate timeline as previously claimed, but from Earth-4125.
- Rousing Speech: Oliver gives one to Barry, which causes his guilt to go away and helps him return to the world of the living.
- Rule of Symbolism: Subtle instance with the final shot of Oliver and Barry's discarded beer glasses. Oliver's is empty, signifying his story has finally come to its end. Barry's by contrast still has a little left, signifying his story's about to entering its climax.
- Shout-Out: The episode title is a parody/homage to the famous Lesley Gore song "It's My Party (And I'll Cry If I Want To)". Casper made the same joke.
- Signature Move: Wally borrows Thawne's infamous hand-into-chest move, killing Barry.
- Special Edition Title: When Oliver returns from the dead, the Arrow logo is shown, surrounded by lightning.
- Surprise Party: For Barry's (second) 30th birthday.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Ramsey spikes the drinks with his blood, infecting most of the party guests. Only Chester is spared because he doesn't usually drink alcohol.
- Tragic Keepsake: A.R.G.U.S. has recovered Oliver's old bow from where he died in National City, which Diggle wants to give to Barry. Barry thinks it would be a better fit in the Hall of Justice.
- Where It All Began: Oliver takes Barry to Lian Yu (or a simulacrum thereof) before resurrecting him - where Oliver's story and the saga of the Arrowverse began.
- Worf Had the Flu: As the Spectre, Oliver is one of the most powerful beings in the multiverse. However outside some of abilities, he's Brought Down to Badass again when fighting Bloodwork due to his attack on the multiverse weakening the Spectre's powers.
