History Fridge / TheFlash2014

* King Shark is particularly well-suited to hunt The Flash. Sharks can feel their prey's bio-electricity, so King Shark probably can do the same to track Barry down, plus sharks, especially the Great White one, are very good ambush predators, catching quick, agile prey like sea lions and dolphins. Without external help, Barry would be done once King Shark got a hold on him. King Shark's later appearance in his own episode conforms this: he does track Barry electrically, and in the water he can move almost as quickly as Barry can run across it.

** [[spoiler:Fortunately, ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' reveals that future was actually a parallel universe, Earth-16.]]

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[[folder:Fridge Logic]]

* In "The Flash Is Born", Barry manages to break the sound barrier to perform a "supersonic punch, baby!" (as Cisco put it) on Girder, the only way for him to punch through Tony's steel skin. The only problem with that is that Tony hears the the sonic boom a split second before Barry bursts into the room. If Barry was really going faster than the speed of sound, than Tony wouldn't have heard the boom until Barry was already on top of him. Of course, [[RuleOfDrama then Tony wouldn't have been turned towards Barry in a]] [[RuleOfCool convenient position to be punched]].
** It's possible he heard the glass breaking outside or the wind of Barry's passage.
* In the season 1 finale, Thawne mentions Rip Hunter. When Rip finally appears in the ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' spin-off, it's revealed that he used to be a member of an organization called Time Masters, whose purpose is to preserve the timeline from anyone attempting to change it. Obviously, Thawne is aware of them, likely having encountered them, probably Rip himself. And yet, the Time Masters haven't done much to prevent him from royally screwing up the timeline by killing Nora Allen and thus changing everything related to the Flash; though to be fair, they deem Vandal Savage's much more widespread destruction as necessary, so they may hold the same view of Thawne's crimes. They also don't stop [[spoiler:Barry from saving his mother at the end of season 2, although this could be because of the destruction of the Oculus in the ''Legends'' season 1 finale, which effectively rendered the Time Masters impotent]]. In fact, [[spoiler:with the destruction of the Oculus, Thawne ramps up his time-altering activities in Season 2 of ''Legends'']].
** In addition, even fans keep blaming Barry for constantly changing the timeline. Barry only tried twice, not counting him accidentally going back a day during his fight with Weather Wizard. His first change created Flashpoint, but it also was an attempt to return the original timeline. Thawne created the first change by killing Nora and creating Flash almost seven years early. The only reason it didn't work is because, as Jay put it, he's trying to make a broken cup whole again.
* In the Season 1 finale, Stein estimates the "energy level" of a singularity in the sky at a 6.7 teraelectronvolts...which makes it about as dangerous as a small bug. Whoops! Alternatively, [[GeniusBonus every individual particle has an energy level of 6.7 TeV]].
* After learning Earth-1's Wells is deceased and an admitted murderer, HR uses a device to alter his appearance and dilate Team Flash's eyes to continue to see his true form. That said how is it that Jesse mistakes him for Harry and later Tracy mistakes Harry for HR?
** He was in the lab when Jesse saw him so he wouldn't have needed to disguise himself and he and Tracy were dating so he probably would have shown her his true face eventually.
* ARGUS has the power to have Iron Heights prisoners released into their custody for sketchy reasons as demonstrated by Suicide Squad and their current leader is friends with Team Flash, why did they not just ask Lyla to get Barry released from prison?
** Because it wouldn't actually clear his name. Barry doesn't want to escape justice by running away, he wants to be straight up exonerated.
* Why didn't Savitar, [[spoiler:a time remnant version of Barry]] just go to another universe where a version of him already died and left his loved ones alone? It's already proven by Harry Wells and Jesse Wells that timeline changes don't carry over between earths. If Savitar had found an alternate earth with a version of him dead (not hard given the number of times [[spoiler:Barry]] has almost died) and slip into his counter-part's life he wouldn't need to turn to evil. He already knows the timeline can be changed so why not give himself a happy ending?
** Because he's bonkers already, and isn't thinking logically?
* Why does Eva [[spoiler:even bother with the whole charade with Iris and instead just kill Iris the moment she kidnapped her? Even if for some reason Eva needed Iris alive for her mirror duplicate of her to work (she didn't seem to bother with the same routine with Kamilla at least) she could easily have just locked Iris up somewhere in Mirror Central City.]]
** Possibly we'll find out in the next season, seeing as this one was cut short.
* So how, exactly, does Frost not have Caitlin's medical knowledge, even though she's explicitly stated to have all of her memories?
** They share the same memories but they could have processed the information differently. Frost isn't just Caitlin with frost powers she is an alternate personality with her own hobbies and interest, its possible that she has the knowledge but no idea how to apply it, like how you can memorize something and know it but have no deeper understanding of what it means.
* In 9x06, there's a distinction drawn between "other Earths" and "other timelines." Wasn't it made clear earlier that other Earths ''are'' other timelines?
** Quite the opposite. Way back in Season 3, it was established that alternate timelines and alternate universes could overlap, but they were not the same thing. It was why Jay, Harry, and Jesse weren't affected by Flashpoint nor were they affected by the resulting changes.
** Huh. OK, thanks.

* This troper always found it strange that the more technologically advanced Earth-2 resorted to a discredited and outdated practice like electroshock therapy [[spoiler:to treat Earth2!Hunter Zolomon.]] Then I remembered Harry mentioning that Earth-2 is only ahead in "certain sciences", like physics and engineering. It's possible that while Earth-2 is more advanced in these kinds of fields, they're behind in others, like psychology. This is further supported by Harry explains that on his Earth [[spoiler:serial killers are an "anomaly."]]

* In "Potential Energy", Patty reveals [[spoiler: she's leaving Central City to go study to be a CSI in Midway City]]. People have wondered why she didn't just do this in her first place because she said it was her dream job. Then you realize that Patty [[spoiler: stormed into an unknown building, without backup, to follow a known murderer who she thought was dead, before shooting him at point-blank range even though he wasn't holding a gun]], which is terrible conduct for a cop, and in her last appearance, [[spoiler: calls Barry for help even though she's supposedly a cop and isn't even in any danger]], and became a cop to ''legally murder someone''. Why is this Fridge Brilliance? Because Patty wasn't supposed to be a cop -- she just wanted revenge for her father's murder. She probably realized that she isn't very good at the job and doesn't enjoy it as much after she fulfilled her goal [[spoiler: even though she didn't kill Mardon]].
** Plus, she's constantly LockedOutOfTheLoop by Barry and Joe. Whether or not it's justified, in most workplaces, that would make for a toxic environment. In police work? Sooner or later, Patty or someone else would get killed or badly hurt because of a lack of trust and information. Indeed, she ''did'' shoot Harry Wells, assuming that he was Eobard.

** Unfortunately later averted: Superman shows up in his cousin's show, the Bat-family exists (even if Bruce himself never appears), Hourman shows up in Legends, and Spectre in ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019''. Wonder Woman is also mentioned in ''Batwoman,'' and Green Lantern gets a whole bunch of Easter Eggs (and that scene at the end of ''Arrow'').

* Hartley sneering at Cisco's "Han Shot First" T-shirt and yet saying "Holy Harry Potter" may be more than just HypocriticalHumor. Hartley comes from old money, and so was no doubt raised to believe that at work, one ought to dress up formally and leave personal stuff at home (this is still a pervasive belief in many workplaces). In other words, it wasn't so much the ''Star Wars'' reference that he was annoyed by as the fact that Cisco was wearing a T-shirt to his first day of work. Thawne, being much more casual (and needing Cisco/the future Vibe more than he needs Hartley), isn't so bothered.

** Zoom monitoring Team Arrow would make a lot of sense--not only are they Barry's closest allies outside of the regular cast, but Oliver has shown two or three times (depending on whether you count the fight between him and Barry) that he's capable of getting the better of a speedster. "Jay" is no doubt worried that Barry might call in Oliver to help against his altar ego (in fact, it's possible that Barry broached the idea at some point offscreen, but "Jay" urged against it).

* Barry getting so angry at Ralph framing a man he thought was guilty of murdering his wife makes sense one realizes that since Ralph was caught tampering with evidence when there wasn't really any to begin with, it would be almost impossible to keep the suspect off the streets. The suspect's lawyer would have had a field day with the revelation.

* Caitlin's defense of Barry fucking up the timeline with 'We all have secrets' suddenly take on a different meaning when we learn that she's started to develop ice powers and hasn't shared it with anyone.

* In Episode 4, Wells tells Cisco that their molecular decelerator didn't work, which means someone else got Barry out. Then he turns his head very slightly to the side, near where Caitlin is standing. Who is it who was a supervillain with ice powers on his earth, again?
* Jesse [[spoiler:gaining her SuperSpeed first compared to Wally (barring Flashpoint of course)]] makes sense since prior to [[spoiler:them getting hit with the Dark Matter, she was injected by Velocity-9]].

** Iris not forgiving Joe about lying about her mother being dead: This may have been a result of either him not coming clean like in the original timeline or she generally found out a different way and it can be assumed that she didn't go through a period where she was hiding the existence of Wally from him.
** Caitlin becoming Killer Frost: By the looks of it her powers probably didn't start manifesting until after their trip to Earth-2 as her encounter with Killer Frost seems to be the reason she is hiding her powers from the team.
* The reveal of Savitar and of the true identity of Alchemy ([[spoiler:Julian Albert]]) might just prove that Barry isn't entirely responsible for the changes to the timeline - [[spoiler: Since Savitar seems to be manipulating Julian into being Alchemy, its entirely possible that Savitar's tampering with Julian's life directly or indirectly led him to join the CCPD in 2015 and start working at the crime-lab with Barry. Julian's presence at the CCPD during the early events of Season 2, in turn, could have indirectly led to Joe and Iris falling out, with Julian somehow being responsible for Iris finding out about Francine before Joe could tell her, or Joe being somehow delayed by Julian before he could tell Iris and she found out on her own. Moreover, Savitar could have orchestrated the car accident that killed Dante, knowing that Barry being blamed for that change would cause friction between Cisco and Barry, which would torment and distract Barry.]]

* Frankie Kane and Jesse 'Quick' Wells function as GoodCounterpart and EvilCounterpart to one another in two distinct respects. First, they both have fathers who could be considered overbearing: Wells in a overprotective way and John in an outright abusive one. Also, they have powers that begin to define their identity: Frankie Kane as Magenta and Jesse Wells as Jesse Quick.
* Why is Wally faster than Barry when he first got his power? He got his powers from the same particle accelerator explosion that caused Barry to become faster than Zoom. Moreover, it is Barry who generates the Speed Force on Earth One, it's only logical that the more he produces, the more the other speedsters can tap into.

* What if Barry had gotten to Earth 3 just a few seconds later?

* In "Power Outage", Wells could have just as easily have released The Mist to fight Blackout, and he in fact might have stood a better chance against him than Girder. So why choose Woodward? Simple -- of the two of them, Woodward's the one who knows who the Flash really is. Wells is ''deliberately invoking DeathBySecretIdentity'' in order to try and eliminate two threats to Barry at the same time. Also counts as Fridge Horror, since it adds to how disturbing Wells is BeneathTheMask. Also, of the two, The Mist would have an easier time escaping should he decide to.

* In the Season 1 Finale, Barry is so conflicted about time travelling to save his mom and has to take advice from several characters so he can be pushed into doing it. When he finally does, he proceeds not to go through with it due to advice from one last person. Who is this person? His future, and likely more matured self who probably has experience on the whole time travelling thing and knows of its repercussions. Strangely enough, his future self comes from a reality where his mother wasn't killed, so, from his viewpoint, his other self would not be changing reality but preserving it from the Thawne's interference.