Harry asks for Cisco's assistance in forming "The Council of Wells", a think tank consisting of the brightest Harrison Wellses in the multiverse. Meanwhile, Barry considers bringing Ralph into the field for some more hands-on superhero training.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: Played with. Black Bison's powers are the same as in the comics: she can bring inanimate objects to life and make them move. However, the source of those powers is different: in the comics, it's magic. In the show, she's a metahuman. Her powers are almost more limited, as she can only animate objects that resemble a human or animal.
- Actually Pretty Funny: After beating Black Bison, Barry compliments Ralph and calls him "rookie", to which the latter smirks.
- After the End: Wells 2.0 comes from an Earth that Harry specifically refers to as post-apocalyptic.
- Alliance of Alternates: The Council of Wells.
- Anti-Hero: Ralph is initially willing to disregard collateral damage just to catch the bad guy. He grows out of it later.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: What Harry believes to be the contribution that the Council can make to the team's search: 2.0 is resourceful, Heffner has charisma and Wolfgang for being...blunt.
- Artistic License – Physics: Wolfgang Wells mentions that the multiverse will inevitably "be consumed in a fiery heat death". In truth, while it is currently thought that Heat Death is the most likely fate of the universe, "fiery" is an extremely inaccurate description of it. In fact, Heat Death refers to the state where the universe has cooled to near absolute zero and there's no free thermodynamic energy left, so nothing else can happen. It's basically the opposite of fiery.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: After Cisco convinces Harry to give the Council another chance, they all start awkwardly apologizing to each other for their bickering.
- Bait-and-Switch: Ralph looks giddy as he examines a tarp covering a dummy, thinking the dummy is wearing his costume. Cisco clarifies that the tarp is Ralph's costume.
- Being Good Sucks: Ralph has this realization, that being a hero and having to care about people's well-being and the guilt when innocent bystanders get hurt due in part to chaos in the field, is much harder than just being an emotionally detached douchebag. Barry doesn't deny it's one of the harder aspects of the job.
- Beta Outfit: Ralph is aghast on how awful his costume is, a simple bodysuit with a bandanna for a mask, though Cisco points out it's just a prototype.
- Brain Bleach: Cisco is horrified when he catches a full view of Heffner Wells' genitals.
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Ralph summarizes his cases as husband stepping out on his wife, wife stepping out on her husband, and husband stepping out on his wife and husband.Ralph: That one was a little less simple.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: When Barry visits a despondent Ralph in his office, Ralph tells him he's suffering from sorrow, regret and heartburn. Lampshaded by Barry saying that he can help Ralph with all of them except the last one.
- Brick Joke:
- When Wells 2.0 suggests just killing all the DeVoes, he insists that this includes the infant DeVoe.
- A wizard Wells briefly shows up, until dismissed by the other Wellses. Eventually, Cisco decides to make a Stealth Pun about it, since all Wells are named Harry, right?
- Bullying a Dragon: The cop escorting Mina to the holding cell takes the time to openly mock and insult her after having dealt with her during her simple extremist activist days. He doesn't even notice her swipe his name badge that she uses to pick the locks on her power dampening handcuffs. Black Bison wastes no time retaliating against the CCPD with her powers, before having herself freed from her cell.
- The Bus Came Back: The thief that attempted to rob Barry in Season 1 returns to be humiliated even further.
- Butt-Monkey: The poor mugger back from Season 1 just can't catch a break. This time he injures himself while trying to shoot Ralph.
- Children Are Innocent: It took a little girl getting critically injured, during the escalating events while trying to apprehend Black Bison, due to his indifference to finally convince Ralph to start protecting civilians instead of just go after the perp.
- Child Hater: Wells 2.0 doesn't just mean to brutally interrogate the infant DeVoe along with the others, but especially the infant DeVoe
- Continuity Nod:
- Under hypnosis, Ralph remembers witnessing a man weeping" in the seat in front of him.
- Barry alludes to his biggest blunders when attempting to console Ralph on his guilt.
- Barry dismantles the animated knight armor the same way he did with Savitar's suit of armor.
- Contrived Coincidence: Seems like markedly bad luck that the same day they bring in a metahuman with the ability to animate effigies, CCPD is demonstrating new tactical riot gear on a training dummy, where the demonstrator loads a riot gun indoors.
- Cyborg: Wells 2.0 is part machine.
- Dismantled Macguffin: The necklace Black Bison is after is split into three pieces. When initially defeated and the pieces sent to the museum, the necklace has been reassembled.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: After seeing who his new friends are, Cisco sees the need to point out that when he suggested Harry make friends, he didn't mean with alternate versions of himself.
- Eating the Eye Candy: Ralph takes the time to express his attraction to Hazard after seeing her photo.
- Evil Cripple: DeVoe reveals that he needed a wheelchair when not in his hover chair.
- Expy: The council of Wells includes a German Jobs Wells, a Heffner Wells and a Mad Max Wells; even a Gandalf Wells pops up out of nowhere.
- Fingore: Bison animates a caveman dummy who then proceeds to audibly crush the hand of the guard inside the delivery van.
- Gender Flip: Black Bison is traditionally a male character in the comics, but female here.
- Germanic Depressives: Herr Harrison Wolfgang Wells is the author of the book "Everything is Meaningless, So Why Did I Buy This Book?", and thinks saving one Earth is meaningless in the face of the inevitable heat death of all universes.
- Heh Heh, You Said "X": Ralph sniggers at the word effigy, believing it to sound like a dirty word. He still finds the word itself amusing after looking it up later.
- I Am a Humanitarian: Wells 2.0 casually mentions that he ate his resident Earth's version of Cisco. It's unclear if he is joking or not.
- Inferiority Superiority Complex: Cisco deduces that the real reason Harry always acts so full of himself and condescending is that deep down he really doesn't like himself and tries to cover it up.
- Ironic Echo: At the end of the episode, Barry calls Ralph a rookie, something the latter always did to him.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- Ralph really does have empathy and compassion for others, he just never was in a situation that it was needed before.
- Cisco encourages Harry to give the Council of Wells another shot since, even though they're all obnoxious, they're still noble enough to answer Harry's call for help with DeVoe, despite not having to, because that's exactly what Harry would have done as well.
- Knight Templar: Black Bison's goal of bringing her people back what is rightfully theirs would be admirable if she wouldn't be willing to cause massive collateral damage while doing so.
- Lampshade Hanging: Caitlin points out that nothing that happens in their world is a coincidence.
- Metaphorically True: Both Barry and Ralph are actually this on who shot the mugger. The mugger shot the bullet, but Ralph did deflect it back at him. Not on purpose, though.
- More Hypnotizable Than He Thinks: When Barry and Iris take him to their councilor to have Ralph hypnotized to better remember his memory of the bus, he laughs it off as fairy tale bullshit...Ralph: Give it up, Rookie, this psycho hooey is never gonna work on me...
[smash cut as Iris and Barry are seated beside Dr. Finkle observing a deeply entranced Ralph]
Dr. Finkle: Well that was quick!
[...]
[when finished with the session Finkle snaps and awakens Ralph from his trance]
Ralph: ...it is hocus-pocus. It's never gonna work on a guy like me... but we can... try it... if you want...?
(Realizing last he remembered Barry and Iris were sitting next to him, yet now are sitting across from him)
Ralph: [bewildered] How did you guys get over there? - Mugging the Monster: A random guy tries to mug Barry and Ralph. Barry sees this as the perfect opportunity for some in-the-field training (and even calls it "superhero 101") ...until the mugger shoots Ralph, and the bullet bounces back into his leg.Barry: Whoa!
Ralph: Well. Our work here is done. - Mundane Utility: Ralph changes the shape of his hands to create balloon animals and entertain the recovering girl.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Ralph when his refusal to help civilians ends with a little girl in the hospital; he's full of remorse.
- Never Trust a Title: The episode's title may have you thinking this is a Harry-centric episode. It's not, instead it focuses on Ralph.
- Nostalgia Ain't Like It Used to Be: When Barry determines that the first victim was killed by a large animal that shouldn't exist, he and Joe whirl around and see a statue of a large cat. Barry asks Joe if he ever misses the good old days, when they never would've suspected a statue of murder.
- Not Hyperbole: When DeVoe is informed that Team Flash has discovered his location and is enroute, his response is a ominous-sounding "Then let's be ready to greet them." Going to greet them is actually exactly what he and his wife do, albeit in his civilian clothes.
- Oblivious to His Own Description: When Harry is complaining about his alternates' obnoxious traits, Cisco has to remind him he's literally complaining about himself and that he shares all those qualities.
- Once a Season: It wouldn't be "The Flash" if we weren't introduced to a new Harrison Wells; in this case it's a whole think tank of Wells.
- Pet the Dog:
- In his memory, Ralph can be seen trying to cheer up one of the people on the bus with him; The Weeper to be exact.
- Ralph doesn't mind using his powers to entertain the hospital-stricken girl.
- And in the very end, Ralph finishes Black Bison's mission, personally having delivered the necklace to her people.
- Plot Twist: Team Flash finally seems to have the upper hand against the Big Bad for once and is ready to take on Clifford DeVoe, only for them to discover he's currently living as a disabled suburban house husband.
- Product Placement: Cisco, Harry and Caitlin are prominently displayed using Microsoft Surface Pro's, even events Foreshadowing Ralph's visit with the little girl were shown as advertisements for the product during commercial breaks.
- Recursive Canon: At the end of the episode, Barry walks in on Ralph reading a comic book titled The Flash All-Stars. Note that this is an In-Universe comic, as there is no Real Life comic with that title.
- Reflexive Response: Barry exploits this to defeat Black Bison: He tosses a priceless and fragile artifact in the air, knowing that she'll instinctively reach out to catch it. While she's distracted by it, he slaps the power-suppressing cuffs on her.
- The Resenter: At the beginning of the episode Ralph bitterly reminds Barry yet again how much he lost because of him.
- Secret-Keeper: It can be assumed the little girl becomes one for Ralph, since he shows off his powers to cheer her up.
- Seen It All: Averted, as even Barry is a little weirded out at the prospect of a stone statue coming to life and killing someone:Barry: Remember back in the day when we didn't calmly consider a stone statue our prime suspect?
Joe: No, actually, I don't. - Sherlock Scan: Ralph's perverted skill for figuring out a woman's measurements at a glance. The ladies are suitably disgusted.
- Shout-Out:
- The title is a riff on the movie When Harry Met Sally...
- After Harry introduces his three doppelgangers that are going to help him figure out who DeVoe is, a fourth pops up in a wizard robe and hat calling himself "Wells the Gray."
- Cisco's name for the meeting of Wells across the multiverse is very similar to another Alliance of Alternates consisting of Insufferable Geniuses, the Council of Reeds, and maybe even the Council of Ricks.
- Cisco tells Harry "Sometimes you're a hardass, sometimes you're a hero, sometimes you're a wizard, Harry". After he says this, some Harry Potter-esque music starts playing.
- Iris compares Black Bison using a police training dummy to wreak havoc on CCPD to the T-800's own rampage in the first film.
- After Black Bison grabs the reassembled necklace, Ralph announces his presence by shouting "It belongs in a museum!" Barry then points out they're already in one.
- Ralph makes a pair of Jurassic Park references, including referencing the idea that a Tyrannosaur could only detect prey if it moved, blaming Jeff Goldblum for the mistake, as well as quoting the line "We have a T. rex."
- Shot in the Ass: After his bullet literally bounced off of Ralph and shot the mugger in the leg instead, he tried shooting Ralph again...and the bullet went up his ass this time around.
- Sick and Wrong: Iris reacts with disgust when Ralph can't describe what two women on the bus looked like but could rattle off their measurements.
- Small Steps Hero: Ralph scoffs at this, believing catching the bad guy is more important than helping those in need, even if they're "bad". When a little girl ends up in the hospital, he realizes Barry was right.
- So Proud of You:
- Cisco playfully mocks Harry after learning he's made friends, using this statement word for word.
- Barry expresses his pride in Ralph, after learning he shipped the bison necklace back to Black Bison's tribe.Ralph: Are you gonna yell at me again?
Barry: No, not for this one.
- Take That!: Finkel after Ralph snipes about her degree, takes his insult in stride and throws it back in his face.Ralph: [smug] So I see you didn't go to Harvard.
Finkle: No, I didn't. [smiling sweetly with a sense of sarcasm] Did you?
[Beat]
Ralph: [blankly] I see what you did there. - That Came Out Wrong: Cisco has this realization when he remembers the comment he made to Ralph about his suit.Cisco: You don't like it, fight crime naked!
[he begins to walk away but pauses]
Cisco: DO NOT fight crime naked! - That Man Is Dead: Black Bison says that her civilian identity Mina Chayton died on the bus and that she is now something more.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Likely because they're not fully aware of what DeVoe is capable of and are not taking any chances, Team Flash pull out all the stops (Joe readying his gun, Iris prepped at her console for eyes in the sky, Harry with gear staking out another exit, Vibe and Killer Frost also standing by, ready to vibe in in case they need backup) for what awaits them when they finally track him down.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: So Thinker and his grotesquely disproportionate brain is married to his leggy sexy British-Latin assistant? Who'd thunk.
- Unholy Matrimony: DeVoe's assistant is actually his wife. Notably, she gets annoyed when she tries to argue with him, only for him to explain that he has already calculated every possible way the conversation could go with the same predictable result - he wins.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The jail guard unknowingly gets pickpocketed by Black Bison as he was escorting her to her cell, allowing her to steal the keys to her power-dampeners. This lets her wreak havoc on the precinct when she animated a police training dummy.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Barry and Ralph may still snark at each other like crazy, but by the end of this episode, they've buried the hatchet and any animosity the two once felt for each other.
- Walking Armory: Black Bison escapes custody courtesy of a police training dummy outfitted with the latest riot gear.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Black Bison is stealing Sioux artifacts in a brutal fashion, but she's only doing so to return them to her people.
- Wham Shot:
- At the initial crime scene, Barry summarizes that a large beast must have gored the victim. Then he and Joe both whirl around, because there is one right behind them...as a statue.
- Barry and Joe meeting DeVoe...who's in a wheelchair.
- Would Hurt a Child: Wells 2.0 is perfectly willing to violently interrogate all versions of DeVoe, children included.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Black Bison is actually captured nearly halfway through the episode. And then she finds a way to escape, leading to another confrontation in the museum.
