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Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse / Arrowverse

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Arrow

  • Oliver rejects Emiko's excuse that their father's neglect is the cause of all of her actions, pointing out that everyone is responsible for their own decisions.

The Flash (2014)

  • In an earlier episode, Barry and Iris find Captain Cold in their house, who warns Barry that the Weather Wizard and the Trickster are after him. When Iris asks what he's doing there, this exchange happens:
    Captain Cold: Didn't you hear? I had a rough childhood.
    Iris: Everyone in this room had a rough childhood, get over it!
  • Barry himself falls into this at the end of Season 2 and beginning of Season 3 when he is so distraught over his father's death that he goes back in time and saves his mother, something he almost did in the Season 1 finale, and creates a very different timeline. When things start to go wrong, he lets his mother get killed in the past again, only to find that the seemingly restored timeline isn't quite the same. He tries to change it again, only to be stopped by Jay Garrick, who tells him that attempting to do so will only make things worse, and he shouldn't abuse his powers just because of his traumatic past.
  • In Season 5, it’s revealed that Nora accepted Eobard Thawne as her mentor and assisted him for a chance to meet the dad she never knew. Both said father, Barry, and Sherloque Wells say that her past doesn’t justify working with such a dangerous supervillain, let alone one that killed her grandmother. Especially when it turns out he has ulterior motives.
  • Season 5 also has Barry banishing Nora to the future after it's revealed she was working with Thawne, without consulting anyone, not even Iris. Although the team understands that Barry is still in pain over his childhood, and acknowledges that Nora was still working with Thawne despite knowing full well who he was, they refuse to defend this act. By the end of "Snow Pack", even Barry himself admits he went too far.
  • Season 6 has, of all things, the Speed Force falling under this. The Speed Force has been aloof and obtuse towards Barry and not caring about his personal wants and needs in the face of The Needs of the Many, despite the effect it has on Barry's mental state, and punishing him ruthlessly for any misuse of his powers. When it makes the mistake of telling him that Ramsey Rosso can help him prevent the coming Crisis and survive, he lashes out against the Speed Force over everything it has ever done to him, including becoming the Flash and forced to endure many tragedies in his life just to be molded into the Speed Force's champion.

Supergirl (2015)

  • Lena Luthor, upon learning of Kara being Supergirl and never telling her, starts taking a lot of immoral actions to spite Kara, always using her "betrayal" as the reason. At the end of season 5, Kara confronts Lena about this and how she still continued to hold a grudge over one mistake that the former made (in an attempt to protect her), and that whatever Lena does from now on is her own responsibility, and she can't continue to hide behind that excuse.

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