Lyla and Diggle show up in Central City to help Team Flash deal with the newly escaped King Shark. Meanwhile, Barry, Cisco and Caitlin are trying to deal with the consequences of Jay's death and their Earth-2 adventures.
Tropes:
- Analogy Backfire: Cisco gripes about how Caitlin went out into the field instead of him, saying that he wanted to be the "Quint" in this scenario. Wells points out that in the movie, Quint got killed.
- Antagonist Title: Named after the Monster of the Week.
- Arc Words: The season's fondness for the words "Fishing" and "Bait(ing)" are (understandably) prominent in this episode.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Cisco's comment about what Harry's going to do is that he is going to "kill [him] and throw his stuff across the room."
- Beat Them at Their Own Game: Barry defeats King Shark in an aquatic battle. Technically speaking.
- Big Brother Mentor: Just like he did to Oliver in the first season of Arrow, Diggle gave an advice to Barry about not carrying the weight of the world in his shoulder.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Despite taking the Flash lure out in one swipe, when King Shark comes across the actual Flash, he seems to want to spend all his time telling Barry that he's going to kill him rather than actually DOING it.
- The Bus Came Back:
- The eponymous Monster of the Week returns after eleven episodes.
- Diggle returns since last appearing in the second annual Crossover.
- Cartwright Curse: After seeing Jay killed in front of her, Caitlin says "It's not happening again!".
- Continuity Nod: Barry talks to Diggle about Felicity's paralysis and how she hasn't returned any of his calls.
- Crossover: Another one with Arrow, though this time, John and Lyla Diggle are the ones to visit Central City.
- Crazy-Prepared:
- Averted with Diggle, Lyla and the rest of ARGUS. They knew King Shark was shot at close range to no effect, while energy weapons chew through him. But all they brought to the hunt were standard assault rifles, which ends up getting agents killed.
- Played straight with Team Flash, they just happen to have a loading truck made of impenetrable Promethium for King Shark.
- Downer Beginning: The episode starts off with the team hurting bad. Jay seems to have been killed, the Wells family are trapped on Earth 1 while Zoom has free reign to rampage throughout Earth 2.
- Dull Surprise: Played for Laughs. Wally is absolutely baffled at how casually Joe and Iris act after a giant man shark just wrecked up their house.
- Full-Name Ultimatum: When annoyed with his dodgy behavior, Caitlin calls Cisco "Francisco Ramon."
- Foreshadowing: Wally quips about how Iris and Joe make it seem like Barry can walk on water. Although Barry has done this before, guess what happens in this episode's climax?
- Gilligan Cut: Barry finishes his speech about finding a way back to Earth-2, avenging Jay, and stopping Zoom with the words "whoever that monster is". The Stinger has Zoom removing his mask to reveal that he looks exactly like Jay.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Wally envies the obvious love that the Wests have for Barry.
- Guilt Complex: Barry suffers from guilt over Earth-2 Joe's death, Jay's apparent death and leaving Earth-2 to Zoom's evil. Diggle tells him not to let his guilt control him.
- Heroic BSoD: Caitlin spends the immediate aftermath of Jay's death in shock and denial, muttering "he's not dead" under her breath over and over again.
- Hurricane of Puns: Oh, boy. Interestingly, an actual hurricane appears in the climactic battle.
- Barry and Wally's conversations have a lot of speed-related puns.
- Cisco makes lots of ice-related puns on Caitlin due to her acting as an Ice Queen this episode.
- Due to the nature of the Monster of the Week, the aforementioned Arc Words are milked for all its worth.
- I Am Not Him: Caitlin assures Cisco that she'll never become Killer Frost, ever.
- I'm a Humanitarian: King Shark is a metahuman but certainly has no objections to chowing down on his opponents.
- Internal Reveal:
- Cisco tells Caitlin about her Earth-2 counterpart.
- Barry tells Iris and Joe about their Earth-2 counterparts, including how Earth-2 Joe died. However, he omits how Caitlin and Ronnie's counterparts were evil, merely saying he had to deal with a couple of Zoom's metahuman lackeys.
- Wally finds out why Barry was adopted by the West family.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: Amanda Waller's death on Arrow is casually brought-up in conversations.
- Logo Joke: The trailer for this episode uses both the font and soundtrack from Jaws.
- Mind Screw: Zoom's real identity looks and sounds just like Jay Garrick. So who was the Jay who was killed?
- Moment Killer: Dig and Lyla decide to kiss while inside an ARGUS complex...and then the alarm is raised when King Shark escapes.
- Mythology Gag:
- A lot has been made regarding Wally's tenure as The Flash from the comics, specifically him wearing a red shirt in the opening scene, having speed-related puns in his and Barry's conversations, and King Shark looking both of them when the villain literally crashes the West household searching for The Flash.
- Amanda Waller had King Shark to be a part of the Suicide Squad, which his comic counterpart actually is.
- Shortly after Jay Garrick revealed that Hunter Zolomon is his Earth-1 counterpart, Zoom is also revealed to be a counterpart to Jay Garrick. In the comics, Zoom's name is Hunter Zolomon.
- Not So Above It All: As much as Harry can be annoyed by Cisco at times, apparently he too has a liking for movies, which is shown when he talks about Captain Quint dying. And when Jesse tries to get into Team Flash's action and Cisco tells her to know her place, Harry tries to stifle a small grin...
- "Not So Different" Remark: Just as Eobard Thawne masquerading as Wells warned Barry last season not to tell anyone about his time travel lest it screw up the timeline note , this seemingly-benevolent Wells tells Barry and Cisco not to tell anyone on Earth-1 about their doppelgangers lest it influence their lives. Barry even points out the similarity.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Caitlin acts as an Ice Queen throughout the episode, which worries Cisco. So much that all the ice puns he made are Played for Drama.
- Ship Tease: Iris learns that she and Barry are married in the universe next door.
- Redeeming Replacement: Layla tries to push herself as one for Waller as head of ARGUS, starting off by trying to clean off the messes Waller made.
- Red Shirt: Cops don't die on the Flash, but ARGUS agents certainly do.
- The Resenter: Wally turns out to have some slight resentment towards Barry, since the latter is living the life he should have had if Wally's family was complete.
- The Reveal:
- Turns out Amanda Waller was monitoring metahuman activity in Central City to explore their possibility as weapons — which is why she kept King Shark alive.
- Lyla has been given permanent command of A.R.G.U.S. and she's using her new authority to clean up all of Waller's messes.
- Who is Zoom under the mask? Jay Garrick, though which one and from where is unknown.
- Rewatch Bonus: To the last episode. Wonder why the Man in the iron mask broke down after Flash misinterpreted his message about Jay? It's because he was trying to tell them that Jay was Zoom! Or, given the multiverse path the show has taken, he was telling them his own name. The possibilities abound.
- Running Gag: Diggle is still freaked out over Barry's speed...and by the end of the episode he gets Lyla to agree with him!
- Seen It All: By now, the Wests are so used to the goings on of Central City that they react to King Shark busting through their roof and the Flash showing up as no big deal. Wally is amazed.Wally: I...I don't understand you people. Jaws busts through your house like the Kool-Aid Man, the Flash shows up, and y'all just act like it's no big deal.
Iris: Yeah, well we've had a lot of weird things happen in Central City over the past two years.
Wally: Weirder than a talking shark wearing pants?
Joe: Man, you'd be surprised. - Shout-Out:
- It's a King Shark episode, so naturally, there are multiple references to Jaws.
Cisco: We're gonna need a bigger Flash!- A giant shark-like creature ripping off a house's ceiling/roof. Aloha.
- At one point King Shark is referred to as 'Bruce', a nod to Finding Nemo (itself a reference to Spielberg giving the name to the shark model in Jaws after his lawyer).
- During the cleanup at the West home, Joe wonders if his insurance covers damage due to Sharknado.
- After the attack on the West home, Cisco comments "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the suburbs, King Shark shows up at your house." The quote is a reference to Jaws 2.
- Super-Speed: King Shark is almost fast enough to catch Barry in the water.
- Tempting Fate: Caitlin assuring that she will never become Killer Frost really makes you wonder...
- That Came Out Wrong: During the meeting with Wally for his new project, Barry repeatedly expresses himself in a way that makes Wally feel offended.
- Troll: Caitlin fakes turning into Killer Frost in order to mess with Cisco.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: The man in the iron mask gives off one when he sees Jay's apparently dead body.
- Trash the Set: King Shark destroys a significant part of the West household.
- Walk on Water: Barry defeats King Shark by running on water.
- Wham Line: Parodied when Caitlin decides to mess with Cisco by pretending to have a Start of Darkness after he expresses concern that mourning Jay's death might make her pull a Face–Heel Turn.Cisco: (Caitlin touches him) Oh, Caitlin, your hand...it's so cold!Caitlin: You know, I've never really liked being called Caitlin... (beat, Cisco looks horrified, then Caitlin laughs)
- Wham Shot: Zoom finally takes off his hood, and the face beneath is Jay's. How the apparent existence of three Jays will be resolved is anybody's guess, as in this show there are more parallel Earths, literal body-stealing technology, and time travel. Complication indeed.
- Whole-Plot Reference: To Jaws, which was lampshaded in every given chance.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Diggle and Lyla bring teams of armed ARGUS agents with them and has informed Team Flash about King Shark. This would have been more than sufficient on a dark vigilante show like Arrow. Unfortunately in a superhero show like The Flash, anything bigger than 7' is almost guaranteed to be bullet proof.
