The Flash takes on Abra Kadabra, a super-powered magician. However, Kadabra turns out to be from the future and hints he knows who Savitar really is.
Tropes
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Barry begs Abra Kadabra to give him Savitar's name to no avail.
- Anger Born of Worry: H.R. is absent for most of the episode. When he shows up in The Stinger, Cisco takes out his frustration on him, which Caitlin muses must be because Cisco is worried about H.R.
- Ambiguous Situation: Did Abra Kadabra really know who Savitar is? For that matter, when Joe had him at gunpoint, was Kadabra really about to divulge such crucial information, only to be interrupted by Gypsy's intervention?
- Antagonist Title: Guess who the Villain of the Week is?
- Artistic License – Military: Julian is said to have served in the Royal Army however assuming this is meant to be the British Army (as Julian is from the UK) this would be incorrect as unlike the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force the army does not use 'Royal' in it's title.
- Big Damn Kiss: Julian and Caitlin share one after Caitlin awakes, seemingly safe.
- Came Back Wrong: Caitlin's fatal wounds heal up, which is unfortunately followed by Killer Frost's Split-Personality Takeover.
- Call-Back
- Barry mentions Joe's singing talent.
- Iris gets tired of how a lot of their nemeses are from the future.
- Clarke's Third Law: As in the comics, Abra's 64th century science is so advanced that to the 21st century, it looks like magic. The principle is even named and explained by Caitlin and Cisco within the show.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Two security guards get locked into a box which slowly fills with water, drowning them.
- Downer Ending: Caitlin fully transforms into Killer Frost, complete with the white skin and hair of her Earth-2 counterpart.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Cicsco states that things between Caitlin and Julian have been frosty. He immediately realizes this was inappropriate.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Barry realizes that if all of his foes have the edge on him by being from the future he should level the playing field by going there himself.
- Evil Is Petty: After Barry outright begs Abra Kadabra to help him, the latter simply indulges in Evil Gloating, stating that by withholding information that can save Iris' life, it now feels like he gets to kill her too.
- Evil Wears Black: Abra Kadabra wears black and is a textbook Card-Carrying Villain.
- Fate Worse than Death: Caitlin will rather take the risk with a very dangerous emergency surgery than removing the necklace that keeps her from turning into Killer Frost.
- Foreshadowing: Julian wants to take off Caitlin's necklace so her metahuman DNA will accelerate the healing process. Caitlin forbids it as she doesn't want to risk turning into Killer Frost. Guess what happens during the episode's final minutes.
- Forgot About His Powers: Barry should have been able to phase the shrapnel out of Caitlin's body like Zoom!Jay did to save Harry a while ago. (It's possible he wasn't confident in his ability to do it, but it seems odd that no one even suggested it).
- Get It Over With: After pouring some salt in Barry's wounds, Abra Kadabra says his goodbye to him, almost seeming resigned to attend to his execution.
- Hannibal Lecture: Abra Kadabra gives Team Flash one when in custody, which results in Joe releasing him for information.
- Hope Spot:
- Just when it looked like Barry appealed to Abra Kadabra's humanity, and the latter actually went on a rather long segment of the Flash's history, Kadabra stopped himself short of actually identifying Savitar to Team Flash, just to gloat that it felt like he himself doomed Iris.
- Up until the final scene, it seems like Caitlin is gonna be okay, no strings attached.
- Idiot Ball: Joe and Julian both make rash decisions due to emotions clouding their judgment.
- Joe lets Abra Kadabra out of the Pipeline, as he is desperate to save his daughter and Kadabra has already teased that he knows Savitar's identity.
- Julian takes off Caitlin's necklace to heal her wounds which fully transforms her into Killer Frost. He had been bonding with her the entire season and panicked...and then was too overjoyed to think of putting the necklace back on after her wounds heal.
- Then there's Barry, who tries to appeal to Abra Kadabra's humanity, forgetting that he has already callously murdered several people without any remorse.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Caitlin is impaled by rebar after Abra Kadabra blasts S.T.A.R. Labs.
- Innocently Insensitive: Cecile offers to have a double-date between herself, Joe, Barry and Iris. However, the date happens to be after Iris' prophesied death, and Cecile wonders if she struck a nerve.
- Internal Homage: Within the franchise, Caitlin does two for the parent series. Her being impaled with a rebar mirrors Tommy Merlyn's death in the aforementioned series' Season 1 finale, while her sudden seizure mirrors (Earth-1) Laurel Lance's death in the same series' fourth. Her impalement also mirrors her Earth 2 counterpart's death at the hands of Zoom.
- It's Personal: Gypsy is once again 'collecting' and she's much angrier than she was with H.R.; this is because Abra Kadabra killed a lot of people on Earth-19, including Gypsy's partner.
- Loophole Abuse: Barry does not kill. However, this doesn't extend to letting an interdimensional bounty hunter capture a man for execution, not seeing it as an example of Murder by Inaction.
- Mood Whiplash: The Stinger is initially humorous as H.R. shows up after missing the entire plot and we find out he was up to romantic antics, and Cisco reluctantly admits to Caitlin that he was worried about the alternate Wells...and then we see Caitlin become Killer Frost.
- Mythology Gag: When Kadabra names Barry's greatest foes, it's all three Big Bads so far and someone we've never heard of named "De Voe." Comic fans know him as Clifford De Voe a.k.a. The Thinker, an enemy of Jay Garrick. As with Plunder and Music Meister, a one-off mention from the future may serve as Foreshadowing as to who next season's Big Bad will be.
- Never My Fault: Gypsy refuses to acknowledge that her headstrong attitude partially contributed to Abra Kadabra's escape. Instead, she dumps it all on Joe, who had Kadabra at gunpoint, until her sudden appearance caused him to let his guard down.
- It's hard not to blame Joe, though, even if his reasons are understandable. Considering Abra was able to turn Joe's bullets to water with a wave of his hand, it's difficult to believe Joe holding him at gunpoint was actually going to do anything to stop Abra from escaping at a moment's notice. It feels like this trope applies more to Joe than it does Gypsy.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Joe freeing Abra Kadabra leads to a chain of events that end with the return of a full-powered and very angry Killer Frost! Gypsy also gets some points by interrupting Joe's conversation with him, which results in Joe letting his guard down and Abra Kadabra escaping before giving up Savitar's name.
- Our Time Machine Is Different: Kadabra's timeship looks an awful lot like a Time Master jumpship, possibly implying a similar design source.
- Out of Focus: In this episode, Wally gets hardly any lines and H.R. doesn't even show up until the very end.
- Plot Hole:
- They're unable to take Caitlin to a hospital as she'd be IDed as Killer Frost, but they should be able to take her to a hospital on another Earth. In-Universe, Supergirl's Earth would be ideal (Out-Of-Universe, less so as it would require another crossover) but Earth-2 (if Harry has private medical facilities) or Earth-3 would also work.
- Power Loss Makes You Strong: Killer Frost has only grown in power during the months she's been kept at bay thanks to Caitlin's necklace. When she's finally let out she looks exactly like her Earth-2 counterpart.
- Skip the Anesthetic: Caitlin Snow has to stay alert when a rebar is removed from her abdomen, since she is the team's only Combat Medic. Cue the winces and screams of pain.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: Mass murderer that he is, Abra Kadabra never once raises his voice.
- Split-Personality Takeover: Caitlin's Killer Frost transformation is complete.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: By the end of the episode, Gypsy and Cisco haven't gotten together and probably never will, which makes Cisco quite depressed.
- The Unreveal: The episode focuses on the team's efforts to find out Savitar's true identity. In the end, we still don't know.
- They Really Do Love Each Other: Despite being annoyed at him and outright threatening to slap him next time he just runs away without any notice, it is clear that Cisco really cares about H.R.
- We Have to Get the Bullet Out!: Or a shrapnel, in Caitlin's case.
- Wham Shot: Caitlin exploding into vapor then reforming into a fully powered Killer Frost.
- White Hair, Black Heart: What makes it clear that Killer Frost has taken over Caitlin is that her hair is now just as white as the Earth-2 Killer Frost's.
- White Shirt of Death: Caitlin dies wearing a white hospital gown, followed by the emergence of Killer Frost, her Superpowered Evil Side whom Caitlin considers as a Fate Worse than Death in case a Split-Personality Takeover happens (which did).
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Killer Frost is back.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Once again, an episode ends on this bitter note, with Iris still dying in the future and Caitlin becoming Killer Frost. Barry, however, tries to defy this by going to the future.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Referenced word-by-word by Cisco as he, Gypsy and The Flashes keep the time machine from reaching the portal.
