A new villain with shrinking powers shows up, and soon Cisco and Ralph get affected. Meanwhile, Barry tries to get Joe to look into the case that got his cellmate in prison.
Tropes:
- Actually Pretty Funny: When Barry believes Dave got his "Hope is dangerous" mantra from The Shawshank Redemption, Dave just shrugs and smirks before saying no.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Downplayed. In the comics, Dwarfstar was a sociopathic serial killer. Here, he's a petty thief, albeit one willing to kill people if they get in his way and willing to frame innocent people for his crimes.
- Always Someone Better: It's implied the main reason Harry is so gung-ho about freeing Barry and defeating DeVoe is because he really doesn't like being bested by the villain in terms of sheer intellect.
- Artistic License – Physics: Dwarfstar's power works by reducing the empty space between atoms. This means that the objects would retain their original mass and thus should have the same weight as when their original size, yet shrunken objects (including Cisco and Ralph) are treated as lightweight and easily tossed around. Handwaved by mentioning that "gravity particles" are also removed, which probably explains the weight reduction.
- Bait-and-Switch: Back in "Mixed Signals", it seems Wolfe is in league with DeVoe. When Wolfe makes a phone call at the end of the episode, it was instead Amunet who he was working with.
- Brutal Honesty: Cecile, after getting her powers, becomes very blunt.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Cecile and Joe go to Sharon Finkel for couple therapy, the same woman Barry and Iris went to.
- Former Mayor Bellows is seen in prison playing cards with Barry and Dave.
- Chekhov's Gun: The pudding that Barry and the other prisoners use as money in the card game is later used by the warden to tranquilize Barry.
- Chekhov's Skill: Averted - Cecile's new mind-reading powers do not come in handy at all in this episode.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: And this time, it comes to bite Barry in the ass, as the Warden finds out about him being the Flash after he gets Dave out of prison.
- Clear Their Name: Barry hopes to do this for his prisoner friend. They do find the perp — but without a confession, there's no way to prove his innocence.
- Continuity Nod:
- When figuring out how Cecile got her powers, she firmly rejects the team's ideas, she was not on the bus, kidnapped by aliens, or inheriting a magical amulet from her grandmother.
- Harry mentions that like Barry, he knows how unpleasant an experience imprisonment can be.
- The new Kord Industries R&D is protected by, among other things, laser beams that cannot be frozen.
- Barry reminds Bellows of the time he tried to have Barry and Joe killed.
- Cisco's LEGO model of Infantino Street, the location of the most crucial moment of Season 3 (complete with the figurines representing Barry, Iris and Savitar) returns as Ralph and Cisco's "hamster cage".
- In order to make sense of Dwarfstar's powers, the team consults Felicity, since the Waverider (and thus Ray Palmer) cannot be reached.
- The Cynic: After 15 years in prison, Dave has become quite disillusioned. Barry helps him snap out of it a little.
- Description Cut: While the team is pondering the hardships Barry is facing while in prison, it then shows Barry having a blast playing cards with his fellow inmates.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Invoked by Barry when he speeds Dave all the way to the Chinese village he wanted to see, leaving a note saying "Sometimes you 'do' get the movie ending". Unfortunately, Barry isn't so lucky.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Cisco and Harry have one together after the former gives the latter some pep talk, figuring out that the only way to bring Cisco and Ralph back to normal size is being exposed to Rundine's powers again.
- Exact Words: Warden Wolfe wasn't kidding when he told Barry that inside Iron Heights, everyone is a monster; this includes Wolfe himself.
- Failed a Spot Check: Barry's failure to realize that the Warden had a hidden camera put next to his cell. Results in the Warden discovering Barry's Secret Identity.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: A hint to Wolfe's sudden change of character before exposing Barry as The Flash is that Wolfe referred to him as "Inmate" (with a small hint of anger) instead of his last name.
- For the Evulz: Rundine admitted that he got a kick out of Dave getting imprisoned for a crime Rundine committed, and refuses to confess and exonerate Dave. Incarceration will be Worth It for him just to keep Dave in prison.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: Barry and Dave play cards with Mayor Bellows and a mugger.
- Hope Spot: Subverted. At first, it seems like Big Sir might be getting out, but Rundine refuses to confess. But Barry gets him out of prison and way out of reach of the law anyways.
- Idiot Ball:
- Barry has been casually using his powers based on the movements of the prison's cameras. Unfortunately he was only taking into the account the obvious ones — which means he gets busted for freeing his friend.
- Team Flash is guilty of it too, as when Rundine refused to confess to the crime that Big Sir went down for, none of them thought to use Cecile's new telepathy to find something that would prove his guilt.
- Improbable Weapon User: Dwarfstar uses his "collection" as projectiles, unshrinking then throwing them at his targets.
- Innocently Insensitive: Cecile is completely oblivious to the fact that the way she uses her powers are a variant of invasion of privacy.
- Lampshade Hanging: Iris points out how every bad guy's name in town sounds like straight out of a comic book.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": There is a focus on Team Flash when they capture Rundine, but did not get a confession out of him, making them feel as if they failed Barry and Dave.
- Miranda Rights: Joe tells them to Sylbert Rundine when arresting him.
- Mundane Utility: Barry uses his superspeed to cheat at cards while in prison.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Harry's attempt at restoring Ralph and Cisco back to normal almost causes them to blow up.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: While he was doing what he believes is right, Barry still used his powers to help Dave escape prison. Dave's disappearance will never go unnoticed, Barry would be in hot water if he was ever found out, and then Wolfe also learned in the process that Barry is the Flash.
- Oh, Crap!: Harry's My God, What Have I Done? when he realizes that his improvised Dwarfstar Cannon only endangered Ralph's and Cisco's lives.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: For a warden, Wolfe was quite cordial to Barry in the past couple of episodes. The fact that Barry violated his rules (and even ignored Wolfe's warning) makes him show his true colors.
- Perfectly Cromulent Word: Wells attempts to reverse Cisco and Ralph's shrinkage with his "Embiggening Bazooka" which, as he explains, will "embiggen" them. After he uses this phrase one too many times, Iris points out that it's not a word.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The title is a reference to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
- Pun: After Iris steps on a shrunken Ralph, he says that he's a gumshoe, not gum on a shoe.
- Psychic Static: Joe starts thinking about pink elephants when he gets uncomfortable with Cecile reading his thoughts.
- Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Dwarfstar in the comics was (predictably, considering his powers) a foe of the Atom, specifically Ryan Choi.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: After failing to get a confession from Rundine to get Dave exonerated, Barry decides to use his speed to bust Dave out and bring him all the way to China.
- Shout-Out:
- "Embiggen" comes from The Simpsons. More recently, it's become the Catchphrase of fellow superhero Ms. Marvel (2014). Also doubles as a Continuity Nod to Ray Palmer describing his enlarged fist to punch out a Nazi.
- When Dave warns about the dangers of hope while in prison, Barry flat-out asks if he got it from The Shawshank Redemption. Similar to the movie, Barry gives Dave his "movie ending" by helping him escape prison and go to a small town in a foreign country.
- Cecile asks Cisco what is a Bulbasaur when she's reading his mind.
- Cisco at one point says, "Oh my glob," a frequent utterance in Adventure Time.
- Shrink Ray: Cisco and Ralph fall victim to one. To reverse the effects, they had to get hit a second time.
- The Stinger: Warden Wolfe finds out that Barry is the Flash and reveals he's corrupt by offering to sell him to Amunet.
- Telepathy: Cecile develops the ability to read minds through yet unknown means.
- Tempting Fate: The new Mayor praised a new, supposedly metahuman-proof building courtesy of Kord Industries, only for Dwarfstar to shrink it down right in front of everyone's eyes.
- There Are No Coincidences: The villain of the week may be the exact person needed to free Barry's cellmate. The characters discuss the coincidence, and Harry figures it's probably part of DeVoe's plot.
- This Is Reality: Dave tells Barry this, saying that he will probably end up on the streets when being asked if there is anything or anybody waiting for him if he gets out.
- Time Stands Still: Barry cheating at cards is shown this way. Given that he's now fast enough to run to China and back (over 7000 miles!) in only a few seconds, this fits with his current power level.
- To Be Lawful or Good: Barry is faced with this when he realizes he can't get Dave (who was wrongfully convicted) out of prison by legal means. While he ends up choosing good (and using his powers to get Dave out), it results in his Secret Identity being discovered by Warden Wolfe.
- The Unreveal: Cecille invading Harry's mental space causes the latter to lash out at her, telling her that she has to stop doing that. When he provokes her into reading his mind again it causes her to shut up all because of whatever it was that Harry was thinking then.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: When the original plan to have a shrunken Cisco and Ralph jump in the way of Dwarfstar's shrink attacks on the van fails (because Dwarfstar instead just enlarges and throws various vehicles at the van instead), Wells goes to the previously unstated "Plan B": taunt Dwarfstar into shrinking him while Cisco and Ralph are hiding in his breast pocket.
- Wardens Are Evil: Turns out Warden Wolfe has a business relationship with metahuman trafficker Amunet Black.
- Wham Shot: Wolfe showing Barry a security camera image of him at super-speed.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Cisco gives Harry some pep talk when the latter beats himself up over putting his friends in grave danger after a failed attempt to restore their size.
