Recap / The Flash 2014 S 6 E 1 Into The Void

Four months after Nora was erased, Team Flash attempts to move on, while new threats emerge.

Tropes

• Act of True Love: Barry spends a few more moments in the black hole in order to retrieve Iris' purple jacket, so that she can get back one of the last things that she has to honor their daughter.
• Actually a Doombot: The episode opens with Barry fighting Godspeed, only for it to turn out to be some kind of mindless duplicate. Apparently, this is the fourth one he's encountered.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: Chunk has a normal physique compared to the morbidly obese giant he's better known for.
• All Therapists Are Muggles: Iris says to Barry about Nora's disappearance, "There is no support group for what we're experiencing."
• Artistic License – Space: It can't be overstated how much black holes do not work like that. While it's not the series' first Unrealistic Black Hole it's probably the most egregious.
• Bait-and-Switch: When Rosso gets a high tech gun of an arms dealer one might think he would use it to potentially attack STAR Labs in order to steal some Dark Matter after Caitlin rejected his proposal. As it turns out he actually just wanted to take the Dark Matter from the gun so he could use it for his cure.
• Book Ends: The episode begins and ends in the Time Vault, with the respective loss and getting a Tragic Keepsake from Nora. And The Stinger offers the explanation why there was a loss anyway.
• Cope by Pretending: Initially, both Barry and Iris try to dismiss their grief over losing Nora, by holding onto the notion that they will see her again one day. Barry, in turn, is aggressively optimistic and throws himself into his work, while Iris attempts to internalize her grief. When she finally breaks down to Cecile, Iris thinks that she's selfish for being so devastated over Nora, because she will see her again, but Cecile tells her that she cannot cheat the grieving process, just because she will see Nora again one day.
• Cruel to Be Kind: The Monitor destroys Nora's plinth in order to discourage Barry and Iris' hopes for a happy ending, as Barry is destined to die during the incoming Crisis.
• Cry into Chest: When Iris tearfully reveals to Barry that for a tiny moment, when the black hole took her purple jacket, she had hoped that the black hole would take her too, he pulls her to his chest.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Iris manages to do this with her own grieving over Nora when she and Cecile visit Chester, coming to the realization that he is connected to the black holes popping up in the city.
  Cecile: Iris, you do not get to cheat the grieving process just because you know you're gonna see Nora again someday.
  Iris: Yeah, you're right. I guess I just haven't been able to put into words how I've been feeling. (looks up in realization; rushes back into Chester's room)
• Five Stages of Grief: Cecile lampshades this when speaking about Iris' grief over losing her daughter, Nora.
• Foil: The episode sets up two very different Mad Scientist types. Ramsey Rosso is a charismatic but callous Well-Intentioned Extremist who seeks to find a Cure for Cancer through some unethical means. To this end, in The Stinger, he willingly subjects himself to a dangerously transformative experiment. On the other hand, Chester P. Runk is a Nice Guy who experiments out of pure scientific curiosity, with no relevant benefit to the public. He accidentally makes his subconscious into a blackhole that is this week’s threat.
• The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: The episode ends with the newly-transformed Bloodwork lunging at the camera.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Chester P. Runk, to the point that Cisco is impressed, as he was able to build a gravitational wave emitter powered by a modulated neutrino charger in his garage, out of junkyard material.
• Genius Loci: While Chester P. Runk is comatose, part of his consciuousness inhabits a black hole. While not fully sentient, his subconscious is attracted to locations in Central City that he had an emotional attachment to.
• I Always Wanted to Say That: When Cisco starts playing Queen's Flash Gordon (1980) theme as Barry enters the black hole, he admits that he's been waiting for the right time to play this song ever since Barry got his powers.
  Cisco: I've been saving this for the right moment since Day 1.
• Internal Reveal: Barry and Iris believed that the former still had at least five years to go before the Crisis, until the Monitor shows up to tell them that it's been moved up to this year.
• Lampshade Hanging: The hallway chats are lampshaded again when Killer Frost rebuffs Ralph's attempts to talk to her.
• Mad Doctor: Combined with Well-Intentioned Extremist. Ramsey asks Caitlin to use S.T.A.R. Labs get some Dark Matter for human trials in order to cure HLH.
• Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds: Chester manages to threaten Central City with his black holes, all while in a coma.
• Mood Whiplash: Team Flash dramatically begging Chester to wake up...which he promptly does, talking in his usual Totally Radical way.
• Mythology Gag: Ralph accuses Killer Frost of having been holed up in her "Snow-tress of Solitude" during the last few months.
• The Name Is Bond, James Bond: After returning, Ralph Dibny presents himself in an elegant attire and saying "Dibny, Ralph Dibny".
• The Needs of the Many: Cisco brings up the possibility of having to kill Chester to save the rest of Central City, but Barry is having none of it. Fortunately, they are able to save him.
• No Antagonist: Downplayed as fake Godspeed shows up in the Batman Cold Open and Rosso is up to no good, but the main threat of the episode is a sympathetic Unwitting Instigator of Doom.
• No Man Should Have This Power: Caitlin’s refusal on ethical grounds to inject HLH patients with dark matter is somewhere between this trope and Evil Is Not a Toy.
• Noodle Incident: Ralph's case which took him to Opal City, looking into the disappearance of a woman named Sue Dearbon.
• Not Quite Back to Normal: Barry succeeds in returning Chester's mind to his body, except his eyes are glowing and he needs to chill in the M.A.C. enhancement unit that made it possible for a few weeks until he stabilizes on the atomic level.
• Old Friend: Ramsey is a colleague of Caitlin's in med school.
• Painful Transformation: Ramsey successfully cures himself of his own HLH, but painfully gains metahuman powers at the same time.
• Power Incontinence: Caitlin has had trouble keeping her Killer Frost powers under control.
• Professor Guinea Pig: Rosso’s first test subject is himself.
• Reed Richards Is Useless: Discussed by Rosso when he claims that for all of their groundbreaking discoveries, S.T.A.R. Labs does nothing to fight everyday evils like cancer.
• Remember the New Guy?: Ramsey Rosso, introduced as a friend of Caitlin, and whose recently deceased mother gave the recommendation that allowed Caitlin to get the job at STAR Labs.
• Replacement Goldfish: Subverted, Barry and Iris initially appear to get over Nora's death quickly, claiming that they can still have her back in the future. However, Iris later breaks down saying that it won't be the same Nora, while Barry is very clearly throwing himself into his job as the Flash as a means of choking down his grief.
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Inverted with Godspeed going up against his canonical enemy Barry Allen, since in the current timeline Nora never existed to stop him in the future.
• Sequel Hook: This episode sets up many plot threads that are unresolved. In no particular order:
  • Barry’s fate in the impending Crisis.
  • Ralph’s search for the missing Sue Dearborn.
  • Frost starting to live her own life.
  • Rosso’s transformation.
  • Whatever the hell’s going on with Godspeed.
• Shoot the Dog: Killer Frost is prepared to kill Chester with Cisco’s grenade. Of course, Barry saves the day without this happening.
• Shout-Out:
  • When we first see Ralph Dibny in the episode, he looks a lot like James Bond. He even says, ”The name’s Dibny, Ralph Dibny.” A lawyer-friendly variation of the famous Bond Leitmotif also plays during this moment.
  • When Barry is going to enter the last black hole, Cisco plays Queen's musical theme for another Flash.
• Shrine to the Fallen: After Barry gets back Iris' purple jacket from inside the black hole, they put it up in honor of Nora.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: Barry shutting down the last black hole while Cisco plays "Flash". Iris even calls out how corny it is. Subverted when after a moment, she admits that it is kind of fitting.
• Speak Ill of the Dead: Ramsey, towards his own mother no less, calling her a coward for not fighting her HLH.
• Split-Personality Takeover: A rare voluntary version, with Caitlin allowing Killer Frost to take the wheel to live a normal life for a change.
• Stepford Smiler: Throughout the episode, Barry is constantly talking about how Team Flash can accomplish anything in a sunny disposition. It eventually turns out he's doing this to distract himself from his grief over losing Nora.
• Time Skip: The episode starts immediately after the end of last year's finale, then jumps ahead four months.
• Tragic Keepsake: At first it was Nora's Video Will, but by the end of the episode they settle for her old costume.
• Trying Not to Cry: When Cecile confronts Iris about the fact that she lost something important to the black hole (her purple jacket), Iris tries to fight the tears, but eventually breaks down and confesses that she misses Nora so much.
• Wham Line:
  • In-universe: when Cisco and Barry debate about what they should do about Chester to prevent another black hole from ravaging the city, with Cisco telling Barry they may only have one actual option, Barry snaps:
    Barry: I'M NOT LOSING ANYONE ELSE!^note In other words, Barry reveals that he hasn't really let go of losing Nora.
  • Novu finally revealing when exactly the Crisis is going to happen: "December 10, 2019".
• You Can't Fight Fate: The Monitor appears at the end of the episode to warn Barry that the Crisis is coming, and there's nothing he can do to survive it.