YMMV / The Flash 2014 S 3 E 9 The Present

• Ending Fatigue: The midseason twist (Alchemy's Heel–Face Turn [kind of, and it's more likely just Julian genuinely Took a Level in Kindness], Savitar getting defeated and Barry briefly travelling to five months in the future just in time to see Iris get killed) actually took place halfway through the episode, and viewers had to sit through a few more minutes of drama up to the end of credits thinking that there might be another twist. There isn't.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: The reveal from Savitar that someone will die, someone would betray them and that someone would suffer A Fate Worse Than Death, seems similar to the grave mystery of Arrow Season 4. As a result some are criticizing the writers for their lack of originality.
• Like You Would Really Do It: The general reaction to the possible future of Savitar killing Iris. At the same time, see Older Than They Think below.
• Memetic Mutation: Given the number of dead characters appearing in other Arrowverse shows that seem, jokes that Savitar was compelling others to open the box were rife.
• Narm: Julian's face when he opens the box in the flashback looks nothing short of silly.
• Older Than They Think: Iris was actually killed by Professor Zoom in the comics, a while after that Barry moved to/made a new home in the 30th century, where Iris was born.
• One-Scene Wonder: Mark Hamill as the Earth-3 Trickster.
• Ship Tease: Caitlin and Julian seem to hit it off after the crisis is over.
• Special Effect Failure: Jay vs. Savitar plays out entirely with CGI, looking very similar to the infamous Burly Brawl from The Matrix Reloaded. Partly justified in that Jay's actor John Wesley Shipp doesn't seem to be fit to take that kind of damage.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Earth-3 Trickster turned out to be nothing more than a One-Scene Wonder.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: With Earth-3 established as a deliberate reference to the 1990 Flash series, this could have been the perfect way to actually feature that show's world itself after it was established to actually be part of the Arrowverse multiverse...except that John Wesley Shipp already being the Jay Garrick of this world likely made it too awkward to try.
• Win Back the Crowd: After many complaints about how the last midseason finale failed to significantly advance the main Story Arc of the season and effectively just served as another Villain of the Week filler episode, this episode more than makes up for that by actually bringing the main conflict with both main antagonists to its conclusion...for now, anyway.