Barry’s Always Late

Okay, Joe got his watch from his dad as a not-so-subtle reminder that he was always late, but Barry was often late in his civilian life, despite being the fastest man alive. This isn’t the first time The Flash has made reference to this but I like that Joe may have had similar issues as Barry when he was younger and this was a more subtle mention of this Flash trope.

The Trickster’s Jail Wall

Did you notice those valentines on the Trickster’s jail wall? Yeah, he had similar letters in his jail cell during flashbacks in the first Trickster episode. Man that guy’s creepy.

Okamura Toys

In the comics, Hiro Okamura was an heir to a toy empire and a tech genius. He even fought crime for a brief time as Toyman prior to the Flashpoint reboot. No, he’s not that other Toyman, one of Superman’s oldest enemies whose son appears on Supergirl, but he does use the same high-tech toy gimmick. I wonder if he has explosive dreidels. Perhaps.

Shoe Shop Robbery

Patty said her father died in a robbery gone bad at their family’s shoe store, and that bears a resemblance to Mitchell Siegel. Siegel was reportedly shot and killed during a robbery at his family-owned, secondhand clothing store, but several reports called it a shoe store.

Soon after, Siegel’s son Jerry was inspired by his father’s murder to create a bulletproof man who could leap tall buildings in a single bound, and the world’s first superhero, Superman, was born. Or so the story goes.

There’s another version of Siegel’s death where the coroner cited a heart attack as the cause of death. Who knows what to believe as New York City coroners weren’t the most trustworthy during the time of Mitchell Siegel’s death. Brad Meltzer, who also penned Green Arrow for a time, wrote about this conspiracy in his Book of Lies.

The Boot

We’ve seen the device Patty used to stop Barry earlier this year. Joe used the boot to slow down Atom-Smasher.

Wally West

We knew it was coming but we saw Wally West this week. In the comics, Wally isn’t Iris’s brother; he’s her nephew. He gained his powers in an accident similar to Barry’s and spent some years as Kid Flash. When Barry died during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wally took over the role of The Flash for twenty years until Barry Allen returned at the beginning of Final Crisis.

Wally more or less retired after Barry’s return. He settled down with his wife Linda Park and their kids, but Wally showed up again post-Flashpoint when Barry fought an evil version of himself from the future. Eventually, Wally gained his own speed powers.

Miscellaneous

Jay says, “Every Earth has The Godfather,” and that’s a good thing.

Cisco used the CW’s tagline “best of both worlds,” pictured above. The network used this tagline when it announced that Jay Garrick, The Flash of Earth-2, would join The Flash this season.

Cisco makes a Breaking Bad reference: “Magnets, Bitch.”

Cisco also yelled “Yahtzee!” I could see him playing the game, but this could be in reference to Harley Quinn (the hench-wench and girl toy of Mark Hamill’s Joker). Harley would yell Yahtzee whenever she did something well.

When Barry handed Weather Wizard the wand, Hamill looks at it and says, “That looks familiar.” Of course Hamill is referring to Luke Skywalker’s blue lightsaber.

Barry using his arms like whirlwinds in order to fly him and Patty out of the warehouse is how Johnny Quick, Jessie Quick’s father, flew in the DC comic book universe.

That’s it for this year of The Flash. If you missed our Flash review, here’s a link. Thanks for reading and happy holidays.