Cisco Drops a Subtle Rick & Morty Reference on The Flash

Tonight's episode of The Flash had a lot going on -- various different layers of reality, a battle between two powerful forces struggling for control of Barry's mind, and some callbacks to basically every character who ever died on the show, all while building to the inevitable conclusion of "Crisis on Infinite Earths." But one of the things that seems to have mostly slipped under the radar was a line read by Carlos Valdes, which continued the long tradition of Cisco Ramon making pop culture references, regardless of appropriateness or circumstance. This time around? Well, it seems to be that Cisco made a reference to the mega-hit animated comedy Rick & Morty.

It's a fun joke, of course, because there have been plenty of gags about Cisco and the Council of Wells being a kind of Arrowverse version of Rick & Morty that could support their own web shorts or something. This time around, though, it's just a simple reference to a popular episode of the series, suggesting that even with all the stuff that has been going on over the last couple of years, Cisco has managed to remain abreast of pop culture touchstones.

"...And awaaaaaay he goes," Cisco says when Barry moves away from him after having determined himself to be "cured" of Ramsey's influence in the final minutes of the episode.

In case you missed it, that's a reference (for Cisco, a very, very subtle one) to Rick & Morty, in particular to the episode "A Rickle in Time," the second-season premiere, where...well, just watch.

The Flash is back for its sixth season, pitting Barry Allen against new and old foes while on an apparent suicide run toward the destiny he has been hoping to avoid since the series premiered. Way back in 2014, fans learned that — as in the comics — Barry Allen would give his life in the Crisis on Infinite Earths, helping to turn back the Anti-Monitor and save the multiverse. That event would take place in May of 2024…or so we all thought. Due to some changes to the timestream during the last season of The Flash, Barry's date with destiny has been moved up to December 2019, when all five of The CW's interconnected DC Comics shows will cross over for "Crisis On Infinite Earths," and fans will get to see how Barry tries to outrun his fate.

The Flash airs on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, followed by episodes of Arrow.