The Flash: The Final Season: A Spoiler-Filled Discussion
***As the title would suggest, full spoilers for the final season of The Flash follow***
The Arrowverse has finally come to an end with the series finale of The Flash. The show ended its run this last week after nine seasons and 184 episodes of varying quality. The final season may have been bumpy, but it had it's moments, let's look back on them.
What Worked
By far the strongest part of the season was the one-two punch of episodes nine (It's My Party and I'll Die if I Want To) and ten (A New World Part I). The return of Oliver Queen to help Barry process the survivor's guilt that he's been plagued with as he dealt with a decade of loss. Using that to push the plot forward in the beginning of A New World does a lot to increase the emotional impact of what was assumed to be in the final season: the point where Barry and Thawne do end up fighting in Barry's house the night his mother is murdered.
To a lesser degree, the first episode also worked. A number of the Arrowverse shows have used various Groundhog Day-like time loop episodes to expand character development in a reasonably quick fashion. Using that trope to develop Barry and Iris' relationship to a place where it allows them to move past the preordained nature of everything and kind of fix some of the early show problems with the portrayal of their relationship.
Bringing back Eddie was also a great decision for the final arc of episodes and his motivations are also relatable. Allowing him to become the avatar for the Negative Speed Force gives him the ability to bring new depth to the character beyond just the cop/fiancé role he played back in season one.
What Didn't Work
The first arc with the return of Batwoman star Javicia Leslie as an alternate universe version of Ryan Wilder as the Red Death does not quite hit the emotional high points that the latter half of the season does. It's not Leslie's fault, her performance is the most interesting part, it's the fact that Ryan Wilder never interacted with the cast outside last year's Armageddon crossover in an alternate timeline that was since erased. The rest of the arc also does not carry it considering the majority of the Rogues are flat and uninteresting (except Goldface who is just magic every time Damion Poitier plays him).
The "interlude" episodes are also not quite as strong as they could have been. With the exception of the return of Oliver in episode nine and the return of Nia Nal from Supergirl in episode seven, the other two episodes feel like filler. The return of Becky Sharpe in episode six is a little strange of a choice and the time anomaly episode does not do enough that is unique to set it apart from shows like Legends of Tomorrow that did similar things but better.
The other major issue is that every side character subplot is either boring or just silly. The whole resurrection of Caitlyn as Khione is silly, especially considering it ends with Khione transcending reality and becoming a god leaving Caitlyn behind and alive. The relationship between Khione and Mark is also a waste of screen time and Mark's continued existence on the show is, at best, an annoyance. Chester and Allegra are both criminally underutilized and are essentially relegated to being each other's love interest which harms both characters. The one who got off best was Cecille, and even her arc felt forced considering the pretext for everything happening regarding Joe leaving Central City was flimsy at best.
Should You Watch This Season
If someone has Netflix and needs something to watch, the final season of The Flash is an entertaining enough use of time, even if they have fallen off on the series in recent years. That said, if one does not already have a Netflix subscription it's not worth getting one just to watch this season.
★★★
