I kind of felt inspired to write this after reading multiple comments on posts from The Flash Facebook page. I felt lost reading so many comments from so many people, and it’s weird, usually, a lot of these comments have hardcore fans come to defend the show but there was next to none? Usually, these comments can be passed off as trolls but when there’s so many, you have to come to the endpoint that these may just be genuine.
I’m a huge fan of The Flash character and also the show itself. It was the show that brought me to the “hardcore fan” that I am today. Investing in comics, and merchandise just because of this show directly and why? Because let’s be honest, the first 2 seasons of The Flash were some of the best television in recent memory.
People will have varied opinions on when the show officially dropped off, and despite having stable and good live ratings, we all have to accept that it’s nowhere near what it once was back at in the beginning.
Personally, for me, the show’s drop off point was season 4. That season was actual trash, and the last time I did a run-through, I completely skipped that season. Season 5 brought it back in a decent way with Cicada, but then shot themselves in the foot when Grace took over the mantle.
After that, it’s been very hit and miss. It had glimpses of showing us that the writers haven’t given up, but then they write episodes like season 7’s episode 4 with zero sense, terrible writing and saved by a single scene at the very end.
The Flash has a cascade of villains that could be used in live-action. Some villains in-fact are what fans have been calling for, for at least a couple of years now. Let’s take a look at 4 straight off the bat that I would love;
- Reverse Flash
- Daniel West
- Godspeed
- Red Death
That’s just 4 easily able to bring back. Even at this point because of their history, Reverse Flash would be a great season villain for the second time. It’s something The CW has never done before, but because of how iconic he is, it would be fantastic.
The show has gone from feeling like Barry was ripped straight out of the comics, to a drama type soap with no end game point at all. It’s boring, lazy storytelling, and is currently bringing nothing to the table that keeps me excited.
It’s frustrating because the characters are amazing and they’ve all been cast perfectly – the show has to, and needs to do better. This force field stuff they’re bringing in is too early, dare I say it but a Speedster type villain is in desperate need to bring this show back to its glory days.
The predictability of the show is also too much, you know how it’s going to go each and every single time with next to zero surprise factor anymore. Like, during season 2 when Zoom killed Barry’s Dad.
Arrow ended after 8 seasons, honestly, as much as I don’t want to think about it – this show isn’t far behind. They have a brilliant foundation built with Godspeed already, I don’t understand why we aren’t exploring this in so much more detail. The glimpses we’ve had are ridiculous, considering Godspeed himself could easily be a multi-season villain.
To answer the title of the article, I do think we have the potential to be better than the “golden years”, I honestly do. The writers and showrunners have proved time and time again just how amazing the show can be.
