Agreed! I think maybe around season five with Cicada was when we really started seeing the cracks. This lead to the sixth season with the mini-arcs or “graphic novels” (I can’t stand that term for comics much less for a four episode story in a show). Then you had the mirror verse stuff which was impacted by COVID and it’s been on a constant decline ever since.
Watch that first season compared to this final one and it’s night and day in terms of number of characters, story progression and villains. Granted, those first seasons had to fill twenty-two episodes, and not all of them were winners but I’d gladly go back to those filler episodes than more of the same with Chester and Allegra or Cecile, or just another Barry-less episode. I miss the days of Cisco and Caitlyn, or Joe. Remember how much we used to love Joe and how important he was? I’ll even take another Wells at this point.
I think even the filler episodes in the early seasons of The Flash were better than the filler episodes we have gotten the past few years. Heck, I think a lot of them were better than the “big” episodes we get now!
They are! Given that we’re headed towards the finish line, I’ve decided to go back to the beginning and rewatch the series from the start and I haven’t been motivated to jump ahead through a scene yet. (Of Course, I’m only three episodes in So far)
Now to see what happened when Barry was gone. The team tries to figure what happened then sabotage be the negative force possessing Mark.
Alegra is out and the speed force returns to help with what little they can. Then Kihone’s poses unlocked. Guess she’s Mother Nature in a way. Pretty cool. They stop them then Barry’s back. Now it time to have a baby only for him to poof again.
Eddie going through a crisis. Interesting with his what seems like time displacement for the beginning. Pretty cool connection there.
Only 2 left. What’s Eddie’s next move? Where’s Barry now? Will Iris have the baby without him? All this and more Same Flash Time Same Flash Channel.
There is one thing we never saw. When Barry meets Wells/Thawne, he’s in a power wheelchair. And he pretends to be a paraplegic for much of the first season. In season five, we see that he’s admitted to the hospital the night of the Particle Accelerator explosion (practically alongside Barry)
So what exactly does befall Thawne as Wells that night? Does he just throw himself on the floor and fake it? Or (more probable) does he head downto where Cisco and Caitlin are and get crushed by falling debris?
I thought this episode was good. I do think it was a little slow. I like the whole Malcolm/Eddie thing going on. I’m honestly not sure how this will play out. It does look like this season is getting better and i’m excited to see how it will end.
They lost a lot of the original actors, which is probably inevitable on a show that lasts nine seasons. COVID was really a killer for the Arrowverse in general. They haven’t helped themselves with some of the odd scripting choices this season, though - really weird how they keep sidelining Barry in favor of the newer team members.
Warts and all, though, I’m excited for the finale. It’s the end of an era.
Well, this week’s episode was better than last week’s.
Although for a while there I thought maybe it might be another episode without Barry. Still, the episode seems lackluster for what is the penultimate episode of the series. I really expected more from this final season.
To the future. Thane is confused and Barry missing. And the team is worried.
Cecile sent to future nice moment with Chester now a hero named Virture. Never heard of the character looked her up interesting. Got the suit pretty spot on.
Barry vs XS as the negative speed force. He stops her with Cecile’s help then blasted back.
Eddie losing it at the end. Cool scene now it time for the end.
Who will live? Who will die? Can team Flash stop this? All this and more on the epic series finale Same Flash Time Same Flash Channel
I really liked this episode! Honestly, i’m scared of this show ending because I love it so much. Yes, some season weren’t very good. But I will miss this show a lot. It’s been my favorite for a while now and I don’t want to part with it. I expect the finale to be amazing and I can’t wait, yet I don’t want it to come either.
It was great seeing Nora this week. And I really liked the scene with Barry and future Iris. Those were the good.
The bad…I’ll say this: I’ve had my fill of Chester, Allegra, Cecile and Khione and I pray they don’t have much screen time next week. They’ve taken up too much time as it is and I want to see the finale focus on Barry.
Hard to argue w/ that. The whole time Barry and Eddie were talking at Joe’s house I just kept thinking “I know Eddie is making a mistake by choosing the negative speed force, but Barry just isn’t making good enough arguments against it”
And so over a decade later, the Arrowverse finally comes to an end. For as much as I’ve complained about Flash’s writing after the 1st few seasons (which I still stand by), I’d much rather focus on all the positives this universe has brought over the years. Despite all its flaws, the Arrowverse remains 1 of my favorite connected universes and has truly brought about some of my most loved moments in any superhero world. I started getting into Arrow soon after I finally started getting into the comics as well, so I really count this as a big formative element in making me such a big superhero fan. I still think it’s impressive they managed to last as long as they did, and I’ll be forever grateful for how it helped shape the modern world of DC along with just giving us some great TV along the way
As for how this finale wrapped up the show itself, I’d say it did about as good as job as it could. Again, given the lack of consistently strong writing across the recent years, it definitely lowered expectations so I would’ve been pretty shocked if they pulled out a brilliant finale that was more worthy of the show’s first season. But as it is, I thought this was mostly decent. The show certainly needed to end and I can still appreciate that it did so on an uplifting note
OK, so who else forgot that Joe and Cecile weren’t already married?? I guess I had just assumed they already were and that I forgot how it happened, so I was pretty surprised when Joe proposed, though definitely not for the reasons the writers would’ve expected. It’s not like this’ll change anything since they’ve already essentially been married for the last few seasons, but I guess it’s still a nice note to end their journeys on
While I’m sure the very last scene was pure fan service and almost certainly won’t be explored in the future, it was still pretty awesome to see the live action debuts of Jess Chambers and especially Max Mercury. Admittedly I feel like I don’t know that much about Max from the comics despite him having been around for a few decades now, but knowing that he’s a significant member of the Flash family still made this a cool reveal
The Arrowverse did something the DC movies still haven’t figured out how to do and I wish this was noticed, but after over a decade it’s not treated with the respect it deserves.
The last episode of The Flash and the Arrowverse was a disappointment, to no one’s surprise, but it had it high moments like Eddie as Cobalt Blue and the return of Caitlin. The Speedster Easter Eggs at the end was very fun, I was worried they’d give speed powers to literally every person in Central City, but no, it was only to the Speedsters from the comics.
I saw the finale and…it was a mixed bag. The evil speedsters were great to see, but they got taken out by side characters I don’t like. The resolution with Eddie was mixed because it felt rushed…but it was nice to see Eddie make the choice himself and make peace. I’m glad we finally got Caitlin back.
Science cannot accurately measure how little I care about Cecile, Chillblaine, Khione, Chester and Allegra. This was true all season, and sadly we wasted valuable time with these characters.
The birth of Nora, Joe talking with Iris, and that wonderful ending scene were some of the highlights for me. Once we got to the core of the show, it felt like home. That’s something I’m really gonna miss about The Flash.
Look, I’m not gonna sugarcoat it…this season was awful. The Red Death arc was terrible, the filler in between was unnecessary, and this last arc felt like it started strong, then we had two episodes of filler, then tried to cram everything for the last episode. If I had a wish for this season, it would’ve been to map out a long story with the shortened season they had, focused on Barry and phased out the side characters. I would’ve loved for The Flash to have gone out on the highest note possible. That being said, at least the final scenes left me with a smile.
The Flash hasn’t been the same for me ever since the season when the “forces” were born, whatever one that was… so a few years now. For me, things have been somewhat non-sensical since then, and production values seem to have gone down. I’m not a Flash comic reader, but if the comics are anything like the last 3 or so seasons, they’re probably not for me.
However…
I still love this show, and I love the Arrowverse. When I catch an episode in the future or hear that theme music, I will look back at it fondly. Grant and the rest of the cast did a great job throughout and the finale, though somewhat rushed, was a nice heartfelt way to wrap things up. I wish them all the best on their future endeavors.
This season was… rough, no real way to sugarcoat it. The finale made some giant leaps in logic and routinely had the characters doing things they’ve never been able to do before, with zero explanation. Those things were of secondary importance to the emotional payoffs though, most of which landed pretty well.
Cisco’s absence was conspicuous. Wish they’d gotten him back for a cameo.
Shades of Reed Richards calling himself Mr. Fantastic.
did not know they weren’t already married.