Whither The Flash?

Whither the Flash?

Several weeks ago, after a particularly depressing episode of The Flash, someone posted a comment on a media website reviewing the episode and asked, “Does anyone else think that maybe season one of The Flash was just a fluke?” 

That was a succinct summary of my attitude towards The Flash.  The first season was a breath of fresh air in the superhero genre, a show that made watching the comic book genre fun instead of angsty.  But the show lost the fun, and got darker and darker.  By season three the show was positively bleak, with the Flash’s love Iris seemingly doomed to be shish-ka-bobbed by the God of the Speed Force, or some such nonsense.  It made it hard to look forward to season 4.

But miracle of miracle, season 4 started off with the old dose of fun that had made Flash one of the most fun-filled shows on TV.  But at some point, old habits kicked in.  The season’s “Big Bad” (again, copyright Buffy the Vampire Slayer) was The Thinker, a villain who was smarter than all of Team Flash put together (I know they are supposed to be a collection of scientists and geniuses, but some days out thinking them doesn’t seem so tough).  He was mildly amusing at first, but then he started killing people; pretty much everyone, actually.  He killed random guest stars.  He killed interesting multi-episode characters.  Ultimately, he killed a semi-regular, Ralph Dibney, aka The Elongated Man, a member of Team Flash. 

Oh, and he didn’t just kill innocent people, he turned them into metahumans and then stole their powers as he killed them.  Sometimes it got confusing—twice he assumed the body of a young woman, then seemed to intimate that he expected his wife to, um, continue to find hm attractive.  I’m not saying same sex relationships make me uncomfortable; I’m saying that even in the best of marriages, if one party changes gender they can hardly expect the other party to go along unless they’ve given some indication they are on board.  It seemed beyond creepy that he’d expect his wife to become a lesbian just because he killed and took over the body of a young woman.

Also, with all of the various abilities he’s absorbed, his power is virtually godlike.  I can’t even keep track of all of his abilities, sort of like on Heroes when Peter Petrelli started absorbing powers until the producers saw the problem and then implemented a rule that whenever he gained a power, he lost one.  But The Thinker just gobbled up abilities and how he can go anywhere, steal anything he wants, and kill security guards for no reason.  And this is on TOP of being the smartest man alive.  The Flash have made him so powerful, any way that Barry Allen finds to stop him will be a cheat.

How can The Flash fix this problem of seasons getting more and more depressing as the season goes on?  I think for one thing, go back to episodic television.  Season arcs are great if you do them well, but it is easier to come up with 22 good stand alone episodes than one brilliant 20 episode epic.  There are just too many moving pieces, it’s too hard keeping all the balls in the air, choose your metaphor.

Along the same lines, drop the idea that there has to be a big bad each season who must up the ante in every show.  This invariably makes the villain have to do unpleasant things like kill innocent people to keep the stakes constantly being raised.  I don’t mean do what the original Superman did in the 1950’s and make the bad guys a bunch of goons who use words like “dese” and “dem”, but there must be ways for Barry Allen to help people without having to defeat someone wanting to lower all of mankind’s IQ.

Lastly, better use needs to be made of the excellent ensemble cast.  The way they handle, it seems to rotate so that in one episode Killer Frost will have a secret she’s keeping, only to discover she’s better off telling her friends the truth, then next week it’s Vibe, then Iris, then Welles, then Barry, then back to Frost.  You’ve developed a group of interesting characters and hired actors skilled at portraying them; do something unique to each character so that there isn’t a sense of déjà vu (and I hope I never have to hear another Flash character utter the words “I’ll never keeps secrets from the group again.”).

The Flash can be an excellent show, but the past THREE SEASONS it has gotten bogged down tripping over its own feet (another mixed metaphor).  Next season don’t try and swing for the fences, just make contact and trust your actors. 

And be funnier.  And cut back on the senseless murders; they aren’t fun.