This will be a long entry, please as many breaks as inhumanly as possible. You don't need to be The Flash and quickly read all of this!!!
Also I don't plan on watching more connected shows universes. Unless I felt what I had for Arrowverse. It's a huge commitment as well as a lot more hours to try staying on top of. Sometimes the very thought of doing that makes you not wanna do it. I'm not saying Arrowverse is perfect, it also has some bad seasons as well.
The Flash (2014-2023) show review
The Flash I felt pushed the boundaries the most. It may not be as ridiculous at times as Legends of Tomorrow. It isn't as dark as earlier seasons of Arrow either. The Flash does have a weird mix of science, cop and superhero show rolled into one. I may upset some people by stating this. I personally don't like the guy playing the character in the live action DC movies.
I do respect Grant Gustin's take on the character. The Flash almost from the beginning became a team focus show. Of course, they had some interesting members for a time. One particular character actually got removed from the show because of not pleasant remarks on social media. They did plan to bring the character in question back but it never happened.
There's a few notable things I gotta mentioned. Such as Barry Allen got introduced on Arrow because getting his own show. No disrespect towards Arrow, I always liked The Flash show more. They attempted to remove filler by making shorter story arcs on the show. Which started in Season 6, there's several main antagonists altogether that's not given much time.
They weren't rushed for the most part but Batwoman from another universe kinda felt like it was. Most of the main antagonists are evil speedsters. Personally, I felt they could've had them appear less. But also have other villain types to take a bigger role. Very much the case with DeVoe in Season 4. Even with the shorter story arcs, there wasn't enough variety.
Yes there was plenty of smaller role villains on the show. A good number of them appears a couple times. They were very focus on keeping it fast. No not Fast & Furious, just fast in general. There's time travel with some crazy possibilities that's not even presented on Legends of Tomorrow. Barry had to make a lot of difficult decisions through out the show.
Yes, The Flash was always featured in the crossover arcs too. He really doesn't miss a beat whatsoever. Some actors plays several characters with one particular actor playing a ridiculous amount of them. Tom Cavanagh, seriously this guy had range. More recently, Danielle Panabaker who previously played both Caitlin Snow & Frost.
She now plays a third related character to them named Khione. More recently, some unresolved stuff from much earlier in the show came back full circle. Yes that includes Eddie Thawne as well as Ronnie Raymond's fate. To clarify, Raymond's body became a vessel for Deathstorm. The show previously had Deathstorm from Earth 2 before Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover arc.
Yeah let's talk about that crossover again. It essentially was what both Avengers: Infinity War & Endgame truly meant for Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sadly, this wasn't the end of Arrowverse. Thus, things started to go down from there. One particular night in Barry's life kept haunting him. Yes, he also has an nemesis named Eobard Thawne aka Reverse-Flash.
Possibilities wise, sometimes it really bags questions how the character keeps coming back. No really, he had some of the worst situations imaginable. Somehow, he comes back to terrorizes Allen. Mostly, the show was solid with some stories taking a little longer. Now more recently, you kinda wish those newer ones had more time put into them.
Season 3 is by far to me the worst season of the show. Although, Season 9 in a few ways could be seen as my second least favorite season. In Season 3, Barry takes on Savitar whose vastly different from the actual character in the comics. On the show, he was revealed to be a time duplicate of Allen. Savitar knew his existence was short lived but attempted to trick Barry into becoming him.
The entire season heavily played off of Iris going to die. Until a surprise move that no one seen coming changed that. Basically we had a temporary evil Barry Allen whose on borrowed time. The show does cover the multiverse more than the rest. I will say this they aren't rushing the final season. Which I can't say about the show Gotham.
Along with the usual superhero stuff. I did previously mention this was partly a cop show. Well Allen worked with the police for years. Also his father figure later turned father in law Joe worked there until he resigned. Joe was always like a second dad to him. His actual parents were very kind people. The guy who plays his father on the show also played the character on 1990 Flash show.
Not only that he also plays Jay as well as a brief reprising his 1990 Flash role in a crossover event. The main actress on the 1990 Flash show appears in a few episodes as another version of her character. Which is strangely interesting because Gotham also done this with Paul Reuben as Penguin's dad. Reuben later voiced in an episode for Legends of Tomorrow.
I also previously mentioned this is a science show. Some of these concepts how they figure out stuff is truly mind blowing. Some of it I personally felt was impressive work. Most of his enemies are labeled as meta humans because they all gain powers. Most of them from the same event back in Season 1. The Flash is a show you wouldn't think had a lot of thought put into it.
Now I do got to mention The CW is mostly aimed at teenagers. Some might not like how they go about several things to fit within that age group. I strongly felt this show is the most notable with that. Barry always finds ways against insane odds. People already made a petition for Gustin to be the movie Flash. Sadly, on a few factors it just isn't in the cards.
Arrowverse might've suffered from adding in Supergirl & Black Lightning into the mix. Both shows that originally weren't in the same main universe. But because of what occurred in Crisis on Infinite Earths, pieces of their universes got merged with what was left of the original universe. The Spectre more recently confirmed the multiverse is back.
Which is strangely interesting because they also done that on The Winchesters show. A prequel to the show Supernatural. Which I previously reviewed on here, I loved it. Also The Winchesters takes place in an alternate universe too. The CW is a little weird with how they handled any multiverses. Chuck who previously was God destroyed most of his multiverse as a huge ego move no lie.
Back to The Flash, you get to learn a lot about the characters. Iris is very presented on this show unlike the 1990 Flash show. Where she only was in the first episode that's it. Personally, another bad move to me was never allowing another person to take up Barry's mantle. For years, I thought Wally or one of his kids would.
To clarify something, they surprisingly finally done it very late into the final episode. Three people chosen by Barry Allen to continue on his legacy. I still go back to one of my bigger criticisms. They could've done Barry for two or three seasons. Then swap out with someone else to do another few more seasons. Which ended up happening on Batwoman for it's last two seasons.
Sadly, not officially with some ideas who might've depending on the timelines. Some characters like Nora as in his future daughter had a bad end but ultimately got changed. They really tried bridging most of the epic events from the comics into the show. The Flash isn't as constant as you would think. But still one of the more constant shows within Arrowverse.
There's a lot of surprises you may not see coming. Season 1 is still one of the finest seasons they ever done. Some special effects are done amazingly well while others just doesn't work. As long I don't see a person moving a string around I'm good. There's a lot of drama more so than Arrow surprisingly. In the long run, DC should be proud what they had done.
Update: on May 24, 2023, The Flash as well as Arrowverse ends.
The final episode I felt is one of the best episodes they ever done outside crossover events. They brought back some of Flash's greatest enemies. I know to some degree it might not make sense because both Thawne characters are connected to the Negative Speed Force. The rest of them not exactly, they all were cheating death for one last showdown.
Who would ever thought the final antagonist of the show would be a decent dead man? No really, Eddie sacrificed himself to stop Reverse-Flash whose a future descendant of his. The Negative Speed Force decided to go the most personal it ever has. I will say now that's a twist no one could ever predict. Honestly, they made Eddie seem like a couple characters on the show rather than being himself fully.
There's some surprises I didn't even see coming. Final episode wise from Arrow and The Flash. I felt this was the best ending hands down. Most of Arrowverse shows got canceled. The final season itself made kinda reversal in how the last seasons were going. But right near the end started to felt like the earlier two seasons.
I would say The Flash stands as the greatest Arrowverse show. Sometimes Legends of Tomorrow is simply more difficult to predict as well as more creative at times. Not to say, The Flash wasn't creative in it's own right. I am sad Arrowverse is officially over. I been watching it for a couple of years now. I'm more sold on it than DC Extended Universe just saying.
What we aren't argue is this was the best live action Flash show. The previous 1990 Flash show simply was on the wrong channel. Episodes aired out of order, a similar mistake happened with Supergirl years later. I also felt some of his enemies were done well while others were more on the questionable side. There is a theme song but not much of an actual opening into the show.
The Flash even makes the science fun to watch. Especially the more ridiculous brings more confusing to explain stuff. I just wish they weren't ending anything. I kinda felt how I did with the show Supernatural with this. At their core, you could watch these shows. They really tried delivering fan service, they don't always deliver.
It's still a little weird they barely bring in Batman but some members of the Justice League shows up. The Flash is a show it's best to not think too much. Just enjoy it for what it truly is. A weird mixture of a show you could enjoy with your family to some degree. It's not the greatest DC show ever made. I still say it's one of the finest I had the pleasure of watching all these years.
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