This summer, I decided to run back in time and rewatch one of my all-time favorite shows, The Flash, which is a show about Barry Allen (Grant Gustin), a 25-year-old forensic scientist who gets struck by lightning and becomes the fastest superhero alive.
Out of the plethora of shows I’ve watched in my life, this was the only show that I couldn’t bring myself to ever finish simply because my attachment to the show was unmatched by the nostalgia that came with watching each episode.
However, all good things must come to an end, and I decided that this year, I would say farewell to the show, but I didn’t come to this decision on my own. In February of this year, Grant decided that season nine would be the show’s finale.
So, if Barry Allen was going to stop running, I figured I would join Barry in “The Final Run” as the poster for season nine says next to the Flash’s boots crackling with lightning.
While rewatching this show until the end, I have come across several fan edits, bloopers, and controversial opinions about the show. Here are just a handful of ones that I have been able to gather from the web.
1. Reverse Flash isn’t an interesting villain
People feel as if the Reverse Flash (Tom Cavanagh) wasn’t very captivating because he acquired the same powers as Barry. Frankly, I disagree with this because what the Reverse Flash did to Barry as a child creates Barry’s origin story and sets the scene for the entire show.
2. “We Are The Flash”
In season four, after Barry springs out of the Speed Force, which is the source of his powers, Iris (Candice Patton) expresses how grueling it was to not be able to see him for months. Barry responds by saying that these are the obligations that superheroes hold, causing Iris to correct him and say, “We are The Flash.”
When I read about this unpopular opinion, I kind of felt displeased because many people felt utter hatred toward the fact that Iris was only with Barry because he was The Flash and that “We are The Flash” sounded corny and inaccurate because she wasn’t a speedster.
Personally, I am not behind this opinion because according to Barry in multiple seasons, he says that Iris is his “lightning rod” and whether or not she is a speedster, she has a connection with the speed force.
3. Season five was good
Fans argue that season five of The Flash was likable but sensed that the plotline was laboriously dragged out. Examples include the introduction of Cicada (Chris Klein), a meta-human with powers who was created in season four, and the astonishing appearance of Nora-West Allen (Jessica Parker Kennedy), who is Barry and Iris’s daughter.
I can see how this statement may seem to some viewers, but I also concluded that there was a rational reason as to why the plotline was dragged out; the plotlines felt outstretched, but this season was the first in which more than one supervillain was introduced, making it unique.
4. There shouldn’t be a Team Flash
Out of all the opinions I found about the show, I think this one takes the prize for the most controversial. Fans commented on the fact that the production would have been more worthy with just Barry saving the world as opposed to his team including Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes) and Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker), the scientists who helped bring Barry out of his coma.
Even though Barry is out in the field, all of them are heroes together regardless of whether or not they have powers.
After hearing the various opinions from fans about different aspects of the show, I don’t know whether to feel aggravated or open-minded. Some of them clouded my judgment of the show, whereas others were more startling rather than plausible.
