The Flash season 9 started with a fun Groundhog Day episode with Barry and Iris. It then had a fun little arc with the Red Death, with Javicia Leslie guest-starring. Unfortantly, after that, it had three filler episodes. Unfortunately, the series has yet to introduce its big bad for the final season, and only five episodes remain.
The last few seasons haven’t been the greatest for The Flash. It made a mistake when it switched from having one big bad a season to two. When it had one villain for the season, the show did a great job building up this character. It meant you really knew who they were dealing with by the end of the season, and it made for a great climax. The two villains a season didn’t give the writers enough time to create a full picture of the person they were fighting. The best villains have many sides to them.
But also, after eight seasons, it can be hard to keep the momentum going. I knew the end was near about two years ago. While I will miss these characters when they are gone, I hoped it would end on a high note. It still could. It just doesn’t have much time left to provide a good ending for fans.
The Flash season 9 is already a short season with 13 episodes. So I’m not sure why, in such a short season, the creators thought three filler episodes would be what fans wanted. And two of them were pretty unbearable to watch. At least the last one had Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) front and center again. There were two episodes where The Flash was in the background or not even in it, besides the beginning and the end.
Arrow also had a short final season, but it made the most of it and even had a crossover episode and a backdoor pilot that never made it to series. It was an exciting final arc despite Emily Bett Rickards not appearing until the end of the season. The Flash could have taken note of the first Arrowverse show.
It’s not like there aren’t still things left to explore in the series. The Flash decided to get rid of Danielle Panabaker’s Caitlin Snow and Frost for the final season and give her a new character to play, Khione. I love her new character so far, but we don’t know what her powers are or what she is. It’s a waste to introduce a new character and not utilize her fully. Danielle has been on the show since day one, and newer characters are getting more screen time than her. The writers don’t have much time to go in-depth with this character and do her justice.
The Flash season 8 also ended on a cliffhanger. It was introduced by Iris West-Allen (Candice Patton) and Barry that the Negative Speed Force would need a new avatar. This could have been the final big bad for the series. It still could be. It’s been mentioned in this season too. The season 8 finale also showed fans a laboratory in 2049, so there’s clearly something brewing here, but why season 9 hasn’t touched on it yet, I don’t know.
An evil speedster makes sense for the final villain. It would be even better if it was played by Tom Cavanagh. That would make the series come full circle, plus it would just be nice to have Tom back on our screens — even if he would be an evil speedster again.
The Flash season 8 finale set up a new villain for the final season, but it hasn’t followed through yet. Maybe in the coming episodes, it will. At least Stephen Amell will be back for the next episode. It, unfortunately, seems like it could also be a stand-alone episode, but I hope the synopsis is just misleading and it will actually lead to something.
Either way, Stephen Amell being back in the Arrowverse will be great to see. And it might just be the one thing to revive The Flash from the horrible season it’s having.
The Flash is back with its final episodes on Wednesday, April 16 at 8 pm ET on The CW.
