The Flash Season 2: The Good, The Bad And The Weird

It would seem that fans and critics alike have come to a unanimous consensus that while season two of The Flash was entertaining, it was nowhere near as good as its confident debut. This year, the show lost a bit of that initial charm which made it such an immediate draw due to some messy plotting in the first half of the season, the unfair but very real comparisons made between this year’s villain Zoom and last year's big bad the Reverse Flash, and the feeling that The Flash was maybe skittering a little too close to Arrow’s melodramatic tone. Even with these setbacks though, the series is still one of the best superhero shows currently on air, with an engaging lead and charming supporting cast. Despite what many (myself included) found to be a serious misstep in the finale, “The Race of His Life,” The Flash has plenty of time to work out its recent plotting and self-serious tonal issues over the long wait for season three. So, while we sit back and wait for the first details to emerge on the show's third outing, let's take a look at season 2 and examine the good, the bad and the weird. Bad: The Darker Tone What was so celebrated in the first season was how The Flash separated itself from its CW counterpart Arrow by taking away the grim, dreary and perpetually grey Star City and replacing it with the irreverent optimism and light-hearted nature of Central City. Where Arrow brooded in the doom and gloom of gritty, “real-life” problems, The Flash found a way to humanize its larger than life characters while still paying homage to its comic book heritage with characters like Gorilla Grodd and Captain Cold. Season two didn’t totally disperse of its humor (or, crucially, its heart), but it did allow Barry Allen to adopt a more self-serious mentality, which took some of the overall sense of fun away from his character. Bad: Jay Garrick There's a way to be noble, pure and righteous without being an overly bland caricature (see: Chris Evans as Captain America or Melissa Benoist as Supergirl). Even with the late season reveal that he wasn’t actually the real Jay though, it didn’t make this character's injection into the already cluttered and aimless first half of the season any better. Garrick took up a lot of screen time, and while the acting did improve over the course of the season, he still never stole the show or livened up a scene in a way that such a pivotal character should (see: Tom Cavanagh’s Reverse Flash.) Bad: Patty Spivot Speaking of a waste of screentime, do any of us even recall Patty Spivot at this point? If there is something I would be happy to never see again it’s romantic subplots that add nothing to the momentum of the overall show. Some series thrive on romance and some don’t; The Flash is one of the latter. Barry and Iris are clearly the “meant to be” pairing and it'd be a lot more interesting to showcase a healthy and happy relationship and have the drama come from elsewhere. Like, you know, with the villains and such. Also worth noting is that Patty Spivot’s inclusion highlighted just how poorly The Flash handles writing storylines for more than one female character at a time. Bad: The Villain Let's circle back to Teddy Sears and his dual performances, because it's worth nothing that neither of them left a mark. Sure, he had the unfavorable position of following up Tom Cavanagh’s impressively chilling performance as the Reverse Flash, but even that doesn’t explain his bland and hammy performance as the season’s big bad. On top of that, Zoom’s motives were never defined clearly enough for us to care about what he did and why. This deflated all the goodwill that his more mysterious and brutal introductions had generated, with the scene of him dragging Barry around the city defeated and humiliated remaining the high point of his entire tenure as lead villain. Weird: Hawkgirl And The Awkward Stage Setting For Legends Of Tomorrow The first half of season two suffered for many reasons (as noted above), but its biggest and most unnecessary hurdle was that of having to play set up for the debut of The CW’s newest series, Legends of Tomorrow. Not only was the big Arrow and The Flash crossover episode dedicated to cementing Hawkgirl and her vastly lamer counterpart, Hawkman, as new heroes in the universe, but the episodes leading up to the crossover did the same. With as much story as the show ended up churning out in the last few episodes of the season, it’s difficult not to look back and reflect on how the time would have been better spent with its main characters instead of bringing together The CW’s DC universe. Good: Iris’ Increased Role One of the worst decisions the series made in season one was keeping Iris in the dark about Barry being The Flash, especially when he seemed so loose-lipped about his alter-ego to just about everyone else he came in contact with. Her inclusion this year, particularly in the back half of the season, was clear proof as to why Candice Patton is such an asset to the show. Iris and her relationships with Wally, her dad, Barry and even her back and forth with Cisco bring out the best in those characters and we hope that the writers give her even more to do in season 3. Good: Cisco Carlos Valdes became the genuine breakout actor of the show last year by bringing both humor and pathos to his role, which only continued to grow consistently this year. As his powers became stronger and he learned both how to accept being Vibe and the fact that he was a Metahuman, he began to take control of his abilities, which led to some fantastic moments that stole the show almost every week. Good: Grant Gustin The more I see of Grant Gustin as Barry Allen the more I’m convinced that the DC/Warner Bros.' cinematic universe made a mistake in not having him come in to at least audition for Justice League. He, more than anything else, sells everything that makes Barry Allen a perfect superhero. He’s had a number of powerful moments this year and it all culminated in the season finale, where he experienced intense grief, rage and resentment over his father's death. If anything, since we know that Gustin can effortlessly sell the emotional aspects of Barry, it would be nice for the show to allow him to play the confident version of the character again as well. Good: The Episodes That Were “Great” Excelled In the end, the lack of consistency was the biggest hurdle for The Flash this year. The show would go on for a few episodes finding itself back in its campier, comic book roots and then switch in tone and try to be taken seriously again, making its hero a dour, walking Shakespeare tragedy. But, when the season hit its stride it absolutely soared. Episodes such as “Enter Zoom” presented a real, tangible threat and gave us one of the more evocative endings the show has ever had. The two parter “Welcome to Earth 2” and “Escape from Earth 2” was the series at its wildest as the cast all got to have a bit of fun with playing their doppelgangers. “The Runaway Dinosaur,” meanwhile, is quite simply one of the very best episodes the show has ever done, which was due to how stripped down and internal it becomes as Barry has to face his past in order to finally move forward. The Flash may have lost its way here and there, but several episodes throughout the season demonstrate that the series still knows what its best aspects are and how to best utilize them. Now it just needs to remember what it's good at each week rather than just every once in awhile.