User blog:Konstant888/The Flash Season 4 - Review

I want to make this as more of a discussion. I am sorta trying to figure out why people hate Season 4 so much. I definitely agree with some of the criticisms that I have heard, but I still don’t hate it. I think it is a good season of The Flash. Did I miss something? Anyway, spoilers for the entire Season 4 of The Flash.

Firstly, the stand-out episodes of the season include “The Flash Reborn”, “Elongated Journey Into Night”, “Therefore I Am”, “The Trial of The Flash”, “Enter Flashtime”, “Lose Yourself”, “Think Fast”, “We Are The Flash” and of course… ”Run, Iris, Run” ...easily the best episode of the series! Hope you didn’t take me seriously on that last one. Episode 10 and Episode 15 are some of the best episodes of the show and the finale is one of Flash’s best (only beaten by the Season 1 finale).

I want to start with the good stuff since that is gonna take a lot less time. The season improved on basically everything that doesn’t include story and characters. The special effects are through the roof and the action is amazing. I mean, c’mon, don’t tell me you didn’t freak out when you saw that opening scene from episode 22 with DeVoe destroying those soldiers. And episode 15…man! That looked incredible! You know what I am talking about! The Flash’s suit is so amazing I don’t even have words to describe how much I love this suit. It is easily the best Arrowverse costume.

The Thinker is the main villain of Season 4 and he just has this straight-forward plan that doesn’t confuse me at all. But honestly, it’s OK for a TV show to do that, especially ones with the large, 23-episodes season format. His plan was slowly revealed and he constantly surprised us with twists and turns and was always one-upping Team Flash. You know, except that part when he disappeared from the show. He had to switch bodies and with that – the actors that played him. And even though the main one, Neil Sandilans, was great, all the other ones weren’t. And for a couple of episodes, he was completely missing. That wasn’t good at all. But his motivations were clear and original, his interactions with the team were great and his wife Marlize’s storyline was also very compelling. At one point he was a disabled man with an incredible mind, but then he became the most OP character ever! He earned that and it was satisfying seeing his journey and his plan come to an end. The way they defeated him was also really clever.

There was also one character that was introduced this season that I absolutely adore – Dr. Sharon Finkel. No, I am kidding…or am I? Yes, YES, I AM! I am talking about Ralph Dibny. He started out as this awful person who only cared about himself, but then he changed so much. Seeing him develop was so great. I thought at time they were giving him a little too much attention but then it all paid off when he was sacrificed himself for the team. Of course, he was brought back, but it was for good. Seeing his relationship with Barry evolve felt so natural and I can totally see them as great friends. Ralph also became a superhero, the Elongated Man, and his powers are really cool. They looked a little bad at times, but I liked them for the most part. I love him being a part of the team and he better be a season regular next season! Just sayin’, those writers better give me more Ralph Dibny. Especially because some other character could really use a little less screen time. Can you feel the segue coming?

Iris West is basically the heart and soul of this show! It is nothing without her! Run, Iris, run! Run away before the fans start throwing away their TVs! Oh, wait, you are saying that Iris isn’t the best character of the show. Well, you might just be right. Because if there is something that ruined Season 4, it is Iris West. She is arrogant, selfish, has a god complex, doesn’t care for anyone and anything and is a threat for all nations. OK, I took it a little too far at the end. She doesn’t have a god complex, but she does think she is the leader of Team Flash. Oh, what are you saying? She actually IS the leader of Team Flash now. Well that’s just dandy! I can’t wait for her to become the leader of the Arrowverse Justice League! She shouldn’t be the leader! She sucks at it! It isn’t right! Barry should be the leader! How come The Flash isn’t on top of his own team?! At least she will be a reporter again next season. Sigh…

There are other characters on the show as well. Such as Harry and Cisco, and Joe and Caitlyn, who got almost nothing to do the first half of the season. But then they got some cool storylines. Cisco had a break-up with Gypsy that was really emotional and he also had a nice dynamic with Breacher. Harry lost his intelligence and had to deal with that, but he still found a way to be helpful to the team and he got a great send-off at the end. Joe had a baby…that’s it. I guess nothing too great for Joe this season. And Caitlyn lost Killer Frost just as she had started to learn how to make peace with her. The she also learned that the Particle Accelerator didn’t give her those abilities, she had them as a child. That was a great cliffhanger, even though it wasn’t at the very end of the season. You know what cliffhanger was at the very end of the season. The reveal that Barry’s daughter has come from the future and has made a big mistake. That was a great cliffhanger.

This season had a great first episode, but then slowed down a little. Episodes 2, 3, 5 and 6 were all just fine. There was the epic crossover and then a pretty good mid-season finale. Episodes 11 and 12 were sorta fillers and they were OK. They were missing more DeVoe (or any DeVoe since he wasn’t in them at all). Then episode 13 was a big one and I liked it. But then we were back to filler in episodes 14, 15, 16 and 17. Only one of which is really good. But I mean, REALLY GOOD! Episode 18 was great and episodes 19 and 20 were descend. 21 was a slow-down, but 22 and 23 were epic last episodes of the season. You can see that there were a lot mediocre or even bad episodes this season. I don’t think it ever got too bad and there was still good, and even really good at times. That is why I think Season 4 of the Flash is a good season of the show, but not too great. I would give it a purple lightning out of 10.