Tell-Tale TV Panel: The Flash Season 2

 This season on The Flash, we visited another Earth, well, technically two. We met Patty, the Speed Force, Wally, and Jay/Zoom.  It was an eventual season, that’s for sure.

How did the season fare overall? Our writers share their thoughts below. Join the conversation by leaving us a comment.

Our panelists are:

• Lyra Hale, senior writer for Tell-Tale TV
• Caralynn Lippo, staff writer for Tell-Tale TV
• Allison Nichols, staff writer for Tell-Tale TV

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rank the season overall?

Lyra: Overall I’d give this season a 6. Why? Because Barry continued to make the same mistakes over and over without regard to what it could do to others around him. Biggest example would be saving his mom and erasing his future as The Flash. That’s going to end well, right?

Caralynn: I’d give it a 6 as well. It had its moments, but overall I don’t think the second season was as strong as the first. Barry regressed a lot.

Allison: I agree with the consensus, and I’ll give it a 6. A lot just didn’t work for me. Barry struggled. I didn’t really like the Zoom/Jay arc. Earth 2 , Patty, and Harry were the highlights for me.

What was the season’s biggest mistake?

Lyra: Biggest mistake was Barry saving his mother. It makes it so that Barry comes off selfish and ill-suited for the mantle of  The Flash. You have to hold yourself to a higher standard when you’re a superhero because so many people depend on you.

Barry decided that wasn’t a good enough reason to stop him from changing EVERYONE’S LIVES. And when I mean everyone, I mean characters on Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, and now even Supergirl. I don’t know how I could cheer for man with such disregard.

Caralynn: Have to agree with Lyra again. I totally get what they’re doing by initiating this plot — they’re going to use the Flashpoint arc from the comics — but this is going to get really unwieldy really fast.

This action would, in all likelihood, drastically affect the other DC universe shows on the network, so I honestly have no idea how they’ll pull it off. Not everybody watches every DC show, so it’ll be confusing and weird.

Plus, like I already said, this was a HUGE regression for the character Barry has become — selfless, heroic, etc. On a secondary note, I really liked Patty (despite the fact that I’m a WestAllen fan), and I think her send-off was honestly really lame.

Allison: Like Lyra and Caralynn said, Barry made a move that should drastically affect everyone. I can’t see all shows getting on board with this, which is one of the reasons why Barry’s actions at the end was a huge mistake.

If Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, AND Supergirl do actually alter their story-lines to reflect Barry’s decision, then this could be such a cool shake up.

What worked really well this season?

Lyra: Honestly think that WestAllen worked exceptionally well this season. The showrunners, Barry, and Iris took their time in letting everyone heal before starting a relationship. When a show does something like this it makes me feel that they are dedicated to making a solid foundation for a ship that matters, and that will survive the pass of time and crazy meta angst.

Caralynn: I loved the doppelgängers. It had potential to be cheesy, but I enjoyed nearly all of them. OK, Earth-2 Flash being Henry Allen’s doppelgänger was a little cheesy, but I liked all the rest of them. I particularly loved seeing the Earth-2 version of Iris. She was awesome!

Allison: As much as I didn’t love Zoom, I thought Earth 2 worked really well. It brought Harrison Wells back into our lives. I had missed his mentor relationship with Barry and Cisco. We got that relationship back but with a twist.

What was the biggest surprise of the season?

Lyra: Biggest surprise of this season was how much I liked Wally. I was prepared to shun the newcomer with his jealous and dangerous racing ways. But he surprised me just when I was about to give up on him.

I’ve fallen for the sweet, brave, and damaged man who wants to prove that his life was worth saving. Now all I want to see is Barry and Wally bonding and becoming brother BFF’s.

Caralynn: Iris confessing her feelings to Barry. Finally! It was about time, but I really thought they’d drag it out longer. Granted, Barry basically undid it by going back in time and saving his mom, but we’ll see.

Allison: For me, the biggest surprise of the season was that Barry traveled back in time to when Eobard Thawne was alive. This was, by far, my favorite use of time travel. We got to see Eddie again, and it was just a lot of fun to see Barry interact with Harrison Wells/Eobard Thawne and to have a confrontation between Thawne and Barry.

What did you think of this season’s big bad?

Lyra: I loveddddd Zoom. He was insane, scary, and devious. In many ways Barry could’ve ended up like Zoom. It only takes a few key events in our lives to change the course of it all (Fate’s crazy right?).

I especially loved how Zoom was dead set on proving this to Barry by killing his father and manipulating him to let go of his anger. That’s what sets this villain apart. He didn’t just want to kill Barry. He wanted him to become Zoom, something even worse than death.

Caralynn: I actually did not love Zoom. His motivations were so flimsy and tenuous. His plan to destroy the multiverse was also just stupid.

In general, I’m not really a fan of Joker-like villains who are just insane and want to watch the world(s) burn, so that probably accounts for my distaste. I found him really boring. I even found the reveal that someone close to Barry was actually the Big Bad (again!) very duplicative of season 1.

Allison: Zoom didn’t work for me. I never really understood his motives. I wish we took more time to build him up, and then to get into his head to figure out what made him tick. I mean he was a serial killer! He’s clearly got some issues, and yeah, sure, we saw the flashback of watching his dad kill his mom, but that was it.

I was never sure why we should fear Zoom. Sure, we heard that he reigned terror in Earth 2, but we never knew how he did that. Also, how did he get an army of metas? The Jay reveal should have happened sooner so we could actually focus on Zoom. I didn’t find Jay all that interesting anyways.

 

The Flash returns Tuesday, October 4 at 8/7c on The CW.