5 Things We’d Like to See in The Flash Season 6

There’s just over a week to go until The Flash returns to our screens for its sixth season, and there’s a lot at stake for our favorite speedster and his friends.

As anyone who’s tuned in to literally any Arrowverse series in the past year, you know that every one of the CW’s DC TV offerings is building toward the biggest crossover the network has ever attempted. “Crisis on Infinite Earths” is coming this Fall and, after that, who knows what this universe will look like for any of these shows and/or characters.

In the midst of all that, The Flash still has to tell its own story, even as it sets everyone up for…well, for whatever comes next.

But since Season 5 saw Barry and Iris both gain and lose their daughter from the future, battle two different versions of the villain known as Cicada, and face off, once again, with the villainous Reverse Flash, it feels as though “whatever comes next” could mean virtually anything.

But we’ve got a few ideas for stories the series should tackle in its next phase. Here are five of our suggestions for stories we’d like to see in Season 6.

1. A Return to the Series’ Core Friendship

Every character on The Flash pretty much feels as though they’re juggling multiple storylines — family issues, the acquisition or loss of metahuman abilities, the question of what their lives are meant to look like when they’re not saving the world.

But one of the unfortunate side effects of this narrative expansion means that the show has drifted away a bit from some of the things we loved so much about its first seasons.

Most notably, the core friendship between Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco that once served as the heart of the show. It would be lovely to see The Flash get back to basics a little bit in this regard, particularly since the trio has steadily drifted apart from one another as they’ve each embraced new roles, powers, and lives outside of crime fighting.

Given everything they’re going to be facing this season — whether you count the upcoming events of “Crisis” or not — it’s always good to remember what it is they’re all fighting for in the first place. These folks are family, and we need to see reminders of that this season, even if it’s only so we know what everyone’s risking.

 2. Iris Actually Being a Journalist

This item is the naturally evolution of something that was on Season 5’s pre-season wishlist, which in turn, fed back into something we were asking for prior to Season 4. Turns out we’re really into the idea of Iris getting her own story outside of just being Barry’s wife, huh?

Over the course of Seasons 4 and 5, we’ve slowly (so so slowly) watched Iris get back to her journalism roots, relaunching her infamous Flash blog, and eventually founding the Central City Citizen newspaper.

In Season 6, here’s hoping The Flash continues to focus on Iris as an important part of the story in her own right, separate and apart from her role as Barry’s wife or de facto Team Flash leader at Star Labs. Let’s see her track down some leads, break some big stories and just generally be the amazing reporter we know she is and can be.

3. Killer Frost Gets a Personality

We got one of our big wishes last season when The Flash (mostly) committed to an origin story for Killer Frost. Sure, it didn’t entirely make sense, but given how long the show has struggled to get a handle on Caitlin’s dark alter ego in any capacity, well, let’s just say it felt like a gift.

By gift we mean it allowed us to finally move on a bit with the Caitlin/Killer Frost arc. (And didn’t turn either of them evil again.)

Now, as we look forward to Season 6 — what’s next? Well, now that we’ve established that, for whatever reason, Killer Frost is technically her own person sharing headspace with her other half, we should probably get to know her on her own terms.

And that means thinking about who she is as a person separate from Caitlin.

What does she like? Dislike? How does she relate to Barry, Cisco and/or the other members of the team? If the show is committed to treating her like a separate person, then they need to treat her like a separate person. 

Furthermore, viewers had to hear about a lot of the supposed “bonding” between Frost and Caitlin secondhand, so it would be nice to see the two women get to know one another — or at least somehow interact in a regular capacity — this year. 

4. Cisco’s Life Without Powers

One of the big twists at the end of Season 5 was Cisco’s decision to take the metahuman cure and give up his powers as Vibe.

What will his life — and specifically his role in Team Flash — look like now that he’s a regular civilian again? And how will that look different from the beginning of the series, when no one but Barry had special abilities?

After all, Cisco knows what it is to be a metahuman now, and his BFF Caitlin still spends half her time as her ice queen alter ego Killer Frost. 

To be honest, it feels sort of great to know that The Flash won’t be able to lean quite so heavily on Cisco’s dimension-breaching abilities going forward. (Though, depending on what happens in “Crisis,” maybe there won’t be multiple dimensions any more. Who can say!)

But it is easy to imagine that The Flash simply might not see Cisco as a narrative priority anymore without his Vibe abilities, or at least not beyond the story of his love life.

(This is, after all, pretty much what Caitlin went through for multiple seasons before she got special abilities! It’s a legit worry!) We need to see that Cisco is still an important and irreplaceable part of the group. 

5. A Story Beyond “Crisis”

While the “Crisis” crossover is obvious a huge priority for both The CW as a network and the larger story the Arrowverse itself is telling, The Flash still has a 22 episode season to get through.

The entirety of Season 6 can’t — or at least shouldn’t — revolve around the events of the crossover, no matter how cool it might turn out to be.

So what does that mean? Even if the story effects of “Crisis” do turn out to be the most important aspects of the season — say the crossover rewrites time again, a la “Flashpoint” — we still need to see character-based stories at the same time. 

Luckily, Team Flash has a lot of stuff to deal with this year.

From the effect of Nora’s disappearance to Ralph’s rediscovery of his love for PI work to Caitlin’s attempt to rebuild her relationship with her mother, there’s plenty of stuff going on. We just need TPTB to remember that the story of this season needs to be something that’s worth telling, whether “Crisis” exists or not. 

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What’s on your wishlist for the new season? Sound off in the comments below!

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

Crisis On Infinite Earths: What We Know About The Big Arrowverse Crossover