The Flash: Thoughts on seasons 7 and 8

There have been rumours that season 8 of The Flash could well be the show’s final season and I’m going to be honest with you, after watching season 7 in its entirety, I’m not sad.

The Flash is one of my favourite shows in the Arroverse but after a seven-season run, there is a definite decline in good storytelling.  Having finished watching all of season 7, I have to say, I was hoping that was the end of the series as I found the season to be quite unsatisfying.

The departure of Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes) was the nail in the coffin for me. He is OG Team Flash and without him to brighten up some of the clunky dialogue, the series has become stale. Chester (Brandon McKnight) whilst having a brilliant mind is not a replacement for Cisco who is a hard act to follow. I felt that it was unfair on Chester to have to carry that burden. I know that’s how change happens but Chester’s character felt very much like a copy and paste job of Cisco in his mannerisms and geek interests. Like Cisco but not Cisco.

That’s not my only gripe. The absence of Iris (Candace Patton) in the latter half of the season didn’t help matters. Her story arc has been all over the place for the past few seasons and her absence pretty much confirmed to me that the writers didn’t know what to do with her.

The idea of so many speedsters was once interesting but the Nora speed force story arc wore me down to the point where I didn’t care about the speed force or whether Barry and Iris’s kids survived in the future. If Iris couldn’t show up for a pregnancy test, then why should I care.

Even as I sat watching and thought these things, I chided myself for being hard on the show but the Godspeed storyline was not exciting in the least bit. Of all the villains that Team Flash have faced, I have to say he was the least threatening, despite having so many clones trashing the city.  

I imagine the Covid pandemic took a toll on the show as it did for many other shows but, Arrow ended after eight seasons and I think the Flash should too.