Review: The Flash Season 6

The Flash is one of my favorite superheros. Even though he is often portrayed as powerless or the comic relief, I liked him more than other popular DC characters like Batman or Superman. Why? Someone who can think and act before the bad guy is even fully aware of what happened just brings up all kinds of fun possibilities. So when I first learned that there was going to be a TV show based on the character, I was genuinely excited. At first, the show did not disappoint. But in its later seasons, the quality of the show seemed to worsen. That is understandable as creative ideas inevitably dry up with each passing season. But this latest sixth season, though, seems to have fallen off a cliff.

In the past, each season of The Flash is centered around an overarching supervillain that Team Flash must defeat. However, this season followed a different formula. Barry Allen/The Flash (played by Grant Gustin) is visited by the Monitor, a multiverse god-like being, who tells Barry that a catastrophic event is coming. And in order to save the world, the Flash must die. Barry confirms this by taking a look into the future and becomes convinced that his fate in sealed. So Barry decides the best way to handle the situation is to prepare Team Flash for life without the Flash, and that seems to be the overall theme of this season.

This is very odd to say the least. First of all, there's no talk about what the actual catastrophic event is. So the audience is totally left in the dark and is just expected to accept that this is inevitable. Second, instead of bracing the world (or at least Central City) for this event, Barry decides the best use of his remaining days is to spend time with his wife, connect with his friends, and pass the torch to the rest of Team Flash. While this may make sense in real life, seeing this as the general storyline in a superhero show is just strange, especially if we don't even know what the cause of death is. In the latest episode "License to Elongate", Nash Wells (played by Tim Cavanagh) reveals that the Monitor may not be what he appears. But even with that revelation, Barry just continues to prepare for his demise rather than find out if his death is indeed unavoidable. Again, strange.

Another major change this season is that Caitlin Snow's alter ego of Killer Frost is now in the driver seat. In the past, Caitlin (played by Danielle Panabaker) is usually in control with Killer Frost only taking over Caitlin's body whenever some superpower muscle is needed. But this season, Killer Frost feels left out and wants to explore life for herself. So Caitlin willingly turns control over to Killer Frost's conscienceness.

I actually like this Killer Frost angle. I am a fan of the Caitlin Snow character. But in the past 5 seasons, her character has already gone through a lot. And at this point, she has become kind of stale. So to concentrate on the Killer Frost aspect is a fresh take. However, even though Frost is now one of the main characters, the audience isn't introduced to anything new or meaningful about her. Therefore, Frost has instantly become as stale and Caitlin is. The only exception is a few minor scenes between her and Ralph Dibny (played by Hartley Sawyer) where we get a small glimpse into Frost's mindset. Hopefully, this will be expanded upon as the seaon progresses.

One of the major changes this season actually started at the end of season 5. Near the end of that season, Ciscon Ramon/Vibe (played by Carlos Valdes) formulated and administered an an-metahuman cure on himself which removed his superpowers. When I first saw this, I thought it was odd. Why kill off one of the superheros on Team Flash? I theorized that it was because the team was getting too overpowered with four superheroes (The Flash, Vibe, Killer Frost, and Elongated Man). And if the team is too overpowered, it would be too difficult for the show writers to come up with any credible threat for them. Well, it turns out that my theory was way off, because everyone who matters now apparently has a doohickey that can duplicate Vibe's powers. That's right. Now everyone (including Cisco) can open up a breach portal thanks to what looks like a garage door clicker. This just makes no sense to me. On the plus side, though, I did enjoy the November 5th episode "Kiss Kiss Breach Breach" where Cisco was able to defeat the bad guy using his brain power instead of superpowers.

So far, only six episodes have aired this season. So I hate to pass jusdement so early. But at this point, I am more perplexed by the show than I am entertained. Nothing seems to make sense, especially the overacrhing theme. Does this mean that instead of Team Flash defeating a supervillain in the season finale, I should expect a funeral scene for Barry Allen? Who'd stick around for that? Realistically, I know that there will eventually be a plot twist which will make Barry question his supposedly doomed fate. After all, on a show that is entitled The Flash, it's obvious that the Flash can't die. I just hope that the show writers get to that point soon. Because at this rate, the audience is just becoming more and more confused and frustrsted.