The Flash: Five things to improve in season 5 moving forward

Photo Credit: The Flash/The CW Image Acquired from CWTVPR

1. The Flash to earn title Fastest Man Alive

Another problem the showrunners need to fix is Barry’s true potential. Now to be fair, I am not a complacent as most comic fans are, especially of The Flash’s super speed, his abilities and connection to the Speed Force, but I have to admit some of the flaws in this area. The show has been accused at times of not making sense (See: Wesley Coburn’s feature on this topic). I beg to differ in some respects.

However, the main problem that the show has had the most were the inconsistencies of Barry’s speed compared to other speedsters, especially Wally and the third season’s Big Bad, Savitar. Part of that was minor plot holes and in retrospect, a production issue.

As the seasons passed, Barry has become faster and faster. Now to the point the Rogues, besides Mirror Master (Grey Damon) and Top (Ashley Rickards) cannot stop him without outsmarting Barry, catching him off-guard or using advanced equipment and weapons like anti-speedster weapons or Leonard Snart’s Cold Gun. Even with those weapons, his reaction time is over thousands of times faster. It may have been possible while Barry was below speeds of Mach 1 but not after Barry spent six months in 2017 trapped in the Speed Force.

One instance of inconsistency was when Barry was squaring off against Black Bison with Dibny. He was not able to deal with a downed power line and push a mother and child, who received a broken leg, out of danger in the first place. Remember the first part of the opening narration that varies season by season?

“My name is Barry Allen. And I am the fastest man alive…” No you’re not, Flash. season 2 came around and he was not – season 3 came, still not. season 4 came and went, Barry was slightly redeemed, but there just needs to be a consistency. Whoever they have as science consultants and physicians may either have hit their head or are just simply not doing a good job, if they have such consultants at all.

The producers and employees in the writer’s room have no choice but to move forward, drop some of Barry’s angst gradually in the melodrama and make him a lot closer to his comic book counterpart, independent from Team Flash to a larger degree (I do not care too much about these aspects as such).

A change from the comics is the Speed Force energy flowing in Barry is more genetic than an external source as people can de-power him from his DNA more easily on the show than in the comics rather than cut off his link to the Speed Force. In terms of the aesthetic of the speed on screen, how best to convey his levels of speed may have to go back to the drawing board as a refresher in their visuals.