The Flash is back on the CW for one more season, and it's a perfectly normal reaction for the fanbase to wonder whether or not this final season is going to recapture what was great about the series for most of the first seven seasons or continue the bad habits that Season 8 developed. If the first episode of the year is any indication, it seems there's reason to be optimistic.
First, kudos need to be given that everyone around The Flash came up with an idea that kick started the show's final season with some real panache, humor, romance and action. Much of the past season seemed to be a lesson in how not to put a show together and quite a bit of the time, it felt as if the writers were really only able to follow one path. If there was going to be a big battle then that was the focus of the show. If romance was the name of the game that week, there was very little action involved. And if they writers wanted to make people laugh, the episode would veer far too much in the direction of slapstick and end up not really being funny at all.
The Flash Rights Wrongs From Previous Season
It is of course, hard to judge a season on just the first episode of the year, but there's also plenty to like about Season 9's premiere that was quite a bit better than the way that Season 8 of The Flash began. Last year saw the show immediately introduce a big bad that was going to be around for most of the season. This year, there is a bit more of a buildup and Team Flash doesn't even know that there is a really villainous super running around just yet.
Of course, it also helps that this season of The Flash isn't starting off with the four-episode mini-series Season 8 decided to open with. Whether it's just a feeling because the season has a more traditional start or because the writers are able to immediately start filling in the blanks on quite a few different story beats, there already feels to be more flow in the premiere episode. That doesn't mean that everything was carried out perfectly but so far, it's been a big improvement over what almost every episode of Season offered.
Different Take On Groundhog Day
This episode of The Flash hits airwaves a week late for its homage to the Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day to really hit a bullseye, but it's close enough that viewers won't have any problem understanding that's exactly what the show is aiming with, especially when it starts to get a little funny. The final season of The Flash opens up with Iris and Barry together again after she recovered from her time sickness (yet another odd choice from Season 8) Barry is excited that he can see what's going to happen every single day thanks to his new note book. Iris doesn't seem all that thrilled to be locked into the pattern. When they go to bed, things are a little tense. That continues when they wake up, go off to their jobs and suddenly realize that they're repeating the day before.
This is also where the show does some good things when it would have been plenty easy to just copy the formula of the movie the show was basing itself on. And for at least a little bit, it seemed like that's all that would happen. But at about the midpoint of the episode, The Flash manages to chart its own path. There is still the funny "died and then woke up" gags that every movie and television show that does this gimmick has to focus on at least for a little bit. However, the final season of The Flash looks like it's going to hit it out of the park by doing things differently. That includes Iris telling Barry that she doesn't really want out of the loop for reasons that are surprisingly deep. By taking the tact the show did, it also managed to underline a problem with the last few seasons of the show and seemed to be announcing it was finally going to stop doing the "how come this happened in the future?" gimmick. It would seem as though the episode is setting the stage for that to be less of an issue moving forward.
Welcome Back Iris West Allen
One of the things that made this show feel that much better than basically any of Season 8 is that Barry and Iris were really together. For whatever reason Candace Patton wasn't involved much at all in last year's run. She seemed to be more of a way to move the plot forward when the writers were stuck than an actual character on the show. While The Flash can get a bit sappy and overcooked at times, it's clear that the CW series is best when Iris is on screen and with the group, keeping Barry grounded.
Iris's contribution to this week was one that seemingly put Barry in his place and woke him up from the daydream that he was living in. She seemed to add just enough spice that the couple look like a real couple. There was even some arguing over whether or not Barry put his laundry away. She seems to add a level of humanity and realism that is missing when she just shows up here and there.
It's a safe bet that at least part of the reason Iris being in an episode makes it better is because she's one of the last original members of The Flash and because of that she's got a better handle on her character than some of the other regulars do. In the premiere episode, Iris didn't seem to be part of the background who just stood around and did whatever Barry wanted. And it turns out that when Barry gets put in his place a bit, the show is actually better. The character is not supposed to be infallible, and it's more interesting when he's not.
Episodes of The Flash Season 9 air every Wednesday on The CW