By Samah Syed
When The Flash first premiered in 2014 it caught the attention of fans from the comic ages. For many, catching onto the similarities made between the comics and the show made the experience that much more enjoyable than it already was to begin with.
The first season, still to this day, is the most loved by the audience. The casting, the script, the execution, the accuracy. Grant Gustin’s portrayal of Barry Allen is perceived to be so incredibly accurate there leaves little to no doubt he was ‘a perfect fit’ for the role in almost all our minds while watching the show. As season 1 progressed it gaged a larger and larger amount of viewers, this could be because of the chemistry established between the cast, which gave the show an essence as the audience became invested in the characters, alongside the writers perfectly writing the villain, Reverse Flash, into the season, with the ending of the season providing enough suspense and giving us ‘heart wrenching’ lines such as the exchange between Ciso and Reverse Flash “In many ways you’ve taught me what’s it’s like to have a son.” which is repeatedly brought up even in later seasons also.
The later seasons, seasons 2-6 are where some viewers dropped out of the sync of the show, however, most viewers, like myself, stayed for the characters and the entirety of the universe we already know. The second season was similar to the first, as the villain was a speedster and it’s plot was similar to the first season except character involvement increased in terms of Team Flash.
Season 3 was my least favourite season, and most of the viewers least favourite as well. I think this is probably because of the change in the tone of the show, it was a lot darker and heavier which producers also later admitted in interviews. The show also became more centralised around Iris West and less on Team Flash as a whole like the previous seasons. Many fans didn’t really view Iris in the light the producers made her out to be (in terms of importance). This season had less humour and was more focused on the pending suspense of Iris’s life which is what made this season much darker comparatively.
The producers themselves released a statement about season 4, saying the season was due to be much lighter and more comically pleasing for the audience. I thought this move was, for the most part, a good decision because it brought back the whole ‘aura’ of Team Flash and the banter between the characters which a lot of people enjoyed from the premier of the show. Another strange concept to also be pointed out, is that in a show such as this, the producers and writers always manage to write in a musical filler episode, I do think these are a little out of place but they also provide a large entertainment factor clubbed with the fact these are usually crossover episodes. Season 4 also drew a lot of attention with a non- speedster villain making an appearance for the first time as the ‘big bad’. The same for seasons 5 and 6. This engaged a different audience but many of the original fans who watched the show purely because of the comics were a little disappointed as they took the show down another route with the later seasons that don’t match exactly with the plot in the comics as season 1 did.
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