It's debatable whether any Arrowverse season really benefits from the standard 22-23 episode structure.
Flash season 3 free series#
While there are some plot threads that carry over from the first half of the season to the second, the series only has eight episodes in which to chronicle the downfall of Bloodwork and his growing feud with Barry. Perhaps the single greatest benefit of Crisis is that it forces the series to be more economical with its running storylines. If anything, they work well precisely because they're given less room to outstay their welcome than past major villains like Clifford DeVoe and Cicada. Despite being relegated to half-seasons, these two characters rank among the show's better recurring antagonists. Season 6 is basically divided in half, with two separate villains (Bloodwork and Mirror Master) appearing to make life difficult for Grant Gustin's Barry Allen and the gang. If anything, Crisis winds up working directly in the show's favor, both before and after the crossover itself unfolds. It's easy to imagine a trajectory that might've repeated the mistakes of Season 3 all over again, but Season 6 never plunges too far into dark and brooding territory.
Maintaining that balance is all the more imperative in Season 6 given that the show is moving forward from the tragic death of Nora West-Allen in Season 5's finale and the looming shadow of Crisis on Infinite Earths. Wallace has shown a consistent ability to guide The Flash back to a more natural blend of humor and drama, recapturing the classic Team Flash dynamic that was so crucial to the show's early success. Tone is something The Flash has struggled with a lot in recent years, with Season 3 skewing too dark and Seasons 4 and 5 overcompensating with an overabundance of forced, goofy banter. The influence of newly-promoted showrunner Eric Wallace is immediately palpable in the premiere. With a new showrunner at the helm and a new storytelling approach, The Flash is the best it's been in years.īoth those changes are immediately apparent in the Season 6 premiere, "Into the Void," which serves as a clear mission statement and mea culpa for a long-troubled series. Finally, the series managed to reverse that trend in Season 6. Sadly, it's pretty much been all downhill since then, with each new season falling short of the one that preceded it. Season 1 of The Flash really set the gold standard for the Arrowverse at large, taking what worked in the first two seasons of Arrow but applying a much grander and more comic book-y scope.