Finale Forecast: How can ‘The Flash’ season 2 run towards a fitting end?
For any show like “The Flash,” the second season is one of the most challenging. You had a first run that almost everyone loved, so of course there’s that expectation for you to fall off a cliff. Luckily, that has not happened, though we’ve actually seen Barry Allen actually run up the side of a cliff. Some storylines have been more successful than others — we don’t really need to see Caitlin constantly have a love interest for the sake of it — but this is by and large the greatest comic book show on TV. It’s like someone actually gave the writers permission to have fun rather than doing the typical moody-superhero thing that has dominated the genre for far too long.
It’s funny we say this, given that if any character had a reason to be mopey right now, it’s Barry. Zoom is threatening to destroy his very existence, and he is utterly helpless to stop him unless he can get faster — and quickly. He has also been duped for the second straight season by someone close to him, and this time around, it’s none other than Jay Garrick. Still, he pushes forward, and sooner or later this story with hit its peak. How will it end? This is what we want to figure out now…
What could happen – We have a final showdown most likely between Barry and Zoom at the end of the season, while simultaneously some other parts of his life start to become more stressful than ever. He and Iris may have a few moments, and we’re sure that Henry is going to turn up once more at some point. Meanwhile, he also has to worry about his fellow STAR Labs team members who are in a perpetual state of danger, Cisco figuring out his powers, and the whole question of whether or not this Caitlin will ever become Killer Frost. There’s a lot on this speedster’s plate, but we imagine that most will be resolved, and there’ll be some sort of a cliffhanger to boot.
What should happen – We’d treat the Barry / Iris relationship based on where it is organically at the time. We want them together, but it’s okay if it turns out better as a season 3 story. Make the Zoom showdown as epic as possible, and then maybe get Barry away from battling other speedsters for a time. Maybe introduce someone like Mirror Master as a huge villain next season, give us some more Grodd, or find new ways to challenge him beyond just improving his speed.
As for the supporting characters, we’d like to see more of an Earth-1 Caitlin’s journey towards becoming Killer Frost, since having it just be the Earth-2 side of the character feels like a cop-out. Meanwhile, make Wally West a little less of an outsider if he is sticking around, and start to find more practical uses for Cisco beyond just visions here and there.