What We Want to See in The Flash Season 4

Last season of The Flash is something of a mixed bag with several intriguing storylines that didn’t necessarily stick their respective landings. Some of the plots feel repetitive, and the general tone is much darker and more confusing than seasons past.

As things stand now, Barry’s trapped in the Speed Force, H.R.’s dead, Caitlin’s off on a journey to find herself somewhere that isn’t with her friends, and Iris and the rest of Team Flash are left to pick up the pieces of everyone’s messed up lives.

It seems safe to say that Season 4 has kind of a lot of work to do.

Of course that doesn’t mean that The Flash can’t find its way back to greatness this year. It just needs to sort out a few kinks first. Here are a few suggestions for where to start.

1. Maybe Have a Little Less Barry

At the end of Season 3, Barry Allen is trapped in the speed force, presumably forever. Which is probably a pretty moving twist, in a world where we didn’t all instantly know that he’ll return pretty much the second the new season starts.

After all, the show is about Barry, so how can we have The Flash without him, right?

Well, let’s try. Not for long, of course, but maybe for a little while. An episode or two, even?

Just think about it for a second. Is there any reason we have to have Barry return in the season premiere? Wouldn’t it be just as interesting to see how Central City does without The Flash, or how the rest of the team steps up to fill the void of Barry’s absence?

Let Iris be a proper leader on her own for a bit. Maybe give Wally a chance to figure out what kind of hero he is without Barry around. And let us actually see some of Caitlin’s journey to make peace with her inner Killer Frost onscreen, instead of hearing about how it all happened over summer break.

And even once Barry gets out of the speed force — which we all know he’s going to do pretty much ASAP — maybe make it a point to let other characters get the chance to shine once in a while.

As the DC TV shows go, The Flash is a little imbalanced in terms of how it features the rest of its ensemble.

It really is okay to give the rest of the gang something to do on their own. They can be in scenes without Barry. They can — and should — all have relationships separate from him.

So let us see that, sometimes. If only so we can remember that this team is so great together precisely because its individual pieces are so strong. But for that to happen, we actually need to see more of them and a little bit less of the series star.

2. Give Iris Something to Do On Her Own

Iris and Barry are The Flash’s signature romance. After enduring many trials and tribulations to be together, these two definitely should get some happiness in Season 4. And we, the audience, deserve something better than another story about whether they’ll be together or not.

So let Westallen be happy for a bit, and give Iris get the chance to do, well, almost anything else. Remember when she actually got to be a reporter? Can we go back to that? Give her any hobby or interest that has nothing to do with Star Labs, she deserves at least that much.

Last season, Iris faced her own death. But her story was somehow still mostly about Barry, and we saw very little about how she was feeling and coping.

Iris deserves something in Season 4 that’s just hers, and a story that allows her to shine separate and apart from her boyfriend. (And viewers do too.)

3. Feature More Varied Powers

The Flash has quite enough speedsters at the moment — of both the good and bad variety. We definitely don’t need any more. Maybe ever, actually. But definitely not this year.

All the Big Bads on the show thus far have been speedsters. And that not only leads to some predictable storytelling, but things can get awfully confusing, too.

The whole “Speed Force” business, at this point, is pretty much just a nonsensical mess. How many more times can Barry possibly time travel to fix a problem?

So, the show should do something else. The beauty of the meta-human concept means The Flash can pull off almost anything. This is a show that has giant sharks and gorillas running around, after all.

How about introducing some new people with powers we haven’t seen before? Or bringing back some old favorites again? Consider pulling over some familiar faces from alternate Earths with different abilities even. But please shake things up.

(PS: To be fair, both Wally West and Jesse Quick are also speedsters, and they’re both charming, and great additions to Team Flash. They can stay. But that’s it.)

4. Let Caitlin Make Peace with Herself

Season 3’s presentation of Caitlin’s Killer Frost persona is extremely confusing. And it never hit on a reason for why she was the only meta-human whose powers regularly caused her to become a completely different, violent stranger. What gives, show?

The season finale took the positive step of not erasing Caitlin’s time as Killer Frost completely, instead sending her off to try and figure out a way to integrate these two pieces of herself into one. Here’s hoping Season 4 builds on that trend.

Caitlin frequently got short shrift as part of the main Team Flash ensemble, story-wise, but this seems like a perfect opportunity to really explore her character on her own.

In the wake of her time as Killer Frost, The Flash should give Caitlin the space to figure out who she is now and to face the fallout from her time with Savitar and maybe to get her ice powers under control. No biggie.

But maybe most importantly, Caitlin needs to stay single this season. Too many of her previous storylines revolved around her tragic love life in some way, exploiting her pain for narrative gain, but never really dealing with it. She deserves to spend Season 4 working out her own issues and making peace with the person she’s become.

5. Maybe Have Some Folks Around Who Don’t Know Barry’s the Flash

Guys, it’s time to stop telling everyone Barry’s secret identity. No, really, it is.

It’s gotten to the point where it feels as though Barry and all his friends pretty much stop strangers on the street to tell them that he’s secretly The Flash. Who doesn’t know at this point? Their favorite barista at Jitters?

And something about everyone knowing Barry’s identity makes the whole thing a little less fun.

One, it keeps anyone from even bothering with the pretense of a “regular” life or at least one that isn’t 1000% focused on Star Labs. Sometimes watching Joe and Barry investigate crime together is entertaining!

And while stories where everyone scrambles to cover for Barry’s extended absences or strange disappearances can get annoying, they’re kind of the point of superhero shows, aren’t they?

Julian might be a more interesting foil for Barry as his jerk co-worker and not yet another guy who knows his secret. Why does Joe’s current girlfriend need to know any of this?

At some point, does Team Flash start to feel too big? Maybe. But at this point, we can’t unring that bell. So maybe it’s time to put a little more focus on the day-to-day lives of everyone involved instead.

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