Ever since The Flash season 7 finished, I’ve been doing a whole bunch of Flash content. And today is the second to last ranking where I will be ranking all 7 season finales of The Flash. Let’s get started!
7. Success is Assured (Season 6): This episode is fun, but not very good. Normally the season finales of the season are one of the top tier episodes for that season. But this is the opposite, and it’s one of my bottom 3 episodes of the season. Like I said it’s a fun episode, and for not being the intended season finale it does a good job of being a season finale. The episode ends with a big action scene that is unique and different (not in the best ways though), and having the evil businessman teaming up with Team Flash is a nice touch that helped the episode out a lot. And the episode does end with a nice cliffhanger and that made me want to see season 7. But, I think the big issue here is the final battle where the way it looks is weird. Because it’s like they used panels in a graphic novel to transition from fight sequence to fight sequence, which is unique but feels out of place. Because of all of the fights in the show, this is the only one that does it. And to me it felt like an editor was finishing this episode up at home, and just thought to himself “since nobody is here, I’ll just do what I want”. And they did this, but it didn't work at all. That’s the only big issue with this episode, it’s fine it’s decent enough. But that really holds the episode down a good bit for me, and the positives I think are all good but none of them are great.
6. We Are The Flash (Season 4): The worst thing about this episode isn’t what happens in this episode, it’s the title for this episode which I just hate. It was a line that was side by Iris earlier in season 4 which is like the stupidest and worst line on the show. But the episode itself is one that I should like more than I do. The idea of having Barry go inside Devoe’s mind to defeat him is clever, but doesn’t feel like the season finale. It seems like a great episode for like the second to last episode, and then have the season finale deal with the consequences of that, something happens that sets up this episode. If they did that, I might like this episode more. One of the big mysteries of season 4 was who is that girl that keeps on showing up, and by the time this episode happened we figured it was Nora, Barry and Iris’ daughter. So when it happened, it felt underwhelming, because we all kind of knew that it was. Also, they built The Thinker as this menacing threat that is going to be hard for Team Flash to defeat, and in this episode he’s defeated by his wife pulling the plug on his chair which is underwhelming to say the least. So this is the episode that I’m most conflicted on, because ideas and scenes are great but the actual story of this episode is a bit frustrating for me.
5. Finish Line (Season 3): There’s a number of things about this episode that I just really like, and think work really well. First up, I just like that sequence where Evil Barry goes to STAR Labs and talks with Team Flash, and that whole sequence is great and a great thing to do in the season finale. The final battle with Barry, Wally, and Jay all teaming up to defeat Savitar is really cool, and the visuals for the sequence are great. You have Cisco and Caitlin having their one little battle that was set-up really well earlier in the season. And the cliffhanger of the episode was a nice way to end season 3, even though we knew that he was going to get out of the speed force early on in season 4 it felt like a nice way to end the season. Now, the twist of Iris not actually dying and it being H.R. is interesting. This episode aired in May of 2017 and to this day, I still don’t really know what to think about it. And when you have Iris shooting Savitar in the back, and that’s the way he’s defeated is weird and don’t really get why they did it. But still, this is a very good episode inside of season 3. And a very good season finale for The Flash, I just think it makes some mistakes along the way.
4. Legacy (Season 5): This is interesting because season 5 is my least favorite season of the show, but the season finale is my third favorite season finale of the show. I think the first 25% percent of this episode is a bit slow, when it focused on Cicada and Team Flash defeating Cicada I wasn’t interested. But once Cicada is defeated and Thawne becomes the main villain of the episode it’s great and some of the best stuff in season 5. Thawne was one of the best parts about season 5, it’s a season that I have a lot of issues with but Eobard Thawne in this season is not one of them. So when about 75% of the episode is focused on him and his plan, and Team Flash trying to defeat him it’s great and it really works. The character of Nora was a bit of a frustrating one because I think the character started off pretty strong, but ended a bit weak. I still found her death moment in this episode to be fairly emotional, the acting all around is great and it really works. It’s not one of the most emotional deaths in the Arrowverse but I think it works and fits with the season as a whole. And the episode does end on a nice cliffhanger setting up season 6 and Crisis on Infinite Earths. So in general, in a season that I don’t really care for all that much. I really dig this episode, and think it’s one of the stronger episodes of season 5.
3. Heart of the Matter: Part 2 (Season 7): I found season 7 to be the most inconsistent season of the show when it comes to the episodes. Because some of the episodes are great, and some of the episodes were pretty meh. So going into the finale, I had no idea where I was going to fall. But I really dug this episode and thought it closed out the season very nicely. I like how 90% of this episode is all out war against Godspeed’s army. Where you have two big battles. The first battle begins with like 6 different speedsters against Godspeed’s army and it’s a really fun little sequence that gives everybody a moment to shine. Then in the climax of the episode we have Barry teaming up with Thawne to defeat Godspeed, and some nice images towards Star Wars that made me smile. And I thought that Godspeed was great in this episode, it closed out his story line very nicely. But I thought the ending scene where Barry and Iris renew their vows, and it’s just a sweet heartfelt scene, was a nice way to end the season. And I was thinking that Bart was going to sing, since he was played by Jordan Fisher who is a professional singer, and actor. I don’t know where I’m going to fall on this episode in the future. But as of now, I really dug this episode. And I enjoyed a number of scenes in it.
2. The Race of His Life (Season 2): A great season finale to a great season in season 2. And an episode where all of the pieces came together in the end. The first 5-10 minutes of the episode where you have the continuation of where episode 22 ended with Zoom killing Barry’s dad, and this episode picks up with that. It’s emotional and it’s a gut punch, this is one of the saddest deaths in the Arrowverse. It's done so well and set up so well. It continues on to a fight between Barry and Zoom which is a super cool fight scene, with a nice twist thrown into the mix. But the episode focusing on Barry’s anger and wanting to get revenge on Zoom provides some great moments, where Team Flash has to turn on Barry and lock him up in a cell because he’s too angry and full of anger. I think that’s an interesting story line, and I think they do it pretty well in this episode. The final confrontation between Barry and Zoom is very cool, and very well done. It’s not necessarily an all out fight, but it’s a race and the race itself is done very well. The big thing here is you have the reveal on who the man in the iron mask is, and I’ve always thought that the reveal worked, it’s the real Jay Garrick played John Wesley Shipp, a nice touch and I’m glad that they did that. So yah, this one of the best season finales on the show. It’s a great way to end season 2, so this is what I want from a season finale.
1. Fast Enough (Season 1): I think it is a near perfect first season to the show, and I love the season finale to season 1. The best thing about the episode is that it’s one of the more emotional episodes of the show. Where you have a lot of different emotions. First up, you have the death of Eddie which makes sense as to why he would die, since he is related to Thawne it all ties together nicely. And it is a very emotional death when it happens. But you also have Barry going back in time, wanting to save his mother and that sequence where Barry watches his mother die right in front of him. It's a big gut punch that works and greatly acted by both Grant Gustin and Michelle Harrison. The final confrontation between Barry and Thawne is great, tense, and it’s shot very well and it’s one of the best final fights in any of the Arrowverse seasons. It ends on a great little cliffhanger setting up season 2 and the multiverse which kind of changed the Arrowverse when the multiverse got introduced. It’s an episode that has all the big action, big emotions, and a great and important cliffhanger. If you saw my ranking of the seasons, you know that I love season 1 and it is one of my favorite Arrowverse seasons. So easily without question, the best season of the show also has the best season finale.
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