The Flash Seasons Ranked

The Flash Seasons Ranked

For the very last time I’m going to be ranking all of the seasons of The Flash. The ninth and final season ended just a couple of days ago, so I’m in Flash week until the end of May. So without further ado, here’s my ranking of the 9 seasons of The Flash. 

9. Season 9: Unfortunately the final season of the show really is this low and it’s such a shame because I didn’t want it to be in last, for a couple of different reasons. First up, I wanted the show to end on a high note. I wanted to get to the end of the season and feel like they did it, they pulled off being satisfying to the show. Second, there’s a lot of great ideas here. A lot of things that could have made for a great final season. But I feel like this season just wasted all of the potential it had. And I feel like the thing that really hurt this season was its bad writing. I feel like this is one of the worst written shows of the entire Arrowverse, it’s that bad of writing. And I think parts of season 7 and 8 were hurt by that, but I feel like the entire season was hurt by it. Where some of the dialogue from Red Death in her little story arc was cringy. They kept on making references towards Michael Keaton and Robert Pattinson with some of the dialogue, it didn’t work for me. It felt like they were trying too hard to be clever instead of actually being clever. For being a season that is about 10 episodes shorter than a typical season, normally they are 23 episodes this one was 13. It’s weird to me that there’s THREE filler episodes in the middle of the season. They obviously knew how they wanted to start and end the season but didn’t know what to do in the middle. Barry feels like a side character in his own show, he doesn’t put on the Flash suit for episodes at a time. He’s barely in 2 of the last 4 episodes of the season. Like I said, it’s frustrating because there’s a lot in here that could have been cool. I don’t mind the idea of them bringing back Eddie. I think the things they set up with him was interesting and could have been very cool. But I feel like that story arc was rushed, and so the impact of it didn’t quite work for me. So this is a season that I look at and I’m so disappointed by this season. 

8. Season 5: Now this has always been such a frustrating season for me. I think on paper this season had a lot of very interesting ideas, but the evacuation of the ideas weren’t the best here. First up, having the main villain of the season be a metahuman serial killer sounds like a great idea. And having somebody whose family was taken from him due to metahumans, that’s a great idea for a villain on this show. Having Nora, Barry and Iris’ daughter from the future come back to help them is a great idea. That feels like the logical next step for the show, and that became a very important part of the show in seasons 6-9. But the ideas of those plot lines are better than the execution of the ideas. Cicada was a total waste, I didn’t find him compelling or interesting whatsoever. Chris Kline seems horribly miscast in the role, you don’t buy him as this intimidating for really at all. I think in episode 2 there’s a scene where Cicada beats the crap out of Team Flash, that’s the only part where I felt the danger of Cicada. He was also doing his impression of Christian Bale’s Batman, and it just came off as fake and cringy. And then the Cicada stuff was stretched for WAY too long, the story line wasn’t interesting enough to carry a 22 episode long season. Cicada should have been the villain for like the first 8-9 episodes and then have a couple transition episodes. And then close out with the Nora and Reverse-Flash stuff, but Cicada shouldn’t have been the main villain. And then the stuff with Nora I liked at first, but once she turned evil and we learned what was really going on I stopped caring about the character. I thought the actress was fun, but the characterization wasn’t very good. So this is a season that I have so many mixed and conflicted thoughts on. If the execution was as good as the ideas, this easily could have been a top 5 season of the show. 

7. Season 7: Another incredibly frustrating season that has so many good things and bad things about it. Now like season 5 I thought a lot of the ideas in here were very good, but the execution of those ideas wasn’t the best. But this season didn’t frustrate with its bad execution the way season 5 did. I think that season 7 is a big step-up from season 5, while still not being full on great. I thought that Godspeed, when the season focused on him, was a great villain. I really liked what they did with him, tying him back to Nora and Bart in the future. And there’s a lot in there that was a lot of fun. I thought the final fight between Barry and Godspeed with them having their own lightsaber duel was great, it put a big smile on my face. I actually really appreciate what they did with Killer Frost in the season. The trail of Killer Frost was very interesting, and there’s a lot of great conversations about Frost’s place in the team and the city. I thought that was interesting, and tied into some real life social messaging that I thought worked. But this season is hurt a LOT by some bad writing that just felt lazy and forced. One of my biggest pet peeves and biggest turn downs for a movie is when the villain calls our hero “mom” or “dad”. That’s sort of why Steppen wolf didn’t work in Justice League (2017). And episodes 9-11 when The Speed Force was the big bad, they did that sort of writing and it just pulled me out of the season. It didn’t work for me and it was distracting and creepy, and even weirder when The Speed Force was calling Barry “dad”, when The Speed Force is meant to look like Barry’s mother. And then even the way certain freak of the week villains are defeated is very strange when Barry gives a lot of pep talks and isn’t really fighting all of that much, I don’t get what the writers were thinking. The Speed Force in general wasn’t a great villain, I didn’t really care about them or the threat they posed towards Barry, Team Flash, or Central City. Once again, another season that is just super frustrating to watch. The beginning and end of the season I thought was good, but the middle of season mixed with bad writing and weak villains really held this season down for me. 

6. Season 8: If seasons 5 and 7 frustrated me a good bit, this season is just kind of there for me. Like it ended almost a year ago, and I don’t remember much about what happened in this season. I remember that it started with a 5 episode crossover event and then Matt Letscher’s Eobard Thawne is in the last couple of episodes. But besides that, there’s not much about this season that I remember. So since it’s just kind of there and forgettable, since it didn’t make any big mistakes it’s just right there in the middle for me. Some positives and negatives for the season that I do remember about this season. The had a lot of mini story arcs going on as opposed to one big story arc taking place over the entire season. I think season 5 was hurt a lot by having a big bad over the course of 23 episodes. But with seasons 6,7,8 they changed that and had mini story arcs running through-out the entire season. So this season continues so nothing feels stretched out, it doesn’t get ridiculous and lazy at points. The first 5 episodes are previously mentioned as a crossover event. We got Ronnie Raymond returning as Deathstorm in the season, a fun little twist there that I appreciate. And then the final 5 ish episodes have Eobard Thawne coming back and fighting Barry. I appreciate that about the season, not feeling stretched out for longer than it should have been. At the same time, I feel like the show needs to stop bringing back Reverse-Flash. As great as Tom Cavanagh and Matt Letscher are in the role, they keep on using him too much in the show. They keep on coming up with new ways for Thawne to return, new ways for him to defeat Barry. And it just gets lazy and it’s proof that the show went on for too long and needed to end. This is really the season where I felt like the season needed to end, and I just got kind of tired and lazy writing. 

NOTE: As we move into the top 5 on this list, there’s a pretty big gap in the quality of the seasons. Seasons 8,7,5, and 9 I would go negative on I think. Season 8 is maybe a B-, so I barely recommend it. But from number 5 to number 1 I really enjoy all of the seasons, all of them I would strongly and confidently say are good. Some are not great, but solid seasons that I do enjoy. 

5. Season 6: After a weaker season with season 5, I thought that season 6 was a nice return to form. One of the things that I think heavily benefited this season was having a lot of mini story arcs in there. Instead of having Bloodwork be the villain for the entire season, he’s the villain for the first half of the season and then we have Mirror Monarch in the back half. I think that’s a much better way to do these seasons, have shorter story arcs happening in the season. Bloodwork I thought was a very solid villain, I really liked what they did with him in the season. I thought it was interesting having him being tied to Caitlin’s past and them having a friendship predating the show. He almost feels like a Spider-Man villain, most Spider-Man villains become villains because they experiment on themselves and in the process turn into this evil force that needs to be stopped. I really liked the actor that they got for the part, he did a great job of being villainous and intimidating. And then stuff with Ralph and Sue in the back half of the season, giving Ralph his own romance there was fun. I thought that was a nice touch, they had great chemistry and you could see how they could easily be a couple. Now this season isn’t perfect, it’s one that I think fully comes together as well as it should. Mirror Monarch, the villain in the back half of the season, didn't really work for me. She’s a bottom tier villain on the show, I just didn’t care for the character and the actress didn’t give off that intimidating vibe that they should have. And then, some of the stuff with Barry preparing for Crisis in the first half was interesting, but there’s also a lot of it that really didn’t work for me. The show very often writes Barry to be unlikable because he’s so determined towards this one thing. In the first half of season 6 that’s Crisis, I think that hurt the first half of the season a good bit. But in general, this is a season that off the COVID affected seasons this is the best one. It’s the later seasons that left me the least frustrated by the end of it. 

4. Season 3: This seems to really be where a lot of people dropped the show, and I get that. This season isn’t the best but it still feels like the early stages of the show. Where I feel like seasons 5-9 lost some of the magic of the early seasons. And season 3 was an early season so it still has some of the magic that the show used to have. Now there’s a lot about this season that I think is very cool and a lot of fun. First up, I just really appreciate how bonkers and wild this season can get at points. For me, this season is one of the more ambitious seasons of the show. Where you have an evil version of Barry being Savitar, you have heroes turning into villains. Villains turning into heroes also. Barry creates Flashpoint in there which has a lot of trickle downs through-out the entire season. This season really does go for it, I find it ambitious and I appreciate that a good bit. Another thing that I think kind of helps this season is that it’s a much darker season, it’s easily one of the darker seasons with a darker tone and I like that. I feel like it's a nice change of pace for the show. But it doesn’t get overly dark, it’s not too dark and grim in here. And then I thought that the stretch of episodes from episode 15-23 is one of the best streaks of the episodes in the Arrowverse, for whatever reason that was just a great streak of episodes that I love. This season is absolutely flawed, I think Savitar was hurt by being the third speedster villain in a row. And I feel like the Savitar reveal was way too late into the season, to the point where when it was revealed it was more predictable and obvious then shocking. And then there's some time travel logic that doesn’t make sense, it’s kind of all over the place and part of it doesn't make that much sense. 

3. Season 4: I know a LOT of people really didn’t like season 4 and they find it to be a bottom tier season of the show. Given the placement of it on this list, I disagree with that statement. But I kind of see where people are coming from, sort of. Now if season 3 went dark with the tone, I do kind of like that this season went lighter and more fun with the tone. It’s more goofier and campy and I appreciate that, I think The Flash lends itself to having more goofy and campy seasons. The meta humans in this season are kind of weird where you have a villain whose powers are luck. This season did introduce Ralph Dibny, Elongated Man into the mix. An inherently campy and weird hero that fits the show really well. He’s one of the characters that wouldn’t work on any other Arrowverse show, but he fits perfectly into this show. And I appreciate that they brought back some of the freak of the week villains in the first half of the season to the back half of the season. It’s good storytelling when you have mini arcs happening in the grinder season long story as a whole. And I feel like DeVoe was a frustrating villain. There’s a lot about him that I think is very interesting, I liked him at first with what they set-up. But as soon as they started doing the body swapping I feel like he didn’t work as well. And if they did once or twice and then went back to the original actor, I could be fine with that. Now there’s a couple of things where this season really didn’t work for me. First up, I feel like this season is one of the victims of the 23 episode long seasons. Where this is one where I can feel them stretching things out for way too long. I think their body swapping DeVoe was evidence of that. So that’s frustrating because I think DeVoe had all of the pieces to be a really good villain. Second, I did not like what they did with Iris in this season. I don’t think Iris should be the leader of Team Flash. It doesn't make sense as to why she is the leader. And I feel like they made Iris too much of a main character in this season, when I don’t think she should be. 

2. Season 2: A great follow-up to the first season that does a lot of great things. If this was your favorite season of the show, you’re not wrong. It’s a pretty fantastic season that I’ve always loved a good bit. And if you think about it, this is one of the most important seasons of the Arrowverse. Because this season introduces us to the multiverse, which helped bring Supergirl into the Arrowverse. Obviously some of the later crossovers really used the multiverse as a mechanism for the events. And back when this season came out it was a lot of fun to do a multiverse story. Because this was before every superhero franchise was doing the multiverse, this one did it first so it’s the freshest and a very fun version of it. And I feel like this season was still very much riding the wave that was season 1, obviously a great season of the show. So there’s still that fun spark, that fun magic in this season that was there in season 1. Zoom is another great villain, I loved what they did with him. He’s very menacing and poses a legitimate threat towards Barry and Team Flash. And with this season I liked how they used the knowledge we have of The Flash and the lore against us. So when we have Jay Garrick show up in episode 1 we trust him, we believe him that he’s here to help us. So when the reveal happens that Jay is Zoom, it’s surprising. You don’t see it coming and it’s a twist that very much does work. So there’s a lot about this season that I think is great and makes for a season that I love. But it’s never been my favorite season of the show, there’s always been one above it. 

1. Season 1: One of the best seasons of the Arrowverse, and the best season of the show. And when it came out it was a nice counterbalance to Arrow. Arrow was obviously a much darker show that was more brooding, this was a more light hearted and fun show. And it just works, almost everything about it I think works very well and is fantastic. First up, now that we have all 9 seasons of the show I appreciate that this one is much smaller in scale. Now obviously it has a villain threatening the entire story, it’s by no means grounded. But it doesn’t have to deal with the multiverse or the consequences of the multiverse. And because of that, it can focus a lot more on the characters and the dynamics. And because of that you get some really fun characters in here and a lot of the best usage of these characters are in this season. I wasn’t a big fan of where they took Iris in later seasons, mainly season 4. But here I thought the dynamic between her and Barry worked. And it was before they fell in love and she knew he was The Flash. They could just have this friendship that lasted years. This version of Wells, or I guess Thawne taking over as Wells is great. And I love how they use the twist with Thawne wondering who he is, and it’s the guy that’s training him to defeat the villain, is actually the villain. That’s a nice twist on the whole thing that adds to the season. So it’s just a season that is jam packed with memorable moments, characters, episodes, scenes, and sequences that all work. This is what I want from my Arrowverse seasons. A season with a great villain, characters you care about, and a season long story that works and keeps you invested from episode 1 to the finale. So easily, this is my favorite season of the show.