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ultrahpfan5blog · 2 years ago

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The Flash Season 7 - Retrospective Review

Watching The Flash season 7 was tough. This was the one season where I really did feel like it was a chore to get through it. I had wondered if my perspective on season 7 would differ from my initial watch, but the issues with the season are way too apparent. As a result, season 7 is easily my least favorite season of the lot.

In all fairness, this season must have been exhausting to shoot, given this was the season shot in the middle of a pandemic, with all sorts of restrictions in place. There are scenes and sequences throughout the season where it is obvious that there is a limit to how many actors can be in the same space. Given the difficulties in shooting, the fact that they cranked out 17 episodes and finished one episode's shooting from previous season is creditable. Additionally, the season also has to deal with the departure of Tom Cavanaugh, Carlos Valdez, and additionally the result of Hartley Sawyer being fired, meaning the loss of Ralph Dibny as well. This led to increased focus on Cecile, Allegra, and Chester which the show never really got us very interested in.

But even apart from the uncontrollables, there are major writing issues this season. The season is split into essentially 4 separate sections. First 3 episodes are basically the holdover mirrorverse storyline, the next 8 episodes are the Forces storyline, then there are 3 interlude episodes, followed by 4 episodes of the Godspeed storyline. Mixed with this is storylines about Frost's love life with Chillblaine, Allegra's storyline with her cousin, and Joe's storyline with Kristin Kramer. The issues start with the Mirrorverse finale. I read that the episode was intended to be much bigger and pandemic restriction kiboshed that, but it was really ridiculous that this storyline basically ended with Barry and Iris just talking Eva out of destroying everything. It was incredibly lame and it ruins all the buildup for a final showdown in retrospect. The first three episodes also basically wastes all the setup of creating the ASF and the sacrifice of all the Wells by destroying the ASF the very next episode. Again, this makes the whole building of ASF seem like a waste of time and also ruins the poignancy of Wells' sacrifice.

The Forces arc is where the season really loses it. The writing of this arc is really bad and cringeworthy. I don't know what Eric Wallace was thinking by making Flash and rest of team Flash basically useless when fighting all the various different forces. The concept of the speed force becoming a villain is interesting but is executed so poorly. And the very on the nose metaphor of the forces being Barry and Iris' children is plain ridiculous. It leads to a lot of unintendedly hilarious moments. It isn't even a metaphor because these forces, who are real people outside of their powers, call Barry and Iris 'Dad' and 'Mom' respectively. The resolution to the arc is also really stupid, with the forces again just kind of talking the speed force out of her villainy and Barry stopping a force storm by running around it. Around that we have the Kristin Kramer storyline, where they have the show have Joe twist and turn around trying to call Kramer a good cop, even though she is blatantly doing things that are very problematic. The whole Kristin Kramer storyline is perplexing and it just results in a storyline for Joe which keeps him away from the main action for most of the season. This may have again been something as a result of the pandemic, to give the cast something to do without them being in the same location. Of the interlude episodes, the Allegra episode is ok, but the Allegra story arc mends the ongoing relationship with Allegra and Esperanza and then immediately kills off Esperanza, which again begs the question as to why so much time was spent on Esperanza in the first place. The ongoing focus on Cecile also gets irritating. Danielle Nicolet is fine in a supporting role, but increased focus on her just results in a very overdone performance. The introduction of Chillblaine as a love interest for Frost was also a bad call. I don't think anyone likes Chillblaine apart from EW.

Of the story arcs for this season, the Godspeed arc is the most successful but it feels annoyingly abrupt. I don't quite get how the Forces arc got 8 episodes, and Godspeed arc for half of that, when Godspeed was a character they had been teasing since season 5. It is also apparent that they had no plan for Godspeed from previous incarnations because the role is recast. Its a very shallow arc, with no major depth to speak of, but it does at least provide more speedster vs speedster action, and we get Nora and Bart, along with Jay. I know there are some who find it goofy, and I get why, but I got a kick out of the lightning sword fight with Barry and Thawne vs Godspeed. It kind of at least delivers a bit of the fun that the season required. Its cool to see Nora and Bart, and its always great to have JWS back as Jay.

There are a few fun episodes throughout the season. I think the Cisco farewell episode is pretty lighthearted fun but also hits good emotional notes and relies on the Barry, Caitlin, Cisco dynamic. The farewell episode to all the various Harrison Wells is also well done. It gives Grant an opportunity to stretch his chops when channeling all the various Wells and the actual farewell moment was actually very well done. Its a bit odd that apart from Barry, there were no other OG team members around. I know Danielle was on maternity leave when the episode was largely shot, but Cisco should have been there. The ASF emotionless Barry episode was also pretty cool. The fight between Barry and team Flash was fun and it was shame they had to destroy the ASF and remove his speed thinking ability. The Still force episode with Cisco and Chester stuck in the 90's is pretty fun and kind of takes a bit of various Legends vibe with all the various characters in different era costumes. The final two parter of the Godspeed arc is decent. I did like that they separated out Caitlin and Frost. If they weren't going to merge them, it was better to separate them out. Not a fan of her love interest arc with Chillblaine but I liked that they did get around to her taking ownership of her actions, even though the way it happened didn't make much sense.

The cast does its job for the most part. All the OG's know their roles at this point. Grant, Candace, Danielle P, Jesse, Tom, Carlos all do their job well. Tom does get to play the OG wells, albeit just for a couple of episodes. I honestly think they should have done one more season with OG Wells. Carlos is missed after his departure. Kayla Compton and Brandon Knight both have much more elevated roles this season and they do a good job. Danielle Nicolet does overdo her performance at several points. Jessica Parker Kennedy is wonderful as Nora as usual. Jordan Fisher overdoes it a bit as Bart, but he's still likable. JWS is great as always. Michelle Harrison makes significant appearances both as the speed force as well as Joan Williams. Carmen Moore as Kristen Kramer is fine. Sara Garcia, Ennis Esmer, Christian Magby, and Karan Oberoi are ok as the forces and August Heart respectively. Jon Cor as Chillblaine is amusing, although far more effective when he was positioned as a villain. Natalie Deyfuss pops up for a couple of episodes as Sue and its great to see her too.

All in all though, the season is a big disappointment. Easily the weakest of the seasons. 3/10.

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