Finally!  All season I have been waiting for a season finale that I just truly loved and this week “The Flash” delivered!  It’s ironic that this super hero, who was originally goofy and unsure, has now become one of the top leaders in the super hero spectrum.  This season I actually preferred “The Flash” to all of the other super hero shows currently on television.  This season was clever and witty, but also introduced some new characters AND we saw a lot of growth in our main characters as well.  The Thinker was introduced this season, and is one of the most unique villains yet because he is truly diabolical in his entire plan from the conception.  He planned every nuance of every situation and was able to calculate all potential outcomes.  This time it felt like Barry and Team Flash really seemed defeated.  Each new episode was both exhilarating and disappointing because the team just kept losing!  At the same time, they became so much closer this season and with the introduction of Ralph, we have another super hero on the team.  But wait!!!  I am getting ahead of myself! So lets back up real quick and review the craziness of this season!

The season started off with Barry still trapped in the Speed Force and Team Flash trying to go on without him.  Wally was helping out, and Iris was running the team along with Cisco and Kaitlyn for six months not knowing when or if she would see Barry again.  Then a flying Samuri shows up and demands to only deal with The Flash–the original Flash–, or he will destroy the city.  Cisco was secretly working on a formula that would release Barry from the speed force and finally tells the team.

However, when Barry is first released, he is not the same Barry that we know in love.  He is vastly different and appears to just be a rambling mental patient, which is heartbreaking for everyone.  In an attempt to bring back the real Barry, Iris gives herself to the Samurai and of course Barry snaps out of it in time to save her, only to find out that the Samurai is actually just  a robot that is being controlled by the real villain–whom we will come to know as The Thinker. We don’t yet know who or what he is and why he has it out for Barry, but he does.  The rest of the season goes on to track down twelve people affectionately known as “The Bus Metas”.  You see when Barry was released from the speed force, so was a great deal of dark matter that changed twelve individuals who were on a bus near where he was released.  They do not realize it at first, but these twelve people possess the exact powers that The Thinker–who we now know as DeVoe, a brilliant deranged professor gone rogue from dark matter enhancement–needs to be indestructible to any super hero that The Flash may ask for help.  He is able to absorb the powers from all twelve metas to become an ultimate super villain.  Each episode of the season shows Team Flash desperately trying to save each bus meta before they are absorbed, and tragically failing every single time–DeVoe always out thinks them and plans for every contingency.  The ultimate sacrifice of course being the moment that Ralph–the newest team member–is absorbed as well.  Barry struggles with a lot of grief and feels responsible for Ralph’s loss.

All season long Wally is MIA as well–he left to find himself after Barry’s reappearance and you can now find him as part of the team on D.C. Legends of  Tomorrow.  And Joe has been expecting a baby all season with his girlfriend as well!  Who has developed powers to read peoples minds because of her pregnancy.  The Finale was so incredible because it brought everything full circle.  The team is finally able to figure out how to defeat DeVoe and bring back Ralph, Joe and his fiancé have their baby (Iris’ and Wally’s new half-sister) and of course in the middle of their celebrating, it ends in a cliff hanger.  All season long there has been a mysterious girl popping in and out of Team Flash’s lives and we haven’t known why.  She never seemed sinister but she did seem important.  I had an inclination all season that she was from the future and possibly related to The Flash because of her little comments.  Turns out that she is Iris and Barry’s daughter!  And in her own words she thinks “she made a big mistake”.

This was a great season for The Flash.  This show has come so far since the first season.  Characters have grown and changed and evolved and feel more nicely settled into their roles.  The villains have gotten even more intense and challenging, and the plot has stayed interesting and connected.  The finale did a great job of action without devastation or loss, and in contrast to Arrow–which ended on a very tragic and depressing note–The Flash ended with celebration and intrigue.  Both methods work in reeling in viewers for the next season, but I prefer the celebration and cliff hanger!