The CW is the place to be on the small screen when it comes to superhero action, and The Flash in particular has been a big hit for the network. The third season of the Scarlet Speedster's adventures in Central City has come to an end, and the fourth season is poised to go in a new direction on the supervillain front. Now, as we look back on all that has happened so far, we've come to the realization that, as much fun as The Flash can be when at its best, there are some things that fans really shouldn't overthink if they want to enjoy the show. We've put together a list of 15 things that are probably best taken as they are and not delved into... because that's when they stop making sense. Check it out!
1. How Team Flash Can Afford To Keep STAR Labs Open
STAR Labs was in rough shape back in Season 1 after the fiasco of the particle accelerator, but given that the guy running it was a genius and a supervillain, we can give the show a pass for not going into detail on how Cisco and Caitlin were being paid and how all the fancy tech was funded. Then, ownership of STAR Labs passed to Barry Allen, who... has somehow kept it up and running, despite living on his salary as a CSI for the Central City Police Department.
2. How Characters Never Mess Up Their Hair When Removing Masks
The Flash has featured all kinds of masked characters, with everything ranging from domino masks to full cowls to entire sets of armor. In a logical world, the show would be filled with heroes and villains shoving sweaty hair out of their eyes every time they confront each other. On The Flash, we have characters who remain perfectly coiffed no matter what kind of mask they were wearing.
3. How Barry Commits A Lot Of Theft
Although the Scarlet Speedster claims to be a crime-fighter, he commits plenty of petty crimes himself. The Flash plays it for laughs whenever Barry zips off and returns two seconds later with a pizza or eats somebody's lunch because he's feeling peckish, but those aren't victimless crimes! When Barry leaves and comes back with food in less time than it would take to ring the food up, he's stealing from either a restaurant or the people who actually paid for their food. Good guys don't steal lunches, Barry!
4. How Barry Doesn't Always Need His Friction-Proof Suit
One of the first rules established about speedsters back in the beginning of the series was that they need friction-proof suits if they want to run at superspeed without burning anything and everything they're wearing. Unfortunately, Barry has been breaking that rule from almost the very beginning. Sometimes, his civilian clothes (or the clothes of the ladies in his arms) will catch on fire when he runs in them; other times, nothing at all.
5. How Nobody At Crime Scenes Notices Barry Zipping In
A running joke about Barry Allen since way back when he first guest-starred on Arrow was that he was always late to work. After getting his superspeed, Barry was able to race to and from crime scenes quickly (and often without a friction-proof suit) without getting himself in trouble with his bosses. In fact, nobody at the crime scenes ever seems to notice Barry popping up with a gust of wind. Given how he used to be spotted back when he was known as the Streak, it's obviously possible for passersby to spot him.
6. How Barry Has Never Been The Fastest Man Alive
With few exceptions, episodes of The Flash have opened on "My name is Barry Allen, and I'm the fastest man alive." It's a fun line that generally sets up whatever zany shenanigans are going to happen in a week. It's also not true. Back in Season 1, Barry was slower than Reverse Flash. Back in Season 2, Barry was slower than Zoom. Throughout Season 3, Barry was slower than Savitar. Even Kid Flash was catching up! Sorry, Barry, but you are not the fastest man alive.
7. How The Criminals In The Pipeline Survive
The Flash always played itself as much lighter and less gloomy than its sister series Arrow, but there's something seriously dark about Team Flash's decision to keep metahuman criminals captive without trial in the STAR Labs Pipeline. Barry and his pals were illegally holding an awful lot of people against their will in cells that were quite small and visibly lacking in plumbing or sources of sustenance. Even Oliver at his most murderous wouldn't indefinitely detain bad guys in his lair! Some of the folks stuck in the Pipeline weren't even all that bad. Did Peek-a-Boo really deserve the Pipeline?
8. How Central City Loves The Flash Despite The Fact That He's A Total Menace
The civilians of Central City have honored the Flash over and over again through the years. He has a coffee named for him and action figures made of him and a city-wide day dedicated to him. Considering that some of the biggest catastrophes to strike Central City have been because of the Flash, it's a bit hard to take seriously. Did Barry really deserve Flash Day after he very nearly got Central City destroyed? If anything, that should have been Firestorm Day in honor of the dearly (re)departed Ronnie. The folks of Central City don't need to hate him, but do they have to love him that much?
9. How Barry Doesn't Seem To Care About Non-Metahuman Crime
Of course, Central City would have probably been destroyed by metahumans several times over by this point if not for the efforts of the Flash. That said, what about all the crimes committed by non-metas? As a food thief himself, we might not want to expect him to go after everybody with sticky fingers. Still, what about those violent crimes? People are murdered and assaulted in Central City, even if not quite as much as in Star City. Team Flash could really make a difference on non-meta crime.
10. How Joe Is Totally Cool With His Son Marrying His Daughter
Obviously, Barry does not consider Iris to be his sister, and Iris has stopped thinking of Barry as her brother, so we don't have to ignore any Lannister vibes going on between them. Still, Joe does consider both of them to be his kids, so why doesn't it really squick him out that his kids are totally hooking up? If Barry is his kid as much as Wally is his kid, then Barry/Iris probably should have made him at least a little bit uncomfortable.
11. How Team Flash Kills A Lot Of Villains
For a group that started out calling Oliver Queen a crazy person for killing, Team Flash really came around to killing villains pretty quickly. Admittedly, there have been some villains in The CW's superhero universe that absolutely could not be permitted to live, but not all of the ones that Team Flash has taken out really needed to be smote from the Earth. Was Griffin Grey so bad that he had to be forcibly aged to death? He was 19 years old and confused! Come on, Team Flash.
12. How Team Flash Didn't Immediately Isolate Barry After The Savitar Reveal
The turning point of Season 3 came with the big reveal that the man beneath that Savitar armor was none other than a time remnant of Barry. As soon as Team Flash recovered from their shock that Savitar was in fact an evil version of their lovable pal Barry, the first thing to do would have been to totally cut Barry out of all plans to take Savitar down. Savitar knew everything that Barry knew; if the rest of the team had simply worked out a strategy without Barry, H.R. might not have had to die.
13. How Jesse Gave Up Being Earth-2's Flash For Wally
While the big romance of The Flash Season 3 was undoubtedly Barry and Iris, Jesse and Wally had a cute little thing of their own going on. In fact, they liked each other enough that Jesse moved from Earth-2 to Earth-1 to be with Wally, which is super sweet... except for the fact that she gave up being the hero of her Earth so she could come canoodle with Wally. Jesse had to give up being THE Flash on Earth-2 to come play third-string to Barry and Wally.
14. How Barry And Iris Can Afford That Apartment
Barry and Iris moved out of Joe's house and into a gorgeous apartment of their own in Season 3. Our boy Barry actually found and put the money down on the place before even showing it to Iris, which was... bold. The question is how the junior CSI and the reporter are able to afford the place, even pooling all their available resources. Then again, if Barry doesn't pay for all his food, maybe he has quite the savings built up.
15. How Barry Saving Dante Would Not Have Been The Same As Saving His Mom
Given all the messes that have been made on The Flash due to time travel (case in point: Flashpoint), Barry is actually almost always right when he says no to messing with timelines. That said, his refusal to go back and save Cisco's brother because of what had happened when he saved his mom doesn't entirely track. Barry raced back 16 years and changed a huge event that shaped many lives; Dante had only been dead -- and killed by a drunk driver, not a vengeful speedster -- a matter of weeks when Cisco wanted Barry to go back and save him. The fallout for saving Dante would have undoubtedly been far less than when Barry saved his mom.
The Flash will return to The CW for Season 4 this fall. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest in TV news, and don't forget to check out our summer TV premiere schedule to discover all your viewing options now and in the coming weeks. Be sure to drop by our rundowns for cable/streaming and broadcast TV renewals and cancellations as well. If streaming is more your style, our Netflix premiere schedule will help you out.
