Spoilers The Flash - Season 8 Discussion Thread

So what was the deal with Candice Patton and Danielle Panabaker this season? Is the budget just so small now that they can't afford to pay everybody to appear in every episode?

 

I think they just wanted to be in less episodes. Plus I think Danielle was recently pregnant

 

I remember reading somewhere that Candice Patton was pregnant, so it’s possible they wrote her off the show for a bit until she gave birth, rather than trying to hide her pregnancy with overcoats and props.

For Danielle Panabaker, pure speculation, but it’s possible that because of strict Covid protocols during the filming of this season, she wasn’t willing to be away from her family for the entirety of filming.

 

You got that backwards. Danielle Panabaker announced she was expecting her 2nd child early in 2022. Plus she directed a recent episode where she only appeared herself in one brief scene. Clearly she has requested to fewer episodes to accommodate that.

Nothing has been reported publicly on Candice Patton’s reduced screen time. No record of her being pregnant. But COVID certainly could be a factor. With more women recently speaking publicly about Miscarriages in the news that they long kept secret, it’s possible she has private personal issues that the show has been willing to accommodate.

This is not aimed at anyone on this forum. I also have had my own curiosity about her reduced screen time. Which is understandable. But go on Twitter and you find lots of baseless conspiracy theories about her small screen time.

 

Candice Patton Clears Up 'Confusion' About 4-Week Absence

https://tvline.com/2022/07/01/the-flash-why-candice-patton-missing-season-8-four-episodes

 

Okay, good to have that settled. Still, I feel the season was weaker for the choice to keep Iris largely isolated from Barry and most of the cast -- especially following up on last season where she'd been replaced by an impostor for much of it. Barry & Iris are the core relationship on the show, and we've hardly seen them together.

Sounds like they expect to get back to normal in season 9, though.

 

Also, a bit with showrunner Eric Wallace about the changes made to take the finale from a series one to a season one.

 

This was a big step up from last season, and makes me feel a little sad that we'll most likely only be getting one more year of The Flash. I agree that Candice Patton's absence was felt strongly, but overall I liked the lack of a strong arc for the season. One thing that stands out for me is Tinya--she was just there and didn't really have any story other than losing her mother. Why introduce a new Legionnaire and not use her?

 

She seemed to be mainly a catalyst for getting Iris off on her own story arc separate from the others. Modern DC and Marvel productions seem to like using existing character names for what are otherwise whole new characters (e.g. Arrow assigning the name "Felicity Smoak" to what was originally intended to be just a minor character in the Queen IT department), which I suspect is so that the companies can claim prior ownership of the characters and don't have to pay film/TV writers residuals for their reuse.

Then again, maybe they had plans for Tinya that didn't pan out as circumstances shifted. I'd say maybe she was a setup for next season, but apparently they thought this would be the final season until they were already writing the finale:

https://tvline.com/2022/07/02/how-the-flash-series-finale-was-changed-season-8-finale/

Which is odd, given how much they left Caitlin's plotline dangling. That didn't feel like it was building to a series finale.

 

13 more episodes and the Arrowverse is gone.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/the-flash-ending-season-nine-cw-1235190162/

 

I hope the series finale is amazing. I hope we see Cisco again. I want a very nostalgic series finale, with lots of character moments and incredible speedster action sequences. I could see Barry traveling back in time and revisiting key moments in the show, not to change anything of course, but just to watch. Imagine how cool it would be to revisit when Barry first got his powers, his first fight with Reverse Flash, Oliver Queen, Zoom, Savatar, when he first kissed Iris, his wedding etc... And I think we need to see the birth of Nora too. And since this is the end of the Arrowverse, I hope it can be a finale for the Arrowverse too. I would love to see the Legends show up too.

 

I am glad it’s getting a planned final season. I was concerned when show runner Eric Wallace said after the season 8 finale aired that he did not even now how many episodes season 9 would have yet. That they would adjust until they were told - total episode count and if they were coming back after season 9. Well it’s almost impossible to write a satisfying final season or episode with no warning.

I hope we get something similar to season 8 of Arrow BEFORE Crisis. Meaning a lot of returning faces we had not seen in years. But I was never a fan of how Oliver’s death was handled. Or that it ended setting up spinoffs that never happened.

With hindsight the “Arrowverse” really ended with Crisis. That was the high point. Resolved plot lines or Arrow and the Flash. But more importantly reset the whole history.

I have no problem with guest stars from other shows. But hope this show does not have to use its limited remaining time to resolve plot lines of other shows.

It would be nice to see a full Justice League from all the various shows and actually use the name.

 

With only 13 episodes I don't hold out for much resolution for the greater Arrowverse. It'd be nice if Sara and Ava turned up for five minutes with baby Oliver (because what else would it be called) to give at least give Legends some closure since it didn't get an ending.

 

The only thing I want in Season 9 is to see Cisco one more time.

 

Now I might actually watch season 9.

 

This is terrible news.

I’ll go talk to him…

 

As someone who hasn't watched since the never ending saga of Mirror Iris, I can't say I'm surprised the show is coming to an end, and honestly its long coming. The last season I thought was legitimately good was Season 5 (and that was after a really bad season 4). Between the continuing decline in writing quality, the outright boring arc villains, and basically every main character except Barry and maybe Joe either outright leaving or downgrading from main cast to recurring (and being replaced by universally terrible characters, like the other reporter or the tech guy), there just wasn't much left I cared about.

The Flash Seasons 1-3 and 5 will always be a show I enjoy, but its long past its expiration date, and with it goes the Arrowverse. Hopefully they put some effort into the last season and the show/universe goes out with a bang. The end of what was at one time the best DC live action connected universe, we won't see anything like it from DC again. As mediocre to bad as the Arrowverse got near the end, at its height it was really great, and I don't see DC ever repeating it (especially not as long as they keep producing stuff like Titans, Stargirl, and Superman's Brats, James Gunn can't make every show for them).

 

It's a little sad, but you can't say that it didn't have a good run.

 

...Barry, run!

 

It will end with 184 episodes. Which is an extremely long run for a tv show by any measure. So I find it very bizarre to hear complaints about it’s “abbreviated” season. Given recent news on the CW and elsewhere we are lucky we are getting this at all. Plus for years there have been complaints the seasons are too long with many filler episodes.

This is probably the longest show I have ever watched in first airing. Not counting franchises that have come back in new incarnations. It’s had ups and downs in quality this whole time. But it’s been fairly consistent in its premise.

My hope is to see characters we have not seen in many, many years. Unless they finally make Rick Cosnett a full evil speedster, maybe Blue Cobalt, I do not need to see Eddie Thawne again. This show has a pattern to revisit the dead a lot. So much that you do not miss them, I would rather see living characters that the show has forgotten. Tina McGee is number 1 on my list.

This might be the last CW show I watch. Depending on the futures of Stargirl and Superman and Lois. I am actually a much bigger Superman fan than the Flash but that show has been a disappointment. Having little to do with what universe it’s set on. It’s crappy writing. It has copied the worst patterns of The Flash. Primarily weak season long storylines and villains. If you do not like their current idea you have to wait for the whole season to be over and hope the next season is better. I feel that way already after only 2 seasons. Was much longer before that happened on The Flash and it rebounded a few times.