Season 4 Spoilers Thread

[Haggard01]

So this just showed up and well obvious spoilers

[darkphoenix21]

^^^you mean this set picture:



Why would Wally be wearing Barry's costume?!?

There's a few more:https://www.technobuffalo.com/2017/0...-4-set-photos/

[Haggard01]

^^^you mean this set picture:



Why would Wally be wearing Barry's costume?!?

There's a few more:https://www.technobuffalo.com/2017/0...-4-set-photos/

Yep and thanks. Not sure how my picture thing got messed up. I'll have to look into that.

Looks like Wally has fully taken on The Flash role. I hope we get some episodes with him under the cowl, but I have the feeling Wally as The Flash will last as long as the actual Barry being in Flashpoint did.

[nate-dog1701d]

I haven't been a fan of this show's Wally, but I'm looking forward to anything that might possibly be a shake of the status quo, including him as The Flash.

[costas22]

Keinyan also shot some scenes in his Kid Flash gear. Also there's a photo of Grant (with facial hair) in the Flash suit.

Hope I'm wrong, but I'm worried that just like last year, the big summer cliffhanger will be wrapped up by the end of the premiere.

[TyrantLord]

Hope I'm wrong, but I'm worried that just like last year, the big summer cliffhanger will be wrapped up by the end of the premiere.

More than likely. Even if it's not the premier expect it to wrap up soon after. This show doesn't like to dwell on interesting storylines like this for very long.

I'm more interested to see HOW they explain Barry's release from Speed Force time out, as technically they made the mistake of establishing that a speedster must always be trapped in there. Will they even bother to try to resolve this or are we just expected to forget it ever happened? If so then the CW's uncanny knack for lazy/sloppy writing continues.

[costas22]

A couple of tidbits from someone who read a TV Guide article about season 4:

https://twitter.com/myrcellasear/status/885909874680487941

- Iris leads the team in Barry's absence. Eh.
- Jesse won't return anytime soon. Good.
- Gypsy will be a recurring character. Your spot on these shows is safe if you're a love interest.
- Looks like TC will play Harry Wells for the entire season.
- The article mentions Tom Felton, but it's unclear about whether he'll return or not.

More than likely. Even if it's not the premier expect it to wrap up soon after. This show doesn't like to dwell on interesting storylines like this for very long.

I'm more interested to see HOW they explain Barry's release from Speed Force time out, as technically they made the mistake of establishing that a speedster must always be trapped in there. Will they even bother to try to resolve this or are we just expected to forget it ever happened? If so then the CW's uncanny knack for lazy/sloppy writing continues.

I'm guessing Team Flash will find a way to work around that stipulation. The concept of a speedster serving a life sentence in the Speed Force was troublesome to begin with and they can't ride it for too long. My only hope is that they actually divulge why that will change, as opposed to just having Barry escape the SF without any explanation.

[nate-dog1701d]

I'm guessing Team Flash will find a way to work around that stipulation. The concept of a speedster serving a life sentence in the Speed Force was troublesome to begin with and they can't ride it for too long. My only hope is that they actually divulge why that will change, as opposed to just having Barry escape the SF without any explanation.

I sense a season-long mystery that definitely won't grow stale after three episodes.

[TyrantLord]

A couple of tidbits from someone who read a TV Guide article about season 4:

https://twitter.com/myrcellasear/status/885909874680487941

- Iris leads the team in Barry's absence. Eh.
- Jesse won't return anytime soon. Good.
- Gypsy will be a recurring character. Your spot on these shows is safe if you're a love interest.
- Looks like TC will play Harry Wells for the entire season.
- The article mentions Tom Felton, but it's unclear about whether he'll return or not.



I'm guessing Team Flash will find a way to work around that stipulation. The concept of a speedster serving a life sentence in the Speed Force was troublesome to begin with and they can't ride it for too long. My only hope is that they actually divulge why that will change, as opposed to just having Barry escape the SF without any explanation.

Iris may be "eh" as a character, but they have to give her SOMETHING to do. Without Barry to be the love interest with, she literally IS deadweight as a character otherwise. She has no powers, no connections with the courts or police. She has no scientific skills. Iris literally is just a normal girl. By having her take charge, it gives the writers something to give Iris something to do. H.R was essentially dead weight last season on top of being a jack assed liar, so I was actually ok and somewhat glad they killed him off. Wasn't a fan of H.R, at all. At least doing something like this for Iris prevents her from suffering similar fates.

[costas22]

I sense a season-long mystery that definitely won't grow stale after three episodes.

In regards to how Barry returns from the Speed Force? I hope that's the case, but I'm afraid they'll play it safe again. On the positive side, having DeVoe as the Big Bad means that time travel and the Speed Force won't be explored a lot this season. Something we could do with, IMO.

Iris may be "eh" as a character, but they have to give her SOMETHING to do. Without Barry to be the love interest with, she literally IS deadweight as a character otherwise. She has no powers, no connections with the courts or police. She has no scientific skills. Iris literally is just a normal girl. By having her take charge, it gives the writers something to give Iris something to do. H.R was essentially dead weight last season on top of being a jack assed liar, so I was actually ok and somewhat glad they killed him off. Wasn't a fan of H.R, at all. At least doing something like this for Iris prevents her from suffering similar fates.

To be clear, my "eh" reaction isn't directed at Iris as a character, but to the storyline itself. I haven't been a fan of shoehorning her at Star Labs for the past 2 seasons and making her the leader in Barry's absence is hardly an improvement on that. It doesn't even make sense considering Cisco and Harry's experiences and knowledge in everything Team Flash related. Not being sexist about it. Barry himself asked those two to keep the ship steady in his absence, not Iris.

Iris definitely needs something to do. We agree there. And that's why I wish the writers would remember she's a journalist. Maybe this occupation doesn't come across as glamorous as whatever Barry, Wally and Cisco are up to, but it was her natural habitat. She looked more at home there than she did sitting around at Star Labs just to give Barry pep talks.

The other problem with this is that it seems like a temporary solution. When Barry returns, Iris will end up doing nothing again.

[nate-dog1701d]

In regards to how Barry returns from the Speed Force? I hope that's the case, but I'm afraid they'll play it safe again. On the positive side, having DeVoe as the Big Bad means that time travel and the Speed Force won't be explored a lot this season. Something we could do with, IMO.

I just meant they'll probably have him drop out of the Speed Force and won't explain it until the end of the season.

[TyrantLord]

To be clear, my "eh" reaction isn't directed at Iris as a character, but to the storyline itself. I haven't been a fan of shoehorning her at Star Labs for the past 2 seasons and making her the leader in Barry's absence is hardly an improvement on that. It doesn't even make sense considering Cisco and Harry's experiences and knowledge in everything Team Flash related. Not being sexist about it. Barry himself asked those two to keep the ship steady in his absence, not Iris.

Iris definitely needs something to do. We agree there. And that's why I wish the writers would remember she's a journalist. Maybe this occupation doesn't come across as glamorous as whatever Barry, Wally and Cisco are up to, but it was her natural habitat. She looked more at home there than she did sitting around at Star Labs just to give Barry pep talks.

The other problem with this is that it seems like a temporary solution. When Barry returns, Iris will end up doing nothing again.

Problem here is time. In this instance the CW would rather rear its head up as the CW network and focus more on either Barry and Iris singing to each other like it's suddenly a musical or focus on Barry or one of the other Team Flash/Star Labs guys bum it out from a past failure so it creates more melodrama than develop a character into something of importance, like say Iris into a reporter and remembering that while she's about to be Married to Barry she's a woman in her own right who has her own life to live.

Maybe she could be solving cases on her own with reporter skills that aren't relevant to team flash once in a while? Cases that don't involve metas but real life scenarios like political corruption and the like? Or is that asking too much? Just because Iris and Barry will be married shortly down the road doesn't mean they have to be joined at the hip.

But no, instead of taking time to develop these characters as separate entities lets all make sure we use that time to establish that the ONLY time we get to see them is in star labs.

[President_Luthor]

I can't believe they can't give Iris subplots she can own, considering she allegedly has a reporting job that would seem tailor-made for investigating mysteries, etc. (Yeah, the few times she actually did go out and dig into a bona fide mystery weren't great eps., but it was something.) It's like they forgot she was working at CCPN. Reporters report the news. I guess I shouldn't expect as much on Flash, since Kara hardly reports at all and James pretty much stopped being a photojournalist on SG.

Not enthused about Iris taking point on leading the team -- but it is something for her to do. Not something great, mind you, but something.

And being the primary or recurring love interest for the main protagonist or team member is part of the problem re: Berlantiverse. Love interest duties are their main responsibility, sadly, and often to the detriment of their own character development on the show. Just ask Arrow's Felicity, LoT's Hawkgirl and especially SG's James Olsen (esp. him -- dude needs an intervention at this point!). Iris has plenty of company in sharing this "curse".

We're probably not going to get a whole lot out of Gypsy storywise either, for similar reasons. She'll be there so Cisco can get a temporary pass out of Can't Catch a Break Club. (Julian will keep his spot on the bench warm until Gypsy takes off again.)

The series taking a breather from Speed Force or time travel plots might be a good thing though, to shake up the malaise the show's been stuck in of late. They don't want to get into a 'been there, done that' routine after three seasons.

[TyrantLord]

You know what's really bad? Until we started having this discussion about Iris, I seriously forgot she was a reporter! They spent so much time being obsessive with keeping her in Star Labs that I forgot she actually HAD a career of her own.

The show needs to remember that these supporting characters DO have lives of their own and need their own subplots to be interesting. Barry doesn't HAVE to be their sun all the time, there's a bigger world and universe for them to explore.

Let Iris do some reporting, have her investigate corrupt politicians, bank robberies/thefts that don't necessarily have to require the Flash's attention or be involved with metas.

Let Cisco find some sort of career with tech outside of star labs. I refuse to believe that being tech support and being second best (if even that) to his best friend is the dude's only ambition in life. If I'm him I'd be feeling a little stuck in life.

Give us some episodes with Julian adapting to life in America and even in Central City.

Let Wally start finding his own way as an engineering technical genius. He'd shown some hints at this earlier in the show but it's literally been dropped to a screeching halt since he put on the kid flash costume.


There are SO many opportunities for great story telling here. Unfortunately I'm starting to realize that the CW simply CAN'T tell stories outside of high school levels of melodrama. It's a weakness of the network that really makes me wish that the Arrowverse was produced by the USA or SCYFY network instead.

[TheSecretVampire]

Funny how one show has Felicity running things from A-Z and the other show just has Iris there, doing pretty much nothing outside of stuff having do to with Barry. They really need to give Iris something to do on her own, as well.