So, season finale is at an end. That was some crazy stuff. But it highlights a problem the series has always had, and now that it's over (for now), I'd like to take some time and discuss both the problem itself and a potential solution, as well as get other opinions/solutions.
The problem: Flash's speed is inconsistent. Preaching to the choir, I know, bare with me. In the penultimate episode he's never gone as fast as Mach 2, but he's already outrun a nuclear explosion or two, caught a bullet as it touched his neck, dodged a point blank lightning bolt from a sitting position WHILE carrying another person, reached the Speed Force Wall, and cracked the time barrier. What?! And he did all this without surpassing Mach 2. That is ridiculous. And I think it comes from two things:
1) Reverse-Flash. Specifically, dropping him in the first season, when Barry first gets his powers. When you drop Reverse-Flash, Barry has to kick it up a notch to reach him. And he did, but he shouldn't have. They should have held him back for Season 2, minimum, and really give Barry time to progress his speed. Have him fight individual Rogues in Season 1, before in Season 2 they start grouping together in teams. By that point, he's fast enough to fight groups of them when in Season 1, only one of them gave him trouble. This problem really became prevalent in the latter half of the season, specifically with Everyman. He's been kicking it up to stop Reverse-Flash for a while by that point, but he still had problems with one dude who had no offensive powers? C'mon.
2) And point one leads to point two: Playing fast and loose. Because they introduced Reverse-Flash so early, and had to ramp Barry up so quickly, they didn't have time to gradually speed him up, give him various tier's, obstacles, to break through. It's not explained why Barry can and can't do certain things, at some points we're just told Barry's never gone that fast, or he doesn't know how to do such and such. Despite us previously SEEING him doing something that logically would require him to be faster than that. And that's that: Barry now needs a pep talk and to believe in himself in order to do the thing of the day. End of story. Because it isn't explained exactly what's limiting Barry from doing something until it's plot relevant, we accept everything on faith and are then blindsided when he needs another pep talk to do the thing of the day. For example, the fire scene in the latter half of the Season. Barry needs to spin his arms to create a vortex to suck out the flames. Easy enough. Wait, why does he need a peptalk to do this? He's vibrated through a truck, run up buildings, canceled out a tornado, this should be child's play. Nope. Pep talk. Doubts. Etc.
SO. PROBLEMS. Still with me? Great. Time for a solution.
I propose they should have taken a hard look at all the things that stop someone from running like Barry: Lactic acid buildup in the muscles making it hard to run for extended periods of time. Reaction times. Wind resistance. Air friction. Inertia. Sonic booms. Escape velocity. Increased mass as lightspeed is approached. All these things could present serious challenges for Barry early on: Imagine if Barry couldn't run too fast because all these things were working against him. Nor for too long or his muscles would give out from exhaustion. Yeah, sure, not exactly what we want to see onscreen for long from the Flash, but in the first season? It should be fine.
Having all these problems clearly laid out means as Barry learns to overcome each of them, he gets much faster and we understand WHY he's much faster. It also means we'd get more consistency, since we'd know exactly what he can and can't do at a given point in time. As for how he could overcome these problems if acknowledged: Speed Force takes care of everything. How does he overcome his muscles giving out? Charge his body with Speed Force. Reaction times? Speed Force. Air friction, inertia, wind resistance, sonic booms, and so on? Shunt it all into the Speed Force, one by one. And while that'd also mean it'd take much longer to reach the feats we care about, like breaking the sound barrier (which in this scenario would blow out his ear drums the first time he tries it), they'd also mean more since we know all the things he's overcome to do them.
SO. That's my... way... longer than intended... ranting... wall of text... Whoops...
Well, if you read all that, good on you. So what do you think? Did Flash's inconsistency with his speed bother you at all? Was this all just nitpicking? Are the reason for the problems I propose accurate? If not, why do you think they were inconsistent? Does the solution I proposed seem like it would have worked, if not, what would have?
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