Why The Flash's 150th Episode Is Much Better Than Its 100th - Screen Rant

The Flash celebrated its 150th episode, which in turn outdid the 100th episode back in the fifth season. As the Arrowverse has been going for almost ten years, many of the long-running shows have started to reach various milestones. Hitting 100 episodes is a tremendous achievement that doesn't happen for every TV show. But, while most of the older Arrowverse dramas have gotten to 100 episodes, only Arrow and The Flash have hit 150 installments. Producing 100 episodes of a TV show is big, but hitting 150 or 200 episodes is even rarer.

Since March 2021, The CW had been building a lot of anticipation for The Flash's 150th episode. Due to The Flash season 7 being shorter because of the pandemic, the 150h episode also acts as the first part of their double-sized season finale. For The Flash's 150th hour, the writers used the episode to bring back some familiar faces. While there was a nostalgic feel to it, the characters were coming together in order to end the Godspeed war once and for all.

It is worth noting that The Flash seasons 5 and 6 had different showrunners, which is why the two respective milestone episodes differed in general. While the 100th episode focused too much on the past, the 150th installment focused on the stronger parts of The Flash. Now that The Flash's 150th episode has aired, there are several reasons why it outperforms the 100th episode and remain be more memorable in years to come.

The Flash’s 150th Episode Centered On A Far Better Villain

In most episodes of The Flash, the story focuses on a villain of the week unless it's the main antagonist of the season. In The Flash's 100th episode, "What's Past is Prologue," they focused heavily on trying to stop Orlin Dwyer, a.k.a. Cicada. Barry and Nora traveled back in time to various points in past seasons to stop the metahuman serial killer by building a weapon that would de-power Cicada's dagger. While it allowed The Flash's 100th episode to revisit previous seasons, it didn't hit the mark that is expected from a milestone episode. A big problem with "What's Past is Prologue" is how it revolved around a big bad that The Flash season 5 had just introduced so audiences were unfamiliar. In The Flash's 150th episode, "Heart of the Matter, Part 1," however, Godspeed was an antagonist that they have been trying to stop since the sixth season.

"Heart of the Matter, Part 1" took place amid Godspeed's storyline with his arc set to wrap up soon. While The Flash has seen many villains over the years, evil speedsters are something the show does really well. In The Flash's case, Godspeed was the first significant speedster villain since Savitar in season 3. For the 100th episode, it was difficult to build hype around a villain like Cicada, who didn't have a lot of depth at that point. To add to that, Cicada was such a dark antagonist that it was hard to feel the sense of celebration in the 100th episode. It's not easy to feel a show honoring what came in the previous 99 episodes when the story revolves around a serial killer. However, the Godspeed war has a nice balance that feels serious enough while also having a sense of adventure, something The Flash's 100th episode lacked.

The Flash’s 150th Episode Actually Celebrated The West-Allen Family

Another huge problem in The Flash's 100th episode was how it essentially forgot to celebrate the show's biggest strength, which is family. Even though Nora and Barry got to travel through the show's past seasons, it didn't feel like The Flash was honoring the West-Allen family completely. That is because Iris West-Allen had barely anything to do with the overall story, which is the last thing that should happen to the female lead. Iris is Barry's wife, as well as Nora's mother, yet she was barely in the 100th episode. Thankfully, The Flash's 150th episode avoided that error from "What's Past is Prologue."

As Nora and Bart came to 2021, "Heart of the Matter, Part 1" allowed the West-Allen family to be at the center of the story. There were plenty of comedic and heartfelt scenes while not sacrificing more serious moments. Having their kids show up from the future also progresses Iris and Barry's ongoing storyline as they have been trying to start a family in The Flash season 7. While Iris wasn't revealed to be pregnant in "Heart of the Matter, Part 1," having their children visit 2021 is a way to reassure Barry and her that they will become parents one day. The Flash learned from the 100th episode by having the 150th installment remember and celebrate the West-Allen family.

The Flash’s 150th Episode Won't Be Immediately Forgotten Like Episode 100 Was

Barry Allen Nora XS Bart Impulse The Flash

Not only was it disappointing how The Flash's 100th episode didn't accomplish anything, but it was quickly forgotten because of what happened the following week. When "What's Past is Prologue" aired, it was just a week before the Elseworlds crossover began. By the time The Flash season 5 resumed in 2019, the show barely acknowledged the 100th episode. This was a sign of why it doesn't work to have just one villain for a whole season of The Flash, especially with a 22-episode order. However, The Flash's 150th episode benefited from happening toward the end of season 7.

The writers could adequately lay out the Godspeed storyline for the final four episodes, with one of them being able to celebrate The Flash's past, present, and future. Because The Flash season 7 finale is happening right after the 150th episode, it automatically avoids any risks of neglecting the ongoing plot. For the 100th episode, it was essentially just a regular eighth episode of The Flash season 5, with some callbacks to previous seasons. In "Heart of the Matter, Part 1," the writers didn't just celebrate The Flash's whole run, but they also used the episode to ramp up the Godspeed storyline.

With returning characters like Cisco, Jay Garrick, XS, and getting to know a new hero like Impulse better, there was a lot to enjoy in The Flash's 150th episode. Even though Godspeed is a serious threat, there was also breathing room to have fun and enjoy what makes The Flash an enjoyable show. While "What's Past is Prologue" is technically The Flash's 100th episode, nothing about it felt like it was honoring the first 99 episodes of the series. Since The Flash has reached 150 episodes, the next big question is whether or not the show will run long enough to hit its 200th episode.

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Andy Behbakht (836 Articles Published)

Andy has covered the world of entertainment journalism since 2010, mostly superheroes and comic book media. In addition to his work as a reporter, Andy co-hosts The Flash Podcast, Titans Podcast while running the entire DC TV Podcasts network. He is also the founder/editor-in-chief of The Marvel Report since Fall 2015.