There was a time in the not-so-distant past when The Flash was the crown jewel of the Berlanti-verse. Not mired in darkness like Arrow (which had, at that time, lost its way), nor as chaotic as Legends of Tomorrow, nor as preachy as Supergirl, The Flash had a fantastic cast who interacted together in funny, compelling ways, as they fought well-conceived villains. But in this past year, things took a turn. Arrow got its early-seasons mojo back with Prometheus, Supergirl moved to the CW and embraced its joy (while losing its Heavy-Handed Feminist Speeches and started showing rather than telling), and Legends of Tomorrow somehow became the best of all with a rebooted team and a solidly dastardly team of villains. The Flash, meanwhile, languished as it was hamstrung by an ineffectual villain, a far-too-short exploration of Flashpoint (one episode?!), and a focus for half a season on a future death scene that we knew would never stick.

The Flash’s Season 3 finale, “Finish Line,” could have probably gotten away with it, too, if it wasn’t for the show’s over-reliance on the Deus Ex Machina that is the Speed Force. Those final moments were nonsensical — there was no context for why the Speed Force needed Barry (if it needed a prisoner because of Savitar, surely with him being gone that position can be vacated? How did Jay Garrick get released?), nor why Wally, Savitar, and Jay Garrick were forced to experience an unimaginable hellscape while special Barry gets to go in to Odin Sleep for an indeterminate amount of time. More than anything though, why was he so happy to leave the woman he finally had secured a future with? He essentially tra-la-la’d into the unknown, leaving his entire team behind. Also, R.I.P. HR? Your death kinda didn’t matter in the end. What is going on!

Even if you were onboard for this season, I think we can all agree that The Flash has some problems. While some have postulated that the show could be doing a soft reboot by keeping Barry in the Speed Force to start Season 4, it’s extremely unlikely. This is Grant Gustin’s show, no matter how badly his character has been treated this season. Wally is, at this point, no substitute for Barry story-wise, and Gustin’s charisma is what holds this whole thing together (which is one reason why dark, sad Barry has been so tedious — give him back his happiness!) So with that in mind, let’s take a look at some ideas of how The Flash can be great again in Season 4:

1) Put Barry Back to Work

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Image via The CW

As he tells us in every intro, Barry is just a regular ole forensic scientist. Except he never shows up to work! Season 3 was pretty great to start, when Barry was actually working his day job and sparring with Julian over crime details. The Arrow-verse series tend to only use regular employment as suits it, although both Arrow and Supergirl wrote in plot arcs this season that dealt with Oliver as mayor and Kara as a reporter. But The Flash is at its best when it plays up the Regular Guy aspects of its characters. The scene in “Finish Line” where Iris jokingly chastises Barry for the amount of money she spent on stamps (as he delivered all of their Save the Date cards in a microsecond) was super cute, and something the show should do more of. Barry has superpowers — it should be fun. And allowing the Flash to do some actual detective work could be a different way to reboot the show’s weekly storylines.

2) Bring Back Villains of the Week

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Image via The CW

Again, another early Season 3 triumph was the inclusion of Alchemy, and how he was creating metas by giving them back their Flashpoint powers. Each week the team dealt with a new foe, which not only gave them something to do (and a short-term goal to work towards), but it allowed Barry (and Wally) to be a hero. Not every villain has to want to destroy the world, and some could even last for (gasp!) a few episodes; the original comics are full of interesting bad guys (and gals) who could present the team with a revolving door of crimes — and potential emotional fallouts.

3) Give Iris a Real Storyline

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Image via The CW

Remember when Iris was a reporter? Yeah, me neither. Of all of the members of Team Flash, Iris has been short-changed the most when it comes to having her own storylines. It’s always about dating and Barry being jealous. Well, now that Iris and Barry are finally together, let Iris have a bigger role than just hanging around S.T.A.R. Labs being fashionable because she isn't a meta. Even when it came to her own death this season she rarely got a say in how things were being handled. Let Iris have her own narrative arcs — have her buy Jitters or something with the trust funds and full bank accounts these characters apparently have, or at least let her get back to reporting, something!

4) Restore Harrison Wells 2.0 to the Team

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Image via The CW

HR may have pushed the limits of our patience, but in no way do we want to lose Tom Cavanagh from The Flash. It seemed pretty clear at the end of Season 3 that the Wells from Earth-2, who kinda replaced Wellsobard from Season 1 (as the team's surly mentor), was back with Team Flash. His whole reason for returning to Earth-2, which caused the search for a New Wells, was to be with his daughter. Well, now that Jessie has speed, she’s gone off to Earth-3 to protect them. No need to Wells to stay on Earth-2, then! Come back, Wells. The team needs a mentor and, frankly, an adult (Joe is there for moral support, but I guarantee Wells 2.0 would have figured out a way to stop Savitar by Episode 3 if they had included him).

5) Let Wally and Jesse be Together … on Earth-3

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Image via The CW

Wally has been something of a controversial addition to Team Flash, but most of this is down to the show not knowing what to do with him. He was established as being faster than Barry, but Barry (who is a terrible mentor) sidelined him and tried to keep him from helping out with anything. By the time Wally finally found his Speedster groove, he got trapped in the Speed Force and then traumatized by Savitar. From there, he always seems to get injured / sidelined pretty quickly in major fights so that Barry can be the star and have his showdown.

This is Barry’s show, I don’t dispute that. But Wally is also a speedster. The show was quick to dispatch Jesse from the team because having three speedsters on the regular roster is ridiculous, but honestly Wally probably should have gone with her. The team can always call them back for major problems, but The Flash had established a cute relationship between the two, and frankly, it would be cool to see a meta-enhanced power couple. Let Wally and Jesse visit a lot, or have the team go and see them, but don’t start Season 4 with an identity crisis where Wally is trying to take Barry’s place as Earth-1’s Central City Flash and feeling like he’s not measuring up. (Conversely, if he’s too great at the job Barry will return and feel like he’s unnecessary — just don’t do it!)

6) Get Rid of the Speed Force Mumbo Jumbo

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The Flash always has an out for any narrative mistake it makes or corner it writes itself into: the Speed Force. Since we don’t really understand it, and its rules seem constantly in flux, it can be brought in at any time to just take over and “solve” a problem. Or in the case of “Finish Line,” create a completely false emotional moment. In fact, almost everything with the Speed Force felt utterly unearned and incomprehensible this year. Take a break from it.

7) Stop Making Grant Gustin Cry, and Make Barry a Hero Again

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Image via The CW

Guys, Grant Gustin is a great crier. He makes me want to cry every time he breaks down. He’s super effective at being emotional onscreen. Stop using it as a narrative crutch.

One of the things that has set The Flash apart from the rest of the Arrow-verse in the past is how it really digs deep into emotional storylines. The death of Barry’s parents is traumatic, and him wanting to keep finding ways to bring them to back is relatable and heartbreaking. But how many times are we going to watch his mother die? Season 3 doubled down by having us all watch Iris die over and over and over again. Give Barry a break, please. He’s a constant trauma survivor, we get it. But as I mentioned earlier, Gustin’s greatest strength is in his charm and charisma. Barry is a deeply likable guy … when he’s allowed to be. He can be funny and goofy and heroic. He’s often conflicted and struggles to do the right thing, but what good hero doesn’t go through that? It doesn’t mean that when he makes the wrong choice he has to be punished for 22 episodes.

The other side of this is that Barry was a deeply ineffective hero this year. He struggled a lot with wanting to kill, which doesn’t feel like him at all, and when it came to Savitar he had almost nothing to do with his eventual defeat. It’s fine to spread the love to the rest of the team, but Season 3 focused far too much on “dark” Barry, and his eventual turn that would make him essentially become Savitar (or one of his remnants that he casually created — by the way, not for the first time). Nobody wants to see Dark Barry, especially not for a full season. Make Barry Fun Again!

8) No More Speedster Villains — But How About No More Season-Long Big Bads?

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Image via The CW

EP Andrew Kreisberg has promised that Season 4’s Big Bad will not be a speedster, which is a huge relief. But what if we take it a step further? For most of the back half of this season, we’ve all been praising Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for its season of mini-arcs, which basically saved that show. By breaking up the season into three threats for the team to face (Ghost Rider, Life Model Decoys, and Agents of Hydra), the show was able to boil down its storytelling into tighter arcs.

Look, no show in the Arrow-verse is going to get less than 22 or so episodes a season. So why not figure out a way to work within that constraint like S.H.I.E.L.D. did? Season 3 of the Flash had the potential for it with Flashpoint, Alchemy, and Savitar, but ultimately the balance was way off. David Oliver recently wrote up how Big Bads should be on their way out, and I don’t disagree. But so long as the Flash doesn’t make one of its own team members (or a new friend who arrives at the same time as a masked villain) the Big Bad next year, that’s at least a start.

9) Keep Killer Frost

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Image via The CW

With all of these speedster-focused issues, it’s easy to forget about the trajectory that Caitlin had this season as she became Killer Frost. Like so many of the members of Team Flash, the show hasn’t really given her much to do. As Killer Frost (in this iteration and previous ones), the Caitlin character gains so much dimension, and one of the most promising scenes in the Season 3 finale was when Killer Frost / Caitlin confronts the team and acknowledges that she is now “other.” She didn’t choose to go back to being full Caitlin (she never really had a choice before, so this was her taking some time and some agency), so what we could see is a sassier Caitlin with frost powers showing up in Season 4. I am completely here for that, and it would bring a new dynamic to the team.

(I'm also still 100% in on her relationship with Julian -- who should definitely stick around).

10) Let Cisco Go on a Real Date

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Image via The CW

Seriously, y'all, give a brother a break.

Barry used to kinda be a lothario, and while I don't really buy that as Cisco's MO, the show could use some more fun dating storylines that aren't always about super deep, emotional relationships. Plus it's fun when not literally everyone on the show knows that Barry Allen is the Flash ...

Have some more ideas? Let us know in the comments, as well as what you liked -- and didn't like -- about Season 3. And the biggest question: will you be returning next year?