Arrow Vs The Flash: Which TV Show Is Better?

9. Story

With five seasons of Arrow and three of The Flash, there's a lot to unpack here, with successes and misses on both sides. Both shows take the serialised approach of having one overarching narrative per season, but with a number of 'filler' episodes in there too, which is par for the course when you've got over 20 episodes to deliver between September and May.

Arrow's arc generally follows the line of a big bad attempting to destroy Star City - or just Oliver - and the obstacles the hero has to come to stop him, with one of the major themes being Oliver learning to trust others and work with them rather than going alone. That's also intercut with flashbacks to his time on the island, which ran out of steam by Season 3 and felt totally pointless by 4, though did improve in the fifth year. The show's story started to fall flat in the third season, and was bogged down by magic and mysticism in the fourth - along with just being quite dull - and there was a lack of momentum hindering those years. But in the first two, the show made you want to keep coming back week-to-week.

The Flash, by contrast, tends to have much more of a mystery to its narrative, usually around the identity of the main villain. That's both a help and a hindrance, as it adds a layer of intrigue but, after seeing it so many times, feels a little rote (and has also been weighed down by its increasing reliance on time travel). At the same time, though, it generally feels like more fun to watch, and the mysteries provide an easy hook, while the journey Barry has been on as a hero - including hitting some hugely emotional beats - outstrips that of Oliver, who has repeatedly fallen back into the same patterns and examined the same questions.

Winner: The Flash