I had a lot of problems with season 1, but by far the biggest one was how they portrayed Iris as an incredibly unlikable character. It seemed like every episode, they had to bend the narrative around keeping her in the dark even though she was going to do something dumb to get herself killed anyway. Was I supposed to be rooting for this romance? The show did everything it could for me to root against it. Season 2 at least dropped most of the elements about her character that made her scenes so painful from the previous season. It also brought in parallel earths, which are really fun. The overall plot beats were similar to season 1, but there was so much more to like with season 2. That includes the side characters. Snow has more to say than just science and Ronnie. Cisco has a greater arc with learning how to use his abilities.
This makes more sense to me. I started with Flash and have only recently come around to Arrow, so I had nothing to compare it with except Marvel's Netflix shows, which are way darker than season 2 ever even approached.
One small thing though, do any of these Arrowverse shows have an actual successful relationship? I'm still catching up on Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow, so "yes" or "no" would be appreciated over specific examples. Especially concerning main characters, it seems like they all collapse or never get off the ground. Even side characters are either divorced, widowed, or later get divorced. Considering how much time the shows spend on romance, it's baffling at how few have any actual staying power.