I understand goofy. Charm, goofiness and cheese is why I enjoy Gotham. With this show the goofiness is to make the characters as stupid as possible.
It doesn't make sense for Sara to be working at Bed Bath and Beyond. She has the hook up at city hall, and she helped the US government fight off an alien invasion. It wouldn't be difficult for her to get a pardon if the deaths were an issue. Even if it was Felicity could whip up a new identity in her sleep. Why couldn't Ray go to Star Labs or Mercury Labs? Those places are within his field. Barry owns Star and knows Ray so that should have been a no-brainer. I have it hard to believe they don't want to rely on other people when they are apart of a team.
They don't need time hopping to be heroes. Citizen Steel is the only one shown to be doing any hero work during his downtime and his main grievance is being overshadowed by Wally. It would be more fun if crew were likable in their motives which they are not.