“Do you give people hope? Are you moving through your city like a guardian angel? Do you make a difference? That bolt of lightning chose you. Don’t ever forget it.”
There’s one thing about being the fastest man alive. You get to the end faster than anyone else … the finish line, if you will. But not so for Barry Allen, best known in the world of comic books as The Flash. When Arrow debuted back in 2012, no one could have foreseen where it was all going to lead. Greg Berlanti and a few others had created what we all thought was just another comic book hero television show. The Green Arrow wasn’t one of the better known heroes, but he was part of the Justice League for many years, and he had a rather interesting origin story that could be told over the longer form of a television series. But it didn’t end there. Within a couple of years we had Supergirl, Batwoman, The Legends Of Tomorrow, and, of course The Flash. All of these shows became quickly interconnected, and within another couple of years we all looked forward to a huge crossover event that would involve the casts and crew of all of these shows. These events usually involved some kind of a “crisis” and spread the story out over the various shows themselves. Now Arrow has ended, and the other shows are all gone as well. The Flash was the last hero standing, and that’s as it should be, because it was also the best of the shows. Still, all good things come to an end, and after nine seasons, Barry Allen and Team Flash are finally coming to an end. But how can you do something epic when you’re the last show standing? You do a crossover all within the confines of your own show and say goodbye with a bang. The final season of The Flash has certainly done that and more. Warner Brothers is now bringing it to a close by releasing the final season of The Flash on Blu-ray, and it’s the last one you’re going to get, so make sure you savor it a bit. I did.
“This is the end of everything.”
There’s a lot of cool things to find in these last “lucky” 13 episodes. They are kind of divided into three parts, as far as I can see. The first few episodes play out very much like a typical season of the show. There starts to be some trouble, and we meet new versions of villains most of us already know. We have Captain Boomerang, this time in the guise of a one Owen Mercer and played by Richard Harmon. You likely remember him for his long run on The 100. Boomerang is trying to steal a strong power source that ends up putting Barry (Gustin) and Iris (Patton) in a spoof of Groundhog Day. They keep living the same Wednesday over and over again. Other odd pieces of equipment are also being stolen by updated members of the classic Flash rogues’ gallery. Magda Apanowitz returns as The Fiddler, the girl with a killer violin, and Alexandria Wailes returns as Murmur with some powerful shockwaves. But we soon discover there’s a common thread here, and these folks aren’t working on their own. As usual we get introduced to a new mysterious big bad that this time comes in the form of another Earth’s version of Ryan Wilder, the second Batwoman, and she’s calling herself The Red Death. She puts up a pretty epic fight and challenges Team Flash, which is made up of Allegra Garcia played by Kayla Compton, Chester “Chunk” P. Runk, played by Brandon McKnight, CeCe, Joe’s new lady and a hero with empathic powers and played by Danielle Nicolet. More on Joe later. This has been the core team, but it won’t be strong enough to take out the new big bad. So it has to expand.
The situation calls for trusting some old bad guys which include The Pied Piper in the guise of Hartley Rathaway and played by Andy Meintus, Goldface, played by Damion Poiter, the bad guy with a big heart Jaco/Hotface, played by Max Adler and Mark. But Barry has to learn to trust these guys. This fight takes up the first five episodes and ends with a 2-part conclusion. From there we have a series of standalone episodes that certainly tie in with many things Flash.
“Looks like the Gang’s all here.”
Oliver (Amell) returns, as does Digs (Ramsey). You get to revisit the kids as Iris is preparing to give birth to Nora. Barry also has to deal with the fact that he knows the future and has written out all of the milestones as a kind of map for them to follow. Iris isn’t so happy with the idea, and they learn fate plays out in many ways. Along the way we get to see Wall return as well as many blasts from the past. You know that these episodes were written to pay off those cameos more than anything else. But you still have to have meat on the bone if you’re going to go out big, and that’s what you get in a 4-part series finale. We also discover that when the old multiverse was destroyed, a new one took its place, and it’s Oliver’s job to look over his new multiverse.
“It’s a long and kind of confusing story.”
We also get to meet a third Danielle Panabaker character. Both Frost and Caitlin are dead, and Mark (Cor) has been trying to resurrect Frost. What we end up with is a “hybrid” person who resists attempts to make her either person. We call her Khione. Fortunately, she’s a good guy still. She turns out to be a very powerful entity and leads to one of the more emotional parts of this final season.
The finale brings together all of the speedsters who were bad guys throughout the run of the show. It’s the negative speed force vs. the “good” speed force and brings back Barry’s mom, Nora, who represents the good force along with Barry’s dad, and also Jat Garrick, played by the star of the 1990’s show, John Wesley Shipp. You also get to revisit all those bad guy speedsters: Zoom, voiced by Tony Todd, Savitar, voiced by Tobin Bell, Reverse Flash Eddie Thawne, played by Rick Cosnett, and the best bad guy and good guy all these years, Tom Cavanaugh who does his reverse flash character. I missed him and was glad to see even this small return.
In the end it’s Jesse L. Martin who I will miss the most. He’s in about half these shows, and you can tell he was never quite the same after he injured himself a couple of years back. A lot of you remember him from Law & Order or even the Broadway smash Rent. I really hope he pops back up somewhere soon.
Gary Gustin really held the show together over nine years, and he ended up being my favorite hero in the Arrowverse. He has Ezra Miller beat hands down, and I suspect he’s a better man in real life than Miller. Miller’s a mixed-up thug who has brought shame to the character, while Gustin wore the scarlet costume with dignity and nobility. Thanks, Gustin, for nine years of action, adventure, and heart.
Video
The Flash is presented in its original broadcast ratio of 1.78:1. The 1080p image is arrived at with an AVC MPEG-4. Colors are bright in this high-definition image presentation. You’ll find wonderful sharpness and detail. The lightning effects are brilliant and bold. The streaks are always a treat. Contrast truly stands out with the addition of Zoom and his dark nature. Black levels are as good as the broadcasts ever were.
Audio
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is often a force of its own. Surrounds bring the speed images to life. Dialog is the most important element here. It is well served, to be sure. The score is frantic and helps build atmosphere. Subs even find their place from time to time. Pretty solid stuff.
Special Features
Deleted Scenes on select episodes.
Gag Reel: (9:26)
The Flash – The Saga Of The Scarlet Speedster: (38:26) Here we get a nice history of the character going all the way back to Jay Garrick of the 1940’s and all of the heroes to wear the crimson suit in the comics. We get a look at the 90’s television show as well as the one that just finished, and finally into the movie. The character’s importance in DC lore is rather nicely explored here.
Final Thoughts:
I’m going to miss these summers watching the CW hero shows to share with you guys. It’s been such a tradition around here for over 10 years. But we can still watch this stuff. There’s over 400 episodes of these things now on our video shelves. So don’t mourn the loss. Look at the shelf and smile. Oh, and when a buddy calls you up to ask if you want to binge some old Flash episodes? “All you have to do is say yes.”
