The Flash: The Complete Third Season - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Flash: The Complete Third Season

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

“Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Forum Post. The opinions I share are my own.” ​

Movie
I’ve made it no secret that the CW’s The Flash is one of my favorite superhero shows of all time. It came out of the gate rivaling the second season of Arrow and while it suffered a minor setback in season two, but was still one of the more engaging shows out there. Season 3 unfortunately suffers from the problems that Arrow dealt with. A third season that really takes a step down from the previous two years, and gives us a rehashed villain process that anyone can see coming a mile away, and interpersonal drama issues that weigh down the action and adventure of what has come before (but at least Iris is not written horribly JUST for a conflict scenario like Season One had. My one and only complaint for that year). Now, don’t get me wrong. The Flash has some of the best characters in modern comic book TV shows, and I had a blast with much of the season, but the Jr. year feels a bit more tepid than it really should, especially with them creating a brand new villain instead of just copying (or partially copying) a famous nemesis from the comics.

Last time we left the world of the fastest man alive Barry (Grant Gustin) and Iris West (Candice Patton) were finally together in love. He had defeated Zoom, and restored order. However, the tortured past of the speedster is set to destroy everything he loved. Unable to resist the allure of saving his mother, he travels back in time to set things right, and in the process creates an alternate reality known as “Flashpoint”. Well, we all know that changing time can have disastrous effects, Barry’s decision alters reality in ways he never imagined. Life is completely different, and he now is losing his identity as the new timeline starts to cement. Trying his best to correct the mistake, Barry once again travels back in time and lets the murder of his mother happen so that time can return to normal, and it seems to work. Well, SEEMS being the operative word. Even though Barry is back in his normal timeline with him being a speedster once more, things aren’t exactly the same. Iris and her father Joe (Jesse L. Martin), Cisco’s (Carlos Valdes) brother is dead, and Caitlin is secretly displaying the meta human qualities her doppelganger in Season 2’s ‘earth 2’ was displaying.

To make matters worse Flashpoint seems to be trying to bridge the gap between this world and the alternate one Barry created by saving his mother. A mysterious robed villain acting as the envoy for a mysterious armor wearing speedster named Savitar is giving powers to the humans who were superpowered in the Flaspoing world. One of them being Wally (who finally ascends to his role as Kid Flash). Savitar is not just a speedster, but considered a god. A speedster known to time jump at will and has supposedly been around since beginning of time. A villain who seems to be one step ahead of everyone else and substantially faster than Barry is even at his peak. Taunting the team, Savitar has one thing in mind. The destruction of Team Flash, and the murder of Iris West. A goal that none of our heroes can let happen.

Season three really does start out nicely. The Flashpoint Paradox storyline was abruptly shortened to a few episodes, but the writers started getting their groove down when they introduced Savitar. He was big, menacing, and Earth 2’s Flash gives us some pretty cool background information for the character, hyping him up into quite the villain. It’s not until the second half after Wally gains his powers as Kid Flash, and Iris’s fate is detailed that I started to look back and realize this just seemed all too familiar. A super evil villain who we all knew the identity of suddenly appears, Barry has to try and amp himself up to higher and higher speeds to save Iris (always Iris), and then they discover the super secret identity of the villain dramatically just an episode before they finish him off forever.

I personally think a lot of the flaws came from the writers painting themselves into a corner with Flashpoint. The storyline for that was wrapped up WAYYYY too fast, and when they realized their mistake they spend the entire rest of the season trying to write their way out of that particular issue and just couldn’t gain ENOUGH traction to become as interesting as the previous years. Once again Harrison Wells (this time a THIRD earth version) completely steals the show (the episode with him at the coffee shop reading his book to a couple of hot fans had me dying with laughter), and Iris is actually given a meatier role. Something that is much more impressive considering the writers are finally giving her a personality besides “annoying whiner”. Wally actually makes a good kid flash, and Cisco is superb as Vibe. My only complain with any of the characters has to be the slap dash way in which Caitlin turns into Killer Frost. The meta human DNA suddenly turning her evil makes no sense whatsoever, and really feels like they just wanted an excuse to turn her into her famous villainous self rather than make it a natural occurrence.




Rating:

Rated TV-14




Video:

The Flash come to Blu-ray with a fantastic looking 1.78:1 framed AVC transfer, and the Blu-rays looks just as fantastic as previous seasons. Without the doom and gloom of zoom (say that three times fast), the show returns to its normally slightly over brightened image that just sparkles with color. Zoom’s armor is brilliantly blue and metallic, and Barry’s new uniform is a luscious maroon red with those lovely yellow accents. Most of the CGI heavy battles look best at the beginning and end of the show (where most of the budget went), but clarity is still sharp and clean throughout. A strange stylistic element of the show has been to give soft and slightly hazy daylight scenes that look like everything has been sun drenched. Shadows show some minor banding, but overall the TV imagery is quite clean and visually appealing with great facial details and very nice shadow detailing.




Audio:

The Flash has always enjoyed a very healthy sounding DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix in the previous two Blu-ray presentations, and season 3 keeps the standards high with a REALLY impressive sounding mix. The battles between Savitar and Barry are filled with thunderous bass, bursts of electricity created by their speeding bodies, and the whole ambiance is just incredibly immersive. Directional cues are hot and heavy, with the constantly moving heroes and villains, accented by some nice background sounds such as the murmur of a coffee shop’s patrons, or the clack of HR’s constantly clicking drum sticks. LFE is tight and punchy, adding a lot to the battles between our three (sometimes four if you include Jessie Quick) speedsters, and once again Warner proves that a little TLC on their “Arrowverse” shows delivers quite an experience.







Extras:

• The Flash: 2016 Comic-Con Panel
• A Flash in Time: Time Travel in the Flash Universe
• Villain School: The Flash Rogues
• Allied: The Invasion Complex (The Flash)
• Rise of Gorilla City
• The Flash: I'm Your Super Friend
• The Flash: Hitting the Fast Note
• Harmony in a Flash
• Synchronicity in a Flash
• Deleted Scenes
• Gag Reel

Final Score: ​

Season 3 of The Flash IS the weakest of the series by a decent margin, but it is still an entertaining show nonetheless. I feel that the ‘pattern’ that the show has been following has been protested and online bashed enough that the creators are listening to the fans and changing it up for season 4 (by all accounts due to some of the villain changing that they’re bringing into the picture). Savitar’s identity was almost telegraphed as badly as Harrison Wells being The Reverse Flash in season one, so be prepared for a “non surprise” in regards to the villain, but there are a LOT of things still making the show interesting, and it is still at the top of the CW superhero shows in terms of entertainment. Audio and video are absolutely fantastic, and the extras are a BIG stuff up from the piddly assortment we’ve seen with Dc’s Legends of Tomorrow and Gotham this year. Still a decent watch.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Tom Cavanagh
Created by: Andrew Kreisberg, Greg Berlanti, Geoff Johns
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Portuguese DD 2.0
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: TV-14
Runtime: 1012 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: Own on Blu-rayTM and DVD 9/5/2017

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Decent Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I have not seen season 1 yet.. Will have to add this entire series to my watch list.