THE FLASH: THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON – A Blu-ray and Digital HD Review by John Strange
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-raytm I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own.
Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) has faced obstacles that would have broken a lesser man. What has kept him strong are a group of people that includes family and friends who have banded with him to protect his hometown, Central City. His adopted family, Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin), Iris West-Allen (Candice Patton), and Wally West/Kid Flash (Keiynan Lonsdale) took him in following the murder of his mother, a murder erroneously pinned on his father, Henry (John Wesley Shipp).
After the disaster at Star Labs which created meta-humans (including making Barry the fastest man alive), The Flash / Barry became friends with the scientists and techs at the lab. Dr. Harry Wells (Tom Cavanagh), Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) and Cisco Ramone (Carlos Valdes), the people who were part of the cause of the disaster, took young CCPD CSI Allen in and trained him to be the best possible hero he could be.
Since those fateful days of Season One, the team has fluctuated and dealt with traitors in their midst and villains that made each season of the show binge-worthy. Thanks to the DC Universe’s crossover episodes Flash has become friends with the Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, Kara Danvers/Supergirl, and all of the Legend’s of Tomorrow.
Season Five sees the team as strong as I have ever seen it. This season’s Tom Cavanagh character is Sherloque Wells, the master detective. His character seems to bumble a bit reminiscent of Monk or maybe a little of Colombo. Is he what he says he is? We can only hope. His reason to be on the team is to assist in capturing the season’s villain du jour.
And that villain is Cicada, a killer of meta-humans. Who is he (or she) and what gave him his urge to kill? And there are complications, the likes of which could only come from this show’s writers and showrunner. This complication will both make you smile and irritate you as the season progresses.
The season’s pace is fast (of course) and the action is furious, frosty even! The team will find lost family members. They will unravel secrets that will help them better understand who they really are. They will continue to be the heroes we need.
The season’s Elseworlds crossover episodes connect The Flash, Arrow, and Supergirl. They start in a DC-style homage to Freaky Friday with Barry and Oliver switching places due to the meddling of an insane doctor from Arkham Asylum who owes his ability to a great DC character, The Monitor/Mar Novu (LaMonica Garrett). The crossover brings not only Flash, the Green Arrow (Stephen Amell), and Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) and their teams together but includes Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) and Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch)! This set of episodes also make a great kickoff for new DC series, Batwoman, starring Ruby Rose as Kate Kane / Batwoman.
I truly love these crossovers for the imaginative writing that bring us stories totally different than the action from the various series but remain true to the universe at the same time. The number of series tied together varies each year according to the storyline. I love this because it gives the writers and showrunners a lot of elbow room to give us shows that make excellent midseason breaks!
The extras for the Season Five package include several featurettes that also appear on the Blu-ray for Arrow: The Complete Seventh Season Blu-ray offering. These include a look at the DC show panels at the San Diego Comic-Con, a look into the psyche of the DC Universe villains, and a great discussion of the Elseworlds episodes.
Want to know what is coming up on each of the series, not only the ones on the CW but also Black Lightning (one of my recent Netflix binges)? Want to better understand what makes the villains click? Want to hear the backstory on how the Elseworlds episodes are developed? Check them out!
The featurette, “The Evolution of Killer Frost”, I think stems from the changes which emerge in Caitlin / Killer Frost this season. These changes are far-reaching and will make her a much stronger member of the team. This story talks about how the character has changed and evolved since season one, episode one. Excellent information and, other than the deleted scenes and gag reel, the main new featurette (and a good one at that)!
Speaking of deleted scenes, they are only on the disk offerings and are located on the disk where their original episodes reside. There are some very interesting scenes. There is one that I wish had been left in its episode (first time I have ever said THAT!). Disk 2 contains the deleted scene that went viral for a while this week.
If you are trying to decide between the digital and disk options, you’ll want to note that only the disks have the bulk of the extras and only the Blu-ray edition has all three Elseworlds episodes.
This is an excellent season to binge-watch (if you haven’t already) or to binge on again. Strong shows like The Flash are a blessing to us after so many years of almost good movies. Support them so we can keep them on the air!
Created By:
- Danny Bilson, Paul De Meo
Cast:
- Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, Jesse L. Martin, Patrick Sabongui, Rick Cosnett, Tom Cavanagh, Teddy Sears, Shantel VanSanten, Keiynan Lonsdale, John Wesley Shipp
Extras:
Digital:
- Comic-con 2018 Sizzle
Blu-ray:
- The Best of DC TV’s Comic-Con Panel San Diego 2018
- The Evolution of Killer Frost
- Inside the Crossover: Elseworlds
- Villains: Modes of Persuasion
- Deleted Scenes
- Gag Reel
Episodes:
Digital (22 One Hour Episodes):
- Nora
- Blocked
- The Death of Vibe
- News Flash
- All Doll’d Up
- The Icicle Cometh
- O Come, All Ye Thankful
- What’s Past Is Prologue
- Elseworlds: Part 1
- The Flash & The Furious
- Seeing Red
- Memorabilia
- Goldfaced
- Cause and XS
- King Shark VS Gorilla Grodd
- Failure is an Orphan
- Time Bomb
- Godspeed
- Snow Pack
- Gone Rogue
- The Girl With The Red Lightning
- Legacy
Blu-ray (22 One Hour Episodes + 2 Full Crossover Episodes):
- Nora
- Blocked
- The Death of Vibe
- News Flash
- All Doll’d Up
- The Icicle Cometh
- O Come, All Ye Thankful
- What’s Past Is Prologue
- Elseworlds: Part 1
- Elseworlds: Part 2
- Elseworlds: Part 3
- The Flash & The Furious
- Seeing Red
- Memorabilia
- Goldfaced
- Cause and XS
- King Shark VS Gorilla Grodd
- Failure is an Orphan
- Time Bomb
- Godspeed
- Snow Pack
- Gone Rogue
- The Girl With The Red Lightning
- Legacy
Specifications:
Runtime (Blu-ray):
Feature:
- 1008 Minutes
Studio:
- Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc.
Release Date:
- 08/27/2019
Region:
- A/1 (U.S. and Canada only)
MPAA Rating:
- NR
Selig Rating:
- BRAND NEW
Selig Rating Scale:
BRAND NEW: Should add to your DVD collection at any cost
SALE ITEM: Worth owning, but try to catch it a sale
SECOND HAND: Plan to get it, but wait to buy it used
RENTAL: Worth taking a look at, but not owning
COASTER: Pick it up at a garage sale and use it for drinks
PULL!: Makes a great Trap Shooting target
