The Flash Season 9 Blu-ray Review
“The Flash” goes out with a whimper in its final season.
The 13 episode ninth season is divided into 3 sections (AKA graphic novels) titled “Rogue War,” “Interlude 4,” and “A New World.” Rogue finds Flash and company facing off against the villainous speedster The Red Death, Interlude is mainly character centric arcs being expanded upon and ‘World’ involves the return of Eddie Thawne, Negative Speed Force and a crystal. Of course, viewers can expect many other storylines involving a time loop, the new Caitlin (Khione), Fiddler, Rogues, a heist, Chester and Allegra’s relationship, a new chapter in Joe and Cecile’s life, a trapped in time tale, cameos from the DC CW universe, Iris West (namely her career and pregnancy), Mark and Khione’s relationship, and the return of past foes.
For the first six seasons, “The Flash” was not only the best DC CW series, but also one of the best comic book TV shows. It felt like the comic books came to life and the series was never afraid to dig into the source material by bringing everything from Gorilla Grodd to King Shark to life. The last 3 seasons, however, saw the show fall apart completely amid cast departures and a serious dip in writing quality. There were hopes that maybe the last season would go all out and end on a strong note, but sadly that is not the case.
While it’s easy to see why the writers opted to focus on wrapping up character arcs and paying homage to past seasons (hence all the cameos), the actual story arcs and villains in this season were so underwhelming. It’s hard to believe that this is the best they could come up with and it’s even more puzzling why they didn’t go bigger with the stories ala a crossover with “DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow” or one last epic crossover (which was when the show was at its best). Perhaps the most disappointing element is that Cisco Ramone is nowhere to be seen in the finale. He was the heart of the show and it felt wrong to not have him there. Yes, it was due to scheduling, but something really could have been worked out here. It would have been worth the effort. At least Tom Cavanagh shows up though (no spoilers as to who).
The lone highlight here is the episode “It’s My Party And I’ll Die If I Want To” which includes an emotional reunion between Flash (Grant Gustin) and Green Arrow (with Stephen Amell reprising his role). Seeing those 2 stars interact again was rewarding (especially to fans of the CW DC universe).
Extras:
* Deleted scenes on episodes 1, 8, 10, 11, and 13
* An amusing 9 ½ minute gag reel.
* “The Flash: The Saga Of The Scarlet Speedster”- A 36 minute spotlight on the history of the DC character (and all of his incarnations) from the page to the screen.
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