Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Episodes: 26 (Including crossover episodes)
Duration: 42 min (per episode)
The Flash: Season 4 (Blu-ray) – Series Review
After mucking about in the third season in order to save Iris’ life, Team Flash eventually beat Savitar, who happened to be another version of Barry from the future. This deranged version of the superhero eventually had to be stopped by using extreme measures, which finally ended up screwing the present Barry Allen, as he had to be trapped in the Speed Force for his transgressions against the flow of time. Of course, there wouldn’t be a fourth season of the series if we had to make do with Kid Flash and Jesse Quick as the speedsters of the series. With a new foe and a bigger team than ever, we dive into the physical release of the fourth season of The Flash.
In the conclusion of the third season, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) had to enter the speedforce in order to balance the flow of time once again. This made it so that Team Flash had to do without their star player for the time being, leaving Iris (Candice Patton) in mourning and the rest of the team coping as well as possible. Luckily The Flash wasn’t the only speedster, and some other members of the team also had their own superpowers and of course there still was the highly intelligent Dr. Wells (Tom Cavanagh). Seeing the team was slowly becoming a family, they were working well together, even with the absence of ‘the fastest man alive’.
When out of the blue a mysterious foe appears, one that demands the help of The Flash, Team Flash decides to go with a very risky plan, freeing Barry from the speedforce, hopefully replacing him with something of equal worth to keep the flow of the universe intact. When doing so Barry gets saved, but it’s clear that he is in no state to become a superhero for the time being. Luckily, things go well, but eventually a new foe makes himself known, without even trying to hide his identity, challenging the team directly. Barry gets sucked in trying to find proper proof to put the new villain away, he finally gets thrown in prison for murder charges as his new nemesis is found dead, with all proof pointing towards the superhero. Of course, as many may expect, it’s clear that not everything is as it seems.
The flow of the series remains the same as it did during the previous ones, and for us, there lies the problem of the decay of the quality. Don’t get us wrong, if you’re a fervent fan of the series, you’ll still like the lengthy seasons and the ‘case by case’ approach of each episode, but for those looking for a slightly more adventurous route, or viewers who want steady progress in the main plot, the series is getting dragged out. Not only are there a lot of useless episodes in each season, the crossover episodes are just getting tedious and annoying, as the creators are now forcing you to watch Arrow, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow as well, if you want the entire crossover episode’s story before the physical release of the series. It is noted that the creators are granting a bit of service to those who buy a physical copy of the series, as the crossover episodes can be found in the extras of the box. Circling back to our initial thoughts, fans from day one, that were into the original formula will still find their pick of the litter, but everything could be done so much quicker, with a lot less filling, making the series actually somewhat more exciting than the snorefest it is currently turning into.
When looking at the acting performances, everything remains in sync with the previous seasons. The main cast does a formidable job in portraying their characters and their ever-evolving roles in the Team Flash situation, which seemingly gets bigger every season. While there are a few new contenders on the horizon, that somewhat add a bit of variation in the characters, everyone seems to be in tune with one another, making the series have a steady flow of acting quality. It’s also interesting to have a villain, after three seasons, that isn’t just ‘slightly’ faster than the Flash. Especially when said villains outmatch the Flash from the first episode until the last of said season. Considering the further the series goes with somewhat laughable writing at times, the cast does a great job in working with what they got.
The Blu-ray box of the fourth season comes with a hefty amount of special features, ranging from deleted scenes and a gag reel, to more interesting features revolving around the new nemesis, another villain that appears this season and a new member of Team Flash. Other than that there’s also a lengthy Comic-Con panel to explore, as well as an interesting feature about this season’s crossover between The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow. It’s fun that the extra episodes of the crossover have been included with the box, and they have been seamlessly implemented in-between the normal episodes, so they’re not in the special features section but in the actual episode list.
Conclusion
While it was certainly fun to have a villain that was not ‘slightly faster’ than the Flash in this fourth season, the hype is slowly drying up. We are sure fans of the series will still watch the weekly releases of the episodes, but not with the same enthusiasm as they did during the first two seasons. We respect the fact that the crossover episodes were included on this Blu-ray box but it still feels like the series either needs to end with grace, shorten its seasons or simply make the plot a bit more believable again, as a villain, that could easily kill the protagonist, messes around for 23-24 episodes is simply becoming laughable. Overall, the series is still enjoyable to a certain degree, it’s also clear that the cow is starting to give sour milk.
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