Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Episodes: 20
Duration: 42 min (per episode)
The Flash: Season 8 (Blu-ray) – Series Review
The Flash is almost blowing out ten candles, and at its near-teenager age it’s also one of the last ‘original’ Arrowverse shows that retained a lot of its initial charm and quality. Sadly, as these shows drag on, the story becomes a bit less interesting and the overall formula strays too much from what made the original season(s) charming in the first place. Today we’ll be taking a closer look at the home release of the eighth season of The Flash, which will be the penultimate physical release for the show. Even though the series is still exciting at times, we are also happy that the show has recently aired its final season.
As always, the introduction episodes of a season of The Flash already lay out the big problem or obstacle the team has to overcome during the course of around twenty episodes. In this case, it seems that for once it’s not a villain that will combat the Flash (Grant Gustin) but the cause of all evildoings is the Flash himself. It seems that Barry (Grant Gustin) will turn against the city he has been protecting for years, and a mysterious man by the name of Despero (Tony Curran) shows up to end Barry’s life before this happens. After a short altercation, Despero does decide to give Barry a week before coming back to eradicate him before he turns against his city. Team Flash is determined to figure out what is going on, and they will have to race against to clock to do it.
The show’s format remains the same as always, where a lot of episodes will handle a single problem at hand, while also propelling forward the main story that connects everything. We do feel as if the overarching plot is becoming a bit more important in these later seasons, which does manage to captivate you a bit more because things have grown a bit staler over the course of the last nine years. Even so, the story does still have a few twists and turns along the way, making sure that the story remains somewhat interesting.
In terms of acting performances, not a lot has changed. The cast is well-cemented in their roles, and their performances hold very few surprises. You’ll get to see a lot of familiar faces who get a bit more screen time again, but for the most part, the cast remains unchanged. We see a few new villains pop up here and there, but that’s almost about it. As the show has grown a bit stagnant on many levels, this is also true for the actual character evolution. At this point in the show, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it also feels as if the characters have peaked a while ago.
When buying a Blu-ray copy of the 8th season of The Flash, you’ll have to make do with fairly basic special features. You’ll be able to watch a few deleted scenes, a gag reel, and two meatier featurettes. One of these extras revolves around the different DC shows in general, while the other will tell you more about how The Flash has withstood the test of time. The latter was actually quite interesting, as it showed us how the show has evolved over the years but also how The Flash’s comic books have changed over the years. All in all, the bonus content was decent, but we wish there was a bit more more.
Conclusion
Those who have stuck with the show up until now will probably still enjoy the continuation and the storyline(s) that unfold in this season, but viewers who took a break a few seasons ago because of the declining quality will not have anything to look forward to. The Flash is one of those shows that is still entertaining background noise, but it fails to captivate due to its convoluted narrative. On top of that, the show is also turning more into a ‘Flash and Friends’ format, which also caused the decline of many other Arrowverse shows that chose to go the same route. Again, the show still retains a modicum of its initial charm, but we’re also somewhat happy that the recently aired ninth season is the final one.
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