The Flash: The Complete Third Season (Blu-Ray + Digital)

Blu-Ray Reviews | Sep 3rd, 2017

Image used with permission for review purposes.

Starring: Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, Tom Cavanagh, Jesse L. Martin
Created By: Greg Berlanti, Geoff Johns, Andrew Kreisberg
Written By: Various
Studio: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
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Having decided against his own better judgement as well as everyone else’s, Barry saved his mother from certain death against Reverse-Flash thus creating the Flashpoint Paradox. With Barry living the life that he always dreamed about and Kid Flash protecting the streets of Central City…what could go wrong?

“The Flash” season 3 picks up with Barry living it up in an alternate timeline and loving every minute of it until disaster strikes and he has to give it all up to be a superhero once again. There is also a new villain in town…another speedster (gasp) who is evil, hates Barry Allen with every ounce of his soul (gasp) and is much faster than the fastest man alive (gasp). As you can tell from all of the gasping, the writers for the show still don’t want to come up with a major villain that is interesting but not a speedster. Throughout the course of season 3, I had no interest in Savitar or his movie-Megatron armor. For the third time in three seasons it was more of the same in that regard and I was pretty much over it.

While Savitar was a dud from the beginning, there were plenty of things that I liked about season 3. Alchemy was interesting and would have made a much more interesting villain that could challenge Barry and company in a different way much like what happened with Damien Darhk in season 4 of “Arrow”. The “Invasion” storyline, while a departure from the comic book crossover of the same name, was a fun and interesting take on the story of the Dominators and their plans for Earth. It was great to finally see everyone together from the CW “Arrowverse” shows including the newcomer in “Supergirl”. She finally had a major part to play since is officially part of the CW now. One of the most fun and exciting things from season 3 for me was the battle for Gorilla City. Gorilla Grodd finally got his time to shine and it was worth every second! One must also not forget the awesomeness that was the musical crossover between “Supergirl” and “Flash”.

Even though there were some great moments from season 3, one of the things that was the most disappointing for me was that the it carried over something from season 2 that it should have left behind. The first season of “The Flash” stood out from the dark brooding drama of “Arrow” with an unadulterated love for its superhero roots. It didn’t shy away from the fun and sometimes campy things that make the Flash character so great. He was creating gale force winds from his hands, throwing lightning bolts and running up buildings like it was no one’s business. Barry was fun-loving, happy-go-lucky and optimistic for the good that he could do. When season 2 came around, most of that unabashed joy was gone, replaced by sadness, misery, depression and pessimism. Barry Allen was no longer the anchor to hold others steady. Instead he was second-guessing every decision, pushing everyone away and come off as somewhat of a whiny asshole. Whiny asshole Barry was even worse in season 3 when he had no reason to be. Even when he left the alternate reality in which his mom lived he still had it the best out of everyone and his selfishness with unregulated time travel made it even worse for all of his friends. He just wasn’t as likeable as he used to be and Drama Flash ended up being a bummer throughout the entire season.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment managed to outdo themselves with the amount of features on the season release. There are over two hours of special features and featurettes ranging from a refresher course of the Flash’s rogues’ gallery to the process of reimagining the Invasion crossover and getting it to work for a TV crossover. There is a lot of good stuff in there!

“The Flash” still remains my favorite show on TV even though it has been going in a different direction the last couple of years. Barry and his supporting characters are, for the most part, likeable with some being only tolerable. I could have done without yet another evil, faster than Flash speedster villain as well as the major cop out that was the season finale. We all know that there will be a TV show reset for the beginning of season 4 and everything will be fine with Barry because you can’t have a Flash show without the Flash. I’m hoping that Barry dons the brighter Flash suit and can return to the likeable optimist that he was in season 1. Overall season 3 was full of hit and misses with the misses coming more than not. I want to say that I have faith that this show will turn things around and focus more on the good than the moody brooding drama but only time will tell and we know Barry’s track record with time.

Features:
Epic DC Super Hero Crossover Event with Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl

10 All-New Featurettes-Villain School: The Flash Rogues, Allied: Invasion! Complex (The Flash), Rise of Gorilla City, The Flash: Hitting the Fast Note, The Flash: I’m Your Super Friend, Harmony in a Flash, Synchronicity in a Flash, The Flash: 2016 Comic-Con Panel, A Flash In Time: Time Travel in the Flash Universe and A Conversation with Andrew Kreisberg and Kevin Smith

Deleted Scenes and Gag Reel

Audio:
DTS-HD Master Audio English 5.1
English SDH, French and Spanish Subtitles

Video:
1080p High Definition 16×9 1.78:1

Bottom Line: Season 3 of “The Flash” was a small step up from the endless cycle of bad moments from season 2 but overall it felt like more of the same. The Invasion crossover was a fun and interesting story that was influenced by the comic book crossover of the same name, the Supergirl crossover musical was a breath of fresh air from the moody melodrama of emo Barry and his “awful” life, Gorilla Grodd was worth every CGI ape hair and Cisco is still awesome…but the overreaching Savitar BS and the even more emo than normal time remnant Barry lacked any staying power and could be seen coming a mile away. Here’s hoping for a more coherent and fun season 4. Please.
Running Time: 975 Mins
Rating: Not Rated
Extras Rating:
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