The Flash:
The Ninth and Final Season
review by Bobby Blakey
“Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own.”
I had never been a big fan of The Flash comics, but was instantly a fan when the series originally debuted in 2014. Since its debut it grew into something much bigger than just the Flash himself sharing the screen with not only its own band of heroes, but through the CW’s DC TV Universe often crossing over with Arrow, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow. Now the series is racing to its finish line with The Flash: The Complete Ninth and Final Season.
The Flash follows Central City forensic investigator Barry Allen who as a result of a scientific experiment gone awry is now the fastest man alive The Flash. With the help of the S.T.A.R Labs team Barry protects the people of Central City from these powerful new threats. After defeating the Reverse Flash once and for all, this season picks up one week after their epic battle, and Barry Allen aka The Flash and Iris West-Allen are reconnecting and growing closer than ever.
When a deadly group of Rogues descend on Central City, led by a powerful and unknown new threat, The Flash and his team including Meta-Empath Cecile Horton, the light-powered meta, Allegra Garcia, brilliant tech-nerd Chester P. Runk and reformed cryogenics thief Mark Blaine, must once again defy the odds to save the day. But as The Rogues are defeated, a deadly new adversary rises to challenge Barry Allen’s heroic legacy. In their greatest battle yet, Barry and Team Flash will be pushed to their limits, to save Central City one last time.
For the last couple of seasons, I have really struggled to get into this show. I stick with it in the hopes it finds its footing again and every season offers up a few good episodes, but as a whole it hasn’t been all that great for a while now. I love all things comic book related so decided I need to stick with it to the very end.
Heading into this new season I had hoped it might have the chance to deliver some strong final episodes reminiscent of the first few seasons and instead ended up being another mixed bag.
Not all the season worked, but it was a lot better than it had been. Strange enough it felt like it was focusing more on the rest of the cast than the Flash himself through most of the season. He is there and in a story arc, but almost felt like they purposely sidelined him to try and wrap up everyone else’s story arcs instead of letting Flash take front and center. I was really hoping for more depth this time around, but it was really just more of the same and the attempt to bring as many characters and arcs back to end the show. Sadly the few characters that I was hoping for didn’t make it back and a lot of them I would rather have forgotten got the spotlight.
I will give the season props for trying to bring it all together and even circling back to things from the first season for some closure. These elements worked best and the Flash story was the best part of the show it just wasn’t dominating like it should have. I am glad that they brought some closure to the series and at least brought it full circle in a lot of ways to wrap it up as opposed to the struggles of the last few seasons. This is all but the end of the CW Arrowverse as we knew it and it as a fun ride but time to hit the finish line.
This collection not only features all 13 episodes from the ninth season in high-definition, as well as a digital copy of the season (available in the U.S.). In addition to the episodes this collection offers up bonus content including deleted scenes, gag reel, and featurette. Hit the ground running one last time and grab your copy of The Flash: The Ninth and Final Season when it hits Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD on August 29th from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.