Wednesday, September 7, 2016

The Flash - The Complete Second Season

The Second Season of The Flash feels like a bit of a retread putting the Scarlet Speedster up against although super-fast baddie. Zoom isn't as strong a villain as the Reverse-Flash which leads to a disappointing season finale, but along the way the season does have several bright spots including exploring the concept of a Multiverse, Barry's (Grant Gustin) relationship with Patty Spivot (Shantel VanSanten), and bringing back Tom Cavanagh as the all-different Harrison Wells.

Highlights include the Flash's time jump to trick his old enemy into helping him, the return of the Reverse-Flash (Matt Letscher), the team-up of the Weather Wizard (Liam McIntyre), Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) and the original Trickster (Mark Hamill), Central City terrorized by King Shark, Barry struggling with the loss of his speed, the Flash temporarily trapped inside the Speed Force, the return of Grodd, the introduction of Zoom, and the episodes leading up to the spin-off Legends of Tomorrow.

Along with laying the foundation for Wally's (Keiynan Lonsdale) eventual turn as Kid-Flash (which will likely occur sometime in Season Three) the season also introduces the Flash of Earth-2 Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), Michael Ironside as Captain Cold's father, Adam Copeland as Atom-Smasher, and Violett Beane as Wells' daughter Jesse (whose own destiny is tied to the Speed Force).

Collected on both Blu-ray and DVD, extras include the crossover episodes with Arrow, the Comic-Con panel, deleted scenes, a gag reel, and featurettes on Kevin Smith's episode and the season's villain. Overall it may not be as consistently strong as the show's First Season, but when it's good the Second Season is really good (even if it does stumble a bit at the finish line).

[Warner Home Video, Blu-ray $54.97 / DVD $49.99]

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