October 12, 2021
Review: 'The Flash - The Complete Seventh Season' Starts Slow, Picks Up Speed
JC Alvarez READ TIME: 3 MIN.
Last season, The CW superhero primetime universe was riding on high! The five-part epic "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover event shook up the DC multiverse; some worlds lived, and others perished, but the primetime landscape was forever altered! Which is rather interesting, when you consider that when audiences dive back into "The Flash – The Complete Seventh Season," available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital, they might expect that the consequences of such an earth-shattering predicament would have had greater consequences for our heroes.
With "Arrow" hanging up its quiver last year after eight seasons, Grant Gustin's Scarlet Speedster is the inheritor of the torch. Although the global pandemic had a dramatic effect on how his show's Sixth Season ended (it was cut short), with greater precautions in play the cast and crew immediately went back into production. In an effort to resolve the Season Six cliffhanger that left Iris West-Allen (Candice Patton) trapped in the Mirrorverse, and with much of Team Flash fractured and lost, CSI Investigator Barry Allen (Gustin) has to save his wife and regain his powers...
...or all would be lost!
It's a good thing that The Flash doesn't work alone! Season Seven, although disjointed and wildly optimistic at times, benefits from tightening the ship and sizing the stories down to make them more personal, but in its attempt to draw some inspiration from the current books, "The Flash" doesn't play as sensibly as some of the other shows in the DC primetime universe, like "Batwoman" or newcomer "Superman & Lois." With one-shot story lines that focus on the rest of the team, like the less interesting Chester P. Runk (Brandon McKnight) or metahuman Alegra (Kayla Compton), the series this season felt less flashy than fans might have anticipated.
It isn't until the two-part season finale that things kind of get back on the tracks, with the arrival of two favorite speedsters from the future that travel back in time to stop the terrifying villain GodSpeed from destroying their world. It's going to take the entire Flash Family to set things right, and that means special guest stars John Wesley Shipp returns as the "Golden Age" hero Jay Garrick, Jessica Parker Kennedy suits up again as XS, and the future's never looked brighter with the introduction of Impulse, a.k.a. Bart Allen, played by Jordan Fisher. Full of blockbuster surprises and special effects, the two-part "Heart of the Matter" season ender is worth a rewatch!
The Blu-ray 3-disc set features all 18 one-hour episodes (including some deleted scenes that extend the action), with an entertaining gag reel that reveals the star cast between takes letting their hair down. The Blu-ray and DVD are also packed with special features that include an ode to series regulars Carlos Valdes and Tom Cavanagh, who departed this season; a look at the supporting characters that inhabit this universe in the featurette "Never Alone: Heroes and Allies"; and "The Flash" casts' interview from the 2020 DC FanDome event.
Blu-ray and DVD Special Features include:
"The Flash – The Complete Seventh Season" is available now on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Download to own and includes Special Features for $44.99.
Native New Yorker JC Alvarez is a pop-culture enthusiast and the nightlife chronicler of the club scene and its celebrity denizens from coast-to-coast. He is the on-air host of the nationally syndicated radio show "Out Loud & Live!" and is also on the panel of the local-access talk show "Talking About".
