“The Flash – The Complete Seventh Season” is definitely worth checking out!
Click here to purchase this Blu-ray on Amazon
TITLE: The Flash – The Complete Seventh Season
TV SERIES AIR DATE: 2020-2021
DURATION: Episodes 134-151 (Duration: 762 Minutes)
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, 1:78:1, English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Subtitles: English SDH
COMPANY: Warner Bros.
RATED: Not Rated
RELEASE DATE: October 12, 2021
Developed by Greg Berlanti and Geoff Johns
Directed by David McWhirter, Alexandra La Roche, Rachel Talalay, Philip Chipera, Marcus Stokes, Danielle Panabaker, Jeff Byrd, Eric Dean Seaton, Menhaj Huda, Chad Lowe, Sudz Sutherland, Geoffrey Wing Shotz
Written by Greg Berlanti, Geoff Johns, Andrew Kreisberg, Lauren Certo, Sterling Gates, Joshua V. Gilbert, Joshua V. Gilbert, Lauren Certo, Sterling Gates, Jeff Hersh, Kristen Kim, Thomas Pound, Jess Carson
Executive Producer: Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, Eric Wallace
Co-Executive Producer: Jae Marchant, Chad Fiveash, Holly Henderson, James Patrick Stoteraux, Don Whitehead
Produced by Joseph Patrick Finn, Jennifer Lence, Carl Ogawa, Geoff Garrett, Jonathan Butler, Sam Chalsen, Gabriel Garza
Co-Producer: Carol Ogawa, Jon Wallace, Kelly Wheeler, Lauren Barnett, Kristen Kim, Thomas Pound
Associate Producer: Scott Sebert
Supervising Producer: Holly Dale, Nancy Kiu
Music by Blake Neely, Nathaniel Blume
Cinematography by Brenton Spencer, Alwyn Kumst
Edited by Christopher Oakes, Dan Wilken, Rhett Finch, Derek Stricker
Casting by Lyndsey Baldasare, David Rapaport
Production Design by Jenny Wilson
Art Direction by Simon Gore, Esme Viviers
Set Decoration by Joanne Leblanc
Costume Design by Kate Main
Starring:
Grant Gustin as Barry Allen
Candice Patton as Iris West
Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow
Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon
Tom Cavanagh as Dr. Harry Wells
Jesse L. Martin as Joe West
Danielle Nicolet as Cecile Horton
Patrick Sabongui as Captain David Singh
Victoria Park as Kamilla Hwang
Michelle Harrison as Nora Allen
John Wesley Shipp as Henry Allen
Kayla Compton as Allegra Garcia
Jessica Parker Kennedy as Nora West-Allen
Brandon McKnight as Chester P. Runk
Efrat Dor as Eva McCulloch/Mirror Master
Carmen Moore as Kristen Kramer
Natalie Dreyfuss as Sue Dearborn
Alex Barajas as Ultraviolet/Esperanza Garcia.
After witnessing his mother’s strange murder and his father’s wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. An advanced particle accelerator malfunctions during its public unveiling, bathing the city center with a previously unknown form of radiation. Awakening after a nine-month coma, Allen discovers he has the ability to move at superhuman speeds and vows to use his gifts to protect Central City from the escalating violence of “metahuman” criminals.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray, which I am reviewing in this blog post.
The opinions I share are my own.
With the seventh season of the popular DC Universe “Arrowverse” TV series “The Flash”, this season is what I would describe as “challenging” and “A new Beginning”.
From the episode count cut to 18 due to the novel coronavirus pandemic and also a direction of lessening the impact of the “Arrowverse” which started last season with the final season of “Arrow”, and now the final season of “Supergirl” and “Black Lightning”. 2021 would mean no integration of the major Arrowverse characters in each other’s series and no more super crossovers. While, John Diggle (portrayed by David Ramsey) aka Spartan, will continue to appear in various series as part of his duties with A.R.G.U.S. (Advanced Research Group Uniting Super-Humans).
With season two of “Batwoman” featuring a new protagonist and “Legends of Tomorrow” also a heading a different direction with new characters and previous characters leaving the show, many wondered what would happen with “The Flash” who also had to deal with a similar situation.
With season 6, I described the season as one which tests the resolve of popular couple, Barry Allen (portrayed by Grant Gustin) and Iris West (portrayed by Candice Patton) and see if their relationship would make it through various hurdles.
Last season, fans were greeted with the introductions of Chester P. Runk (portrayed by Brandon McKnight) and Allegra Garcia (portrayed by Kayla Compton) and seeing a new group of characters assisting the Flash.
But it was learned that season 7 would be the final season for longstanding characters such as Dr. Harry Wells (portrayed by Tom Cavanagh) and Cisco Ramon (portrayed by Carlos Valdes), along with Kamilla Hwang (portrayed by Victoria Park).
So, that’s where I call season 7 “challenging” and “a new beginning”, as the writers try to compensate the loss of characters, by developing the remaining characters within Team Flash, especially the characters Chester and Allegra and a much shorter season, while trying to introduce new characters.
With Season 8 kicking of in November 2021, the seventh season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on October 12th and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray, which I am reviewing in this blog post. The opinions I share are my own.
At the final two episodes of season six, we learn that Iris is trapped in the Mirrorverse. The first three episodes of season 7, continues where the last two episodes left off (note: “The Flash” receives tends to receive 22-23 episodes, due to the novel coronavirus pandemic shortening the seasons, season 6 only has 19 and season 7 has 18 episodes. So, the conclusion of the Mirrorverse storyline continues onto season 7).
For the Mirrorverse arc still continuing, this time around, Eva McCulloch learns more about herself, while Iris attempts to escape from the Mirrorverse and Kamilla Hwang and CCPD Captain David Singh are still stuck in there as well.
Meanwhile, Team Flash must take on villains Abra Kadabra, Fuerza, Deon and Psych and also Ultraviolet!
While the second story arc begins the “The Godspeed Imperative” and a familiar face from the future arrives.
VIDEO/AUDIO:
“The Flash” is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:78:1 aspect ratio). The picture quality for this series is very good. Similar to other “Arrowverse” shows, “The Flash” features high production value and many outdoor scenes, overall picture quality shows very good detail, especially with closeups.
I didn’t notice any major banding issues or artifacts.
“The Flash” is presented in English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. The series is crystal clear when it comes to dialogue and action sequences. Subtitles are in English SDH.
SPECIAL FEATURES
“The Flash – The Complete Seventh Season” comes with the following special features:
- The Journey Ends: Carlos and Tom
- DC FanDome – The Flash (WatchVerse)
- Never Alone: Heroes and Allies
- Deleted Scenes
- Gag Reel
EXTRAS:
“The Flash – The Complete Seventh Season” comes with a digital code.
As a fan of the DC comic books growing up and growing up watching the first incarnation of “The Flash” and to see the scarlet speedster in the “Arrowverse”, I am just loving how this series gets better and better each season.
With “The Flash – The Complete Seventh Season”, there was no doubt that the announcements that the departures of Tom Cavanagh and Carlos Valdes was a major hit on the popular DC show.
Both the characters of Dr. Harry Wells and Cisco Ramon are integral to the success of Team Flash and Cisco has no doubt been the brains of the group, often saving Flash numerous times.
So, while last season brought two new characters, they have still yet to be fully established and this is where writers focused on integrating the characters Allegra Garcia, Chester P. Runk and also the gang, such as Cecile Horton, Joe West and Caitlin Snow.
The shortened season 6, meant that the conclusion of the Mirrorverse saga, would have to be continued in season 7. And then with creating Team Flash-driven episodes, the writers also found a way to fix the Ralph Dibny situation and hopefully someday bring the character back.
Season 7 featured writers find a way for a return of Ralph Dibny (who turned into a blob) and Sue Dearborn (portrayed by Natalie Dreyfuss).
Ralph Dibny was part of Team Flash as a metahuman who can stretch, the character was portrayed by Hartley Sawyer, but because of a social media scandal regarding Sawyer’s 2009-2014 comments about the Black Lives Matter movement on social media resurfaced, he was fired and the character was said to be looking for a missing person turned thief, Susan Dearborn (season 5 finale and season 6).
For the most part, I have complimented the writers on finding ways to integrate the supporting characters in the series, and I wrote about how you can’t help but think of everyone like family and be grateful that everyone plays a major role.
With season 7, this continues but because of establishing the new characters, I’ve noticed the role of the Flash also decreases. And I have read fans being concerned about this direction.
But seeing the final arc, “The Flash” will continue the family storyline, not just with Team Flash, but also two characters from the future, which fans were acquainted with in season 5.
In fact, you can see the consistency of the family aspect, in 2021’s DC series such as “Batwoman” and “Superman & Lois”. In my opinion, with the ending of many of the “Arrowverse” shows writers are wanting to develop stories not dependent or tied to the other series, but to focus on stories that feature on the characters as a whole. As a family unit. It’s no doubt a different direction from the earlier direction of the “Arrowverse” shows, but I do feel, 2020-201 was the goodbye to the “Arrowverse” that many of us knew, and focusing on storylines that develop the characters around the protagonist.
And I do feel it has worked, and it makes the series more accessible to those not familiar with the comic books or the history of the characters. I know this direction is not going to please everyone. And you can’t please everyone, but I do feel the writers took on the challenges they were faced and were now able to create a new beginning moving forward for the characters.
For those not familiar with “The Flash” comic books, While we have seen Clark Kent always as Superman, Bruce Wayne always as Batman, “The Flash” had multiple characters suit up as the crimson speedster.
While it’s not known how long Grant Gustin will continue to be Barry Allen, “The Flash” doesn’t end with Barry Allen. So, it will be interesting to see how “The Flash” continues on from season 8 and on.
Overall, I enjoyed Season 7 but at the same time, as a longtime viewer of the series, the loss of Cisco and Dr. Harry Wells and shorter season made things challenging. I do feel the seventh season was not as impactful as the previous two seasons, but by no means was it bad.
In fact, the way the season ended, I did enjoy it and also I like the idea of former characters showing up from time to time to join Team Flash.
As long as the writers for the series can continue to develop the supporting characters around its protagonist, as it has always done, I do feel the core of Team Flash can continue to be strong as it continues on to season 8.
“The Flash – The Complete Seventh Season” is definitely worth checking out!
Click here to purchase this Blu-ray on Amazon