Following two excellent seasons, The Flash suffered a notable dip in quality during its third season. In an attempt to go a bit darker, The Flash lost much of its charm and pitting Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) against yet another speedster proved to be a turn-off for fans. Season four is an effort to get the show back on track and to the lighter feel of its first two seasons, and for the most part it works.
At the beginning of season four, Barry has been trapped in the speed force for 6 months following the surprise twist at the end of season 3. It’s not really a spoiler to reveal that he makes it out (what did you expect?) and for this season he goes up against Clifford DeVoe aka The Thinker (Neil Sandilands), a super intelligent college professor who wants to reset the intelligence of every person on Earth. Aided by his wife Marlize (Kim Engelbrecht), DeVoe proved that Barry can go up against an adversary who doesn’t have his super speed. It was a refreshing change for the show and the arc of DeVoe’s story built nicely across the fourth season.
With DeVoe targeting people who were turned into meta-humans while travelling on a bus during the particle accelerator explosion, Barry and Team Flash spend the season trying to track them down and protect them. DeVoe’s aim is to absorb their powers to prevent his body from dying and things hit very close to home when he targets Team Flash’s newest member Ralph Dibney aka The Elongated Man (Hartley Sawyer), who can stretch his body at will.
I really enjoyed the cat-and-mouse chase between Barry and DeVoe. It went to places I didn’t expect it to and really exposed some of Barry’s vulnerabilities. It’s the first time that Team Flash have been battled someone who can out think them and that makes for a very interesting season. Around that central theme Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) continues to come to terms with her Killer Frost side, Barry and Iris (Candice Patton) plan to walk down the aisle, and Team Flash get a surprise visitor they weren’t expecting, setting things up nicely for season five.
Extras on the Blu-ray release include all four episodes of the Crisis On Earth-X crossover, deleted scenes, a gag reel and five featurettes taking you behind-the-scenes of the show with the cast and crew.
The Flash: The Complete Fourth Season is much better than the underwhelming third season. With the introduction of Ralph Dibney, played excellently by Hartley Sawyer, the season gets the show back on track with a lighter tone. The season finale leaves things wide open for the upcoming fifth season and there’s definitely plenty more to explore with these characters. Let’s just hope the show continues to find interesting villains and doesn’t go back to the speedster trope.
Cast: Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Carlo Valdes, Jesse L. Martin, Tom Cavanagh, Danielle Nicolet, Hartley Sawyer, Keiynan Lonsdale, Neil Sandilands, Kim Engelbrecht Certificate: 12 Duration: 1,096 mins Released by: Warner Bros Release date: 24th September 2018
