Warning – this review contains spoilers for Season 1 & 2 of The Flash
The Gist:
After saving Central City and defeating the Reverse Flash, Barry Allen must now deal with parallel universes, doppelgängers and a sinister new speedster, Zoom
The Review:
The first season of The Flash proved that a DC based show could hit the ground running from the start. It brought together a great cast, fascinating villains and dealt with emotive themes in a far less glum fashion than Arrow.
Season 2 had a hard act to follow and it made a great attempt. The main criticism of the season was the unevenness of tone interspersed with some absolutely cracking episodes.
Rather than pick up exactly where the season 1 cliff hanger left off (with Barry entering the singularity to try and save the world) – we open with ‘The Man Who Saved Central City’ which revisits team Flash months later as the team tries to adjust to life after defeating the Reverse Flash.
After a few ‘freak of the (Earth 2) week’ episodes and some familiar faces in the form of Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) and his sister Golden Glider (Peyton List) we start building up to this season’s big bad, Zoom. Another speedster? Yes well, this is where a lot of the aforementioned unevenness sets in.
Thankfully, the introduction of the parallel word Earth 2, brought out some great storylines and not least allowed the return of Tom Cavanagh as Earth 2 Harrison Wells. There’s never been a show that hasn’t been made better by Tom Cavanagh. This new version of Harrison Wells is still a millionaire science genius. Still a bit of a dick and driven to help Barry succeed for his own personal ends (this time saving his daughter Jesse from Zoom rather than being his mortal enemy).
Wells’ interaction with Cisco (Carlos Valdes) is a joy to behold this season as Cisco tries to keep his distance from ‘Harry’, clearly still distressed by the betrayal of the original Wells. However, this soon turns to a father/son style bickering.
Each character got an interesting arc this season. Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) was trying to find the courage to let herself love again. Both Valdes and Panabaker get a chance to break out of their standard characters as their Earth 2 metahuman counterparts Reverb and Killer Frost. Cisco starts accepting and exploring his powers. Joe (Jesse L. Martin) and Iris (Candice Patton) have to deal with the return of his estranged wife and the son he never knew he had. Barry himself even stops moping around for a while to reconnect with his dad and find a new love interest in the form of Patty Spivot (Shantel Van Santen)
The season is very crammed, probably in an attempt to do some third season foreshadowing. Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale) could easily have been left out this year, as could Barry and Iris beginning to get closer. Between that, Earth 2, Zoom and a couple of episodes diverted to setting up Legends of Tomorrow, there was a lot to take your eye off the ball.
And Zoom, menacingly voiced by Tony Todd had a very disruptive effect on the show. In particular, the revealing of his motivation was a crushing disappointment.
The Verdict:
Some excellent episodes in an overall uneven season. Great turns from the cast as themselves and Earth 2 doppelgängers. The build up to Zoom’s master plan was left until the last minute which led to a cluttered season finale. Still, enough to leave us excited for season 3. There’s only one thing left to say – Flashpoint!
3 hours of Bonus Content including:
- Behind-the-scenes visual effects featurettes for almost every episode!
- Star Crossed Hawks featurette
- Star Crossed Hawks: The Hunt for Vandal Savage featurette
- The Many Faces of Zoom featurette
- Chasing Flash – The Journey of Kevin Smith featurette
- The Flash: 2015 Comic-Con Panel
- The Flash: 2015 Paley Fest
- Deleted Scenes
- Gag Reel
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