In its sixth season, The Flash continues to be a fun, entertaining, and action-packed part of TV’s Arrow-verse. As the fifth season came to a close, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) and Iris West-Allen (Candice Patton) said goodbye to Nora, their time-travelling daughter from the future, and Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes) had taken the meta-human cure, giving up his Vibe powers. The new season opens four months later as Barry has become a bit of an over-achiever, trying to save as many people as possible to make up for the loss of his daughter. Iris is also trying to put on a brave face, but is struggling with her grief over Nora. Meanwhile, Cisco has been building the MAC (Mental Augmentation Chamber), where Barry will be able to tap into the Speed Force and see every possible outcome to a scenario at the same time (kind of like Dr. Strange in Infinity War…but that’s a different universe…). Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) has given permission to Killer Frost to take control of their body, and for the first time really experience what it’s like to live her life. And Elongated Man Ralph Dibny (Hartley Sawyer) has just returned from spending the summer on an undercover mission helping a rich family search for their daughter.
Much like previous seasons, the sixth season of The Flash is split into two “Graphic Novel” arcs, divided by the big Crisis crossover event. In the first half of the season, Barry receives another visit from the Monitor, who warns him that he will need to make the ultimate sacrifice during Crisis. So, Barry decides to spend what time he has left preparing the rest of Team Flash to take over when he’s gone—he wants to help Cisco become the leader of the team, Frost to learn to control her emotions, and to spend some quality time with wife Iris before the impending Crisis. Meanwhile, Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) decides to become a defense attorney for wrongly-accused meta-humans after meeting new character Allegra Garcia (Kayla Compton). Allegra is a 20-year-old meta-human who can control radio waves. She has been in and out of trouble with the law and has spent several years in Iron Heights. Now she joins Iris’ Central City Citizen Media as a journalistic intern, and ultimately becomes part of Team Flash. Also part of Team Flash is Cisco’s girlfriend Kamilla (Victoria Park).
Each season we usually get a visit from a new incarnation of Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), and this time around, it’s the Indiana Jones-like adventurer Harrison “Nash” Wells, who has come to Central City in search of an artifact containing Eternium. (We also revisit some past versions of Wells in the second half of the season.) While Central City faces many threats leading up to Crisis, the biggest comes from Dr. Ramsey Rosso (Sendhil Ramamurthy), a medical school friend of Caitlin’s. He had been researching a cure for HLH for his dying mother, experimenting with dark matter. After his mother’s death, Dr. Rosso continues his experiments on himself, but this leads to meta-human side-effects, and slowly turn him into a monster. His life literally depends on a cure for HLH, and he will stop at nothing to find one.
After the massive Crisis cross-over, Earth Prime, and more-specifically Central City, is a very different place. Many of the meta-humans that Team Flash has previously faced are back, though in some cases quite different from before. There is also a new big threat facing Central City—a mysterious organization known as Black Hole, that has actually been operating undetected for the past 7 years. Black Hole abducts and blackmails meta-humans, turning them into trained killers. Iris has uncovered evidence that McCulloch Technologies CEO Joseph Carver may be the one running this organization, weaponizing his missing wife Eva’s (Efrat Dor) research. And once Iris confronts Carver, she and the rest of Team Flash soon find themselves the target of a trio of meta-human assassins—Dr. Light (Emmie Nagata), Ultraviolet (Alexa Barajas) and Sunshine (Natalie Sharp). Meanwhile, Ralph is back on his case from the summer, looking for the missing Sue Dearbon (Natalie Dreyfuss). Plus the team faces an Invasion of the Body Snatchers-like Mirrorverse that puts everything and everyone’s true identity in question. Unfortunately, due to the COVID production shutdown, the 22-episode season was cut down to just 19, and so this second half of the season arc was left a bit unresolved.
Overall, I found The Flash‘s sixth season to be quite entertaining. I really appreciate the way that this series hs switched to dividing the season into two story arcs rather than dragging out one villain for entire 22-episode run. The series also does a nice job of mixing in some case- or villain-of-the-week type storylines in parallel with the main half-season arcs. This season many of the characters got a chance to grow, especially Frost, and we also get to see more of their family members, like Caitlin’s and Ralph’s mothers. The season also brings back some familiar villains, and Team Flash members to help out for an episode or two. I’m always impressed by what this series is able to pull off on a TV budget. The special effects look great, and the action and fight sequences are always well choreographed and amazing. This season the filmmakers have done some creative things, like the Noir episode. There’s also some fun late 80s/early 90’s-like throwbacks in the look and score when we first meet Dr. Light in the second half of the season, plus a really fun use of split screen for the massive fight in the season finale. And they’ve done a nice job of weaving the characters into and out of the big cross-over event, using it as a way to shake up some of the status quo.
The Blu-ray release of this sixth season of The Flash includes a special bonus disc containing all five parts of the massive Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event (the DVD release will only include the The Flash episode, “Part Three”). This event was definitely one of the highlights of the season—it felt like a single three and a half hour film following the adventures of the entire Arrow-verse as a whole, and really shakes things up for all of the shows involved. In Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Anti-Monitor has been destroying Earths across the multi-verse, and superheroes from every Earth—not just those on our own Earth-1 and Supergirl‘s Earth-38—must come together to stop him. This is the biggest, most-exciting crossover the Arrow-verse has ever attempted. The result is epic, bringing together characters/actors from decades of DC TV series and movies. I’m sure die-hard DC fans familiar with the comics will get even more geeky joy out of this then I did. But even as a casual viewer, I had so much fun spotting all of the amazing cameos, and watching this huge collection of characters come together in a bigger way than ever before. The repercussions from this crossover event will have long-lasting effects on the Arrow-verse (and possibly future DC TV shows and movies) as a new Earth Prime arises, with some major shake-ups. While The CW had announced most of the cameos ahead of time, there were still a few amazing surprises, and it was still a delight to watch.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment’s Blu-ray release looks and sounds amazing. The picture is pretty immaculate, with rich colors and details. The video looks excellent in both lighter and darker scenes, as well as those taking place in extreme red lighting, like the season finale. The audio track provides clear dialogue and makes excellent use of the stereo and surround channels to put the viewer in the middle of the action, providing an immersive viewing experience, and showcasing the film’s wonderful score. The episodes are spread across 4 discs, plus there is a fifth disc containing the Crisis crossover content. The discs are packed in a standard multi-disc HD keepcase with a cardboard slipcover, along with an insert detailing the contents of each disc. The release also includes a code to redeem a digital copy of the The Flash season 6 episodes on Vudu (this does not include the crossover event episodes from the other four series).
The bonus material exclusive to this release includes nearly 15 minutes of deleted scenes, a 7-minute gag reel, and a black and white version of the Noir episode “Kiss Kiss Breach Breach” with optional commentary by showrunner/executive producer Eric Wallace. The set also includes a featurette that is common to all of this year’s Arrow-verse releases—an hour of interviews and panel footage from the Arrow-verse presence at San Diego Comic-Con 2019. The Blu-ray release also includes the excellent Crisis on Infinite Earths bonus disc, which contains the entire 5-part Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event plus over 40 minutes of bonus material related to the crossover event. These Crisis featurettes primarily consist of the pre-recorded segments that aired during The CW’s crossover post-show hosted by Kevin Smith—the Kevin Smith interview segments are not included.
What’s Included:
- All 19 episodes of the sixth season, plus the entire 5-part DC Crossover Event: Crisis on Infinite Earths on a bonus disc:
Disc 1: “Into The Void”, “A Flash of The Lightning”, “Dead Man Running”, “There Will Be Blood”, “Kiss Kiss Breach Breach”
Disc 2: “License To Elongate”, “The Last Temptation of Barry Allen, Part 1”, “The Last Temptation of Barry Allen, Part 2”, “Crisis on Infinite Earths: Hour Three”, “Marathon”
Disc 3: “Love is a Battlefield”, “A Girl Named Sue”, “Grodd Friended Me”, “Death of the Speed Force”, “The Exorcism of Nash Wells”
Disc 4: “So Long and Goodnight”, “Liberation”, “Pay the Piper”, “Success Is Assured”
Bonus Disc: All five parts of the crossover event, including the related episodes of Supergirl, Batwoman, The Flash, Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow - 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
- Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
- Subtitles: English SDH
- Digital HD copy of the season episodes (not entire crossover) redeemable via Vudu.
- Main Discs
- “Kiss Kiss Breach Breach – Noir” Episode with Optional Commentary (42:29)
Entirely Black & White version of episode 605, “Kiss Kiss Breach Breach”. Showrunner/Executive Producer Eric Wallace provides optional commentary on this version of the episode. He talks about how his love of Film Noir stories led him to pitch a “Who Killed Golden Glider?” story, but that things changed as they were breaking the story, and the episode was changed to be about Gypsy to give it a more emotional bang. He also discusses the use of Black & White, and shares some interesting behind-the-scenes stories of how the show in general is made. - The Best of DC TV’s Comic-Con Panels San Diego 2019 (50:59)
The cast and creators of five of the DC TV shows visit San Diego Comic-Con 2019. Includes interviews with the stars, and footage from the shows’ Q&A panels. Participants include Arrow (executive producer Marc Guggenheim, producer/director James Bamford and stars Juliana Harkavy, David Ramsey, Stephen Amell, Katie Cassidy & Rick Gonzales, plus surprise guest Brandon Routh), The Flash (executive producer Eric Wallace and stars Hartley Sawyer, Danielle Panabaker, Tom Cavanaugh, Grant Gustin, Candice Patton & Carlos Valdes), Black Lightning (stars Marvin ‘Krondon’ Jones III, China Anne McClain, Cress Williams, Nafessa Williams, Jordan Calloway & Christine Adams), Batwoman (executive producers Caroline Dries & Sarah Schechter), and Supergirl (executive producers Robert Rovner, Jessica Queller & Sarah Schechter, and stars Jesse Rath, Nicole Maines, Mehcad Brooks, Azie Tesfai, Melissa Benoist, Chyler Leigh, David Harewood, Katie McGrath & Andrea Brooks). - Deleted Scenes (14:39)
Individual episode deleted scenes are available via the Episodes menu, or the Deleted Scenes main menu option will play all of the scenes available for the episodes that appear on that disc.- Dead Man Running (1:16)
- Scene 24 (1:08)
Ramsey arrives at Star Labs
- Scene 24 (1:08)
- There Will Be Blood (1:08)
- Scene 30 (1:00)
Flashback: Ramsey learns mom has died
- Scene 30 (1:00)
- Kiss Kiss Breach Breach (2:12)
- Scene 14 (2:04)
Breacher and Cisco have a drink.
- Scene 14 (2:04)
- The Last Temptation of Barry Allen, Pt. 1 (3:16)
- Scene 1 (1:13)
Frost & Cisco play pinball. - Scene 30 (1:51)
Joe & Iris talk about Crisis article.
- Scene 1 (1:13)
- Crisis on Infinite Earths: Hour 3 (:59)
- Scene 46 (:52)
Oliver becomes Spectre.
- Scene 46 (:52)
- Marathon (1:06)
- Scene 41 (:59)
Team Citizen looks at evidence.
- Scene 41 (:59)
- Love is a Battlefield (1:02)
- Scene 2 (:55)
Iris wakes up Barry.
- Scene 2 (:55)
- So Long and Goodnight (3:31)
- Scene 25 (1:15)
Barry picks up Joe from Carver’s house. - Scene 29 (2:05)
Nash & Allegra argue.
- Scene 25 (1:15)
- Success is Assured (:25)
- Scene 41 (:18)
Barry wakes up and puts on ring.
- Scene 41 (:18)
- Dead Man Running (1:16)
- Gag Reel (7:11)
This fun season 6 gag reel finds the cast dancing, cursing (bleeped), flubbing and forgetting lines, and having fun on set.
- “Kiss Kiss Breach Breach – Noir” Episode with Optional Commentary (42:29)
- Cross-over Bonus Disc
- DC Crossover Event: Crisis on Infinite Earths (3:32:07)
All five episodes of the crossover: “Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part One” (Supergirl season 5 episode 9), “Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two” (Batwoman season 1 episode 9), “Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three” (The Flash season 6 episode 9), “Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Four” (Arrow season 8 episode 8), “Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Five” (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow season 5 episode 1). - Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Architects Return (11:55)
Series producers and comic book artists/writers/experts talk about the evolution of the DC Comics story the crossover event is based on, the major impact it had on the comics, and adapting this story for TV. Includes stills from the comics, and interviews with writer Marv Wokfman, artist Jerry Ordway, DC co-publisher Dan DiDio, executive producer Marc Guggenheim, artist George Pérez, and artist Tom Derenick. - Crisis on Infinite Earths: Crisis Management (13:08)
The cast and filmmakers talk about taking on this massive crossover event. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, stills from the comics, and interviews with executive producer Marc Guggenheim, story editor/writer (DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow) Ubah Mohamed, executive producer Robert Rovner (Supergirl), executive producer Eric Wallace (The Flash), writer Marv Wolfman, and stars Caity Lotz (“Sara Lance/White Canary”) & David Ramsey. - Crisis Past and Present: Kevin Conroy Bat Legend (3:17) The cast and filmmakers talk about bringing in the Batman: The Animated Series star to finally play his character on screen. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with executive producers Eric Wallace, Marc Guggenheim & Robert Rovner, story editor/writer Ubah Mohamed, and star Kevin Conroy (“Bruce Wayne”).
- Crisis Past and Present – Superman vs. Superman (4:37)
The cast and filmmakers talk about seeing Brandon Routh stepping back into the Superman costume. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with executive producers Marc Guggenheim & Eric Wallace, and stars Brandon Routh (“Superman/The Atom”), Tyler Hoechlin (“Superman”), Grant Gustin (“Barry Allen/The Flash”) & Hartley Sawyer (“Ralph Dibny/Elongated Man”). - Characters in Crisis: Pariah (4:20)
The filmmakers discuss adapting the Crisis comic character of Pariah to the Arrow-verse. Includes stills from the comics, and interviews with executive producers Eric Wallace, Marc Guggenheim & Robert Rovner, and story editor/writer Ubah Mohamed. - Character in Crisis: The Anti-Monitor (4:55)
The filmmakers discuss Crisis‘ big villain, and adapting this character to the Arrow-verse. Includes stills from the comics, and interviews with executive producers Eric Wallace, Marc Guggenheim & Robert Rovner, story editor/writer Ubah Mohamed, and comic writer Marv Wokfman.
- DC Crossover Event: Crisis on Infinite Earths (3:32:07)
Episodes: (13:25:33)
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Blu-ray:
Digital: (Expires 9/30/2021)
Extras:
Final Thoughts:
The sixth season of The Flash is another solid season for the series. The season is conveniently split into two “Graphic Novel” arcs, both of which center around a different big bad, and inbetween is the amazing Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event. Unfortunately the second half of the season is left a little unresolved due to the COVID production shutdown, but this should hopefully be addressed in the upcoming season. The Blu-ray looks and sounds great, and contains a nice selection of bonus material. This Blu-ray release comes recommended for any fan of this or any of the other Arrow-verse series. The Blu-ray is definitely the version to pick up as it also contains the full Crisis event/bonus disc plus a digital copy of the season’s episodes.
