Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: The Flash: Season 4

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from the prior season, but no major spoilers from season 4+++

Season four of The Flash aired during the 2017-218 TV season. The show picks up six months down the line from the end of season three in which Barry exiled himself in the speed force to maintain balance after his defeat of Savatar. Iris is leading team Flash from Star Labs, with mixed results, and Cisco eventually finds a way to get Barry out of the Speed Force without destabilizing it. Of course, once Barry is back, not all is right with the world. This season finally moves away from the speedster "big bad" instead bringing in the character Devoe, who was mentioned by Savatar during season three. The show does still have a bit of the case/villain of the week procedural aspect to it, but it has become, like the other Arrowverse shows, a show with a serial story arc that spans throughout the course of the season. The big Arrowverse crossover, Crisis on Earth-X, occurs eight episodes into the season and includes episodes from Supergirl, Flash, Arrow, and Legends. The season ends on a huge cliffhanger reveal that will have a big impact on season 5.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the A/V quality is the same as it has been for the prior season releases and for the other WB/DC shows. The 23 episodes (plus the three other crossover episodes from the other shows) are spread across four discs, and there is no "play all" feature, so you cannot pick back up from where you stop. For extras, you get the episodes of Arrow, Supergirl, and Legends of the crossover so you can watch it all at one time. Then there is a featurette on the crossover and the 2017 best of DC TV at Comic-Con that are common to all of the Arrowverse DVD and Blu-Ray releases from that season, a gag reel, deleted scenes, and a handful of other featurettes specific to the show.

Overall, the season is strong. There are a lot of recognizable guest and recurring actors this season including Katee Sackhoff (from Battlestar), Jessica Parker Kennedy, Jessica Camacho, Kim Engelbrecht, Neil Sandilands, Bill Goldberg, and Danny Trejo. And, of course, actors from the other Arrowverse shows make appearances throughout the season. I do think it was nice to mix the main bad guy up a bit this year and not do another evil speedster storyline while still giving the team a challenge. So, if you have liked the show up to this point, it is definitely still worth watching.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Supergirl: Season 3

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from the second season, but no major spoilers from season three.+++

The third season of Supergirl aired during the 2017-2018 TV season. This season mostly does away with the villain of the week (as have the other Arrowverse shows) and basically has interweaving serial arcs. The season starts out with Kara still reeling from the loss of Mon-EL after the defeat of the Daxamites at the end of season two.  Kara has to deal with a new threat in the form of an industrialist named Morgan Edge (played by Heroes Adrian Padsar) who wants to take out Supergirl and buy Catco, which is being run by Jimmy since Cat is now the White House Press Secretary. Then, the series shifts to a threat from a rouge Kryptonian named Reign, who wants to take over Earth and form a new Krypton, and Kara learns a surprising truth about her mother Alura, now played by Erica Durance, who of course played Lois Lane in the series Smallville. Eight episodes into the season, the big Arrowverse crossover happens with episodes of Supergirl, Flash, Arrow, and Legends each devoted to the crossover. Supergirl's episode is the first episode of the crossover (Crisis on Earth-X), and more characters from Supergirl are included in the event this year than were included in the prior season's crossover. The season ends on a big reveal that sets up the storyline for the next season.

For those who get the blu ray set, the 23 episodes (plus the three other episodes from the other shows of the crossover event) are spread across four discs. The A/V quality is on par with the prior season releases, and the releases of the other Arrowverse shows. The extras include a featurette on the character Reign, a gag reel, and deleted scenes. Then, there is a featurette on the crossover event (which is the same one that was included in the release of the other Arrowverse shows from that season) and a best of DC TV at Comic-Con, which was included on all of the season releases for the DC TV shows. 

Overall, this is another strong season. There are more changes to the cast, some of which would be permanent and others that are not. This season's additions to the cast include Odette Annable, Andrea Brooks, Carl Lumby (from Alias), and Jessee Rath. This would be the last season with Jeremy Jordan as a series regular, and Floriana Lima had a reduced role this season. Helen Slater makes another appearance as Eliza Danvers, and Katie McGrath is upgraded to a series regular as Lena Luthor. Ultimately, if you liked the second season of the show (which is much different from season 1) then you will probably like this season. If you preferred season 1 of the show over season two, then you may not like this as much, but it is still good and fits better into the Arrowverse.  

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Arrow Season 6

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from season 5, but no major season 6 spoilers+++

Season six of Arrow aired during the 2017-2018 TV season. The season begins five months after the events ended season 5 with Adrian Chase detonating the bombs on Liyan Yu. Of course, we get a flashback to see who made it out and who did not. From there, the season involves Oliver struggling to keep his vigilante identity a secret, and then the team has to deal with a couple of different "big bads" throughout the season. The season ends on a quasi-cliffhanger and is resolved very differently than the prior seasons have been. Eight episodes into the season, the big Arrowverse Crossover event happens, with a big storyline that crosses between Supergirl, Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow. This one involves a version of Earth, called Earth-X in which the Nazis won World War II and the heroes have to face evil doppelganger versions of themselves. 

For those who get the blu-ray set, the 23 episodes are spread over four discs. The A/V quality is on par with the prior season releases and the releases of all of the Arrowverse shows. The extras include each episode of the crossover from the other shows, so you can watch the crossover straight through without having to get discs from the sets of the other shows, then there are featurettes on Slade Wilson, whose arc was basically wrapped up this season, a featurette on one of the big bads, and then two featurettes that are the same as on the releases for the other Arroverse series from that year. One is a featurette on the crossover event, and the other is a Best of DC at Comic-Con.

Overall, the season is very good and takes the show in a new direction, which I think was necessary. The cast pretty much remains the same, really the only big change is that some cast members are upgraded to series regulars, including Katie Cassidy, who was a recurring character in season 5 after Earth 1's Laurel died and she started playing Earth 2's Black Siren. She has a very good arc with Paul Blackthorne this season and does a good job playing an evil character that is starting to show hints of good. The series also brings back characters from previous seasons, including a pretty nice surprise return. Some of the recurring and guest cast members include Kirk Acevedo (from the series Fringe), Michael Emmerson (from the series Lost), Manu Bennett (reprising Slade Wilson), and Katrina Law (reprising Nyssa). The acting and writing both continue to be very good, and the writers do a good job of keeping the show relatively fresh, even after 138 episodes. This season also sees the end of the flashbacks from the island which were getting harder and harder to make realistic as Stephen Amell got older. So, if you have been a fan of the prior seasons of the show, this is definitely worth watching.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Legends of Tomorrow: Season 3

 

+++Warning, this contains very minor season two spoilers, but no major spoilers from season three+++

Season three of Legends aired in the 2017-2018 TV season and is again a mix of a monster/demon/"weird thing"-of-the-week procedural and a serial with a Big Bad that the group has to deal with by the end of the season. This season, the big bad is a demon named Mallus (voiced by John Noble) who was released when the Legends tried to travel through time with two versions of themselves at the end of season two. This also created anomalies called anachronisms, which are basically people or objects displaced in history. Rip (Arthur Darvill) has created a Time Bureau to replace the time masters to hunt down the anachronisms and try to restore the timeline, forcing the Legends to retire. Of course, they do not stay retired, and the usual shenanigans of the show ensue. Eight episodes into the season we get the big crossover event, Crisis on Earth-X (which includes episodes of Supergirl, Flash, and Arrow), of which the Legends installment is the final one. The crossover has major implications for all of the shows, including Legends.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the release is pretty much on par with the prior season releases, both in terms of A/V quality and bonus features. The extras include all of the episodes of the crossovers from the other shows, so you can watch in total without having to get the discs from the other shows, deleted scenes, and a gag reel. Then there is a featurette specifically on the crossover event and a best of DC TV at Comic-Con, both of which were released on all of the DC show's DVD and Blu-Ray releases that year. 

Overall, the season is good, both in still developing the existing cast members and introducing new cast members, some of whom would eventually become series regulars. Those include Jess Macallan, who plays Ava Sharp, a member of the Time Bureau, who can't stand the Legends, Adam Tsekman, who plays Gary Green, a member of the Time Bureau who loves the Legends, Courtney Ford (Brandon Routh's wife), who plays Nora Dhark, the daughter of Damien Dhark, and Matt Ryan, who reprises his role as John Constantine, who was brought into the Arroverse during one of the flashback sequences on Arrow. The show continues to be the more offbeat of the Arrowverse shows and can get downright silly (especially in the season finale, when the silliest thing the show has ever done is pulled off). That said, it works for the show, and the actors seem to have a lot of fun with the material, and with each other. So, if you have liked the more offbeat nature of the show in the first couple of seasons (especially in season 2), this is definitely worth watching. 

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Arrow: Season 5

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from the prior season of Arrow, but no major season 5 spoilers.+++

Season 5 picks up with Oliver still reeling over Laurel's death at the hands of Damien Dhark while still discharging his duties as mayor. He is encouraged by Felicity to work with a new team of vigilantes, including Rene Ramirez/Wild Dog (played by Rick Gonzalez), Evelyn Sharp/Artemis (played by Madison McLaughlin), Rory Regan/Ragman (played by Joe Dinicol), Curtis Holt/Mister Terrific (played by Echo Kellum), and Dinah Drake/Black Canary (played by Juliana Harkavy). There is a bit of a swerve in the identity of the season's big bad, with a reveal that occurs later in the season. The season flashbacks to the fifth (and last) year of Oliver's life before being rescued. That portion of the story heavily involves Oliver in Russia working with Anatoly against Konstantin Kovar, a tyrant played by Dolph Lundgren. The season ends on a major cliffhanger with the fate of many of the team members in limbo.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the A/V quality is pretty much the same as it has been for the prior season releases. The 23 episodes are spread across four discs, and the set includes the crossover episodes for the "Invasion" crossover event which includes episodes from Flash and Legends of Tomorrow and brings in Melissa Benoist's Supergirl character. Arrow's episode of the three-show crossover (which also happens to be Arrow's 100th episode), is the middle chapter of the crossover event and brings back some of the actors such as John Barrowman, Susana Thompson, and Manu Bennett, who have appeared on the show. They also include a clever line about Tommy being a doctor in Chicago as a nod to Colin Donnell being on the show Chicago Med, (even though he does not physically appear in the episode). The other extras include deleted scenes for select episodes, a half-hour portion of the show's 2016 Comic-Con panel, a 5-minute gag reel, and a few making-of featurettes, one devoted to the crossover and a couple devoted to the show's storylines.

Ultimately, if you have liked the prior seasons of Arrow, you will probably like this one. The show continues to develop the main characters, and the addition of the new team brings some new life into the show. Stephen Amell does a very good job playing Oliver, keeping his brooding, moody roots but branching out from that. The season has a good guest cast including pro wrestler Cody Rhodes and the aforementioned Dolph Lundgren. And, of course, characters from the other shows appear throughout the season, not only for the crossover but in small cameos in other episodes. It is definitely worth watching.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: DC's Legends of Tomorrow: The Complete Second Season

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from the first season, but no major season two spoilers+++

The second season of Legends picks up with the team dealing with the time aberrations that they released because of their actions during season one, especially toward the end of the season. And, they are still reeling from the loss of Snart after he sacrificed himself in the season one finale. The first episode of the season is basically a crossover with Arrow and introduces a new main character, Nate Heywood, played by Nick Zano, who is a historian trying to find the Waverider. The season premiere also introduces the Arrowverse's version of the Justice Society of America and introduces the character of Amaya Jiwe, played by Maisie Richardson-Sellers, who also becomes a series regular. In addition to the time aberrations storyline, the other main story arc of the season involves a team-up among former Flash and Arrow "Big Bads" Damien Darhk (played by Neil McDonough), Malcolm Merlyn (played by John Barrowman), and Reverse Flash (played by Matt Letscher). The team basically has to visit different time periods, to usually hilarious effect, and correct something that went wrong and/or thwart the plans of Darhk, Merlyn, and Thawne. Just before the halfway point of the season is Legends' installment of the big Arrowverse crossover event, Invasion, which includes characters from Supergirl, Flash, and Arrow. The season then ends on yet another cliffhanger with time being messed up and setting up the season three storylines.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, it is pretty similar to the sets of all of the other Arrowverse shows in terms of A/V quality and extras. The extras include the crossover episodes of Flash and Arrow so you can watch the entire crossover event without getting discs from the other shows, then you get some deleted scenes (about 11 minutes between them all), a 6-minute gag reel, a 10-minute featurette on the Invasion crossover (that is the same as what is on the Flash, Arrow, and Supergirl sets if you have those), and an approximately 30-minute portion of the show's 2016 Comic-Con panel.

Overall, the show is good but different. It is much more quirky than the other Arrowverse shows, which they can play up a lot because of the time travel aspect. The cast seems to have good chemistry with each other, and while losing Wentworth Miller as a series regular did change the dynamic of the series a bit, I think the new additions to the cast fit in well. So, if you are a fan of the other Arrowverse shows, this is definitely worth watching as well, even though the storylines and to some extent the tone of the show are quite different from the first season.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Supergirl - Season 2

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from season one, but no major spoilers from season 2+++

The second season of Supergirl marks a major shift in the direction of the show. This is largely due to the shift from CBS to the CW, which had plusses and minuses. The big plus is that the show could be brought into the Arrowverse more easily because the show moved the filming location from Hollywood to Vancouver British Columbia where the other Arrowverse shows are filmed. Of course, the show was brought into the Arroverse by a crossover with The Flash during the show's first season in which The Flash (Grant Gustin) ended up on Earth-38 and ended up in National City, and Supergirl was shown as The Flash was running in the speed force in one of the season-two episodes of The Flash. The big drawback to the network and filming location switch is that there was a lot of cast turnover. For example, Peter Facinelli ended up leaving the show, so the entire Max Lord storyline was dropped. Also, Callista Flockhart went from a series regular to a recurring cast member, with Cat appearing in just a handful of episodes. 

The season picks up immediately after the crash of the ship that ended the season one finale. Supergirl finds an unconscious man in the pod and takes him to the DEO. Meanwhile, in the first episode, the Arrowverse's version of Superman is introduced, played by Teen Wolf's Tyler Hoechlin as he helps Supergirl save a commercial rocket that experiences engine failure and falls back to Earth. They discover that Lena Luthor, Lex's sister (played by Merlin's Katie McGrath) was on the rocket Kara begins a complicated friendship with Lena. The rest of the season is a mix of alien of the week and a couple of serial storylines. One involves a version of the project Cadmus, and one that involves the mysterious man in the ship (played by Melissa Benoist's now husband, Chris Wood). In the eighth episode, Supergirl is recruited to help in the big Arrowverse Crossover, Invasion. Although Supergirl did not get a stand-alone episode in the big crossover, there is another crossover later in the season with The Flash which is partly a musical episode. The season ends with a couple of big cliffhangers that set up season three.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the show looks and sounds great, as all of the Arrowverse blu-rays do. The extras include several behind-the-scenes featurettes, including one on the Alien "fight club" episode, another that details the different kinds of aliens the show features, then you get a portion of the 2016 comic-con panel, a conversation with Kevin Smith and the series creator Andrew Kreisberg discussing the series, and a commentary track on the episode Supergirl lives (which Smith directed) featuring the two of them. Then there is a series of seven short trivia featurettes that are anywhere from about 30 seconds long to just under two minutes. 

Overall, the show is good but takes a decidedly different direction this season, and almost has to start over. While most of the cast returns, including Mechad Brooks (whose role as James is expanded in a couple of ways), Chyler Leigh, Jeremy Jordan, and David Harewood, the loss of Calista Flockhart, Peter Facinelli, and Laura Benanti definitely hurt. Plus, actors like Jenna Dewan and Italia Ricci, who may have had additional guest-starring roles would not return. Although in season two, Teri Hatcher, who, of course, played Lois Lane in the 1990s series Lois and Clark, had a major guest starring role, and the show got other notable guest stars like Helen Slater (reprising her role as Kara and Alex's mother Eliza), Lynda Carter (who played the live-action version of Wonder Woman in the 1970s), Dichen Lachman (from Dollhouse), and Darren Criss. The show most definitely incorporates elements of the real-world political climate into the storylines, and the political leanings of the showrunners and cast are very apparent. Some people will definitely be triggered by that, others will like it, and others will ignore it. In terms of tone, the show is somewhere between The Flash (which tends to be a bit more lighthearted) and Arrow (which is darker). So, while I cannot say that everyone will like it, I definitely think it is worth watching.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: The Flash: The Complete Third Season

 

Season three of The Flash has a lot going on. The season starts out with a variation of the "Flashpoint" storyline from the comics caused by Barry going back in time and saving his mother from Thawne. The fallout from that action really carries through the entire season. Then, about a third of the way into the season we get the big Arrowverse Crossover, Invasion, that involved Arrow, Flash, Supergirl (although Supergirl did not get a stand-alone crossover episode), and Legends. The big bad of the season ends up being yet another speedster, this time Savitar, who makes the team's life miserable for the entire season. And, of course, the show does mix in a bit of the case-of-the-week procedural episode, but those are definitely fewer than in prior seasons.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the show looks and sounds great, as it has in the prior seasons. Most of the special effects are pretty seamless, however, when they show close-ups of Barry or Wally super speeding, you can definitely tell they are animated characters. The extras include ten different featurettes including one of the villains, the Gorilla City episode, a portion of the 2016 Comic-Con panel, deleted scenes, a gag reel, a conversation with the showrunner and director Kevin Smith (who directed one of the episodes), and a feature on the crossover event. Plus, the crossover episodes of the other shows are included so you do not have to swap out discs with the other shows (or even get the other shows' sets) to see the entire crossover storyline.

Overall, the season is very good, even though the evil speedster storyline is a bit derivative of the Zoom and Reverse Flash storylines in the prior seasons. There are several additions to the cast this year, including Harry Potter's Tom Felton, Tobin Bell (from the Saw franchise), Violet Beanne, Jessica Camacho, Jessica Camacho (from House and Covert Affairs), and Danielle Nicolet. Some of the new cast members would have their roles expanded and some were only around for this season. The big crossover event was very good, but the mini-crossover with Supergirl which was a musical episode that allowed the vocal talents of some cast like Mellissa Benoist and Grant Gustin to be displayed was very good as well. So, if you are a fan of the Arrowverse shows, and especially The Flash, you will definitely want to watch this season.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Constantine: The Complete Series

 

Constantine was a supernatural thriller series that aired on NBC in the 2014-2015 season. It starred Matt Ryan as John Constantine, a demon hunter, and master of dark arts who exorcises demons from humans and sends the demons to hell. He is joined by Angélica Celaya who plays Mary "Zed" Martin: A psychic who helps Constantine find demons and Charles Halford as Francis "Chas" Chandler: Constantine's oldest friend and sidekick. Harold Perrineau (from the series Lost) also stars as Manny, an Angel assigned to watch over Constantine.

The series is basically a case-of-the-week procedural, with the team having to find and then get rid of a particular demon. There is also a serial arc that is tied to Constantine's past that we get a few hints about, but the series was canceled before it could be fleshed out. Of course, most fans of the show know that the character was brought into the Arrowverse when the character appeared on the series Arrow and then became a regular on Legends of Tomorrow. I think the series would have been a lot better off being on The CW as it could have crossed over with the other Arrowverse shows from the get-go, but it was probably too close to the series Supernatural which was, at that time, The CW's longest running show. But, the series was just too dark to get enough of a fan base on a regular broadcast network and was never going to get the kind of ratings it needed to be renewed.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the series looks and sounds great in HD. The one benefit of being on a major network is that it got a huge budget so the special effects looked movie quality. As far as extras go, there are a couple of very short behind-the-scenes featurettes, a trailer for the series, and two Comic-Con features. One is a portion of the Constantine panel (that runs about 11 minutes) and the other is the DC Comics Night at Comic-Con 2014 Presenting Gotham, The Flash, Constantine, and Arrow, which runs just under a half hour.

Overall, the series is good, but was probably doomed from the start. The showrunners made the curious choice to abandon a major character from the pilot who was clearly going to be a series regular and basically swapped her out with the character of Zed. As I said above, it was probably too dark a show to get traction on any of the major networks as it was only going to appeal to comic book fans and they alone cannot generate the kind of ratings needed to keep a series on a major broadcast network. And, given the themes of demons and the occult that occurred in every episode, there was no chance that casual viewers were going to stick with the show. So, if you watch the show, just know that the series has a pretty unsatisfying end and while the character of Constantine lived on in the Arrowverse, the plot lines (and other characters) from the series did not.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: DC's Legends of Tomorrow: Season 1

 

Legends of Tomorrow is, along with the Flash, another show spun off from Arrow. It received a backdoor pilot in the Flash-Arrow crossover (in season 2 of The Flash and season 4 of Arrow). The pilot picks up with the Vandal Savage storyline, in which a "Time Master" named Rip Hunter (played by Arthur Darvill) recruits Sarah Lance (Caity Lotz), Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh), Martin Stein (Victor Garber), Jefferson Jackson (Franz Drameh) Captain Cold/Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller), and Mick Rory/Heatwave (Dominic Purcell) to help him stop Savage's rise to power in the hopes of saving his family whom Savage kills in the future.

The first season storyline involves the group, along with Hawkman and Hawkgirl traveling through time on a ship called The Waverider, trying to take Savage out before he can rise to power. This sees the characters in the recent past (the 1970s), the more distant past (the 1950s), back in the 1800s, and in the future. Of course, things do not always go as planned, and there are several twists along the way. The season ends on a couple of pretty big cliffhangers that have consequences going into the second season.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the A/V quality is on par with the other Arrowverse shows and looks as good as you would expect a show from 2015 shot on digital to look. The extras include a portion 2015 Comic-Con panel where host Geoff Johns talks with the cast about the show which runs about 20 minutes, a short gag reel, a nine-minute tour of the Waverider set, a look behind the scenes at the episode "The Magnificent Eight", and a look at how they created the different time periods.

Overall, the show is good. It is definitely more of a serial story than a procedural one, so you have to watch it from the beginning to really know what is going on. There are definitely plot points that don't make a whole lot of sense, and the show can get a bit cute with the twists. The ragtag band of misfits theme works well, and the show does a good job juggling the large ensemble cast that really does not have a traditional series lead. It is a good blend of action, dry humor, and drama. Even when the writing is uneven, it is very well-acted and a good addition to the slate of Arrowverse shows, which at the time this aired included Arrow, Flash, and more tangentially, Supergirl. While some Arrowverse characters make appearances in the first season, the show does not lean on existing shows and does tell its own story. I do think that having a smaller run of episodes (16 as opposed to the 22-24 that the other shows get) did help the series because it got in and out of the season one storyline without getting too stale.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Supergirl: Season 1

 

The first season of Supergirl served as an origin story for Kara Danvers (Kara Zor El) played by Glee's Melissa Benoist. Kara's backstory was told in the first few minutes of the series premiere, and then during the opening credits for pretty much every episode thereafter. She was a pre-teen on Krypton when she was sent on a separate ship to Earth, with the expectation that she would protect Kal-EL, who would, of course, grow up to become Superman. Her ship was blown off course and got stuck in the Phantom Zone, and by the time she reached Earth (still as a pre-teen), Kal had grown up and was living as Clark Kent and Superman. Kara was sent to live with the Danvers family in National City, which includes her sister Alex (played by Chyler Leigh) and mother Eliza (played by Helen Slater, who played the first live-action version of Supergirl in the 1980s), and a missing father who worked for the same government organization that Alex new works for Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO), under the leadership of Hank Henshaw (played by Homeland's David Harewood) that tracks alien activity on Earth.

Adult Kara works at Catco worldwide media which is run by Cat Grant (played by Calista Flockhart in a much different version of the character as was portrayed on Lois and Clark) as a lacky/flunky/assistant for the overbearing Grant. She is joined by Jimmy Olson (played by Mechad Brooks) who in this version knows the identity of Superman and that Kara has powers, and Winslow "Winn" Schott (played by Jeremy Jordan). In the first episode, an event that somewhat plays homage to the original Superman movie as well as a scene in Superman Returns) occurs, which requires Kara to reveal the presence of another Kryptonian on Earth, but she is able to maintain her secret identity as Kara Danvers. From there, the show becomes a "freak-of-the-week" procedural, much like the show Smallville, with Kara having to track down wayward aliens who had escaped from the Phantom Zone. Intertwined with the procedural stories was a larger arc that involved the character Maxwell Lord, played by Twilight's Peter Facinelli who was a Lex Luthor-type foil to Supergirl.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the A/V quality is very good, which is not surprising given that the show was shot on digital and had a big enough effects budget that the CGI looked nearly movie-quality. The extras include 15 minutes of deleted scenes, a 15-minute portion of the Comic-Con panel, a featurette on one of the characters that kind of acts as a spoiler as the identity of the character is not revealed right away, a 10-minute featurette on the look of Krypton on the show, and a short gag reel. Not a ton of extras, but what was included is good.

Overall, the show is very good. Benoist does a great job as the series lead portraying Kara/Supergirl as idealistic even if somewhat naive. The first season of the show did have a bit of a different feel in season one than it would have for the rest of its run because it aired on CBS and was shot in Hollywood as opposed to the other Arrowverse shows that aired on The CW and shot in Canada. The show was confirmed to be in the Arrowverse, on a different Earth, when Grant Gustin (from The Flash) made a guest appearance partway through the season. The first season had a good run of guest stars, that included stars from both Smallville and Lois and Clark. Some of the guest stars included Laura Benanti, Jenna Dewan, Brit Morgan, Italia Ricci, Laura Vandervoort (who played Supergirl on Smallville), Emma Caulfield (from Buffy), and more. Benoist's husband (at the time), Blake Jenner, also appeared in a guest starring role, which is a bit creepy to watch now given what has come out about their relationship since then. The season ends on a pretty big cliffhanger that sets up the season two storyline (which was not a guarantee the series was going to get at the time the season finale aired) while leaving some story arcs unresolved. If you are a fan of the other Superhero shows, especially The Flash, then you will probably like Supergirl, as it has a fairly similar tone to The Flash. The writing is mostly good but can get a bit soap-opera-like at times. It is definitely worth watching.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Arrow: Season 4

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from season three, but no major season four spoilers+++

There is a lot going on in season four of Arrow. In the present, Thea is feeling the effects of the Lazarus pit, becoming more and more aggressive, yet is also feeling guilty about killing Sara and tries to get Malcolm Merlyn to revive her. Also in the present, Oliver has taken the mantle of The Green Arrow, vowing to protect the city, yet try to work more within the bounds of the law. The new big bad of the season is revealed to be Damien Darhk, the leader of a group called H.I.V.E., terrorizing the city as Darhk tries to take down Oliver. Team Arrow has expanded with Diggle and Laurel joining Oliver in the field, while Felicity operates as Overwatch. In the flashbacks, we see more of Oliver's time on the island, now working, against his will, for A.R.G.U.S. and Amanda Waller. The character of Constantine is officially brought into the Arrowverse with the appearance of Matt Ryan, who was fresh from his canceled show on NBC. This season also gives us crossover episodes withThe Flash, which also sever as a backdoor pilot for the newest Arrowverse series Legends of Tomorrow. The Flash episode of the crossover is included on this set, so you do not have to get (or switch over to) the Flash DVD or Blu-Ray set to watch it.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the show looks and sounds great in HD, as it has in the prior seasons. Of course, the show makes a lot of use of CGI effects and does a great job (especially for a TV show) of making them look seamless with the practical effects. The extras are not as extensive as in the prior season releases, however. Those include deleted scenes across the four discs, two featurettes focused on characters (Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and Vandal Savage) from "Legends of Tomorrow", and a featurette on Damien Dahrk. Then there is also a short gag reel and footage from a Comic-Con panel. Even though there are not as many extras as we got in prior seasons, what was included is good.

Overall, the season is good. It builds the Oliver vs. Darhk to a crescendo with a final battle. Darhk's past is a bit of a mystery at the beginning of the season and more details get revealed throughout the course of the season. There is more cast juggling, some of which is a bit of a misdirection, with some characters being introduced that will take a larger role in subsequent seasons and others that were shifted over to Legends of Tomorrow. In general, the DC tv universe has been a lot more cohesive and well-run than the DC movie universe, and the Arrowverse is really telling a bunch of different intertwined stories with Arrow as the lead show. The show is a very good blend of action and drama, and Stephen Amell continues to grow into the main character, doing a great job as the series lead. So, if you were a fan of the first few seasons of the show, this one is definitely worth watching.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: The Flash: Season 2

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from season 1, but no major season two spoilers+++

Season two of The Flash picks up down the line from the events of season one, in which Eobard Thawne was defeated due to Eddie's sacrifice. The team has essentially split with Cisco working for the police department, Caitlyn working at Mercury labs, Iris mourning Eddie's death, and Barry trying to singlehandedly take down the various evil metahumans. The big bad is set up early in the season, revealing that Zoom, an evil speedster on a different Earth, Earth-2 is sending metahumans to Earth-1 to take out Barry. Barry is joined by Earth 2's version of The Flash, Jay Garrick, played by Teddy Sears (from the series Masters of Sex) to help Barry take down Zoom. Zoom's identity is kept secret until later in the season, but when he does make his first couple of appearances, he is voiced by Tony Todd.

The season also expands the Arrowverse. First, there is the annual crossover with the parent series Arrow, which set up the cast and storyline of the first season of Legends of Tomorrow and served as a backdoor pilot for that series. Second, later in the season, Barry crosses over to Supergirl, which was in its first season and airing on CBS. That established that Supergirl was on yet another Earth, fully entrenching the multiverse concept which would be key, especially for later crossover episodes. Of course, the show has a ton of twists and turns, and given the multiverse and time travel aspects of the show characters who are dead do not always stay that way. The multiverse also gave a way for the show to keep Tom Cavanaugh (who of course played Eobard Thawne impersonating Harrison Wells as Earth-2's Well, called Harry, comes to Earth-1 to help the team take down Zoom.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the show again looks and sounds great in HD, with the special effects looking nearly seamless. Because the Flash's speed requires using animation, you can tell the difference between when it is Grant Gustin in the suit versus an animated version of the character, but even that blends in pretty well. The extras include deleted scenes, several short behind-the-scenes featurettes, a gag reel, and a half-hour-long panel discussion with the showrunners and cast from the 2015 Paley Fest.

Overall, the season is very good. It is well-written and very well-acted. The season ends on a pretty massive cliffhanger that will definitely have an impact on season three. It is more light-hearted than Arrow, overall, although it does have some dark moments of its own. It also includes a lot of good guest stars including Peyton List, Mark Hamill (reprising his role as Trickster), Aaron Douglas (from the remade Battlestar series), and more. Of course, characters from Arrow appear on the show, and Amanda Pays reprises her role as Tina McGee, a version of the character she played in the 1990 Flash series. So, if you liked or loved season 1, you will probably feel the same way about season two. Since the Arrowverse is now starting to tell intertwined stories within the case or metahuman-of-the-week procedural format, you almost have to watch all of the shows to understand everything that is going on in the others.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: The Flash: Season 1

 

The Flash is the first show spun off from the series Arrow, creating what has come to be called the Arrowverse. It had a backdoor pilot in season two of Arrow, introducing Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) who at that time had no powers and was just a CSI for the Central City police department who was also trying to solve the murder of his mother (who was killed when he was a young boy) and to free his father from prison. The actual pilot episode gives the backstory of the death of Barry's mother and why the police believed his father, Henry (who is played by John Wesley Shipp, who also played The Flash in the 1990s series). The pilot establishes that Barry gets his powers because of an accident at the nearby Star Labs in which a particle accelerator explodes, which has ramifications throughout the season. As Barry discovers his powers, he is aided by the Star Labs staff including Dr. Harrison Wells (played by Tom Cavanagh), Cisco Ramon (played by Carlos Valdes), and Caitlin Snow (played by Danielle Panabaker). We also learn that Barry was taken in by Joe West, a detective at the CCPD (played by Law and Order's Jesse L. Martin), and raised basically as his son. We also learn that Barry is in love with Joe's daughter Iris (played by Candice Patton) who is engaged to another Central City cop, Eddie Thawne (played by Rick Cosnett).

As most of the Arrowverse shows are, The Flash is a mix of a case-of-the-week procedural (in the Flash's case kind of like the "freak of the week" ala Smallville) in which different people who got powers because of the particle accelerator explosion (called Metahumans) have to be tracked down by the team, and a serial with a large story arc that plays throughout the season. That arc is the mystery of the murder of Barry's mom, which has a lot of twists and turns that are slowly revealed throughout the season. There is a Big Bad of the season, but who it is (although chances are most people reading this by now know) is a huge reveal that is not apparent until well into the season. There is also the first crossover with the parent series Arrow, in which a storyline starts on Flash and finishes on Arrow. Besides the crossover, characters from Arrow make other appearances on the show throughout the season. By the end of the season, some of the storylines are wrapped up, and others are revealed as the season ends on a huge cliffhanger going into season two.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the show looks and sounds great in HD. There are a lot of extras including a Commentary by Executive Producers Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg and DC Comics' Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns for the pilot episode, about 35-minutes of deleted scenes spread across all the discs, a feature called Behind the Story: The Trickster Returns! that runs just under nine minutes, about the original series; a making-of/behind-the-scenes featurette titled The Fastest Man Alive (30:39/HD), a neat history of the character. You also get Creating the Blur: The VFX of The Flash that runs about a half an hour, a feature on Emily Bett Rickards and Grant Gustin's chemistry together, a half-hour long feature on the DC Comics Night at the 2014 Comic-Con 2014, and a Gag Reel that runs about eight minutes. So, a lot there if you like the extras.

Overall, this is a very strong season for the show. It has a much different tone than Arrow and really stands on its own as a show despite leaning on the characters from Arrow from time to time. It also has several nice tie-ins with the original Flash series using John Wesley Shipp, but also using Amanda Pays as Tina McGee (who also starred in the 1990s series) and Mark Hamill as The Trickster. Season One also introduces characters that will have much larger roles in the Arrowverse down the line. It is definitely worth watching if you are a fan of superhero shows like Smallville (which was really the predecessor to all the CW Superhero shows) and Arrow. It is well written and very well acted, and worth the time to check out.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Arrow: Season 3

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from the prior season, but no major season three spoilers+++

Season three of Arrow picks up down the line from the season 2 finale in which Slade is defeated and Malcolm Merlin is revealed to be alive and helped Thea escape from the Mirakuru-enhanced army. Oliver and Felicity attempt to date, but to throw the obvious wrench into the relationship to keep them apart as long as possible, Oliver tells her that he cannot be The Arrow and be normal at the same time. This, along with the introduction of Ray Palmer (played by Superman Returns' Brandon Routh) as both a personal and business rival for Oliver, provides a bunch of hurdles. The serial arc of the season involves a mystery about Sarah Lance (the recast Caity Lotz) who was revealed during season two to have survived the shipwreck and joined the League of Assassins. The League, and their leader Ra's al Ghul (played by Matt Noble). The season also makes heavy use of flashbacks, telling the story of Oliver's time on (and as we discover this season, off) the island before his rescue in season one. The flashback sequence also is used as a way to have Tommy Merlin (the guest starring Collin Donnell) return in one of the early episodes of the season. This season also sees the first of what would become numerous crossovers with the newly minted Arrowverse show, The Flash (which had a backdoor pilot episode during season two of Arrow). There is the official two-episode crossover that starts in an episode of The Flash and ends in the Arrow episode. And, Barry Allen/Flash (Grant Gustin) makes an appearance in the season finale to help the team out.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the A/V quality kind of bounced between good and great. Some scenes look extremely good in HD, and others do show some noise and grain. But honestly, unless you are a real video wonk, you will probably not notice it. There are commentary tracks on two episodes, including the midseason finale which has a huge cliffhanger at the end of it, 15-minutes of deleted scenes, a half-hour-long segment of the Comic-Con panel, and a short gag reel. So, if you like watching the extras, there is a decent amount there for you.

Overall, the season is very good. It continues to be a very dark show that has a lot of violence, some sex, and is not shy about killing off characters. The writers do a good job juggling the very large ensemble cast, giving all of the characters some depth and continuing to develop them. One of the best episodes of the season shows a younger Felicity in her college hacktivist days, and fleshing out her backstory and giving insight into how she has changed from that time to her time on Team Arrow. Emily Bett Rickards pretty much steals every scene she is in, and is one of the few characters on the show that is not dark and brooding. As much as the DC Movie Universe has been panned, the DC TV Universe gets a lot right, and provides for a lot of compelling stories, with Arrow being at the forefront. So, if you liked the first couple of seasons, then you will probably like or love this season as well.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Batman: The Movie (1966)

 

Batman, the movie is essentially a longer (just over an hour and a half) version of one of the very campy 1960s TV series episodes. It was actually filmed between seasons one and two of the show. It is basically a team-up between the series' villains, Joker (Cesar Romero), Penguin (Burgess Meridith), Catwoman (Lee Merriweather, who took over for an unavailable Julie Newmar), and Riddler (Frank Gorshin). Of course, they try to lure Batman into a trap, part of which includes kidnapping Bruce Wayne. Like the TV show, the movie is very campy and tongue-in-cheek. The two most memorable scenes are probably Batman running around trying to dispose of a huge bomb without endangering anything from puppies to nuns (my Torts professor in law school could have easily made an exam question out of that), and the shark repellant scene. Of course, the 60s series is totally different from any recent versions of Batman which make the character very dark and violent. But, given the time in which the show aired, that is what they could get away with and they were not going to change the tone of the movie to be inconsistent with the show.

For those who get the special edition Blu-Ray, the extras include two commentary tracks on the movie. One by the screenwriter, and a great one with Adam West and Burt Ward, who are pretty hilarious. Then there are a series of featurettes, the main one titled Batman: A Dynamic Legacy, which is a 30-minute retrospective on the impact of the series. Then there are separate features on the heroes and the villains of the show, and a feature on the Batmobile. It also includes the featurette from the original 2001 DVD release that contained interviews with the surviving cast members. So, if you like watching the extras, there is a lot there for you.

Overall, you have to go into this knowing what it is and what it is not. If you are not a fan of the 60s TV show, then watching this is going to be a waste of time. It has the same cheesy, campy tone, and the plot makes as much sense (or does not) of any of the plots in the TV episodes. It is funny in parts, eye-roll inducing in other parts, and you have to know you are not getting anything close to "The Dark Knight" version of the character. While the movie does look and sound pretty good in HD, I would not say it got an over-the-top restoration like some older movies have, so really the main reason to get the Blu-Ray over streaming it is for the extras, because you have the tv series on disc, and/or just a preference for physical media. If you are in one of those categories, it is a good pickup.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Batman: The Complete Television Series (Limited Edition)

 

This review is for the limited edition Blu-Ray box set of the 1966 Batman TV Series starring Adam West as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Burt Ward as Dick Grayson/Robin. Chances are most people reading this have seen at least some of the series either because they are old enough to have watched its original run on TV, or, like me, watched it in re-runs back when it aired in syndication on a regular basis. If you do not fall into one of those categories, this is the classic show that is pretty much the antithesis of what Batman has become in the more recent animated series and movies. It is not remotely dark, either visually or in tone, and is at times very, very, silly. But, it was a product of its time and worked in the mid-1960s. The episodes were very repetitive. Pretty much every episode was a two-parter. At the end of the first part, Batman and Robin were usually in some life-threatening situation, and in the second part, they would catch the bad guy (only for said bad guy to be released (or escape) from prison a few episodes down the line and return to do the whole thing over again). And, of course, nobody figured out who Batman and Robin were despite the fact that they went out in broad daylight, and never did anything to disguise their voices. So, it is something that you just have to go with and accept that it is not going to make a ton of sense or be even remotely realistic. The series did have a ton of great guest stars including Cesar Romero (who hilariously refused to shave his mustache to play The Joker), Julie Newmar/Lee Merriweather/Ertha Kitt whom all played Catwoman, Burges Merideth as Penguin, Frank Gorshin as The Riddler, and even had Bruce Lee on the show when the stars of the show Green Hornet crossed over.

Where the set really shines is the bonus content. There are some physical collectibles like a hot-wheels version of the Batmobile, some replica trading cards, and a booklet that serves as an episode guide. As far as the Blu-Ray extras go, they are pretty much all included on the last disc and include about three-hours worth of featurettes that range from focusing on Adam West's life and career to featurette in which various celebrities discuss their love of the series. Unfortunately, there are no episode commentary tracks which would have been nice because I am sure Adam West and Burt Ward would have recorded them if they had been asked to.

Overall, this is a great set. The Blu-Ray remaster looks great. All of the colors (and there are a lot of them) really pop, and the audio track, while they are not in the category of Dolby Atmos, sounds fine. There is an issue with a couple of the discs missing content from episodes, but Warners did a disc replacement program to allow you to swap out those discs. The show was one of the more successful superhero shows, getting a decent series run on a major network (of course, the CW and the WB did not exist when the series aired). It is not as good as the Nolan movie trilogy, Tim Burton's movies, or even Snyder's movies (assuming you like the darker, brooding version of Batman). But, for what it is, it is a fun series and is definitely worth the pickup.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Arrow Season 2

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from season one, but no major season two giveaways.+++

Season two of Arrow picks up in the aftermath of the events of the Season 1 finale, with Malcolm's undertaking being successful, but taking Tommy's life. Oliver, having defeated Merlin retreats to the Island, and Laurel relapses into drugs and alcohol after Tommy's death. Diggle and Felicity are trying to find Oliver to convince him to return to Starling City to save Queen Consolidated from a takeover by a woman named Isabel Rochev (played by Firefly's Summer Glau). Moira is in jail awaiting trial for her role in The Undertaking, Quentin has been busted down to beat cop, and Roy is trying to protect The Glades in Oliver's absence. The show continues to be a combination of a procedural story-of-the-week show and a serial multi-arc show. The show continues to alternate between the present and then flashing back to events on the island to show to set up Oliver's origin story. There are several new villains and heroes introduced during the season. While early on it appears that Brother Blood will be the big bad of the season, as things play out, Deathstroke (played by Manu Bennett) is revealed as the real threat to Oliver.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the extras include a recap episode titled "Year One" that summarizes the events of the first season, a 24-minute making-of documentary, about 23-minutes of deleted scenes, a short gag reel, about 25 minutes of the 2013 Comic-Con panel and a couple of shorter featurettes focusing on the stunts and visual effects. So, a good amount if you like going through it.

Overall, the season amps up the action and takes the show in a lot of different directions. It introduces the Arrowverse's version of The Suicide Squad, sets up the League of Assassins, which would be a huge plot throughout the rest of the series, and has a two-part episode that serves as a backdoor pilot for The Flash (which would be added to the Arrowverse the next year), introducing Barry Allen (played by Grant Gustin), Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker), and Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdez). The acting and writing for the series are very strong with Manu Bennett and Emily Bett Rickards as standouts this season. Susanna Thompson also does a great job as Moira Queen, especially later in the season. The show is still very violent and does have some sexual content throughout, so it is not something that is going to be suitable for younger kids. If you are a fan of superhero shows and movies, this is definitely a great one and is well worth watching.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Arrow: Season 1

 

Arrow premiered just a couple of years after Smallville had wrapped. It introduced a new version of Oliver Queen, played by Stephen Amell, that made the version in Smallville played by Justin Hartley look like a boy scout. In the pilot, Oliver, who has been on a seemingly deserted island for five years, and was long presumed dead after a boating accident is rescued and brought back to Star City. He discovered, from his father, who owned Queen Industries (which was basically the company that owned everything in Star City), a list of high-profile people who were destroying the city. Oliver takes on the persona of "the hood" and starts killing the people on the list by shooting them with arrows. The rest of the season one cast included David Ramsey, Susanna Thompson, Katie Cassidy, Colin Donnell, John Barrowman, Emily Betts Rickards, Colton Haynes, Willa Holland, and Paul Blackthorne.

The show is definitely more of a serial (with long arcs that run throughout the season) than it is a procedural. The storylines mainly involve Oliver trying to acclimate to life back home while taking on the vigilante persona, keeping that a secret, and avoiding law enforcement. He also has to go up against the season's "big bad" known as the dark archer. The show also flashes back to his time on the Island in which we see how he learned the skills he uses as The Hood and transforms from the spoiled brat that he was into the hero he would become.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, if you get the original release you will get both Blu-Rays and DVDs. For some reason, they decided to include both formats even though people buying the Blu-Ray set probably only cared about watching the Blu-Rays. The A/V quality of the Blu-Rays is very good. The extras include deleted scenes for some of the episodes, and then on the fourth disc, there is a making-of documentary that runs about a half an hour, a featurette on the stunts that runs just under twenty minutes, a Q&A panel from Paleyfest with some of the cast and the showrunners that is just under a half-hour, and a short gag reel.

Overall, the season is very good. I was one who really liked Hartley's performance as the character on Smallville, and was very skeptical about whether this series would work, and I was very pleasantly surprised. The acting was very good. Even though the show definitely relied on a very good-looking cast, the show had a mix of acting veterans and newcomers the acting quality was good even if it took some of the newer actors time to grow into their roles. You can tell that Amell was devoted to the character and got himself into great shape, and did as many of his own stunts as possible, which was something for a very physical action series. There is a lot of violence and some sexual content (but nothing over the top there), so that is something to be aware of. But, if you are a fan of the superhero genre, especially the stories involving characters who are not invincible, this is a good one to check out.

DVD/TV Series Review: The Flash (1990) Complete Series

 

This was, as of 1990, the latest attempt to produce a comic book superhero show on network TV, which had happened over the years, with varying degrees of success (e.g., the George Reeve's Superman series in the 1950s, the Incredible Hulk and Wonder Woman series in the 1970s, and Superboy in the 1980s). This one aired on CBS and was totally an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the 1989 Batman movie. In fact, the soundtrack for the series was very similar to the score used in the Batman movie, even sounding nearly identical at times.

This starred John Wesley Shipp as Barry Allen, who is a forensic scientist working for the Central City police, is struck by lightning and doused in chemicals in his lab giving him super speed. He is joined by Research scientist Dr. Tina McGee (played by Amanda Pays) who works at S.T.A.R. Labs and helps Barry fight crime while trying to understand how his powers are developing. Unlike the current version of The Flash running on the CW, this one is a procedural case/villain of the week show and does not have the larger story arcs from the comics like Barry's dad being in jail for the murder of his wife, or elements like that. It also never clearly defines the relationship between Barry and Tina. In one episode they would clearly have a relationship as just colleagues and in the next, they would be made out as potential love interests, and it would swing back and forth. The was also no real "big bad" in the series, although Mark Hamill was being built up as one playing The Trickster.

The DVD set is very bare-bones. It does have captions, but there are not really any extras or bonus material, just the episodes themselves. I do believe that the series is available on some streaming services, so if you only buy physical discs when there are a lot of extras available, you may want to go that route.

Overall, the series was good and really better than it gets credit for. It was definitely still finding its footing at the time it was canceled, and CBS pretty quickly juggled what days it was aired on, and given the smaller fan base that the comic book shows tend to have, and it kind of just ended with a whimper. Of course, the series was brought into the Arrowverse (which I argue could also be called the Smallvilleverse) during the Crisis on Infinite Earth's storyline. John Wesley Shipp did play different characters on the Arroverse's version of The Flash, including playing other Universe's versions of The Flash, but it was in Crisis in which we saw him as the 1990 version of the character. So, while the series did not get a proper ending (since it was canceled after the 22 episodes had aired) the character does get a conclusion in the Arrowverse. It is definitely worth watching.