The Flash Season 3: The Action & Effects Were Aces But The Series No Longer Has Any Serious Repercussions (Review)

by | May 25, 2017

From the CW Network, DC Comics and executive producer Greg Berlanti  (Arrow), The Flash stars Grant Gustin, Jesse L. Martin, Candice Patton, Keiynan Lonsdale, Rick Cosnett, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, Tom Felton and Tom Cavanagh. Season four will debut Fall, 2017.

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Central City forensic investigator Barry Allen is, always charming and – as a result of a scientific experiment gone awry – now the fastest man alive! He’s The Flash, zigzagging through the action-packed new series from the creative team behind Arrow and based on the supersonic DC Comics character. Barry quickly discovers he’s not the only “metahuman” created by the explosive disaster – and not everyone is using their new powers for good. Now, to protect the innocent, Barry and his close friends who know his secret, race to combat evildoers in one astonishing adventure after another.


Without spoiling anything – let’s go over some of the major points that took place during 23 episodes of The Flash this latest season:

  • Flashpoint
  • Kid Flash
  • New Character (Tom Felton joined the cast)
  • A 3rd Harrison Wells from another Earth joins the team
  • Savitar the God of Speed becomes new Big Bad
  • Killer Frost
  • Gorilla City
  • An Alien Invasion cross-over event series
  • Iris’ death (or rather – Team Flash’s mission to stop her death in the future)

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That list is just what I consider to be the major events and it’s nearly 10 episodes worth of content. I understand that the previous 2 seasons of The Flash were also jampacked, but when you stuff in that much stuff — as important as those events may be — they kind of don’t matter when the arc only lasts 2 episodes at most. Look – last season Barry Allen decided to save his mother from dying by travelling back in time. By doing so – he created a new timeline (called Flashpoint) and he messed up a lot of shit… Now – comic fans know that Flashpoint is arguably the coolest event from the source material and it lasted a grand total of… One episode for the TV series? Sure there were repercussions after that, with people gaining powers (Killer Frost, Kid Flash, whatever) but ONE EPISODE. They resolved all of Flashpoint in the damn season three opener.

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The Flash season 3 was a mess. It was a fun one for the most part, featuring the welcome return of famous villains like Gorilla Grodd, King Shark, Black Flash and we even got a four episode Alien invasion event series which bridged onto other CW shows like Supergirl, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow. We had a lot of goofy ass fun this season, but the overall story arc was boring and it ended on a note that wasn’t satisfying knowing how they treated the Flashpoint arc when it was set up last year. I want serious repercussions – not hasty resolutions that render the decisions useless an episode later.

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Wally West has finally turned into Kid Flash (yeah he’s another speedster), Caitlin Snow has finally turned into Killer Frost and the new big bad villain is yet again another speedster in Savitar, who looks like a cross between the Guyver and a Power Rangers monster. His suit looked cool in motion, but when they decided to drop the CGI, the bulk came across as silly. Whereas ZOOM in season 2 was slick and scary looking, Savitar was a beefy mess and when you finally find out who it is in that suit – although it was a clever twist – it just wasn’t worth the wait in the end.

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Much of season 3 deals with Barry realising that his love Iris West will eventually get murdered by Savitar in the future, so Team Flash does what they can to try and alter said doomed future. Along the way we get a bunch of one and done baddies of the week, including Music Meister, Shade, Mirror Master and more forgettable faces who just can’t hang with past greats like Grodd or Captain Cold. I did love the addition of Tom Felton to the cast however as a fellow hard-ass CSI who works with Barry at the Police Station. Felton is a tremendous performer and his story arc this year was easily one of the highlights of the season.

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The fights, the action, the special effects, the spectacle – all of that stuff a comic fan craves – were all aces this season. It’s the fact that there are no serious repercussions that drives me nuts. I feel like these people can do whatever they want and even though there will be tears along the way (yes there is death), I feel like a show that crams in alternate worlds and constant time travel, will just use that option as a crutch to undo any wrongs… Oh yeah so and so is dead? Time travel bitch. Problem solved. It’s getting to be a tad ridiculous. I love The Flash just as much as anyone else (it’s the only CW DC Comics series I faithfully stay up to date on), but I want season 4 to do the ‘Rebirth’ story-line correctly and not bastardise Flashpoint as hard as they did. Less time travel and a main baddie who isn’t a speedster? Just give me those two elements and I feel like the show will get back on track.

Rating: [star rating=”3″]