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The Flash Advance Review: “The Flash Reborn” & “Mixed Signals”

FlashTVNews reviews the first two episodes of The Flash Season 4.

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The fourth season of The Flash begins tonight at 8PM on The CW! The network has made the first two episodes of the season, tonight’s “The Flash Reborn” and next week’s “Mixed Signals,” available to press, and we have some thoughts! Read on.

“The Flash Reborn” – October 10, 2017

“The Flash Reborn” kicks off Season 4 with promises that the new year won’t be as dark and dour as last year’s downer season did. I admit, my love for The Flash waned a bit because part of what made the show so special was Barry Allen’s optimism.

In tonight’s show, a villain comes demanding a battle with The Flash, and the team has to figure out what to do to stop him. Should they send Wally? Or… should they try to get Barry back? It shouldn’t be considered a spoiler that they do find a way to make it work… though the science of it all is really confusing, and things working out as they do is awfully convenient.

While I am glad Iris has taken on a leadership role at STAR Labs, I almost wish she rather than Cisco was the one who believed that he was still alive and coming back. Candice Patton does, of course, do a great job with the material she is given, as is Carlos Valdes; I think I just wished Iris had been the one to believe all this time, that Barry always makes his way back.

I also have to wonder: If they need a Flash to face this Samurai so badly, why not call up Gypsy to help them find a speedster Barry from another Earth? After all, they found a dozen different Harrison Wells? In a way, I’m glad the show stopped leaning on that “other universes” trope, but it still might’ve done the trick.

Also, yes, it’s nice to see Caitlin again and acting normal and friendly with her peers. Again, no need for downer characters here anymore. Happy Barry, Happy Iris, Happy Caitlin, Happy Cisco, Happy Joe, Happy Wally: That’s the show I want. (And Happy Wells when he decides to show up.)

All in all, “The Flash Reborn” gets all the pieces working again, but it’s the next week’s show, “Mixed Signals,” that’s more exciting to me.

“Mixed Signals” – October 17, 2017

The second episode of The Flash Season 4 is more of the kind of Flash I want to see. Barry’s happy to be The Flash, and Cisco’s made him a new suit with some cool gadgets that weren’t revealed in the spoiler photos. There’s no time travel nonsense, and the only dimensional travel comes in the form of Gypsy.

Barry has fun with his powers when he gets up in the morning with what might be one of the most amusing sequences of the show to date… but… something’s off. He and Iris need to talk. So they go to a therapist played by Donna Pescow! If anyone knows that love conquers all, it would be her. The best part of this is that finally, after four years of “brb gotta speed away,” Iris finally gets to say what’s on her mind.

Meanwhile, the “dangerous meta” from the episode description is Kilg%re from the William Messner-Loebs era of Flash comics, and Cisco is having relationship problems of his own, all while getting advice from a certain female friend.

Beyond the optimism, I love that Team Flash is back. The producers promised “back to basics” and I feel like that’s what’s happening here. There’s still a Wells-sized hole at STAR Labs but we’ll see when that gets resolved.

So… check out the premiere tonight to see how Barry comes back. But even if the premiere is not to your liking, stick around for “Mixed Signals.” It’s worth it.

Join the countdown to tonight’s Flash episode on our Flash forum at KSiteTV!

“The Flash Reborn” Photos“Mixed Signals” Photos

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John Wesley Shipp Is Rewatching Flash 1990: “I Can See So Much More”

Actor John Wesley Shipp has revealed that he is watching the classic Flash series for the first time in 34 years.

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1990 Flash actor John Wesley Shipp, who later played Henry Allen and Jay Garrick and reprised his original role in crossovers, is currently rewatching his classic series as it was recently released to Blu-ray.

Some very exciting news came today courtesy of the Warner Archive… the 1990 Flash TV series starring John Wesley Shipp is coming to Blu-ray!

“Watching series straight through for first time in 34 years,” the actor posted on Twitter/X. “Now in blu-ray – Man! I can see so much more. It’s cool, like watching somebody else, discovering things I didn’t know were there.”

The six-disc set was released on June 14 from the Warner Archive Collection and it featured the entire first season with new 2024 1080p HD masters from 4K scans of the original camera negatives. Here’s how the set is described; the box art can be seen below. Hopefully, this means we’ll get remasters on other classic series in the future.

Order The Flash 1990 Blu-ray through our Amazon affiliate link HERE and support FlashTVNews!

Who-o-o-o-osh! The origins and exploits of the crimefighting DC Comics superhero come your way in this 22-episode live-action series, from the 1990-91 television season. John Wesley Shipp portrays Barry Allen, a police crime technologist endowed with sudden talents after a fluke lab accident. He pledges to use his new powers for good, powers that include ultra-speed reflexes and the ability to vibrate his molecules so rapidly he can pass through solid walls. Amanda Pays is medical researcher Tina McGee, who monitors Allen’s accelerated metabolism and guards his secret identity. The Tricksters, Captain Cold, the Ghost, mad inventors: Central City is rife with criminals. Now there’s a hero to keep pace with them. He’s called The Flash. And in our era of instant communications, he’s more in step with the times than ever.

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New CW Head Throws Shade At The Flash

New CW President Brad Schwartz has thrown shade at The Flash while propping up another series.

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New CW Entertainment President Brad Schwartz today threw some shade at The Flash when propping up one of The CW’s better new performers, Wild Cards, when doing an interview with Deadline.

“You’ll probably be hearing more announcements from us very soon,” he said. “That show did great. It grew 10% versus what The Flash did in the same spot the year before. So, here we are beating shows that everyone’s very romantic about. We’d very much like to renew that one.”

Obviously, this is to show that Canadian imports perform better than more expensive fare… but might it be considered that The Flash was a show in its ninth season – a time when new audiences might not be interested in jumping on to series? Or, perhaps that portions of The Flash fandom had moved on, with no interest in The Cecile Show? Finally, The Flash Season 9 mostly aired at a time where producers and/or cast were unable to promote it, during the 2023 strikes, which makes the comparison very unfair.

Wild Cards is a fun series, but there’s no reason to denigrate The Flash or the superhero shows that made The CW great. Hopefully this was just a wild misunderstanding of his quote. The fact of the matter is: Sometimes more expensive fare is worth investing in. Especially considering how Schwartz hypes up the new season of Superman & Lois, that should be known to the new people in charge of The CW.

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Flash Cast Member Returns for the Superman & Lois Finale

A major actor from The Flash will be playing a role in the series finale of Superman & Lois.

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A major cast member from The Flash will be appearing in the series finale of Superman & Lois.

No, it’s not Grant Gustin, sadly… the actor in question is Tom Cavanagh, the actor who brought us infinite Wells variants. Cavanagh revealed this recently at a convention, where he talked about how he usually enjoyed directing season finales for the show, but was unable to in this case because Gregory Smith had already signed on to direct the Superman & Lois finale.

Superman & Lois showrunner Todd Helbing, who had also worked with Cavanagh before on The Flash and recruited him to direct the series’ 100th episode among others, instead suggested he has a role in the finale.

No word yet on what that role might be. As Superman & Lois is at a different spot in the multiverse, it doesn’t necessarily even have to be a version of Harrison Wells or Eobard Thawne. It could serve as a good closer, though, to the Arrowverse in general, as Superman & Lois is the last gasp for that world on The CW. In any event, you can see video of Cavanagh speaking about this (and more) at our Superman & Lois portal, KryptonSite.

The final season of Superman & Lois premieres this Fall on The CW.

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