The Flash - Season 5 Epi...
The fifth season of the American television series The Flash, which is based on the DC Comics character Barry Allen / Flash, premiered on The CW on October 9, 2018, and concluded on May 14, 2019, with a total of 22 episodes.[1] The season follows Barry dealing with the consequences of his future daughter's time traveling, while confronting a new foe in Orlin Dwyer, the Cicada. It is set in the Arrowverse, sharing continuity with the other television series of the universe, and is a spin-off of Arrow. The season was produced by Berlanti Productions, Warner Bros. Television, and DC Entertainment, with Todd Helbing serving as showrunner.
The Flash - Season 5 Epi...
The season was ordered in April 2018, and production began that July. Grant Gustin stars as Barry, with principal cast members Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, Tom Cavanagh, and Jesse L. Martin also returning from previous seasons, while Hartley Sawyer, Danielle Nicolet, and Jessica Parker Kennedy were promoted to series regulars from their recurring status in season four. They are joined by new cast member Chris Klein while former series regular Keiynan Lonsdale makes a guest appearance. The series was renewed for a sixth season on January 31, 2019.[2]
At the Television Critics Association winter press tour in January 2018, The CW president Mark Pedowitz said he was "optimistic" and "confident" about The Flash and the other Arrowverse shows returning next season, but added that it was too soon to announce anything just yet.[65] On April 2, The CW renewed the series for its fifth season.[66] Todd Helbing, who had previously served as a co-showrunner for the series' first four seasons, emerged as the series' first sole showrunner following Andrew Kreisberg's firing during the previous season.[67][68]
In October 2017, Kevin Smith revealed that then-executive producer Andrew Kreisberg already had plans for the next season of the show and had told him the story for The Flash's fifth season, which got Smith very excited and jokingly commenting, "I now have to stay alive one more year."[69]
Main cast members Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, and Jesse L. Martin return from previous seasons as Barry Allen / Flash, Iris West, Caitlin Snow / Killer Frost, Cisco Ramon / Vibe and Joe West, respectively.[73] Tom Cavanagh also returned as a series regular, playing a new version of his character Harrison Wells,[74] known as Sherloque Wells.[75] Cavanagh also portrays Herr Wells of Earth-12 in the episode "The Death of Vibe",[76] Harry Wells of Earth-2 in the episode "What's Past Is Prologue", and recurs as Eobard Thawne.[77] The fifth season is the first not to feature Keiynan Lonsdale, who plays Wally West / Kid Flash, as a series regular since his introduction in the second season, following the character's move to Legends of Tomorrow during the previous season and Lonsdale's subsequent departure from that show as well.[78] He appears only in the season premiere.[31][79] In June 2018, Danielle Nicolet, Hartley Sawyer, and Jessica Parker Kennedy, who recurred during the previous season as Cecile Horton, Ralph Dibny / Elongated Man, and Nora West-Allen, respectively, were promoted to series regulars for the fifth season.[80][81] Nicolet had additionally guest-starred at the end of the first season and had been recurring in the series since the third season.[82] The season establishes that Nora's alias is XS, making her an amalgamation of Jenni Ognats / XS from DC Comics, and Barry and Iris' daughter in the comics, Dawn Allen.[83] In July, Chris Klein also joined the main cast as Orlin Dwyer / Cicada, the season's main antagonist.[71][84] Sarah Carter was cast to play an adult Grace Gibbons, who also adopts the Cicada persona.[28]
Production for the season began on July 6, 2018, in Vancouver, British Columbia,[87] and concluded on April 10, 2019.[88] Danielle Panabaker made her directorial debut this season.[89] Tom Cavanagh directed the eighth episode of the season, which served as the 100th episode of the series and led into the annual crossover.[90] In October 2018, it was announced that Martin would take a medical leave from the series due to a back injury he sustained over the hiatus.[91] Due to Martin's injury, the majority of his scenes in the first half of the season were shot depicting Joe seated.[92] In January 2019, it was announced that Martin had returned from medical leave and that Joe would return in the fifteenth episode of the season.[93]
The main cast of the season as well as executive producer Todd Helbing attended San Diego Comic-Con on July 21, 2018 to promote the season.[73] Starting on September 14, 2018, several billboards advertising Ralph Dibny as a private investigator were seen around Vancouver, the city where the show is filmed.[97]
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 94% approval rating for the fifth season with an average rating of 7.73/10, based on 11 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "The Flash's fifth season maintains the show's high standard for compelling visuals, chilling villains, and well-scripted moments of humor, but also turns a more focused gaze on the role of family dynamics amongst the increasingly complex characters."[123]
Reviewing for Den of Geek, Mike Cecchini gave the premiere a rating of 4.5/5. He called it "a genuinely special episode" and "an excellent return to form for the series", naming it the best season premiere in the show's history, while directing specific praise to Gustin, Kennedy, and the show's composer Blake Neely.[124] IGN's Jesse Schedeen also praised the addition of Kennedy, but expressed concern over the introduction of yet another speedster character, "especially with certain existing characters continuing to be so poorly served". He gave the episode a rating of 7.4/10, adding, "in a lot of ways, things do seem to be looking up for The Flash. Unfortunately, there are plenty of other reminders that the series has chronic difficulties in juggling its ensemble cast."[125] Chancellor Agard of Entertainment Weekly and Scott Von Doviak of The A.V. Club further praised Kennedy's performance, and gave the premiere a "B+" and "B" grade, respectively, with Agard concluding, "The Flash is now in its fifth season, which means the show's accumulated history is one of its greatest strengths it has. I'm glad it's finding both humorous fun and poignant ways to use it as we head towards the 100th episode."[126][127]
A boxset of the fourth season, titled The Flash: The Complete Fifth Season, was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 27, 2019. It contains additional features, deleted scenes, a gag reel and the panels from San Diego Comic-Con International 2018.
Watching Barry and Iris adjust to becoming parents has been one of the most interesting parts of season 5, especially given the very unique situation they're in since their daughter is all grown. In tonight's episode, we saw the two experience every parent's worst nightmare: their child getting severely injured. Given the show's past experiences with dark storylines, no one would fault you for being worried about the episode, but I was surprised by the fact that it mostly worked.
Damian Darhk wasn't the only villain who was totally misused in this five-episode opening to the season of The Flash. There was a time when Tom Cavanaugh's Eobard Thawne was a legitimately imposing figure. That's because the man from the future was also cold, calculating and willing to hide in plain sight. The first season of The Flash saw the man acting as a father figure to Barry Allen for so long, it was an actual gut-punch both to the show's hero and the audience when it turned out that things went so bad, so quickly. The Reverse Flash was someone the team really had to fear. Now, in Season 8, the character is a parody of that long-ago version, even when the show sets him up to be a guy that actually beat Barry at his own game.
One of the truly frustrating things about the Armageddon storyline only being five episodes, is that it could have been really interesting and compelling if it had been stretched over an entire season, or even a real half-season. Make the baddies like Thawne and Darhk and Despero get more fleshed out. Make it take more than 20 minutes for Barry to figure out a way to return his timeline to normal. Instead, Thawne announced that the reason he hates The Flash so much boils down to grade school-level jealousy. And when he's given the chance to try and save himself, he brazenly makes it clear that he should not, in fact, be allowed to live.
Speaking of things that people and things that used to have some real heft to them that were watered down by the opening to this season of The Flash, it wasn't all that long ago that time travel was something that was severely frowned upon. Now it appears as if it's the quick fix to any number of different problems. It also seems as if there are people who have the ability to time travel that absolutely shouldn't.
During a period of the latest episode of The Flash, the gang was busy weighing what was supposed to be a momentous choice that would make them killers, even if they could explain away why they had to do it. His anger and his speech to Barry and Iris about why what they were thinking was wrong, but also that they had to come to that themselves was one of his best of the entire series. And he's given plenty of those speeches. The only problem is that it says something about the first five episodes of the season that the best part so far was a 30-second speech from a character who has been on the show less and less.
This article about Season 5 of the superhero series The Flash was originally published on October 9, 2018 and updated on April 18, 2021 following the release of the season on The CW. Read on for the original article, with some new changes to reflect the latest updates on this topic. 041b061a72