Time Travel Equals Instant Parenthood for The Flash in Season Five, Now on Blu-ray

The fourth season of THE FLASH ended with the world-shattering introduction of Nora West-Allen (JESSICA PARKER KENNEDY), the super-speedster XS from the future. Now, in typical DC Comics canon, XS is Jenny Ognatz, from a thousand years in the future and a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. The children of The Flash were supposed to be The Tornado Twins, one of whom would give birth to Bart Allen, the speedster known as Impulse. And that may still be the future for The Flash. Because the timeline is malleable.

Nora claims to be stuck in the present timeline at first, but she later changes her story to wanting to be there to spend time with Barry (GRANT GUSTIN) and Iris (CANDICE PATTON), her parents, because The Flash disappeared in a crisis before she was born and she never got to know him. And that is partly true. But it's not until the team recruits another Wells to the team -- Sherloque Wells (TOM CAVANAGH) -- to help them solve the mystery of a super serial-killer's identity that we learn there's more to it than that. Because Nora is working with the future version of The Flash's greatest adversary.

The macguffin of this season is Cicada (CHRIS KLEIN), a mysterious serial killer who preys on metahumans in a quest to eliminate them all. He's a killer The Flash never caught, according to future historical records, and Nora's hoping to change that -- and other events. But time will not be played with, and removing one Cicada only results in him being replaced with an even more powerful one -- his niece, Grace (ISLIE HIRVONEN) comes back in time from the future, and this future Grace (SARAH CARTER) is even more powerful than her uncle ever was. But nothing is accidental in all these time-travel quandaries, as everything is being manipulated so that events come to a singular outcome.

While this season had its drawbacks -- most notable being yet another season where The Flash takes the back seat to someone else most of the time, making him seem like a guest-star in his own series -- the climax of this series made it all worth it. Plus, there was also the total geekgasm that was the Elseworlds crossover, and the eye-popping spectacle that was King Shark vs. Gorilla Grodd.

The season also followed subplots for the supporting cast, including the secret origin of Killer Frost (which predated the particle accelerator explosion), leading to the introduction Caitlin Snow (DANIELLE PANABAKER) to her father, The Icicle. Meanwhile, Cisco (CARLOS VALDES) considers using his newly discovered cure for the metahuman condition to fully remove his powers as Vibe so he can pursue a normal life with his new girlfriend, Kamilla (VICTORIA PARK).

The season ends with one of the most anticipated events since CW introduced THE FLASH into the Arrowverse: the imminent Crisis, which is now scheduled for this year, 2019, instead of five years out as was stated in the first season pilot.

This Blu-ray release includes all three parts of the Elseworlds crossover event (the digital only includes THE FLASH episode portion of the crossover). Additionally, the release includes clips from the DC TV San Diego Comic-Con panel, a feature on the evolution of Killer Frost, a making-of documentary about putting the Elseworlds crossover together, and a retrospective on the motivations of DC's villains. Oh, and there's the requisite gag reel.

Overall, season five was an excellent season of the series, and sets the tone for what is looking to be one heck of a payoff in season six.