The Failure and Redemption of "The Flash's" Iris West

[CBR News]

Iris West suffered from weak, aimless characterization throughout "The Flash's" debut season, but her strong finish offers hope for the character's future.


Full article here.

[Thor-El]

I don't get what's with all the online hating. I liked how her character played through the season and I'm glad they will keep developing her further.

[Mathieu B]

I really didn't like Iris West is the first season. I thought that she was whiny and bitchy. I thought that she toyed with Barry a bit. Then she overreacted when she found out that Barry was the Flash. I preferred Thea's reaction to Oliver telling her his secret identity; Iris was just being selfish and entitled.

[Jade4813]

I haven't even finished reading the article and I find myself scratching my head, wondering what show the writer was watching. Specifically, when they say that "Iris spends season one stumbling into metahuman threats and making poor decisions that result in her frequently needing rescue." That happened EXACTLY...never. Exactly never. The Clock King and Girder weren't after her and her actions either had nothing (CK) or little (Girder) to do with her peril. She also saved herself both times. I suppose one could say she was imperiled by the tsunami, but she was in that danger to save Joe West. And nobody EVER writes about how his character sucked for even a potion of last season because he had to be saved - more often than Iris did, mind you. Incidentally, Caitlin had to be saved when her openly working with the Flash put HER in danger and she also gets no such accusations lobbed her way. And she contributed to her own rescue not at all, unlike Iris in both the aforementioned cases.

But it all comes down to why IRIS is the character often crucified for being lied to when the characters actually DOING THE LYING are given a free pass. I mean, they may get the occasional "tsk tsk" but they aren't crucified for infantalizing or patronizing when they are the ones making the conscious decision to keep her in the dark. In fact, they go OUT OF THEIR WAY to do so.

Do people hold it against Cisco or Caitlin that Barry hid his suspicions of Wells from them and lied to them? Or do people think Barry was - although understandably concerned - wrong for thinking he should decide what they did and did not need to know? Even Felicity called him in being wrong.

So why is it IRIS is blamed for THEIR patronizing stupidity? It's such a stupid double standard, I can't even. I'm glad that the writer has a greater appreciation for Iris at the end of the article, but I'm not reading any further. This is the kind of thing that is ALWAYS held over the love interest when it is the people CONCIOUSLY DOING THE LYING who are given a free pass and don't get the hate for actually doing everything they can to hide the truth.

If you have a best friend who lies to you for six months about something, and you find out and are hurt, who's to blame for those lies? Your friend, for lying to you? Or you, for having the faith and trust in your friend not to assume they're lying? Most people would say the friend is in the wrong. And yet, they blame Iris for the lies EVERYONE in her life fed her, even though those lies never once kept her safe and often put her in more danger. But SHE is the lesser character because of it. Riiiiiiight.

[Lccf]

Her arc was full of clichés, right, but I didn't dislike her. Except when, while acting uninterested, she was jealous of Linda Park and was part of the reasons she broke up with Barry. Not that I like Linda better, mind you, but I found Iris petty in that case.

[Punisher007]

"Inconsistent" is the term that I would use. At times she was fine, and I like the actress herself, but they seemed to not know what to do with her. At times she's was smart, brave, and determined, then she was stupid, useless, and annoying. Her behavior during the Linda thing (especially after turning Barry down herself) was very petty, and it seems like they had a problem integrating her into the larger narrative. Even her becoming a journalist wasn't particularly well-handled. And then we got the whole "she's pretty much the only main character who DOESN'T know Barry's identity," which got really absurd after awhile. It got to a point where Gen. Eiling, Captain Cold, and the Arrow cast all knew that BEFORE her. And add onto it the tedious/annoying "we need to lie to her in order to protect her" nonsense, which just made Barry and Joe both look bad, she was just a mess of a character in S1. And as I said I like the actress, so it's even more disappointing that she was used so poorly.

[MichaelC]

I would have prefered Linda as Barry's love-interest, so I stopped liking Iris after that point.

[Punisher007]

I'd prefer that they'd saved her for S2, since Wally is showing up. As it stands, we're going have to endure those annoying "Wally getting Barry's seconds" jokes. Also I can totally see them using that for cheap DRRRAAAAMMMAAA!!

[marcotheblerd]

Fan outrage can be so inconsistent. Candice Patton has gotten so much more hate than anybody else, and it came to a point where she was the Laurel of the show, where people just groaned when she came on screen. It also was frustrating how people ignored all of the horrible decisions made by the other characters, while magnifying hers. We hated Iris for interfering with Barry and Linda's relationship, but no one complained about Barry interfering with her and Eddie's relationship when he came back from the other timeline. Sure he was being selfish, but he is our main hero, so everybody let him slide on that. Sure Barry & Joe were being sexist, when they were purposely lying to her to "protect" her, when she is a grown woman, and should be able to make her own decisions on whether she should be protected or not. But we love those guys, so its not like their characters were hurt by that. Even Caitlin joined in on the lying, even though she knew it was a bad idea. But every single thing Iris did was put under a microscope. Once she finds out, everybody calls her a bitch for being upset about every single friend of hers lying to her face. Really? She is supposed to be completely okay with every single person in her life, including her fiance constantly lying to her? Have you people ever been in a relationship before? I love the show, but we cant act like the bad character choices made by Iris were the only ones.

[Agent Z]

"Inconsistent" is the term that I would use. At times she was fine, and I like the actress herself, but they seemed to not know what to do with her. At times she's was smart, brave, and determined, then she was stupid, useless, and annoying. Her behavior during the Linda thing (especially after turning Barry down herself) was very petty, and it seems like they had a problem integrating her into the larger narrative. Even her becoming a journalist wasn't particularly well-handled. And then we got the whole "she's pretty much the only main character who DOESN'T know Barry's identity," which got really absurd after awhile. It got to a point where Gen. Eiling, Captain Cold, and the Arrow cast all knew that BEFORE her. And add onto it the tedious/annoying "we need to lie to her in order to protect her" nonsense, which just made Barry and Joe both look bad, she was just a mess of a character in S1. And as I said I like the actress, so it's even more disappointing that she was used so poorly.

How was the Linda thing her fault? Linda was the one who asked Iris about Barry's love life (or lack there of) and Linda deduced by herself that Barry had feelings for Iris.

And as for being useless, like you said, everyone was lying to her, so what good could she have been?

[Agent Z]

Fan outrage can be so inconsistent. Candice Patton has gotten so much more hate than anybody else, and it came to a point where she was the Laurel of the show, where people just groaned when she came on screen. It also was frustrating how people ignored all of the horrible decisions made by the other characters, while magnifying hers. We hated Iris for interfering with Barry and Linda's relationship, but no one complained about Barry interfering with her and Eddie's relationship when he came back from the other timeline. Sure he was being selfish, but he is our main hero, so everybody let him slide on that. Sure Barry & Joe were being sexist, when they were purposely lying to her to "protect" her, when she is a grown woman, and should be able to make her own decisions on whether she should be protected or not. But we love those guys, so its not like their characters were hurt by that. Even Caitlin joined in on the lying, even though she knew it was a bad idea. But every single thing Iris did was put under a microscope. Once she finds out, everybody calls her a bitch for being upset about every single friend of hers lying to her face. Really? I love the show, but we cant act like the bad character choices made by Iris were the only ones.

I haven't even finished reading the article and I find myself scratching my head, wondering what show the writer was watching. Specifically, when they say that "Iris spends season one stumbling into metahuman threats and making poor decisions that result in her frequently needing rescue." That happened EXACTLY...never. Exactly never. The Clock King and Girder weren't after her and her actions either had nothing (CK) or little (Girder) to do with her peril. She also saved herself both times. I suppose one could say she was imperiled by the tsunami, but she was in that danger to save Joe West. And nobody EVER writes about how his character sucked for even a potion of last season because he had to be saved - more often than Iris did, mind you. Incidentally, Caitlin had to be saved when her openly working with the Flash put HER in danger and she also gets no such accusations lobbed her way. And she contributed to her own rescue not at all, unlike Iris in both the aforementioned cases.

But it all comes down to why IRIS is the character often crucified for being lied to when the characters actually DOING THE LYING are given a free pass. I mean, they may get the occasional "tsk tsk" but they aren't crucified for infantalizing or patronizing when they are the ones making the conscious decision to keep her in the dark. In fact, they go OUT OF THEIR WAY to do so.

Do people hold it against Cisco or Caitlin that Barry hid his suspicions of Wells from them and lied to them? Or do people think Barry was - although understandably concerned - wrong for thinking he should decide what they did and did not need to know? Even Felicity called him in being wrong.

So why is it IRIS is blamed for THEIR patronizing stupidity? It's such a stupid double standard, I can't even. I'm glad that the writer has a greater appreciation for Iris at the end of the article, but I'm not reading any further. This is the kind of thing that is ALWAYS held over the love interest when it is the people CONCIOUSLY DOING THE LYING who are given a free pass and don't get the hate for actually doing everything they can to hide the truth.

If you have a best friend who lies to you for six months about something, and you find out and are hurt, who's to blame for those lies? Your friend, for lying to you? Or you, for having the faith and trust in your friend not to assume they're lying? Most people would say the friend is in the wrong. And yet, they blame Iris for the lies EVERYONE in her life fed her, even though those lies never once kept her safe and often put her in more danger. But SHE is the lesser character because of it. Riiiiiiight.

Seriously, what do I need to get a "like" button on this site?

[7thangel]

Seriously, what do I need to get a "like" button on this site?

i would give those two post a million likes if i could.

[myrcellasear]

I'm happy to see more people coming around to Iris West after season 1, but I fail to see what was so weak or aimless about her characterization. We learn early on that she is headstrong, brave and loyal. She will go to great lengths for those she loves - her interest in journalism is piqued by The Flash as you say, but it's because of Barry and her desire to help him that she's interested. She won't back down from what she believes in - you mentioned standing up to Joe in 1.03, but we see it again when Barry tries to gaslight her and end their friendship over his lies - she stands her ground and proves that her interest has spread from just Barry and the Flash. Now she wants to help everyone who doesn't know their beliefs have become reality, and she wants to document all metahumans.

It's true that we didn't focus on her and her feelings independent of men as much as I would have liked last season, but that's true of all the other female characters this article claims are better drawn than Iris. We don't know a single thing about Caitlin that doesn't tie back to one of the men on the show. We don't even know why she loves science or why she became a doctor - she only exists to patch Barry up and pine over Ronnie. Linda? I love her, but her characterization went from no-nonsense and focused on work to ... never ever doing anything relating to work and becoming crazy jealous over a face touch and a family emergency? And this is a character that I'm supposed to believe was stronger than Iris West?

I'm glad you see her anger as justified, and I think 1.20 & 1.21 were her strongest episodes by far because she finally got to be part of the action. But her personality, motivations and thoughts were all visible onscreen throughout the season. Just because a portion of the audience chose to ignore everything good about her doesn't mean that there was an extreme flaw in her characterization - aside from the one present in all the female characters because this show caters to Barry first and the other men second.

[Jim Kelly]

As the article points out, Iris just seems to stumble along from one occupation to the next with no sense of direction and no real drive to attain some goal. Now that could be her character--she could be some sort of slacker who grew up just not knowing what she wanted to do with herself. But we don't get that level of character development. Instead we're told--by other characters--that Iris is supposed to be this smart, amazing, admirable woman. But we never see how they got that idea in the first place.

Even her blog--which seems to be the one thing that Iris really did well--comes across as being a fangirl page that just by dumb luck (and the fact that Barry has a big crush on Iris and gives her access to the Flash) scoops other legitimate news sources. But her journalism education is hardly even developed before she stumbles into a job as a journalist.

I'm noticing a trend here. Lois Lane on SMALLVILLE also just seemed to stumble into being a jounalist--she didn't have the training and desire of Chloe Sullivan or even Clark Kent.

Why do they think we want female characters who just accidentally have everything handed to them and they don't work for a goal?

Then when Iris is put in a position where she can help the Flash team, she all of a sudden has these tech skills and is an asset to the team. But we never see how she developed all her hidden talents.

In the first season, we were overloaded with facts about Iris that we had to accept as given, but we were never shown her development. With Iris, the series didn't follow that big maxim of fiction: Show don't tell.

[anyajenkins]

Iris gets grief she doesn't deserve (and the Linda thing was completely normal t her fault. What was she supposed to do? Make up and elaborate lie to 'protect' Linda from the truth? For her own good and all, of course...