Candice Patton and Rest of The Flash Cast Deliver Another Outstanding Episode 21

Candice Patton

Lame villain origin story notwithstanding, this week’s episode of The Flash was one of the strongest of the season. I think any fan of The Flash would agree this is now established tradition. Episode twenty-one in the first season brought Iris the earth shattering revelation that her lifelong best friend Barry is the Flash; Oh yeah, and that every important person in her life had been lying to her for months. In the second season’s episode twenty-one, Iris was the one who pulled Barry out of the speed force when no one else could. That was also the episode where Barry finally made peace with the horrific death of his mother and he and Iris readied themselves, albeit haltingly, to slake their romantic thirst. “Cause and Effect”, like “Runaway Dinosaur” and “Grodd Lives” before it, was beyond enjoyable for me as a fan of The Flash, a fan of Westallen and a fan of Iris West. I mean, I enjoyed it so much, I had to write about it. Candice Patton once again, as she has in quite a few episodes this season, got a chance to really show us what she got, so to speak! The night belonged to Iris West.

Of course, this whole season has been centered around saving Iris from imminent death at the hands of the self-proclaimed speedster god, Savitar. Still on their quest to save Iris, Cisco and Julian came up with a scheme to jerry-rig Barry’s brain to mess up his short term memory. This would also screw up Savitar’s memory and deny him the information necessary to literally destroy Iris and emotionally destroy Barry. As usual with Cisco, lovable engineer though he is, his inventions always go slightly awry in practice. Barry comes out of the process unable to remember anything or anyone at all, including Iris West and the fact that they love each other and are engaged to get married. Iris valiantly holds it together, hiding her emotional devastation at the onset of her realization that Barry’s memories are gone. When everyone else including Joe fails, she is the one who pulls a scared, befuddled Barry from the proverbial precipice after he freaks out speculating as to the reason he might have suddenly awakened in a mysterious medical lab surrounded by a bunch of strangers. Particularly poignant was the moment when Barry spies her engagement her ring and asks her, “Who is the lucky guy?” Um, you are, Barry... The only sadder scene is when he later inquires of Iris as to their wedding and honeymoon preparations. Iris’ visage crumbles for a nanosecond before she gets it together. It hits her that she should be basking in the pre-wedding glow with her man and planning her big day with her best work friend Linda and her bougie sorority sisters (my invention from my own imagination) instead of dealing with the Savitar shitshow. She finally manages to articulate a quick “actually we’ve been a little busy lately.” in reply to his question.

A gamut of emotions sped their way back and forth across her face throughout the episode. One second confusion, the next second dismay, the next minute hope, despair, bemusement, compassion, mercy. In a show of mercy she lies to Barry about the way his parents died; telling him they both died “peacefully” when each were victim on separate occasions of brutal homicides at the hands of speedsters. It is hard to ignore the vicious irony of Iris, in particular, delivering this news to Barry. She was later forced to rethink her decision and in an act of tough love reveal the truth to Barry, restoring him to the fullness of who he is as an individual.

Equally important is that though Iris is a stoic, the old tired “strong black woman” trope isn’t gussied up and paraded out as the underlying reason.

Then there was that moment over mid-day coffee at CC Jitters. Iris beamed with unashamed, unabashed, unadulterated joy at the existence of a Barry who wasn’t, as she later told Joe, “weighed down by the tragedies of his past”. And so it was that a battle began to be waged within Iris. Leave Barry as is so that he would finally be happy and secondarily, save her life? Restore his memories and have him burdened with grief? But would a Barry without his memories really be Barry? Would Iris still truly be able to love this blissfully ignorant facsimile? Leaving his memories broken would secure the preservation of a life ultimately adulterated by the loss of the real Barry.

One of the things I admire about Patton’s acting style is that she eschews extreme emotions as the means of communicating Iris’ pain. There is a place and time for everything and she is wise enough to know what is appropriate for this character’s situation. It is a very nuanced approach that compels respect for Iris even as you marvel at her restraint in the face of loss, setbacks, and impending doom. Equally important is that though Iris is a stoic, the old tired “strong black woman” trope isn’t gussied up and paraded out as the underlying reason. I hope it stays that way. In the context of the black american female experience, it originally came from something positive, used to describe resilience in the face of slavery and ensuing discriminatory laws and social conditions. Since then, it has been used by lazy creators of all hues to explicitly deny the reality that black women do in fact experience pain like any other woman would under the same circumstances. Patton plays Iris as phlegmatic, but very much human.

It was also interesting to see a Barry who just instinctively reacts to Iris as another human being and a woman as opposed to someone he has on a pedestal.

Grant Gustin and the rest of the cast also brought everything to this episode. Too annoyingly often, Gustin holds back in some of his scenes and because he is so very talented, it is maddening when he does. It makes me sympathize with the feelings of teachers with gifted students who skip class or don’t do their homework. Luckily, Gustin only misses the mark in a scene or two here and there. Anyway, it was nice to see him throw his all into this episode, truly becoming a different version of the same Barry. It was also interesting to see a Barry who just instinctively reacts to Iris as another human being and a woman as opposed to someone he has on a pedestal. It was, to me a slightly more nuanced and realistic portrayal. Kudos to him and perhaps the director, David McWhirter. McWhirter also directed the final episode of this season so I am looking forward to see if it is up to the standard of this one. The more actors (and director and writers) commit, the better the art. I don’t think this necessarily means that a viewer will like the plot or characters more, but they will certainly have stronger emotions about whatever is taking place on the screen, which is what should happen when we watch TV. However, I appreciate that Gustin does an overall outstanding job in circumstances that are more challenging than for the rest of the regular cast. I can’t imagine doing all that running, jumping, sliding around and of course, emoting while in that suit is very comfortable.

At this point, it would be interesting simply from the standpoint of character development to see Iris become more assertive and more of a decision maker (yes, decision maker).

Another key scene, that actually gives me hope the writers are finally getting their acts fully together, is the one where Cecile calls and summons Barry to the police station. Unbeknownst to her he has lost his memory seriously compromising his ability to be the expert witness she wants him to be in her prosecution of Heatmonger. Plot-wise, the sequence is weak. Why not just send Julian since he has the same knowledge? The cast’s comedic timing and talent makes it work. Anyway, while everyone else panics after Cecile’s call, it’s Iris who quickly puts a game plan together and hands the troops their directives. As the lead actress in the program, we should be seeing Patton placed in more of these types of scenarios. At this point, it would be interesting simply from the standpoint of character development to see Iris become more assertive and more of a decision maker (yes, decision maker). This should have been par for the course from the beginning or at least after "Grodd Lives" when there was the reveal that Barry was the Flash. At present, during their brainstorming sessions, Iris is too silent and too far in the background for a lead actress. Worse, there are dozens of lines given to Joe, Wally, Caitlin, hell even Barry himself that could just as easily and believably be uttered by Iris.

Physically speaking, she should be in the foreground of more of these scenes. I feel that any lead actor would be and it is not contingent on how much supposed value a character brings to bear on the denouement of the plot. Iris’ position is that of the person who would, as Barry’s best friend and now his fiancee, naturally gravitate to the center. Iris is smart, has strong journalism and research skills, access to investigative resources, intimate knowledge of the Flash, and has literally been studying and writing about Central City and its unique superhuman phenomena for years. With all that going for her, she doesn’t need a physics or engineering degree as is implied ad nauseum, to be more authoritative. It goes without saying they could stop by her workplace, Central City Picture News once in a while as well.

Well, to paraphrase the timeless though likely anecdotal, words of abolitionist and women’s rights advocate Sojourner Truth, “Aren’t Iris West a Woman?”

I’ll also add that at the outset, the writers wasted an opportunity to easily put Iris in the mix by simply giving her a double major of some sort such as computer science and journalism. Since the original casting had Iris as a grad student in psychology, there was probably some confusion as to where the character would go but it isn’t that difficult to come up with something that lends itself to the tone of the show, allows Iris to still be a journalist as in the comics, and takes into account how she would need to be situated as the female lead. If the writers had a basic idea as to how the show would evolve that type of oversight makes little sense. Putting females in positions of empowerment appears to be on the agenda for all DC shows. It is apparent that fairly early on, the producers and writers knew The Flash would also be a show where women would be seen as strong and capable in areas in which women are traditionally underrepresented. Well, to paraphrase the timeless though likely anecdotal, words of abolitionist and women’s rights advocate Sojourner Truth, “Aren’t Iris West a Woman?” Even without the trappings of formal scientific and technical training, Iris’ intellectual curiosity, proximity, and experience gives her more leverage than we normally see reflected in the show. This episode gives hope that the writers are pivoting in that direction.

Special mention goes to Danielle Nicolet for her reactions during the scene at the police station. Had me cracking up!

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