Thoughts The Flash Season Four Opener

L_R Jesse L. Martin and Candice Patton as Joe West and Iris West in The Flash Season Four Episode One Courtesy CW Press

The Flash season four opener left me feeling excited about seeing the West family and Barry Allen on-screen again since they seem even closer now than before and Cecile has settled in nicely with everyone. Growth, I love it! The rest of the episode left me feeling well... underwhelmed. What little promotion it got hyped Iris West finally leading the Star Labs team. For me, it is more important that the character be written as a romantic lead actress, which is what Candice Patton as Iris West, is supposed to be.

More than that, this ingenue is the lead actor’s lifelong best friend. As such, I expected from the beginning that much of their screen time would be together uncovering evil in Central City and using the resources of Joe as a detective and the employees of Star Labs with technical know-how to support the two of them in their fight against evil. I figured both Iris and Barry would be the leaders and the stars of the show. Of course I experienced a lot of disappointment when Iris was written as more of a supporting character in the show. In three full seasons (60 plus episodes), she has been featured in only a handful of episodes. So like I said, if Iris was team leader, I was happy about that I just didn’t need her to be the way other fans do. I just wanted her to be the female lead period. I am assuming that when an actress signs a contract saying that she is the lead in a show, it means something other than that she simply appears on the screen. I assume it means that she gets a certain amount of screentime (more than others) and that the character has her own ongoing story that plays out for the most part, on screen. I mean there has to be a reason why some parts are characterized as leads and some are supporting or recurring, right?

Okay, so season four’s first episode has Iris directing the team except “the team” looks different than the usual. Instead of Barry, Wells, Caitlin, and Cisco, the team is now Wally, Joe, and Cisco. Caitlin, who is supposedly Barry’s friend would rather tend bar in a sleazy dive than take orders from Iris. Wells would rather be in another universe than do so. And so we have the same disquieting dynamics popping up in the show albeit, in my opinion, cleverly disguised. If we look at the way last season’s Flashpoint was written we see that the writers are comfortable with Iris sleuthing with Wally. Somehow, even with all her connections as a reporter and lifelong resident of Central City, natural investigative instincts, and canonical reputation as a whip smart reporter, can’t do the same with Barry. It’s okay for Iris to perform emotional labor for Barry or for him to be her savior, but to have them as equals appears to be beyond the imagination of the writers in general. It’s just amazing to me that this is not only a fictional show, but also science fiction/fantasy where writers can literally create any kind of reality that they want. Yet, hey don’t seem capable of creating the conditions that would keep Iris front and center with Barry where she is supposed to be.

I also had mixed feelings about the chosen villains for the episode. I like Peek-A-Boo and always felt that she was one of the more redeemable metahumans. That is in part what made me give the choice of her as the metahuman of the week the side-eye so to speak. It is as if they are saying yes, Iris is the team leader but she can only take down a metahuman who is not quite that dangerous. In my mind, Iris is smart enough to take down a much tougher opponent. There is practically no one in Central City who knows more about meta humans than she does. She literally built the definitive website on metahumans. Also, no one has more connections than she does because of her work as a reporter and a naturally inquisitive human being. Peek A Boo is like a minor pickpocket as opposed to someone who poses a true threat to Central City. So I also thought the writers copped out in that respect.

I was happy to see that they didn’t write Iris as some ass-kicking badass that I know a lot of people would also like. Personally, I feel like there has been an overrepresentation of the tough black woman in TV and film over the years. We know Iris can handle herself if she has to. That’s enough. I continue to watch because I simply love the way Patton portrays Iris. She refuses to fall back on that overtly tough strong black woman trope yet steadfastly make Iris strong and vulnerable at the same time. I respect it as an honorable commitment to the art to portray the character as a true ingenue, which is what Iris basically is. She is a gentle prodder who I think is a great balance to the bombast and fury of the various villains that come through Central City and repeatedly upend her family’s life. And again, as an ingenue, I don’t think Iris is necessarily the one who should be doing the saving just from the technical standpoint of what archetype she is playing.

I want to add though, it didn't sit well with me that both Joe and Cisco yelled at her in this episode. Iris has always been a level headed, extremely forgiving, dare I say longsuffering character. She has gone through a great deal of tragedy herself without ever displacing her anger onto any of the characters. She was obviously still in pain over Barry's absence so I disagree with Carlos Valdes' choice to come down so tough on her. It brings to mind the way the he and Caitlin behaved in the season two finale when right in front of their eyes, Zoom kidnapped Joe. For all intents and purposes Joe was lost forever. Iris was devastated. Yet no one dug into their "common decency" toolkit and asked her how she was doing, gave her a hug, hell even just put a hand on her shoulder and say they were sorry. In this most recent case of insensitivity, it was totally unnecessary to have the two actors raise their voices at her. That it happened in the same episode makes it even more egregious.

Season four, by giving its leading lady some interiority and having her drive much of the action is off to a better start than any other season. We will have to see if, when the leading man returns in earnest, they can build on this foundation to make the show what it is supposed to be.

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