The Flash Reborn - pro Iris West
As we know, at the end of S3 Barry had to go into the Speed Force for plot reasons, to leave our world probably forever. Iris, his fiancee has been keeping the team together ever since.
Six months later. A villain threatens to level the city if the Flash doesn't fight him.
Cisco wants to try and bring Barry back. Iris doesn't want him to because if he's wrong he could destroy the city. Maybe the world.
What's not said but seems clear to me is Iris doesn't dare let herself hope, especially with so much at stake. The only way she's been able to do what Barry told her, to keep running, is to shut off her emotions. She can't grieve because she'll fall apart.
Cisco has been looking for a way to get Barry back ever since he surrendered himself because that's Cisco's way of coping with things.
Joe, Iris's father but also Barry's adoptive father, is going through hell himself. He's worried about Iris. He says they haven't had a memorial service. Iris walks out of family dinner saying there's no body, what'll they bury, his Flash suit? Iris can’t bring herself to mourn, I think, because she’s afraid she can’t pick herself up if she falls.
Cisco finds Caitlin who was an essential team member until the writers turned her into her comic book villain persona of Killer Frost. She tried to regain control but said she had to find who she was. In the pathetic cliche writers always seem to fall back on, this involved leaving everyone behind. It was fine for Buffy but Caitlin's an adult who shouldn't be running away at the end of every other season (remember when she went to work at a competitor's lab?)
Cisco tracks her where she's bartending and asks for her help now she seems in control and is Caitlin again.
The team minus Iris try to bring Barry back. It doesn't seem to work. Iris finds out and is furious. Cisco is heartbroken.
An aside -I feel for Cisco. Caitlin is his closest friend and this is the second hiatus between seasons she's abandoned him. Barry is his close friend and he's lost. (plus when Barry changed the timeline last season Cisco lost his brother, Dante.) Cisco and Iris were getting closer and she's not letting anyone in. I hope Joe has been giving him some support and that he and Wally have become closer now they’re both superheroes working together. Also, Iris&Cisco supporting each other fic I'd be all over it.
Actually it did work; a naked and confused Barry is found miles away, talking what seems to be nonsense and the team work to try and help him.
Joe talks about having faith; Iris, knowing how much she and Barry mean to each other, offers herself to the villain saying the Flash will come for her, she believes in him.
Joe tells Barry that Iris is in danger. This snaps Barry back to himself and he rescues Iris.
IRIS BELIEVED IN BARRY ENOUGH TO RISK HER LIFE.
The negativity about Iris has always been there. In season one there was some justification for concerns about their relationship (Barry lying about his identity) and her lack of character. But Iris has been given much more to do as the show has progressed and Earth-2 Iris kicks ass.
Some of the negativity is from Caitlin/Barry shippers who see more chemistry there and I get seeing chemistry vs not seeing it.. Ship what you want, write all the fanfic! In fact Iris without Barry is something worth exploring!
Some of the negativity is still insisting Iris is boring/useless *sigh* Even when you run the team you’re useless I guess.
Some of the anti-shipping plays the incest card. That's not what incest means you idiots.
The latest hate I saw was because Iris wasn't a weeping mess over Barry. They said she was cold and didn't want Barry back.
For all the flashbacks and canon moments we've seen of how much they love each other, nothing will convince some people that Barry loves Iris and vice versa.
And if she had been a weeping mess, she'd get called out for being over emotional. (Interestingly over on Supergirl, Kara, mourning a similar loss, has come in for criticism for being sad and getting similarly defensive and afraid to let herself fully feel.)
Some viewers aren’t seeing that Iris is broken and that she doesn't dare let herself grieve.
Also they're angry she asked Caitlin "where've you been the last six months?" - I agree with Iris. This is the second time Caitlin's pulled this crap and this time she ran away because she'd betrayed the team while under Killer Frost’s influence. It's a reasonable question.
I'm not anti-Caitlin, I'm just annoyed with the way writers have Killer Frost be the only separate personality meta, and generally treat Caitlin as a malleable plot device lately. They tried to throw in a Julian romance and now they've discarded his character too. I love Cisco&Caitlin. In fanfic, not canon, I'll accept as one of my multiships, Cisco/Caitlin. I loved season one Caitlin. This is a pro-Iris post and I'm not hating on Caitlin; she's come back and she'll prove herself essential again. But dumping your friends every time things get a bit rough isn't behaviour I approve of.
In fact, maybe the writers can do better with their female characters in general?
To get back on track however, let’s review.
Iris has never betrayed the team. Never betrayed her family. Never cheated on Barry. Has accepted and supported Barry as the Flash at every turn. Held things together after he's gone. She really doesn't deserve to be hated for being strong by being cold because it's clear to me it's a front, a way of surviving day to day.
Iris is so upset over Barry's loss she puts their photo face down because she can't bear to see the face of the man she misses. She's so upset she's spent the last six months sleeping on the couch rather than in their bed because it wouldn't feel right to be in the bed without him.
If anyone thinks Iris isn't hurting so much she's barely keeping it together the only way she knows how, by channelling all her energy into Team Flash as she thinks Barry wanted, they're wrong.
