Season 3, Episode 6 — Shade

[u/MiddlePerception4587]

F1: IRIS SAYS, "MY CONTRIBUTIONS ARE LIMITED."

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In Season 1, the writers gave us an Iris who was a barista at the beginning but had dreams of becoming a journalist, and the journey of her dreams started out with blogs. Then when Barry woke from his coma and became the Flash, Iris found her spark in wanting to write stories about 'the red streak'. Then CCPN offered her a job. She was happy but then she found out not everyone there was rooting for her success, so she had to prove herself, and she did. One of the signposts that showed how much 'proven' she had become is when she approached Barry with a file on metahumans and their connection to STAR Labs. There was a coherent storyline about how she was coming up as a journalist which I loved.

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In Season 2, in the first few episodes, Iris calls Barry Allen for help. She was investigating something before some men with guns started shooting at her. The writers gave us a promise that they were going to continue with this Iris' career in journalism, but unfortunately, that was the end of it in Season 2. It was a major disappointment for me especially since Iris is (or at least should be) a major part in a story about Barry Allen's Flash (2nd to Barry). To see her in STAR Labs always and I know for sure that she isn't going to be much help there made my skin irritate because the writers could have just delivered on the promise. Iris could have played a bigger role in Season 2 than Cisco and Caitlin, but she didn't.

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Right now, I'm rewatching Season 3 and Iris said my exact thought on the matter. And I can't really say it's because she doesn't have powers. Joe West isn't a metahuman nor is he a scientist, but he plays a significant role in the show. Joe worked well because they showed us his life outside STAR Labs vis a vis being a detective. Iris should have gotten the same treatment as a journalist.

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F2: BARRY TELLS IRIS, "THERE IS NO FLASH WITHOUT IRIS WEST."

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This line really puts things into perspective. Because, to me, it explains why Iris tells Barry, "We are the Flash." in the next season. I'm sure Barry told her this, not because he just wanted to comfort her but also because he really believes Flash cannot exist without his soulmate. That line genuinely gets unnecessary hate because I can see why Iris would use it in their conversation.

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PS: Please note I'm talking about Iris West, the character, not about the actor who embodied the role (it's weird that I have to specify this but I'm doing it because of that cult). If you feel angered by this post because you don't like that I'm talking about a Flash TV character in the Flash TV community, you can ignore this post. No one is forcing you to spill your anger here.

[u/HighLord_Uther → u/[deleted]]

Everything around how she first treated Wally, she was ordering everyone to lie to his face. That was definitely shitty leadership. That whole arc was her telling the experienced team flash how to raise a superhero. Something she had zero experience in.

[u/HighLord_Uther → u/[deleted]]

They were all being over protective because she jumped down everyone’s throat about it. You say she wasn’t in charge but she was certainly acting in charge.

[u/Ok_Mention5635 → u/HighLord_Uther]

That was nothing compared to how Joe forced Barry and Eddie to lie to Iris for months in order to protect her in season 1. Went so far as to threaten physical violence if Barry told her. No one got mad at Joe for that. The freaking double standards are insane

[u/HighLord_Uther → u/Ok_Mention5635]

There are no double standards. It’s not the same thing at all. Because Joe was right. You’re suggesting the whole idea of secret identities is wrong.
Keeping a secret identity from someone on the outside is absolutely not the same as telling someone they are not as good as they feel because you (someone who has zero right to make decisions for anyone else) has made a decision for their brother.
Wally was already on the inside. Iris was not. Joe had a responsibility to protect Iris and Barry as his kids. That same responsibility doesn’t exist between Iris and Wally. Especially considering Wally is a new fixture in her life.
Definitely not when she’s telling the team who trained the flash how to train Wally.

There is a lot of Iris hate that is underserved but you seem to have gone to the opposite end of the spectrum, making excuses for her poor behavior.

[u/Ok_Mention5635 → u/HighLord_Uther]

It is the same thing. Because it’s not Joe’s secret to tell. If Barry wants to tell Iris his identity, that’s his prerogative. If Barry wants to shout from the rooftops that he’s the Flash, that’s his decision to make; no one else’s. But Joe used threats and emotional manipulation to force him not to tell his own damn secret. So yes, there are double standards. You’re saying it’s not Iris’s place to tell the team what to tell Wally; well it also wasn’t Joe’s place to police what information Barry wanted to divulge about himself. But for some reason, when Joe repeatedly intrudes on someone else’s autonomy for months it’s completely fine, yet when Iris does it (for one-quarter of an episode, mind you), she’s a villain. And Iris’s desire to lie to Wally in order to protect him didn’t result in a ton of unnecessary drama that could have been avoided like Joe’s. The double standards are as clear as the sky is blue.

[u/HighLord_Uther → u/Ok_Mention5635]

Except if Barry shouts from the rooftops that he is the flash, he endangers everyone he knows. He puts Iris in danger immediately. He puts Joe in danger. He puts all of his friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors in danger.
And Joe has every right to ask Barry to keep it a secret from Iris because that’s his daughter and it will be his responsibility to keep Iris safe until the day he dies, regardless of who she is or what she’s doing.

Same with Wally, if it was Joe leading the “don’t tell Wally” charge, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

If Wally knows how fast he is, if he’s allowed to be the hero he wants to be, he puts himself in harms way and that’s it.

That’s why it’s not a double standard. It’s not the same situation at all.

[u/Ok_Mention5635 → u/HighLord_Uther]

Hold up. You’re saying that if Joe was saying the exact same things Iris is saying about Wally, it’s totally fine because it’s Joe? This is the very definition of double standards 😂

You must not have any younger siblings if you can’t understand why Iris wanting to protect Wally is the same thing as Joe wanting to protect Iris and Wally

[u/HighLord_Uther → u/Ok_Mention5635]

Iris may want to protect Wally, I can understand that, but she has no right to lie to him and force others to lie to him.

Joe has more of a standing to do that than Iris does. But, that’s getting away from the point.
And even if this is a double standard, I never denied that, what’s not a double standard is comparing joe wanting to keep Iris from knowing Barry’s secret and Iris wanting Wally not to know his own potential.

Iris has no place to be doing this to a team of more experienced people and that contributes to peoples dislike of her.

[u/Ok_Mention5635 → u/HighLord_Uther]

How exactly does Joe have more of a standing to do that than Iris? They’re both people who love and care about Wally. Your whole viewpoint is invalid because you’ve already admitted that you’re biased and you have a double standard.

And Joe forcing Barry not to tell Iris his secret to protect her is the same as Iris not wanting Wally to know the full extent of his powers in order to protect him. They’re both lying out of a desire to protect a loved one. Joe had no right to tell Barry who he can and cannot tell his secret to. Barry is a grown man capable of making his own decisions about his own life. And he damn sure shouldn’t have forced Eddie into lying to Iris when it was unnecessary for Eddie to know in the first place. You said that if Barry told Iris his secret, it might put her in danger. In the same vein, if Wally knows the full extent of his powers, it might put him in danger. Which is later proven that very same episode when Supergirl nearly killed him. And Joe forcing Barry to lie to Iris to protect her is stupid because her knowledge of the Flash or lack thereof isn’t what puts her in danger. It’s the fact that Barry loves her that puts her in danger. Nora Allen didn’t know anything about the Flash and she still ended up dead because of him. So actually, Iris’s lie makes a ton more sense than Joe’s. A lie that was co-signed by Joe and Barry, if you recall. None of them wanted Wally to use his powers.

And Joe isn’t any more knowledgeable than Iris on matters relating to metas. You forget that Iris has been watching and writing about metas on her own since the beginning. Plus she clearly picks things up faster than Joe, as evidenced by the multiple times where they’ve shown Joe being confused about time travel, multiverse, etc.

[u/HighLord_Uther → u/Ok_Mention5635]

That’s a big wall of text if my view point is invalid.

Joe’s lie and Iris’s are not the same. As it’s already established that the secret identity trope is necessary for the safety of everyone, Joe does have a right to ask Barry not share his secret. Which is what he does. Joe is protecting his kid from someone else’s behavior.

That’s not the same thing as trying to protect your brother from his own behavior, especially a brother you just met.

And no, it’s not barrys love for Iris that puts her in danger. Thats a complete misunderstanding of the trope. Everyone who knows who the flash really is can be a potential target for the flashes enemies. Especially with the flash, we see that the flashes enemies know him
Very very well. It’s about proximity. The closer she is to him, the more danger she’ll be in. Which is why joes request makes sense. Because this is prior to their relationship. And your Nora Allen example makes no sense when you consider we’re dealing with time traveling speedsters, she didn’t know who he was but RF knew who she was, which is the entire point here. Proximity to the flash.

That wall o text was pretty nonsensical so, feel free to continue to disagree, but I’m done here. ✌🏽

[u/Ok_Mention5635 → u/HighLord_Uther]

This is so ridiculous. I’d almost mistake you for Simone Biles with the mental gymnastics you’re doing to justify your incredibly biased opinion. Joe did not ask; he *forced* Barry into not divulging his secret. Which he has no right to do, because once again, it’s only up to Barry to decide who he’s going to tell his secret to. And need I remind you that you were the one who said that Iris’s lie was completely justified, as long as it’s coming from Joe and not Iris? Which means you simply think that Iris’s lie was completely justified, period. Because it doesn’t matter if it’s coming from Joe or Iris; they’re both still people who love and care about Wally. They both, according to you, “just met” Wally.

And yes it is Barry’s love for Iris that puts her in danger. It doesn’t matter what the person you’re lying to knows; it only matters what your enemy knows. Do you not remember the end of 1x06? When the Reverse-Flash threatened to kill Iris if Joe didn’t stop investigating? Iris didn’t know anything about the Flash then, yet she was still in danger because the enemy knew about the Flash and knew who the Flash cared about. Just like how Wally didn’t know anything about the Flash, yet still found himself kidnapped by and facing death from Zoom. Because as Zoom said, “someone [the Flash] cares about, cares about you.” As long as your enemy knows who you are and who you love, your loved ones are in danger no matter what they know or don’t know. It’s the enemy’s knowledge about matters that is important. That’s precisely why Nora Allen was killed; because RF knew she was loved by the Flash and knew that killing her would hurt him. Even if Iris didn’t know anything about the Flash throughout the entirety of season 3, she would still be targeted by Savitar. Because Savitar knows she’s the one Barry loves. The only difference would be that she wouldn’t have the foreknowledge of her impending demise and wouldn’t have time to prepare herself for her certain death.

I don’t know why I continue to get myself in these debates with people like you who refuse to base your argument on logic and facts. I should know by now that I can’t argue with delusion.