When I’m, sad I write. When I’m happy, I write. When I want to word vomit, I write. Whatever I’m feeling at the moment; I will write about it. Yet whenever I’m feeling tranquil, words just never seem to come to me. When I’m in a state of serenity, I will most likely watching television.
Since the beginning of my teenage years, I’ve been in a never-ending cycle of watching The Flash. At first, I think I’m watching it too fast, so then I end in the middle of the show, and then persistently rewind.
That is what my binge-watching routine has now been on an annual basis.
Before high school, I was an avid fan of The Flash and used it to pass the time or experience feelings of nostalgia from rewinding certain episodes. Yet this habitual practice has now started to bore me, and I decided this year would be my last run of watching the show all the way through.
I have found my muse in a character that is notably overlooked: Iris-West Allen (Candice Patton), also known as Barry Allen’s (Grant Gustin) wife.
My adoration for Iris is mostly because her emotions seem more distinctive than her actions. From working at CC Jitters (Central City Jitters), creating her own blog, working at CCPN (Central City Picture News), to finally creating her own newspaper (Central City Citizen Media), I have seen Iris’ rigorous and rewarding journey that journalism has to offer.
She’s more than just a journalist in my eyes, she’s also a daughter, a mother, a wife, and when it matters most, a hero. Just like Barry, regardless of whether or not she has powers, she’s always willing to put her life on the line, no matter how it may affect her life.
I’ll never be able to understand why Iris is such an underrated character, but regardless of the reason, here is the most underrated moment in The Flash that I think really emphasizes the true caliber of her character.
In the first episode of the entire show, Barry is struck by lightning and enters a coma for nine months.
As apprehensive as anyone would be, Iris visited Barry all the time, but it felt like his life wasn’t going anywhere. Until on one of her visits, she vented about a mistake involving dating Eddie Thawne (Rick Cosnett)—Barry’s colleague—and begged for him to come back but felt a jolt of electricity when she touched his hand.
Iris felt that same jolt of electricity in the last episode of season one. She was on the bridge with Eddie before he got kidnapped, and a couple of moments later, The Flash arrived. Barry had told Iris to go home and not say anything, making the mistake of touching her hand.
As soon as Iris started connecting the dots, she confronted Barry at the first opportunity she got and felt so naive for not making this realization sooner.
As predicted, Barry’s devastated and he doesn’t know what to do. Instead of fixing the problem, he pushes Team Flash (his friends) away because he can’t help but feel defeated. Despite the fact that Iris was so angered over not knowing Barry’s true identity, she was still determined to bring him out of the dark depths of his loneliness.
All throughout this episode, I felt the discontent that Iris felt when she found out that Barry had lied to her for an entire year. But at the same time, I also noticed her journalistic instincts kick in, an instance when her actions overpowered what she was feeling in the moment.
Iris may be at times disliked with her emotions, but when it comes to being there for her friends and being a reporter, she will always do whatever it takes to make sure that her friends never let their guard down and protect the citizens of Central City through her journalism, which is what I envy about her most.
