The Iris West/Candice Patton Thread

Here the big difference between movies and TV shows. A movie has about 120 minutes of film and a 23 episode season of an hour long TV show has 966 minutes, that’s eight times as much film. That’s not even getting into the multiple seasons TV shows have compared to movie sequels. It’s not logistically possible for TV shows to produce that much film without a certain number of characters.
A successful TV show is either a true ensemble or has a lead(s) and supporting characters. Flash, Supergirl and Arrow all use the single lead with supporting characters format. Grant, Melissa, and Stephen are three of the most charismatic leads currently on TV but a great lead still needs other characters to make the show work. Those leads need characters to interact with in meaningful ways in order to move the leads story along. In my opinion it actually helps the leads story to have strong fleshed out supporting characters.

 

I think the objection is the lead character is often sidelined for supporting characters so that certain supporting characters end up getting more screen time and are more vital to the plot than the supposed lead character.
The story should focus on the lead character with the supporting characters, well, supporting the lead character, not the main focus of the plot.

 

Exactly. This has been the case since S2, with Flash as little more than the brainless muscle (that ridiculous fight with Solovar!). The Flash turned into Team Flash for S2, and The Iris since last season. There's a reason why Flash S1 is still touted as the best season of DCCW shows.

 

The 1st season of the Flash was basically The Flash Begins!!

 

Strong beginning, the less Iris they showcase, the stronger they get.

 

I have a feeling it's pretty much inevitable they'll backtrack on that, though. I could be wrong, but...

 

Now with Berlanti in charge, I look forward to seeing less of her.

 

Highly unlikely because Iris' prominence began when Berlanti said Candice is the leading lady in S2b. So expect The Iris in full force come January.

 

I've enjoyed what they've done with her so far this season. She isn't clumsily creating messes for Flash or being a damsel in distress. The show is showing her to be a resourceful partner for Barry. I'd much rather see this than any more "will they or won't they?" storylines.

 

AJK and Zack Stzentz said that, both men are gone. I don't really think he's team Candice especially if he reads the backlash the show has been getting on facebook and social media. He's a business man at best and he sticks with what works. Berlanti is the guy that redirects, he was present for Season 1, maybe he will head the show back to where it needs to be.

 

I'm not in the "I hate Iris" camp like a lot of you seem to be and I enjoy her this season more than any other save season 1. I know Barry and Iris were supposed to be end game but I almost wish Patty stayed around, they could at least give her something to do

 

I'm baffled by the disdain shown for Iris. I've liked her development in every season so far, as I have for every other character except the weird version of Savitar. My favorite moment so far has been when she reached into the speed force to pull Barry out in "The Runaway Dinosaur." I cried when that was first broadcast, and I still get a little misty-eyed whenever I watch it.

 

Thanks to Henry who came up with the idea and Cisco who did the heavy lifting; not to mention Barry who was ready to leave the SF this time around. Even if you ignore all that, Iris pulling Barry out was so ridiculously soap operatic, it's embarrassing.

 

I can't speak for everyone but for the most part, I don't think it's that anyone hates Iris. She just is given little to nothing to do and most of the time is kind of in the way with no real purpose for being there other than being Barry's s/o. Ironic you mentioned Patty because I'm pretty sure during her brief stint on the show even she was given far more to do than Iris.

 

I thought Iris in season 1 was pretty unbearable as a character. Once season two came around I actually didn't mind her as much, and season 3 I didn't have any major issues. My biggest issue (and this applies to literally every major supporting character) is that she spends way too much time at Star Labs. Team Flash has gotten way too large. The core of Barry, Cisco, Caitlin, and Wells made sense, I get Joe popping in every once in awhile, and Wally and Ralph I can understand since they have powers. Iris and Julian had no business being part of the team in the lab.

As much as I consider not having Felton around a loss, getting rid of a member of the team was good. Meanwhile Iris' role was pushed even further. I don't mind her being an asset, but why does she have to be a leader? I just don't get the need to have all these characters circling the same areas constantly, it's like 75% of each episode is spent in the cortex.

I really hated how they made that into a huge moment as if she was key to bringing Barry home, but that's far from the worst Iris moment in the episode.

I had it on in the background, and it got to the scene where her and Barry visit Nora's grave. All of a sudden Iris says probably the most insensitive thing possible, "It was about a mother who was always there for her child no matter what, and that wasn't my mom. Or yours. We never had anyone that was just right for us." I'm sorry your mother left Iris, but for christ sake Barry's mother was MURDERED. Don't go spilling crap about how Barry's mother wasn't right for him, she was taken from him.

I liked her in season 2, and I absolutely love that episode, but damn. That was absolute crap line and a horrible thing to say. Especially when you consider this is Barry's very first time ever visiting his mother's grave. I can't believe someone not only wrote that, but it was also performed and edited into the episode.

 

Nope, it was truly moving. Iris being the truest emotional tether to the real world made perfect sense. That whole scene was beautifully crafted and expertly executed by its performers.

 

She doesn't have to be a leader, but the rest of team is made up of moral lackings and idiots, so... But in all seriousness, it's just an issue of convenience. The team circles the same areas, so the writers don't have to come with ways to involve characters in eachother's lives. It's the same reason Barry needs Cisco, Joe, Caitlin and Harry, when he doesn't really. The show goes through a various collection of ways to keep all the side characters relevant.

Iris thought her mom was dead for the majority of her life. She didn't find out that she was alive until that season.

 

Thank you. On this day when net neutrality could go the way of the dodo, I needed this.

That was exactly why they had her do it. Henry and Cisco could have done it, but she did it because "reasons". Also, "we are the Flash" is her worse moment. They've been trying to build her up since S1. Not sure why, because she's not that interesting, they have no romantic chemistry and this isn't a soap opera. More Iris just highlights how unnecessary she is most of the time.

 

Cisco's vibing is based partially on emotional impressions. Thus, the person with whom Barry has the strongest emotional connection, which the show has clearly established, is the obvious choice to pull him out of a metaphysical existence.

I'm sorry that you're missing the innovation of this show. Even with the somewhat repetitive nature of season 3, this show continues to make it's mark as the greatest super hero show ever. We're all extremely lucky to live in a time where an adaptation of this magnitude exists.

 

That's not what happened. The choice was Henry's to make and he understood what it meant to her and not because he thought she meant more to Barry than his own father. If it was as you suggested then it would have been Iris from the get go. But hey, Barry was fine with his parents dead to save Wally, so what do I know.

S1 was innovative and the best superhero show at the time. Since then, it's been recycling the same storylines while slowly edging out the title character to be replaced first by the the team and then by the girlfriend. But maybe this is what you meant about innovation and adaptation. In which case we're talking at cross purposes. I'm talking about The Flash while you're talking about turning it into The Iris.

 

Iris is a motivating character? Awe, that's cute. That's why the backlash is so high and she still remains the least favorite character.

 

Outside of SHH, I have seen next to no dislike of the Iris character specifically. I often see that Barry is overly reliant on her and/or his team, and last season was criticized as too much of a template redux, but nothing that qualifies as a "backlash."

 

you haven't been on social media i gather.plenty of iris hate.and it's not even just snowbarry fans eather.regular fans of flash are hating her.

 

They went through that with Laurel too. It doesn't add validity to the hatred.