The Flash: Why Iris Season 7 Absence Is A Huge Arrowverse Problem
Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Flash season 7, episode 15, “Enemy At the Gates.”
Iris West has been curiously absent from episodes of The Flash season 7, sabotaging the series’ efforts to present Iris as an equal partner to Barry Allen. This absence was particularly notable in the episode “Enemy At The Gates,” given that the story was centered around Barry’s efforts to confirm Iris’ pregnancy.
“The Flash” season 7, episode 14, “Rayo de Luz,” found Barry Allen and Iris West trying to start a family. This was largely played for laughs, with STAR Labs engineer Chester Runk accidentally stumbling across the two making love in the St. archive. This prompted Chester’s suggestion the two take a vacation to be alone together, which led to Iris’ absence from the episode.
Iris’ absence from The Flash became unintentionally comic in The Flash season 7, episode 15, “Enemy At The Gates,” as Barry tried to conduct a pregnancy test in secret. This left Barry trying to get some time alone in either the bio-lab at STAR Labs or his own lab at CCPD Headquarters, only to be continually interrupted by various friends and the sudden arrival of multiple Godspeeds. All of this distracted away from what should have been a major character moment for Iris West, to the point that the pregnancy subplot seemed to be a distraction in the minds of the writers.
While it made sense for Barry to be careful about his comings and goings at superspeed while he was carrying the samples he needed for the test, by that point there was no reason for him not to run across town and tell Iris the test results in person.
It’s deeply ironic that Iris West should be largely absent from an episode centered around her pregnancy, given the efforts of The Flash writers to build up the character as an equal partner to Barry Allen. Even the series’ more recent attempts to give Iris her own storylines focused on her reporting and Team Citizen have been unsuccessful. Most of these storylines were unrelated to the larger narrative of the series.
The Flash’s female lead is replaced with a phone for the length of an episode, and the male lead only speaks about her in terms of needing to protect her. It points to a larger problem regarding the way that the writers of The Flash regard Iris West and her agency. It’s possible that the problems with “Enemy At The Gates” were unavoidable and the result of filming during the COVID-19 pandemic.
