YMMV: The Flash and The Iris Situation
So, I am finally watching The Flash - only about 3 years after everyone else. :-) It took me this long because I watched the first ep when the series started, and, well. Did not think it was promising. But since everyone else seems to be enjoying the series so much, I figured it must get better, and have given it another try! I started with ep2 this time, and things have been going much better.
I'm only up to S01E05, so the series hasn't really found its feet yet, but its doing well enough. Standard superhero series plots, but entertaining, with likeable characters. I like Barry and many of the secondary characters, and am happy to see what the series holds in store. It hasn't really grabbed me, but it isn't rubbing me the wrong way either, and I can see it getting there in time.
But there is one thing that I really, really dislike and that fills me with apprehension: The Iris Situation. Warning for extreme grumpiness that may harsh squee under the cut...
So, Barry is pining after a young woman who grew up with him and is shown to be basically half his sister, half his best friend. He doesn't dare tell her he's in love with her, but he can't stop pining, and the relationship with her starts crumbling pretty quickly. This is partly: A, because of the pining, and partly: B, because he's also doing that thing where a man with superpowers actively lies to a woman in his life in order to keep her in the dark and make sure she knows nothing about what's really going on with him OR the world around her, with the absurdly, idiotically wrong-headed supposed goal of "protecting" her.
Okay, to start with B: WT everloving F, HOW is that still a thing. Keeping someone in the dark about superpowered villains running around does not make them safer. Not telling a loved one you are a superhero and people might be coming after you - or them - does not keep them safer. Quite the contrary, this lack of information is an active threat - making the woman in question unable to defend herself properly by making sure she doesn't have all the facts she needs to accurately assess and respond to the situation. WTF. And the reason why I can say "the woman in question" is because this kind of nonsense very rarely seems to happens with a man. Men don't need to be protected by ignorance that keeps them clueless and helpless, it seems.
Not to mention that lying to someone you are supposedly very close to in order to make sure they know nothing about something huge that has happened to you, and are ignorant about a whole new part of your life... what exactly do these geniuses think this will do to the relationship? ("Nothing says 'I care about you, trust and respect you' more than lying to you, endangering you, keeping you in the dark and starting a whole new life you really don't need to worry your pretty little head about...")
So yeah. I really do not like this tired old plot device. Maybe you could tell. ;-)
Which brings me to the second tired old plot device bound up in The Iris Situation: A, the pining after a woman who just wants to be friends, or in other words, the phenomenon that evidently, every pretty woman in a hero's life who is NOT biologically related to him (even when she grew up his sister, as is the case here) must necessarily be an object of romantic longing. What else could she be, right? An actual friend? Perish the thought. Why else would a pretty woman even be in the series if not to be a love interest of some kind, right?
I am so frustrated by this I cannot even tell you. If the series HAD to have Barry pining over a seemingly unattainable woman (that he will no doubt obtain as his just deserts in due course, before they break up in the inevitable series relationship fluctuations), why make her his best friend? It's like the series is setting up a "friend zone" narrative from the point of view of the Nice Guy, expecting the audience to sympathize with the poor man who is so worthy and so cruelly being passed over. This kind of nonsense is not something that needs to be validated in fiction. Dude, she is basically your sister, and she is supposed to be your best friend. Get over your damn crush and stop destroying one of the most important relationships in your life.
Of course I have no doubt that Barry will eventually be "awarded" Iris, as the male hero must always be awarded his female prize. And I so do not want to see it. I can't even tell you.
Feel free to spoil me for the Iris Situation, which I feel it can only be a good thing to be prepared for. Not for anything else though, please!
I'm only up to S01E05, so the series hasn't really found its feet yet, but its doing well enough. Standard superhero series plots, but entertaining, with likeable characters. I like Barry and many of the secondary characters, and am happy to see what the series holds in store. It hasn't really grabbed me, but it isn't rubbing me the wrong way either, and I can see it getting there in time.
But there is one thing that I really, really dislike and that fills me with apprehension: The Iris Situation. Warning for extreme grumpiness that may harsh squee under the cut...
So, Barry is pining after a young woman who grew up with him and is shown to be basically half his sister, half his best friend. He doesn't dare tell her he's in love with her, but he can't stop pining, and the relationship with her starts crumbling pretty quickly. This is partly: A, because of the pining, and partly: B, because he's also doing that thing where a man with superpowers actively lies to a woman in his life in order to keep her in the dark and make sure she knows nothing about what's really going on with him OR the world around her, with the absurdly, idiotically wrong-headed supposed goal of "protecting" her.
Okay, to start with B: WT everloving F, HOW is that still a thing. Keeping someone in the dark about superpowered villains running around does not make them safer. Not telling a loved one you are a superhero and people might be coming after you - or them - does not keep them safer. Quite the contrary, this lack of information is an active threat - making the woman in question unable to defend herself properly by making sure she doesn't have all the facts she needs to accurately assess and respond to the situation. WTF. And the reason why I can say "the woman in question" is because this kind of nonsense very rarely seems to happens with a man. Men don't need to be protected by ignorance that keeps them clueless and helpless, it seems.
Not to mention that lying to someone you are supposedly very close to in order to make sure they know nothing about something huge that has happened to you, and are ignorant about a whole new part of your life... what exactly do these geniuses think this will do to the relationship? ("Nothing says 'I care about you, trust and respect you' more than lying to you, endangering you, keeping you in the dark and starting a whole new life you really don't need to worry your pretty little head about...")
So yeah. I really do not like this tired old plot device. Maybe you could tell. ;-)
Which brings me to the second tired old plot device bound up in The Iris Situation: A, the pining after a woman who just wants to be friends, or in other words, the phenomenon that evidently, every pretty woman in a hero's life who is NOT biologically related to him (even when she grew up his sister, as is the case here) must necessarily be an object of romantic longing. What else could she be, right? An actual friend? Perish the thought. Why else would a pretty woman even be in the series if not to be a love interest of some kind, right?
I am so frustrated by this I cannot even tell you. If the series HAD to have Barry pining over a seemingly unattainable woman (that he will no doubt obtain as his just deserts in due course, before they break up in the inevitable series relationship fluctuations), why make her his best friend? It's like the series is setting up a "friend zone" narrative from the point of view of the Nice Guy, expecting the audience to sympathize with the poor man who is so worthy and so cruelly being passed over. This kind of nonsense is not something that needs to be validated in fiction. Dude, she is basically your sister, and she is supposed to be your best friend. Get over your damn crush and stop destroying one of the most important relationships in your life.
Of course I have no doubt that Barry will eventually be "awarded" Iris, as the male hero must always be awarded his female prize. And I so do not want to see it. I can't even tell you.
Feel free to spoil me for the Iris Situation, which I feel it can only be a good thing to be prepared for. Not for anything else though, please!