It’s time to switch things up. The Flash season four returns with its sixteenth episode “Run, Iris, Run.” With only seven episodes left, it’s time for the last remaining bus metahumans to finally be unveiled. It’s time for Iris to turn into Central City’s newest hero when she gains Barry’s powers in what could have been a great episode.

Recap

Last week, the speedometer was turned down in the real world and up in the speed force. Barry had to stop an eco-terrorist within one second. Jay Garrick and Jessie Quick returned for quite the adrenaline rush, as Barry could never slow down or Central City would be a barbeque… we are still here so everything clearly went okay. Harrison Wells found his purpose and the hunt for DeVoe continued.

Episode 4X16 Review “RUN, IRIS, RUN”

What a waste of potential. You know what type of episodes I hate the most? Filler episodes that repeat topics that were marvelously established. What I hate even more than a bad filler episode is taking an ideology that has good meaning and should be taught to everyone and shoving down the audiences’ throat in the most unoriginal and dreadful way possible. As someone who personally likes Iris’s character, this episode has an astronomical amount of problems. When Iris initially gained Barry’s speed, I was excited to see an episode where some of the underwhelming characters received the spotlight. Instead what we received was underwhelming characters in an immensely boring situation. It’s an episode that shouts feminism, meanwhile The Flash and all the other CW DC shows give the women important recurring roles that give almost all the male characters less screen time. For years The CW has attempted to give the minor female characters the spotlight. Shows such as DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow has successfully pulled this off with its focus on Sara Lance. Sara took the role of the protagonist from former captain Rip Hunter during the first episode of season two. Legends never have to repetitively shout feminism into the audiences face in order to get its point across. A character like Sara Lance is so well liked because they are seen as good role models. The Arrowverse has typically never made the women of the shows a complete let down. Iris has consistently been portrayed as a women who is shown superior to that of men when meanwhile she has been showing this for three seasons ever since we first saw her on screen. “Girl’s Night Out” was another episode that suffered this problem. Movies and television shows are able to show female dominance properly by not expressing it through words, but rather visuals, just like every other male lead. We treat women in film differently from men most of the time for these stupid reasons as if the majority of viewers are not educated enough to know that gender means nothing. We are equal, but The Flash continues to act like this moral stance needs to be said repeatedly, which makes me frustrated because it has established a powerful female character for the past three seasons. Where Sara Lance constantly succeeds, Iris West fails in “Run, Iris, Run.” In The Flash, Iris has a purpose for so long, but the character feels as if she could do more. The problem is that Iris has so much more to offer to the show, but not the team. The entire episode is a complete contradiction of its purpose which further makes “Run, Iris, Run” the worst episode of season four. It’s important ending is critical to the future of Iris Allen and is without a doubt the best scene in the entire episode.

The only positive parts of this episode were the interactions between Wells, Cisco, and Joe’s interactions with the rest of team flash and the conclusion. Wells and Cisco continue to fight over moral obligations while Joe is always a pleasure to see. Character interactions are critical to making an entertaining show. Harrison Wells and Cisco is quite possibly one of The Flash’s best matchups. The two fit together like puzzle pieces and the interactions between Joe and Barry are not far behind. The ending further continues to establish the character of Iris, by putting her on the future path to return as a journalist that can assist Barry in more ways than just field work. I’m glad that the writers are allowing this character to sway back to her original roots. A female character does not need to be out doing fieldwork in order to drive home the point to the audience that men are equal to women. Iris was a prime example of this idea during season one and two when she was a journalist. She was a character that even the heroes looked up to because she was depicted as a wise individual. This episode depicted Iris as weak and afraid which is exactly what the character is not. It’s almost if the writers forgot about her past this season and are finally recognizing what made audiences love her previously.

This episode was nothing, but a letdown. This was not even entertaining, at the very least. It degrades a well-established character by depicting her as someone who can rise up and become stronger when meanwhile this was a character who was already fearless. “Run, Iris, Run” is the worst episode of season four. It somehow manages to create a captivating and smartly crafted ending that will hold a greater purpose for the future of not only Iris, but multiple character that appear almost every episode. This was at its core, a waste of a good episode that could have had a greater meaning. Iris is the character who in the previous season ran into danger and even accepted death. Here she was portrayed as a scared woman who was able to rise up against man. Just as a friendly reminder, this is the same character who faced Savitar and Reverse Flash with no fear… just thinking about what Iris has done in the past makes this episode even worse. It further bandwagons on an idea that was carefully enforced within seasons one and two so that way this topic would not have to be seen again. Instead a role model was degraded today. No matter the quality of next week’s episode, it will look like a masterpiece compared to this horrendous accident.

Next Week’s Teaser

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