It’s been almost two years since Barry and Iris got married on The Flash and yet, some people are still waiting for them to get a divorce. It’s funny at this point because we are literally six seasons in on The Flash and it still amazes me how after six years, people do not want Barry and Iris to be together.
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“Let’s see how long they last” or “Is it time to sink and sail?” Come on! What drove me to watch The Flash in the first place was Barry and Iris’s relationship and the chemistry that Grant Gustin and Candice Patton had portraying them. If we are being honest, many viewers who watch the show are in fact Westallen fans. You have others who watch for the actors or who are big comic books fans. Yet, after six seasons, fans of the show are still commenting that Barry should be with Caitlin, or that he should go back to Patty, and even that Barry and Iris can’t be together because they’re siblings.
In season one of The Flash, Barry and Caitlin had an episode where they did karaoke together, Barry took her home since Caitlin was drunk, and stayed with her until she fell asleep. Ever since that episode, people started to ship them together. But, Barry was a being a friend to Caitlin, Barry has always cared about his friends and their well-being. Plus, at the time Caitlin was still trying to get over her fiancė Ronnie’s death. Furthermore, Barry admitted to Caitlin that he told Iris how he felt about her and Caitlin even knew that Barry was in love with Iris. Plus, Barry and Caitlin don’t have chemistry as much as she does with Cisco, in my opinion.
Every storyline doesn’t have to have a guy and a girl becoming more than friends. I have enjoyed the friendship between Caitlin and Cisco the last couple of years. They always support each other when it comes to their powers and made sure to keep each other safe. Also, I felt more of brother-sister vibes between Caitlin and Barry. A couple years ago at San Diego Comic-Con, Gustin even stated that he has always pushed for Iris and Barry from the beginning. He didn’t want Barry to date Caitlin or anybody else. That’s right, for all the SnowBarry fans out there, stop trying to get Barry and Caitlin together, he is married that not going to change. Try to focus on Killer Frost and Caitlin’s storyline since it does so well for the show rating rather wanting her to be with Barry. Every time, there is a Killer Frost/Caitlin arc for an episode, ratings have traditionally gone down, I feel Caitlin hasn’t discovered who she is yet rather than be in a relationship with someone at this time.
On to the next with Patty Spivot. Patty came to The Flash during season two and didn’t stay long. Barry and Patty had a quick relationship. In the beginning when Barry was trying to figure out how he felt about Patty, he was hesitant about the situation. Joe knew Iris was his first love, and he wasn’t going to feel the same about anybody else but told him it couldn’t stop him from exploring. Patty and Barry’s relationship only lasted four episodes before she moved away.
Patty kept her guard up since not telling Barry about the real reason for her joining the task force Joe had season two. Barry had to find out about Patty father’s death as The Flash. Patty choose to leave Central City to become a forensic scientist, but she also founded out that Barry was The Flash. She even confronted Barry about her knowing but he kept denying the truth. Barry and Patty had moments that were cute and sweet but at the end of the day his heart belongs to Iris.
To my final point, for all the fans that say Barry and Iris are siblings. Please show me. Barry and Iris were best friends before his mom died and he had already fallen for her at a young age. Joe was never his legal parent since Henry was still alive and Joe never raised Barry and Iris as siblings because it was obvious they didn’t see each other that way given the romantic feelings felt for each other since young teens. Barry lived under Joe’s legal guardianship for seven out of 18 years of his life. While Barry said he thought Joe was much like a father figure to him, he never called him Dad.
Joe has always thought of Barry as his son but realized he could never take the place of his actual father, Henry. Barry and Joe had a heart-to-heart at the end of the last season about how Barry never called him Dad until he got his powers. Because Barry had a father, Henry who was wrongly accused of murdering his wife, Nora. Joe has watched Barry be in love with Iris since he was old enough to know what love was. He was waiting for Barry to tell her all those years, no one else wanted Barry and Iris to be together as much as Joe West did and still does.
Even Eddie, Iris’ ex-fiancé could tell it was more than a friendship between Barry and Iris. I mean, who offers a friend a wedding ring as a Christmas gift? Barry and Iris even meet their future daughter and yet, fans still want them to sink. Plus, in the comics, they even have twins Dawn and Don known as The Tornado Twins. Let’s remember that Barry and Iris supports each other, have conquered deaths and still remain to be the Gold Standard of DCTV couples. Barry can’t even function when Iris is mad at him.He couldn’t move off the couch when they broke up one episode before he re-proposed to Iris. What other women do you know jumps off a building for her man? But people want them to sink or sail.
They remain to be one of the best interracial couples out there on TV. It’s important to see normal and functional interracial relationships like Barry and Iris’s represented on TV. Barry and Iris have a healthy, supportive, and beautiful relationship that hasn’t been seen on superhero shows in a long time since Smallville.
When I’m watching TV, I’m used to seeing couples break up and wait four seasons for them to get back together. To see Barry and Iris represent this generation in diversity and act as in a healthy relationship is not common in today’s society. For those who want Barry and Iris to divorce, it’s time to get over it, and maybe you need to stop watching The Flash because that’s not going to happen.
Guest Post by Kemberlie Spivey
For more of Kemberlie’s work, click here.
