THE FLASH Season 4 Episode 16 Review: Run, Iris, Run

It’s never an easy task to craft a story that will able to bear the weight of years of fan expectations, particularly when, as in the case of “Run, Iris, Run”, it’s a subject fans have theorized and hoped for almost since the show was announced. Even though Iris has always been a civilian character in her various incarnations and appearances, she’s had a handful of memorable moments where she got to suit up and it’s an idea fans have really latched on to, creating cosplays and artwork galore. And while the official version we finally did get undoubtedly won’t please everyone, it’s a solid and entertaining enough story to ensure the fervor will continue to live on, even if it couldn’t quite commit enough to premise to be truly great. 

The episode’s biggest weakness was that it didn’t deviate at all from the standard ‘superhero in training’ beats (botched first mission, fear of failure, rising to the call, etc.), which we’ve already seen played out several times this season with Ralph. Even though the two are night and day in terms of personality, Barry’s pep talks to Iris were essentially identical to the ones he’s given Ralph during his time in the field. 

Given the self-contained nature of the plot, it would have been easy to deviate quite a bit from the show’s standard formula without having any long- lasting ramifications. Choosing to play it safe and treat Iris like she could be filling in for any meta off the street just seems lazy storytelling. And frankly, it’s sad that someone as critical to the show’s success as its leading lady didn’t get a little more creativity for her costumed debut, especially considering how often she’s been shafted in terms of story. 

All that said, Candice Patton was clearly having a blast and her giddiness was infectious; she shined brilliantly in her more emotional moments and it was nice to get some more insight into how she approaches her new role as team leader as her insecurities bubbled to the surface. Visually, she was a joy to watch in action—her violet lighting bursts looked as good as Barry’s normally do and her sleek purple suit is leagues ahead of Ralph’s mauve monstrosity or the Elsa-lite redesign Killer Frost we’ve had to put up with this season. Although she’s only in the costume for a short amount of time, I’m hoping we haven’t seen the last of it, at least in some form, given that Jessica Parker Kennedy’s mystery girl, who has been heavily hinted to be a West-Allen, hasn’t made her proper debut yet. The suit would make a nice family heirloom is all I’m saying. 

Back on the clumsier side we had Harry’s thinking cap subplot. It wasn’t a bad story—actually, it’s one that would have been welcome a few episodes ago considering how little Cisco and Harry have to do these days—but it didn’t fit at all central premise, to the point of stealing quite a bit of screentime from the speedster Iris storyline, which, after all, was the main selling point of the episode. We can have Cisco/Wells banter in almost any episode, but Iris being the Flash is turn of events we’re not likely to see again. 

One thing that was exciting to see again was Iris’s journalistic streak. I know a lot of fans were disappointed when she quit her job offscreen, and there’s an unfortunate tendency for characters to lose any semblance of an outside life once they join the STAR Labs team, which the show almost seemed to acknowledge when Iris decided to prioritize her writing over speed powers. One detail I especially liked was that she’s gone all the way back to the blog she started back in the early episodes of Season One. The series often a better job of weaving her role as a reporter into the story back before she did it professionally, and it seems like a step in the right direction for a show that seems to have lost its sense of balance this year.

Written by Kaitlin Roberts, THE FLASH Beat Writer

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