CWThough The Flash is a spinoff from the CW's Arrow, the freshman superhero drama is clearly learning from its mother show's mistakes.
Take, for instance, the fact that Arrow waited almost three whole seasons for the detective-turned-captain of the police force to figure out the guy he's been talking to, working with and hunting is also the guy who dated both his daughters. It became quite ridiculous that a police detective of all people couldn't tell that underneath a hood and eye mask was the man who made his life a living hell without a hood or mask on. The character development of Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne) unfortunately suffered as a result of that creative choice.
The Flash, however, didn't keep its aspiring investigative journalist Iris West (Candice Patton) in the dark when it came to her BFF's secret identity, and the show is only benefitting from that. Last week, she figured out on her own that Barry (Grant Gustin) is the Flash, and that huge, game-changing moment had fans shouting from the rooftops (okay, actually on Twitter) that #IrisBest is back. And we couldn't agree more!
"The fan response has been pretty amazing, and I didn't expect it to be as great as it is," Patton tells E! News. "Fans are extremely relieved, they're happy with the way Iris found out, and what's really important for them is that Iris found out on her own. No one had to tell her. They're excited that now that Iris knows, we'll see her work with Barry as the Flash and the S.T.A.R. Labs team to find Eddie [Rick Cosnett] and bring him back. She's also going to use her skill set to aid in finding Grodd."
Patton reveals that playing that moment when Iris feels the spark with the Flash, realizing it's Barry, was such a relief after playing "dumb" all season long.
"It felt so awesome to finally play that," Patton says with a laugh. "After 19 episodes of playing her kept in the dark, it meant I was spending a lot of time isolated. To finally get to the play the moment where Iris found out, it opened up so many more possibilities for her. And the way it happened, it was right. She's extremely intelligent so it felt deserved."
Thought Patton does defend the show's writers with keeping Iris in the dark about Barry's identity for as long as they did.
"The idea of being the damsel for so long was troubling for some people, but I understand that," Patton says. "You kind of have to have that Lois Lane, that Iris West, and I feel like we got to the reveal of her finding out much sooner than I thought and sooner than other shows have done in the past."
She continues, "But it's good that the truth is finally out there, because she can be the Iris West that we know her to be in the comic books, which is strong and smart and helpful and intelligent."
Preach! But what does this mean for WestAllen, aka Iris and Barry's relationship, now that Iris knows, but Barry doesn't know that she knows? (That's a mouthful, huh?)
"We'll see Iris processing this huge piece of information, and she's going to give Barry the opportunity to come clean on his own, and then she'll confront him about it," Patton reveals. "She's very angry and disappointed and hurt that her best friend and her father, basically her family, has been lying to her and keeping this huge secret from her."
But that doesn't mean that Iris and Barry's relationship is going to take a hit in light of this major secret coming out. In fact, Patton teases it might actually bring these two closer, ahem, if you know what we mean!
"Barry and Iris, for the most part, they have an extremely healthy relationship apart from this lie," Patton says. "Other than that, they've always been honest with each other and this revelation is only going to open the door for them to put everything on the table and go back to having a great, honest relationship with each other. You're going to see great scenes with them where they have a heart-to-heart and really say what they need to say to each other."
But don't get your hopes up for a full-fledged WestAllen relationship this season, despite the fact that Barry knows they're going to get married in the future. There's a certain Detective Prettyboy standing the way of that at the moment! (And as much as we want WestAllen, we can't deny that Eddie has totally stolen our hearts this season.)
"That storyline is going to play out past season one, because you need to remember that Eddie is still in the picture," Patton says. "At the end of the day, Iris loves him. He's a great man, so while she has feelings for Barry to some degree that she's not willing to deal with, she is still going to be a good girlfriend to the man she's with. She's going to continue to be conflicted about this."
And you can bet that Iris is going to play a part in rescuing Eddie from the Reverse Flash (Tom Cavanagh) in tonight's episode, "Grodd Lives."
"There is nothing more important to Iris coming up than making sure that Eddie is safe," Patton says. "She will do anything and everything she can to find him and get him back."
The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on the CW.