‘Shiptober: Should ‘The Flash’ season 2 pair Barry Allen with Iris West, Caitlin Snow, someone else?
With the second season of the CW his premiering on Tuesday night, now is the right time to start to think about the characters, where their story left off, and where it could be going moving into the future. While we don’t think that romance is ever the #1 focus (saving Central City is), it is never that far removed from being a key component of the show. Why else do you have so many people pairing Barry Allen off with specific people?
The purpose of this article, as is the case for many in our ‘Shiptober series, is examining where these relationships stand, where they could go from here, and also gauging just what you want to see courtesy of the poll / the comments below.
The case for Barry and Iris West – This one is clear-cut. We don’t like to use the words One True Pairing necessarily because so many variables can make this change, but it does feel in this case like they are destined to be together. They have the chemistry, the #WestAllen fan base that is incredibly strong, and a genuine sense of mutual love and care that has been shown from both parties. The struggle for Barry moving forward is that other than in the alternate timeline of “Out of Time,” Iris has never reciprocated romantic love; to date, it’s been more platonic. At the start of season 2, she will be mourning Eddie and in no place to make a move.
The case for Barry and Caitlin Snow – The phenomenon for SnowBarry is in many ways similar to the early days of Olicity on “Arrow,” where the show was presenting one couple (in that case Oliver and Laurel) as the one that was destined to be something; as a result of that, fans looked elsewhere for an alternative. “The Flash” did a better job, though, of managing Barry and Iris than “Arrow” did Oliver and Laurel. Maybe fans can look towards Caitlin’s drunken karaoke night for a cute moment between her and Barry, and we think they’d be a likable pair; however, there’s not much evidence from the show point of view that we are going in this direction. Caitlin seems more invested in Ronnie; heck, she even married the guy in the season finale!
The case for Barry and Patty Spivot – Hey, she’s new this season. We know very little about her other than that she works for the Central City PD. What she does present is an alternative to most of the drama in his life, and that could be appealing if he wants something a little more normal.
The case for Barry and Felicity Smoak – We though that there were some mutual feelings there, but Barry identified the problem: She was in love with Oliver. There are still ‘shippers out there, but we’re not sure there will ever be anything more than a passing glance for these two ever again.
We suppose that Linda Park is still out there and is in theory a candidate once again, but we’re not going to waste too much time there. Going back to that relationship would just be revisiting something that’s already been done.