Iris & 'The Flash' Need To Get Together ASAP

Barry Allen is finally gaining a love life on The Flash, but it isn't with who you think. Linda Park is being introduced as his love interest in the Feb. 3 episode, "Crazy for You." I know I wasn't the only comic book fan with a lot of questions after it was revealed that Malese Jow was cast as Linda Park to be a love interest for Barry. Fans of the comics know Linda Park as being the girlfriend turned-wife of the other Flash, Wally West. It is a weird choice, to say the least. Linda eventually marries Barry's nephew and deserves more than to be his rebound while he deals with the fall out of confessing his love to Iris West. But, what does Linda's introduction on the show mean for his relationship with Iris? Will we see Iris and Barry get together on The Flash this season? Maybe not as soon as fans may hope.

The problem the writers could hit is that fans will warm to Linda more than they have to Iris, creating the same dynamic that happened on Arrow and its mishandling of Laurel. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, executive producer Andrew Kreisberg spilled some The Flash spoilers.

"We wanted Barry to have a little romance. Our iteration of Linda, she’s a spark plug. She’s a firecracker. She’s a lot of fun. She’s ballsy and she speaks her mind. She’s cool. Barry can’t kind of believe that somebody like her is interested in him. Barry suddenly having somebody like that in his life will cause the other women in his life to maybe see a little green.”

Basically, Linda is a rebound meant to make Iris jealous. I really like The Flash, but they don't seem to really know how to develop their female characters. Spoilers ahead: But don't worry Westallen shippers, Barry and Iris are going to get together in a big way. The Flash set photos obtained by The Daily Mail reveal that not only will Barry and Iris get together this season, but he'll also likely reveal his superhero identity to her too. And I can't wait to see this all go down.

By making Iris the only person close to Barry who doesn't know he's the Flash and not developing her love of journalism enough, she can come across as dense. Candace Patton, who plays Iris West, has great chemistry with the actors on the show. I can totally buy Iris and Barry eventually growing into a romantic relationship. Instead of introducing more supporting characters, why doesn't The Flash develop the ones they have? But finally bringing the characters together and letting Iris know that Barry is the Flash will definitely work out the few missteps that have happened so far.

Iris West is as important to Barry Allen's story as Lois Lane is to Superman's. Iris and Barry are endgame. While the writers behind The Flash have shown that they are willing to play around with comic canon, I don't think they'd alter such a fundamental relationship. The set photos that spoil Barry and Iris finally getting together and being honest with each other give me hope that writing on The Flash can live up to the chemistry between these great characters.

Images: Katie Yu/The CW (2); justjaredjr/Tumblr