The Flash: “Grodd Lives” | After putting together that Barry was The Flash towards the end of last week’s episode, Iris went on the confrontation war path first with Barry and then with Joe. Hurt that she was kept in the dark, she wasn’t moved by either her father or best friend’s explanations for leaving her out of the loop.

The weirdest part is that in her quest to have it out with Barry, she strolled into Star Labs with no security problem whatsoever and seemed to know the exact level he would be working on. If it was this easy for her to find out what he was up to, why didn’t she just tail him earlier?

With Iris now in the know, there are no main characters left on the show that aren’t aware Barry and The Flash are one in the same. In all honesty, it just seems a little premature to go there. The clandestine aspect of a superhero’s identity is one of the most essential components of comic lore and it’s a key factor in a lot of the story’s overall tension. It’s called a secret identity for a reason and with every character from Iris to Captain Cold knowing The Flash is Barry Allen; it seems futile for him to even bother wearing a disguise. 

Departing from the secret identity angle seems to be the popular way to go in the current wave of comic adaptations. It was great when Tony Stark did it in the first “Iron Man”. Firstly because it hadn’t been done before and secondly because it was Tony Stark and given the personality of his character, it was a natural move for him to make. There’s no way a showboat like Stark would be able to keep his status a secret. Private characters like Oliver Queen, Barry Allen or Peter Parker feeling as comfortable with such a reveal, doesn’t ring as true.

Personally, “Smallville” is still the gold standard when it comes to superhero television series and it didn’t become the longest running series of its kind without a reason. The knowledge of Clark’s abilities seeped out slowly and those who learned about them, found out at a time when the reveal would have the most impact. So much of the Clark/Lana relationship revolved around him keeping his powers a secret from her. It was a push and pull that was believable. If Iris is Barry’s Lana then she’s found out way too soon. 

Side Notes/Burning Questions: Why didn’t the Reverse Flash change the locks to Star Labs so Barry and company couldn’t have access to all of the technology that would make it possible for them to take him down? Cisco and Caitlin hilariously eavesdropping on Iris and Barry’s conversation was a comedic highlight for the episode. Cisco’s movie references were another one. Will Barry go back in time again and erase Iris’ newfound knowledge of his identity?

Photo: The CW [ "Iris West/Season Zero/Volume 1": The Flash.Wikia ]