The Flash season 7 finale rights an Arrowverse wrong

Barry and Iris West-Allen renewed their vows in The Flash season 7’s finale, making things right after three years.

As Barry Allen stood across the room from Iris West-Allen and the two spoke of how much they loved each other, you might be forgiven for having flashbacks to the pair’s infamous wedding. And shockingly, we’re not talking about the one that got interrupted by evil Nazi doppelgangers from a parallel dimension.

The West-Allen wedding was the focus of the 2018 Arrowverse crossover, Crisis On Earth-X, as it brought the casts of The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow together to celebrate their shared universe’s greatest couple on the happiest day of their lives. The Earth-X intruders would change that, interrupting their moment and sparking a four-part event in which Earth’s (1, 38 and X) Mightiest Heroes ultimately emerged victorious.

When all was said and done, however, Barry and Iris decided that life was too short to wait any longer. And thus, in a ceremony officiated by Arrow‘s John Diggle, they decided to make their vows to each other. That is, until the ceremony was interrupted by Felicity Smoak – who, decided that she was going to interrupt the pair’s special day so that she could get married to Oliver Queen too.

Why West-Allen’s wedding was a complete misfire

Throughout both shows’ runs, the Arrowverse has tried to establish West-Allen and Olicity as equal titans of the comic book TV shared universe (which, in itself is problematic considering one will never be comic book canon), so the idea of having them get married together might have sounded good on paper. In effect, however, it simply portrayed the latter as little more than wedding crashers – and, worse, attempted to glorify such behavior.

Not only is interrupting the long-awaited wedding of two of your best friends (after it had already been interrupted by murderous Nazis) to talk about your own relationship an incredibly selfish thing to do, this came after Felicity couldn’t decide if she actually wanted to marry Oliver and ruined Barry and Iris’ rehearsal dinner by publicly humiliating the man she was supposed to love.

So, regardless of comic book destiny, the sheer notion that these two couples were ever equals is preposterous simply because one overcame the obstacles thrown their way while the other turned into a toxic black hole that reduced both characters involved in it to shells of who they once were, sucked the creativity out of Arrow and tried to make somebody else’s wedding all about them… because everything just had to revolve around Felicity and Oliver’s relationship.

But we’re not about to let that happen here, so let’s leave that behind and focus on what really matters: How The Flash, free from the constraints of other creative teams, gave Barry and Iris the moment that was taken from them three years ago.

How The Flash season 7 righted that wrong

From the moment that this season began, it was clear that showrunner Eric Wallace wanted to remind everyone that Barry and Iris’ love will always be at the center of The Flash. The pair’s relationship enhances the show because it’s very much part of what made Barry Allen the hero that he is today and that comes across very much throughout.

Granted, not all of the season’s “love conquers all” approach went down with fans the way that the creative team hoped it would, as the convoluted Forces storyline divided audiences. However, that was forgivable because the show never lost sight of the one thing that made it what it is: Heart.

With that in mind, season 7 went a long way in highlighting the importance of Iris West-Allen in not just the show but in Barry’s life. She was, is and always will be his lightning rod. For that reason alone, it was only fitting that the season conclude with the pair renewing their vows in front of their family and friends – family and friends that made the moment about the pair renewing their vows and did not try to overshadow their moment.

As Barry and Iris looked into each others’ eyes and reminded everyone how in love they were, it was hard not to get emotional. That’s the effect that West-Allen has a lot of people, yes, but this is more than that. It was like you were watching them get married for the first time because, in essence, you were.

This is the moment that Barry and Iris deserved all along and it was nothing short of wonderful to see the Arrowverse’s gold standard couple celebrated for the beautiful partnership that they are.

What did you think of The Flash season 7, episode 18? Are you glad that Barry and Iris finally got their moment? Let us know in the comments below!