The cheek pecks seemed appropriate to me when they were around other people, though.

That's always bothered me about this show. It takes the heroes FOREVER to learn some new thing they can do with their powers. At first Barry just ran fast, then he could vibrate, then throw lightning, then phase through walls, etc.

All the Arrowverse shows are really terrible about this. Felicity and Wynn always find the villain on their shows because the team found an item that satellite imaging reveals can only have come from this ONE SPECIFIC PLACE IN THE CITY.

See, I think Iris (as written) is actually really bad as the love interest. She has no agency or character trait beyond "was Barry's boo in the comics." Which makes any attempts to make her an emotional anchor misguided imo.

Nope, we're stuck with the version of the show that has Mopey Cisco.

Remember when Iris had a day job?

Seriously, why did it require HR to suggest using satellite imagery to find Caitlyn? That is literally the way they find EVERY SINGLE villain on the show. They even used it THREE DIFFERENT TIMES this episode!

Bowling Alley.

I didn't say they could drag it out for 16 episodes and make it good.

They could have cast a different kid and I doubt anyone would notice. I think the writers actually just wanted a boy for Plot Reasons, so they used this as an excuse to retcon.

Honestly though, I bet some good things happened after the change too. They just made all the changes that we know about bad, because DRAMA.

What bothers me is their solution to the Iris Problem was just sticking her in Star Labs, without actually giving her character a legitimate reason to be there. She's completely superfluous, has no skills, and is literally only there to provide Barry with his Daily Pep Talk™.

But we also don't see random metas doing good things either. If some good meta shows up, it's always part of some big event (like prepping for a spin-off).

Oh, I bet they could drag it out for 16 or 17 episodes…

I enjoyed their brief flirtations in season one.

I'd be okay with her as a villain if she actually had a reason beyond "Having Powers Makes Me Evil!!!" That's just dumb.

This Week in Overdone Supergirl Tropes:

Well, she did knowingly turn him into a White Martian by giving him her blood, which is pretty evil.

I think the fact they're completely ignoring the gender switch on the show means the showrunners did it just to retcon the timeline to make Diggle have a son (setting up Connor Hawke on Legends, presumably).

To be fair, I do have the same reaction when we have to sit through another Evil Archer arc on that show. It's tiresome.