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The CW Conclave: How will Nora affect Team Flash’s dynamic?

By Catherine Palmer

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What kind of impact will Barry and Iris’ future daughter Nora have on Team Flash when The CW’s hit show returns next month?

The Flash is getting a new team member this year, and she’s guaranteed to shake things up quite a bit. Nora (Jessica Parker Kennedy) is not only The CW’s newest speedster. She’s also the grown-up, future daughter of newlyweds Barry (Grant Gustin) and Iris (Candice Patton).

The Flash has always focused on the power of family — to the point of it being a bit weird that Barry and Iris are married since they’re technically adoptive siblings. (I have kind of moved past that now. I mean, they are nice together.)

Anyway, family is sure to take center stage again this season. Barry and Iris will be getting to know their daughter who’s around their age. Joe (Jesse L. Martin) will be trying to wrap his head around the fact that he met his baby daughter and his adult granddaughter within hours of each other. Trippy, right?

Here’s a look at how Nora might affect Team Flash’s dynamic in season five, specifically with regard to Barry and Iris.

Barry

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Based on what Kennedy has teased, Nora is very close with her dad — both the middle-aged one she knows and the young one she’ll be getting to know this season.

Growing up as a fellow speedster, she very likely idolized her heroic father and bonded with him as a meta-mentor. Their bond will surely only grow stronger this season when they start teaming up in the field as adults. (And yes, I know they did technically already team up in season four.)

Super speed isn’t the only thing Nora and Barry have in common, as Kennedy revealed in an interview with Newsarama.

"Personality-wise, I think she’s a lot like Barry. Certainly, the way Barry was early on. She’s finding her footing. She’s goofy, she’s dorky, she’s very young spirited. She is prone to making mistakes and other people needing to clean them up."

Nora’s identity, of course, wasn’t the only big reveal at the end of season four. It turns out she made a “big, big mistake” and desperately needs help fixing it, which really does sound like Barry. Like, remember when he accidentally created an evil version of himself that almost killed Iris and did kill H.R. (Tom Cavanagh)? Yeah, Barry doesn’t really have room to judge anyone else for their mistakes.

In addition to speed, personality and accident-proneness, Barry and Nora also share such a strong connection due to a rather sad circumstance, which Kennedy explained in the same interview.

"Something has obviously happened for me to feel much closer to my father than my mother. It’s something you’ll find out relatively early on in the season."

The reveal of the future event, which happened in the past for Nora, that drove a wedge between her and Iris will definitely put Barry in an awkward position. On the one hand, he won’t want to alienate or disregard the very real feelings of his daughter.

On the other hand, despite future Iris’ potential culpability in what happened, modern-day Iris hasn’t done anything wrong, so it is seemingly unfair for Nora to ice her out. Hopefully, Barry will be able to help bridge the gap between his wife and daughter or Iris and Nora will reconcile on their own.

Pictured (L-R): Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West, Jesse L. Martin as Detective Joe West, Jessica Parker Kennedy as Nora West – Allen, Grant Gustin as Barry Allen, Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon and Danielle Nicolet as Cecile Horton — Photo: Katie Yu/The CW — © 2018 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved

Iris

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Patton explained why Nora’s resistance to bonding with Iris is such a painful arc.

"Iris is very, very eager and excited to get to know her daughter, who’s back from the future. And I think as we hinted in the finale of last season, that’s kind of met with some coldness from Nora… It makes me sad when we act it."

That circumstance seems especially unfortunate when you consider Iris’ history with Team Flash. She didn’t know of Barry’s dual identity until well into the first season. Throughout the next two seasons, she was basically Team Flash adjacent, only relevant in terms of being Barry’s love interest. (I don’t mean to criticize Patton in any way. It’s the writing that did a major disservice to Iris. Patton performed very well with what she was given.)

Come season four, the writers and producers finally realized their own big, big mistake and made Iris a truly integral and multi-faceted character by promoting her to team leader in Barry’s absence. And, fortunately, they didn’t sideline her when Barry returned.

However, Nora’s conflict with Iris could mean that Iris will become isolated from Team Flash yet again. After all, Barry and Iris surely won’t be the only ones excited to get to know Nora. If Nora is avoiding Iris and everyone wants to hang out with Nora, I think y’all can do the math.

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That being said, it wouldn’t be in the best interest of the show to prolong the conflict unnecessarily. The Flash is already known for portraying platonic female relationships rather poorly, despite their efforts to make strides with Iris and Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) in season four.

Nora and Iris should certainly be given time to work through their issues, but they shouldn’t be at odds just for the sake of drama. Hopefully, the writers and producers kept that in mind.

Are you excited for The Flash to return next month? What impact are you expecting Nora to have? Let us know in the comments below.

"Something has obviously happened for me to feel much closer to my father than my mother. It’s something you’ll find out relatively early on in the season."

The reveal of the future event, which happened in the past for Nora, that drove a wedge between her and Iris will definitely put Barry in an awkward position. On the one hand, he won’t want to alienate or disregard the very real feelings of his daughter.

On the other hand, despite future Iris’ potential culpability in what happened, modern-day Iris hasn’t done anything wrong, so it is seemingly unfair for Nora to ice her out. Hopefully, Barry will be able to help bridge the gap between his wife and daughter or Iris and Nora will reconcile on their own.

Pictured (L-R): Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West, Jesse L. Martin as Detective Joe West, Jessica Parker Kennedy as Nora West – Allen, Grant Gustin as Barry Allen, Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon and Danielle Nicolet as Cecile Horton — Photo: Katie Yu/The CW — © 2018 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved

Iris

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Patton explained why Nora’s resistance to bonding with Iris is such a painful arc.

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