WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Flash Season 8, Episode 1, "Armageddon, Part 1," which aired Tuesday, November 16th on The CW.

While The Flash has wildly varied in terms of overall quality across its eight seasons, one of the more inconsistent character arcs is that of Iris West. A major part of the Arrowverse series since its inaugural season, Iris eventually married Barry Allen and plans to raise a family with him, which served as a major part of her journey in The Flash Season 7.  The problem, however, was that her storyline in the last season focused mostly on that, and that alone, to the detriment of other Iris storylines. However, as The Flash Season 8 kicks off, Iris gets to play a much more active, fully rounded role, rather than being relegated to a longstanding love interest and occasional damsel in distress.

While Barry devoted his life towards being one of the greatest forensic scientists working for the Central City Police Department, Iris launched a career as an investigative journalist. Over the course of Season 5, Iris decides to launch her own news media agency, Central City Citizen Media, with the staff and readership steadily growing with Iris at the helm. And while Iris' professional career took more of a backseat in The Flash Season 7, the Season 8 premiere sees Iris' media company thriving, with the staff size increasingly considerably while Iris takes a more commanding role, steering the course of her company as she continues to conduct high-profile interviews.

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Barry Iris The Flash

We haven't always gotten to see this side of her. One of the more egregious character arcs Iris endured over the course of The Flash happened in Season 3, with much of the second half of the season revolving around Iris being targeted by the villainous Savitar. Team Flash kept devising different strategies on how to avert this tragic destiny while Iris had little agency herself in how she faced her prophesied death.

Season 5 and 7, meanwhile, saw Iris concerned with the idea of becoming a mother after meeting her time-displaced children. There was very little for Iris in those seasons outside of her familial role, as Iris and Barry contemplated their own parental aspirations by their glimpse of possible futures.

In The Flash Season 8 premiere alone, Iris is seen successfully running her own thriving business and taking on a mentor role for Allegra Garcia, entrusting the younger investigative reporter with additional responsibilities and coaching her on what taking a leadership role entails.

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Iris West-Allen from The Flash

Beyond this, Iris is seen flexing her own journalistic chops, getting Police Captain Kristen Kramer to openly denounce, on the record, the overzealous metahuman task force she created in the previous season and her past prejudices about metahumans. Later, Iris is seen moderating a discussion with Ray Palmer at a local technology convention, leading Ray to reconsider his own professional future and how it balances with his personal life.

The celebration regarding Iris' more prominent, autonomous character arc moving into The Flash Season 8 may be a bit premature but, given Central City Citizen Media playing such a noticeable role in the premiere, including Iris' leadership and the company's growth, the season premiere will hopefully serve as a harbinger for positive things to come. Iris definitely deserves to be more than a sideline character and, after the occasional superhero turn herself, Season 8 has shown just how competent a leader and journalist she has been all along. And with this season just warming up, hopefully bigger and better things will come for Central City's star journalist as well.

The Flash Season 8 airs Tuesdays at 8pm ET/PT on The CW.

KEEP READING: Armageddon: Eric Wallace Teases 'Bigger, Wilder' Flash Story for 5-Part Event