The Flash: Patty Spivot (Or How to Write a Great Female Character)

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating.

When The Flash announced they were bringing in the character of Patty Spivot, describing her as a “spunky, fun, and funny” romantic interest for Barry Allen, I was skeptical. Maybe it’s because the casting call actually read: “Think ‘Felicity Smoak’ from Arrow,” and we all know there’s only one Felicity Smoak. Maybe it’s because they actually cast an actress with the same physical type as Emily Bett Rickards.

Or perhaps it was because I didn’t want The Flash to turn into Super-heroes 90210. There were already SnowBarry hints, and anvils pointing to a WestAllen endgame, so why did we need another female character to complicate Barry’s love life, I wondered? Why? I wasn’t watching this show because of the romances. I watched it for Joe, and the Barry/Iris friendship, and Team Flash, and the tiny moments where it all tied back to Arrow. I didn’t need another female character. I didn’t want one.

Fast forward to today, and I’m so glad The Flash producers can’t listen to my inner monologue, because Patty Spivot is not only an absolute darling, but probably my favorite new character in any show I’ve watched this year (and we’ve only seen her in like, four episodes!).

Why is Patty so great, you ask? Well, let me count the ways.

First of all, Patty is a police detective. In a world of meta-humans it’s hard to remember that the police are often the equivalent of superheroes in real life. Patty, a clearly gifted woman with scientific leanings chose the police department because she wanted to do good. She wanted to help people. Her tearful speech to Joe about her father was proof of that.

Patty could have done many other things – she could have been a scientist, for example. In another world (Hello, Earth-2), Patty Spivot could have been Caitlin Snow. She would have kicked ass at it, I’m sure. And she would have been doing good. But no, Patty didn’t chose the most obvious path, or the simpler one, instead she decided to go into a dangerous profession that doesn’t always appreciate women because she wanted to be in the thick of things.

Also, Patty is a nerd. Now, I’m not saying everyone’s got to be a nerd or no check’s in the good column, but the truth is, women on TV are often portrayed as …well, something other than intelligent beings with keen understanding of difficult things. In many shows women are just pretty things to be stared at or fought over. But not here, not on the Flarrow-verse.

Finally, Patty likes Barry. It’s obvious. She’s gloriously awkward around him, in a way that she isn’t around anyone else. Some people have taken to calling her a Felicity clone and though I can and do see the obvious resemblance, to me, it’s very obvious that Patty isn’t Felicity. For one, Felicity’s mind is much more technologically-minded, and of course, there’s also the fact that Felicity’s very own brand of adorableness is something that manifests no matter who she’s talking to. Sure, she might only throw out the innuendo when talking to/about Oliver, but our girl has been known to babble no matter who she’s talking to.

Patty, on the other hand? She only seems to get really nervous around Barry. Which, been there, done that, my friends. Liking someone enough is like having permanent brain damage. Nothing comes out the way you want it to!

But these are all the things Patty is not: rude, demeaning towards other women, weak, pushy, and/or petty. She just likes Barry, period. She likes him enough to make it obvious.

It’s glorious.

We can write female characters who are smart and pretty and into a guy (unashamedly so). We can make female characters brave. We can write romance without pitting one woman against the other. We can even do those things with three different characters on the same show, without it being deemed OOC.

You know why? Because women are not stereotypes. Women are many things, have many interests, and yet they can still be brave and bold and smart and bad-ass. Patty was not written to prove this. We already knew it. We had Iris and Caitlin. Patty’s introduction, however, proves that there can never be enough of a good thing.

And if you ask me, all the things I’ve mentioned are not even the best thing about Patty Spivot, no. The best thing about Patty Spivot is that she was introduced mainly to serve as a romantic interest for the titular hero, Barry Allen, and yet Patty is not defined by her relationship with Barry. She has her job, she has her interests, and she has her life. Barry and their burgeoning relationship are just a part of it.

Patty Spivot is not the rebound girl, not a place-holder, not a character we can easily dismiss as Miss-Just-For-Now, no. Of course, that doesn’t mean that Patty is the right girl for Barry either. (Or that he’s the right man for her, for that matter!) We don’t know that yet. We’ve only had four episodes with Patty. But it doesn’t mean she isn’t.

The future might have been already revealed in The Flash, but the show is taking great pains to prove that destiny is up to you. You make your own path. Whether Barry’s path means he’ll end up with Patty or not, is yet to be determined. But we? We like Patty. Either way, we’re keeping her.

The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.