Puppet/Steff | 23 | Female | Aussie
Artist | Graduate | Games DesignAywas ID #6177
Life Ruined By:
Persona 5, Tokyo Ghoul, The Flash, Cow Chop, Monster Hunter, One Piece, Attack on Titan, Jurassic Park.

wordswehavesaidworld:

smittenvigilantes:

empty-puppet:

smittenvigilantes:

empty-puppet replied to this post: ohman oh man oh man don’t get me STARTED ON BARRY AND JOE jesus I could write an essay about my feels for that father-son relationship

Right?? RIGHT?? THEY GIVE ME SO MANY FEELS. God!! I can’t even.

Joe is the most important person in Barry’s life. Fight me on this, I dare you.

Like, I get that Iris is the love of his life etc, but JOE IS HIS FUCKING ROCK. Joe cares about nothing but the safety of his two kids. Yes. TWO kids. It kills Joe that Barry’s out there risking his life, but all he can do is try to help him as best he can. Joe is there to give Barry advice - whether it be about work, vigilanteing, or Iris. AND ON THAT NOTE. Joe thinks Barry is good enough for IRIS. Godddd I can’t. Just. THEY LOVE EACH OTHER SO MUCH.

ALSO - THIS ENTIRE EXCHANGE:

Barry: Joe, what I said to you about not being my father…
Joe: Barry, I know. I know I’m not your father.
Barry: You’re right, you’re not. You’re just the man who kept me fed and in clothes, who sat by my bed every night until I fell asleep because I was afraid of the dark, helped me with my homework. You taught me how to drive, and shave… and you dropped me off to college. Sounds a lot like a dad to me.

SO. MANY. FEELS. 

Sorry, Joe and Barry’s relationship is incredibly precious to me. 

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YEEEEEESSSSS okay buckle your seatbelts kids because here I GO

Okay so yes yes yes Joe is 100% the most important person in Barry’s life, and holds the most influence over him. I do not at all doubt that when Barry started working for the CCPD people would often call him a weirdo or talk behind his back because we’ve all seen Barry at a crime scene and how enthusiastic he gets over scienc-y things, not to mention the paranormal blog and while Barry would take the jabs passively, Joe would not be on board with that because nobody talks shit about his son, especially when the kid’s been through enough already. So Joe makes it known, subtly of course, that the walls have ears.

Imagine the nights Barry spends at the office, doing his work after everyone’s gone because it’s easier that way, both mentally (how can some humans be so cruel and messed up and-) and without the constant annoyance of someone looking over his shoulder and Joe is there, stays overnight along with him.

Times when Barry succumbs to panic and anxiety attacks, when he withdraws into himself for days and days and Joe is there to anchor him, to offer a shoulder to lean on and an ear to listen, coaxes food into Barry even though the anxiety makes his stomach roll.

Barry’s worry and concern and fear when he discovers that Joe is the intended target of the Mardens and Nimbus and he immediately suits up; his relying on Joe’s opinion when it comes to whether or not he should save his mum and oh my god my heart when Joe tears up when he answers because losing Barry would kill a piece of him but he would give anything for his son to be happy, even if it meant he himself would be miserable.

GODDDD ALL OF THIS. YES. 

How much do you think it must have hurt Joe to hear the line; “You’re not my father, Joe”?? 

I can imagine internally he’s just like - god, he’s right, but I love that kid so much. 

Family is not always about blood or genes. Family is about who is there to catch you when you fall down, or support you through whatever events are going on in your life. Family is about who loves you unconditionally - even when you’re in the wrong. Who takes care of you, no matter what the circumstances.

Just.

UGH.

JOE AND BARRY GUYS. JOE AND BARRY. 

This is all so very true, and I love all of it. Because guys, the fact that Barry and Joe are still so close, have only grown closer as we watch the series go on is amazing. And it couldn’t have been easy for those two characters.

Because their relationship, for fourteen years, had a very unsteady foundation. Joe’s the cop that helped put Barry’s dad in prison. That’s a fact, and it’s something that can’t just be forgotten. And then he takes Barry in and is trying to raise him, keep him safe, tell him what to do - being a dad. And eleven year-old Barry doesn’t get that at first, doesn’t want it, because he already has a dad and his dad shouldn’t be in prison and why can’t Joe just accept that? He probably wants to hate him. He tries so hard to hate him, but he can’t.

Because Joe tries in so many other ways. He does all those things that adult Barry remembers and is so grateful for, he sends him to reptile camp, he lets Barry’s feelings about Iris go without trying to interfere, and you can bet he probably helped Barry land the CCPD job and covers for him when he’s late. He keeps a whole room in his house open, still furnished, just on the chance that someday his son might need to come home.

The one thing he just cannot do for the longest time is believe Barry. It’s this constant source of strain, a wedge between them for years. And Joe certainly doesn’t approve of everyone at the precinct calling Barry a weirdo, but how much can he really say or do about it when he thinks they might be right? He took Barry to shrinks, tried to get him to come to terms with what he thought was just a childhood trauma, but it never works. Barry refuses to give in on this, in fact he gets worse. He starts blogging about strange cases, he takes trips to other cities to investigate impossible happenings. He’s rebelling in the one way that says to Joe he’s just not good enough, he can’t “fix” what’s happened in Barry’s past or help him to find closure. Barry’s always going to stand for Henry, his mom’s killer, first before Joe, the man who raised him. And he tries not to resent that except the one time he can’t hold it in anymore.

“I have done my best to take care of you since that night, and I have never asked for anything in return, not even a thank you, but what I do ask now is that you for once in your life see things as they are.” (Joe West, “Pilot”)

And then immediately after, he’s given evidence by Eddie that Barry might possibly be right about Mardon. And even though it’s just a police sketch, even though he’s furious with Barry right now, he decides to check out the lead anyway, to trust in his kid. And that’s what allows him to see The Flash.

The first two episodes are really about Joe and Barry’s relationship, about those two characters finally seeing eye to eye, and realizing the truth. For Barry, it’s that Joe is just as much his father as Henry, and he loves him. For Joe, it’s that he made a mistake that night fourteen years ago not believing this child, but that in admitting it his son still loves him back. This newly strengthened bond becomes so important to them and helps them weather through every event that follows in the season. They learn to rely on each other, to be closer, to show just how much they care about each other in spite of everything that was between them at the start of the pilot.

And by the end of the season, when the opportunity presents itself, they don’t give that bond up.

35
3 years ago
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