The Flash: Season 8 Episode 9 Review

gamerant.com:

In The Flash, Season 8, Episode 9, «Phantoms» the group is once again spending time basically trying to solve two mysteries at the same time and once again that appears to make for a much worse episode than the one that came before it. This has unfortunately become a very annoying pattern with the long-running CW series that has led to a very uneven Season 8. The writers don't seem to either want to, or have the ability to spend the entire episode on the main storyline. So they spend some time on two different storylines that end up putting The Flash on screen for a couple of minutes per episode at most. After the last two episodes, it felt like that little problem was fixed, but it turned out to be a temporary solve.

The first part of «Phantoms» actually showed some promise because Iris West was actually front and center. She has been noticeably absent for most of Season 8, appearing here and there but usually fading into the background of an episode rather quickly. However, anyone who was getting excited that the focus on Iris meant that this episode was going to bring back the glory days of The Flash were likely disappointed. While she did play a major part of the plot, it's not clear just how important it was and how much it was just the people in the writer's room realizing they hadn't used Iris all that much.

The Flash: Season 8 Episode 4 Review

Apparently a bit worried that her «Time Sickness» — an illness that seems incredibly contrived just to eventually write the character off the show — she decides to go out on a mission on her own. In fact, she's absolutely desperate to go out on a mission on her own. When Sue Dearborn, who has spent most of her time on the series as Ralph Dibney's girlfriend, shows up; Iris