Getting Barry out was always going to be messy. I liked his scenes in prison but they should have shown the team find ways to free him instead of spending all the time on Ralph and the meta of the week. The Devoes also disappeared in 4x11 and 4x12 and that didn't help any
I have complicated feelings about the Barry/Joe relationship. I find it very heartwarming and I believe Joe is one of the people Barry loves the most and for good reason. On the other hand I don't like it when the writers give them scenes that, from a logical standpoint, should go to Barry and Iris or even Iris and Joe or Wally and Joe. This happens way too often for my liking. In an ideal scenario Barry could have gotten an emotional scene with both Joe and Iris but since this is not always possible, Iris should come first. Sorry not sorry. Iris is the one who lives with Barry now. It was Iris that Barry was looking forward to seeing every day when he was in prison. Also, there would be no Joe/Barry if it weren't for the strong bond Barry and Iris shared as kids. The show and the fandom should remember that more often.
Also, going for group scenes all the time doesn't help in developing and paying respect to the individual relationships. A lot of friendships/familial relationships are being paid dust this season.