Ironheart (Episodes 4 - 6)

One week after premiering on Disney Plus, Ironheart is already over and done with. And, just as I was disappointed with the first half of the series, I was also pretty disappointed with the second half. 

Now, I should note that this review will be spoiling some of the big surprises from the show, so if you want to know my spoiler free thoughts on this series, then it will probably be better to read my review on the first three episodes. 

But episode four begins with Riri splitting from The Hood and his crew. Trying to learn more about The Hood’s powers, Riri gets help from a former Kamar-Taj trainee and her daughter, who tell her that The Hood is being influenced by an entity from a dark dimension. Riri assumes it’s Dormammu, who previously appeared in 2016’s Doctor Strange, but she’s wrong. The real entity is a character that fans have been waiting to see for years now. But we’ll circle back around to that. 

In the meantime, Alden Ehrenreich’s character gets arrested for his involvement in the heist that Riri pulled in the last episode, which causes him to grow resentful of her. Especially since his real identity as Ezekiel Stane has been exposed to the public. Who is Ezekiel Stane, you might ask? Why, he’s the son of Tony Stark’s mentor Obadiah Stane. That’s right, the Iron Monger had a son! And while he was originally introduced as a fairly decent guy who wanted to distance himself from his father’s villainous legacy, his resentment towards Riri has put him on a path to becoming a villain himself. Especially since The Hood breaks him out of jail and recruits him as Riri’s replacement on his crew. 

The crew then tries to kill Riri at a White Castle for some reason, but she fends them off before managing to escape. And since we’re on the topic, how does the show want me to feel about these side characters? Because they’re originally presented as a group of people who do bad things for good reasons. But they also seem to have no problem with murdering Riri. That seems a little weird and out-of-character, doesn’t it? I don’t know, but I feel like the show did a poor job of fleshing out these characters. Which, in turn, is why I didn’t really care about them. 

Thankfully, I was more invested with Ezekiel’s growth as a character. Because, even when he attacks Riri on his own - showing up with enhanced bionic implants that emit electricity - he still doesn’t have the heart to kill her. So, there’s a distinction between the intention of the crew’s attack and Ezekiel’s attack. The crew members were actively tryin to kill Riri, while Ezekiel was simply expressing his growing resentment for her. This proves that he’s not actually a villain. Not yet, anyway. 

Unfortunately for Ezekiel, The Hood is capable of controlling his new bionic implants, so he is forced to do The Hood’s bidding against his own will. This is something that Hood takes advantage of, once his crew realizes that he killed one of the crew members. So, Hood angrily fires everybody and uses Ezekiel to complete his mission. And that mission involves breaking into his own father’s home. Because, as it turns out, Hood’s father has a controlling interest in all of the companies that he and his crew have been robbing. 

Meaning that, The Hood was probably less interested in stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, and more interested in spiting his own father. Because, it’s revealed that Hood’s father abandoned him as a child, which led Hood to fill that void by seeking power, respect, and wealth. Which is something he gets by forcing his father to sign contracts that would make him the head of his family's business. But, instead of feeling wealthy, and powerful, and respected, Hood is left feeling empty inside. 

And Anthony Ramos does a fantastic job of portraying all of those emotions. I was a little underwhelmed by most of the acting in this series, but Ramos is really good here. Alden Ehrenreich is pretty solid too. As is Dominique Thorne in the lead role. 

Riri Williams is a character that is far more complex than I was expecting. She makes a lot of questionable decisions in this series. Decisions that plenty of Marvel heroes simply wouldn’t make. And I’m not just talking about how she accidentally made an AI version of her late best friend. But I like how the existence of the N.A.T.A.L.I.E. AI horrified her friends and family members. Because it immediately showed everyone how Riri isn’t properly handling her grief. But that doesn’t stop everyone from helping Riri build a new Iron Man suit. One that gets upgraded with magical abilities in order to resist The Hood’s powers.

Riri then heads to The Hood’s headquarters, frees Ezekiel from The Hood’s control, battles with The Hood, manages to take off his hood, and leaves him wallowing in a state of eternal pain. But the real exciting stuff comes after the climactic battle. Because, as she is about to leave, Riri meets the stranger who has been influencing The Hood. And that man is revealed to be none other than Mephisto. 

That’s right! While fans were expecting to see the character introduced in WandaVision several years ago, Mephisto finally made his MCU debut in Ironheart… for some reason. Yeah, I still have no idea why a tech-based character like Ironheart is being pitted against a mystical character like Mephisto, but whatever I guess. At least Sacha Baron Cohen seems to be perfectly suited for the role. 

So, for those who don’t know: Mephisto is basically Marvel’s version of The Devil. Yes, The Devil does exist within the MCU. And, in typical Devil fashion, he shows up to make a deal with Riri. His deal: Natalie’s revival in exchange for Riri’s soul. Now, I definitely expected Riri to reject this offer, but much to my surprise, she actually accepts it!

Riri Williams has done such a bad job of dealing with her grief, that she’s willing to make a literal deal with The Devil just to have her friend back. And he (seemingly) holds up his end of the bargain! Because, right before the season concludes, we see Riri and Natalie sharing a hug. Which is a nice moment, but it’s totally wrong! Sure, Riri has her friend back, but was it worth the cost? Hell, we don’t even know how great the cost is yet, since we don’t know what Mephisto wants with Riri’s soul or how he could actually use it to his benefit. 

So, despite the issues I may have with this series, I can’t deny that I would be interested in seeing more of it. Because I want to know how Riri will come back from this. I’m not even sure if she can come back from this. If she can, does that mean she’ll have to say goodbye to Natalie again? I don’t know, but I definitely do want to find out. 

The sad part is, I’m not really sure if we’ll ever find out. Because, while the finale may have fans talking, I don’t think a lot of people watched the entire season. So, the lack of views - and generally poor reception - may cause Disney to not move forward with a second season. Meaning that, it may be a while before we see Ironheart, Mephisto, The Hood, and Ezekiel Stane again. Which is a shame, because they’re all really interesting characters. But these characters were let down by the quality of this first season. 

Ironheart - like most of the other Marvel shows on Disney Plus - could have been improved with better writing, acting, and character development. Yes, the story of a good character who fails to do the right thing is an inherently interesting one, but that story is buried underneath all of the noticeably bad elements. I mean, this is a show that could’ve had a lot to say about legacy, race, classism, and more, but it fails to do anything interesting with those themes. So, while I’m glad that this series made the ballsy decision to depict Riri as a morally flawed character, that creative decision wasn’t enough to carry the rest of the show. 

The finale felt earned yet genuinely unexpected at the same time. I do commend the creative team for pulling off such an impressive feat; I only wish that the rest of the series felt just as memorable as that finale. And since I have such mixed feelings about the show, I can’t deny that Ironheart would, unfortunately, not get a recommendation from me.