What If S03E08 Review: Original Sin

What If, Season 3, Episode 8: What If... What If?

And so it ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper. 

This episode is the climax of the What If storyline, particularly that of Uatu the Watcher, as the Exiles come to rescue him. We do get some context about Uatu (or rather, 'the Watcher' for a good chunk of this episode) which on paper is well done. Jeffrey Wright and Jason Isaacs deliver a serviceable performance as the Watcher and the Eminence respectively, with what little material they are given. 

But there was so little that we got, and what little we got is so... generic. It's what you expect from a story like this. The Watchers as this vague multiversal organization-slash-race have an oath they take and they are sworn to watch and never interfere. There's also a theme of Uatu surrendering his name and being known as 'the Watcher' forevermore, and he regains that sense of identity later on as he redefines what 'Watching' means. And of course, over the course of watching through these episodes with us, the Watcher realizes that he's starting to get invested in the lives of these seemingly insignificant mortals, and that life is precious and all that stuff. He likes these little heroes he's been watching.

Except... it's delivered with the absolute bare bones that you can deliver a story. The Eminence and his two goons whose names I can't bother to look up are such flat cardboard cut-outs that are clearly just here to eat up screentime while they also serve for villains for a big punch-up finale. Uatu's decision to reclaim his name comes rather randomly at the end. While the "you only watch, you do not see" line is pretty cool, the rest of his conversation with the Eminence feels rushed and unconvincing, and I'm really not buying their mentor-student relationship or if that talk manages to convert them over to Uatu's vision. The episode is also frustratingly unclear -- is Uatu and the Watchers going to interfere more with the Multiverse's events? 

Anyway, the episode opens up with a flashback, which only really shows Uatu and the Eminence's relationship. Unlike how we at least had some exposition to build up the TVA and why they do what they do, there's really not much beyond an excuse plot for the Watchers. While I didn't really expect a tie-in, the Eminence and his intense desire to keep everything purely just watching feels muted and underwhelming when we don't even really have a reason why beyond 'that's juts been the way'. 

(Also, having the Eminence and his two goons make the same Madisynn joke -- a very unfunny joke in She-Hulk, but it's okay there because humans were saying it -- really didn't do much in making me take them seriously).

The Exiles and Infinity Ultron show up, and Infinity Ultron gets rather predictably killed holding off the three evil Watchers. Kind of a lame exit for one of the few characters in this episode who actually has some sort of a defined character motivation. They have some plan to trap the evil Watchers in a universe where another being reigns supreme, that being Strange Supreme, which... okay, sure. Of course, the three evil Watchers show up, and we get a long, almost 15-minute fight. 

And I don't mind extended fight sequences... if they were good. I really enjoyed the fight in What If season 1's finale because everyone had different wacky powers. Here, the Watcher gives Carter, Kahhori, Storm and Byrdie all Watcher armour and powers halfway through the fight, and the showdown... really isn't interesting to watch (Storm being the notable exception, because bless her for still using thunder and lightning). Not that Byrdie's generic Captain-Marvel-ripoff beam spamming is super interesting in the first place, but it makes everyone feel the same. 

And, to be frank? I really don't care about any of these characters. Byrdie and Kahhori and this variant of Storm are all ciphers. The evil Watchers are even worse, and they also all look like each other (and Uatu) so they're very indistinct even visually. There are a couple of neat sequences and unlike the kaiju-mecha fight at least there's some budget being given into this fight... but it also feels empty. Comparing this to the excellent Ultron-vs-Uatu fight in season one, or even the Strange Supreme vs. Carter and Kahhori at the end of season two, this one just feels so bland. 

The climax ends with some attempt by the Evil Watchers to try and erase every variant of the Exiles, which is just an excuse for the animators to sneak in a whole ton of Easter Eggs. Hey, look, Peggy Carter as Sabretooth! Hey, look, Kahhori as Apocalypse! X-MEN CONTENT GUYS! But of course it doesn't land. Captain Carter pulls off a very bland heroic sacrifice, the mechanics of which is left confusing. She's dead or ascended or something, which... I'm not the biggest fan of What If's treatment of Captain Carter, but this is a very poorly-written exit for her, regardless of whether or not she actually 'ascended' to a higher plane beyond the Watchers.

This brings down the Evil Watchers enough for Strange Supreme as a 'living universe' to sap their powers, allowing Uatu to friendship-talk the Eminence. And... the message that Uatu delivers is good, and fits with the show, but... again, the climax is so drawn-out that it really is hard to get invested in these cardboard cutout characters. Between the Burning Spirit Power-Up, the Generic Heroic Sacrifice, and the Friendship-No-Jutsu Talk... it's all of the worst aspects of storytelling from shonen anime, except at least that genre tries to get you to care about the characters beforehand. No such thing happens here.

It really is a bit of a shame, because both of What If's first two seasons tried to wrap up its finales by incorporating aspects of all the episodes in the season. But no such thing really happens here, and I wonder if the finale would've been more interesting if the Exiles had thought to bring in all the multiversal heroes or something. Hell, bring in at least the people that Uatu saved -- Vision!Ironheart and Cowboy Iron Fist! Bring in the heroes who hasn't made an appearance in the finales, like Light Goddess Hela or Celestial Agatha or something. Infinity Ultron being taken out so early also felt very cheap. Hell, when all the variants are torn away from the Exiles, have them fight. That's four avenues for something more exciting and less boring. But... eh. what are you going to do.

And, well... this is the final nail in the coffin, and while it's a bit of a 'wink wink, this is what you missed' bit, Uatu then shows around 20 different variants of exciting characters smooshed together. Ghost Rider as a samurai? Thanos-Wolverine? Jubilee-Silver-Surfer? Blade-Moon-Knight? ZOMG and all that jazz... but again, it also is very annoying that these are the kinds of 'what ifs' that the audience would've really liked to see more than some of the less exciting blunders in this season. While there are two or three episodes that I really did like from this season, I do think that this, unfortunately, has been the weakest season of Marvel's What If. Hopefully the zombies spinoff would fare better!

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• No need for an attendance this time, since everyone that appears here are the What If regulars.
• Dr. Strange Supreme's dead universe first appeared in his debut episode in What If's season 1, episode 4; and it was revealed to have been corrupted and transformed in the two-parter finale for What If's season 2.
  
• I have been calling the Watcher alternatively as 'Uatu' or 'Watcher' throughout my reviews of all the What If episodes, but this episode makes the fact that the show hasn't called Uatu by name a major plot point. In the comics, this was never the case.
• The last shot of the Watcher and the Eminence sitting on a moon looking at a sunrise on a planet is likely a reference to how in the comics Uatu is based on the dark side of the Earth's moon.
• When the Eminence and his two lackeys seemingly fuse together, the vibrating appearance of a three-headed multiversal god brings to mind another Marvel comics cosmic entity, the Living Tribunal. Statues of the Living Tribunal previously made cameos in the MCU in Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. 
• In addition to the interferences we've seen in this show (Captain Carter in season 1-2; Ironheart in episode 5 of this season; Kwai Jun-Fan in episode 6 of this season) Uatu has also apparently gone around to help a version of Reed Richards, a version of Nick Fury, and a version of Madisynn. Madisynn is Wong's fling during the events of She-Hulk, and the Eminence repeats the terrible joke they make in that show.
• Reed Richards and presumably the Fantastic Four fighting against Galactus was the very first appearance of Uatu in the comics. 
• Nick Fury and Uatu were heavily involved in the 'Original Sin' miniseries, where Uatu was mysteriously killed.
• Among the 'multiversal variants' seen for the Exiles include:
• Captain Carter as Black Knight; Sabretooth; Elektra; Deathlok; Valkyrie and Wolveirne.
• Kahhori as Apocalypse; a winged Captain America; Cloak; and the classic yellow-blue X-Men uniform.
• Storm as Black Panther; as well as wearing other notable outfits from the X-Men runs.
• Byrdie as a Nova corps member; as an Iron Man; as an actual duck alien. 
• The final shot show a bunch of crazy fusion What If's:
• A six-armed Spider-Man, a reference to an arc in the comic famously adapted to the 90's Spider-Man: The Animated Series when Peter Parker's mutation went a bit further.
• A Silver Samurai/Ghost Rider fusion.
• Ironheart wearing a Punisher-styled armour.
• Gamora wearing... a bridal outfit (?).
• Blade as Moon Knight (notably, the actual Blade movie has been delayed a lot).
• Thanos as Wolverine, specifically the Weapon X outfit.
• Kingo as Iron Man.
• Kamala Khan wearing a Wasp suit while still having her bangles.
• A bearded Hulk based on the evil 'Maestro' future version of the Hulk from Future Imperfect, but also with Dr. Strange's magic powers and cloak.
• Howard the Duck as an evil Scarlet Witch, who was glimpsed briefly in What If season 2's final episode as one of the 'world-destroyers' collected by Strange Supreme.
• A lizard-man Hawkeye (?) whose horns kind of make the classic Hawkeye mask?
• Jubilee as the Silver Surfer.
• A Skrull Captain America, who may be a reference to Pitt'o Nili, a Skrull that impersonated Captain America and went insane, believing he is actually him.
• A version of Howard Stark and Sersi that are romantically involved.
• Deadpool with a backpack filled with a lot of weapons. ...he's just regular Deadpool.
• Kid Hela wielding Mjolnir; apparently from a different What If web-project 'An Immersive Experience'.
• Shang-Chi as Star-Lord, wielding a staff and the Ten Rings.
• Cowboy Loki, who was also glimpsed in What If's season 2 finale.
• Scarlet Witch as 'Infinity Witch', a variant of her that collected the Infinity Stones from the What If web-project 'An Immersive Experience'.
• Captain Marvel as a Nova.