Ironheart, Season 1, Episode 2: Will the Real Natalie Please Stand Up?
In a different world, Ironheart might have focused on its more interesting storyline and premise -- Riri accidentally recreating an AI ghost-copy of her dead best friend Natalie (or N.A.T.A.L.I.E.), who is snarky and is fully convinced that she is alive. Riri is split between being ecstatic at this, and also horrified.
A better-written, better-edited show that might actually be trying to tie in to what little we established in the first episode, and maybe "NATALIE" is the big fancy thing that Riri manages to invent in her whole desire to be 'iconic' and 'remembered'. And indeed, the idea of an AI copy of a person was definitely topical, and one that fit Ironheart's stated mission of being a tech-based superhero.
Unfortunately, we don't really get any of those. NATALIE is explored somewhat, yes, but other than some vague discussion about the ethics of AI impersonation, a lot of the scenes are tiresome unfunny bickering. Maybe I'm just old, but none of the comedy in their banter landed on me. I did like that this episode, at least, tries to attempt to ground Riri's character by giving her some focus after tossing her around and making her super-unlikable in her debut episode, but it's also not particularly interesting to watch. I felt like Ironheart is simultaneously not doing enough with Riri/Natalie but also keeps showing it.
Natalie acts like a bratty teenager as well even as an AI, and accidentally reveals herself to Riri's mother and bonds with her -- who accepts on face value that Riri is just that smart to create a fully-functional AI.
Which, by the way... Riri's smartness and resourcefulness? Other than the vague handwave of her creating the Ironheart armour offscreen (which is broken, and also she stole, and also she can't fix), it's another example of Riri's super-engineer intelligence being told, not shown. Sure, her mom believes that Riri is someone who could program a hyper-realistic AI... in the same episode that Riri essentially tries to browbeat "Joe McGillicuddy" into giving her spare parts for free, so that she can fix her armour and do the heist that the Hood's crew hired her for.
Joe is a weird, jumpy black-market arms dealer who Riri kind of... befriends? Sort of? He ends up showing off his "wholesome bunker" filled with weapons and tech, and this should really be setting off alarm bells. Admittedly, though, Riri barely reacted to the far more criminal-looking Hood's gang, and Joe gives off the vibes of a total pushover, so I guess she's all right? Riri kind of bonds with Joe a bit, teaching him to grab his own fate and be less of a pussy or something, before... taking advantage of him being a pussy and getting the tech devices. (Joe gets a final scene growing a backbone... vandalizing the flowers of a neighbour who lets her dog pee on his garden. Okay?)
Speaking of a 'proper' buildup, the Hood's crew actually gets a person-by-person introduction. They're all ciphers and will remain ciphers until the end of the show, but this works a lot better and should have been included in their first appearance instead of a vague name-vomit.
We finally get a proper heist at the end of the episode, and... a good heist makes us root for criminals usually by making the characters super-duper charismatic that we root for them; make it clear that the good guys are being forced by other criminals or other circumstances that need the money fast; or make it clear that whoever they are robbing are assholes that deserve it. Ironheart... does none of these. The Hood is clearly set up as a simple criminal, Riri's just full of dull surprise, and the rest of the crew are cackling assholes.
Meanwhile, the CEO they're robbing... is of a high-tech tunnel system, which the Hood crew handwaves by saying that 'she's unethical'. ...because she's rich? Because she's doing some high-tech innovations? It would be something if the show tries and attempts to make a point of doing tech-innovation causing gentrification or something along those lines. There would've been a point. But no, we get scenes showing Ironheart flying through the tunnels enjoying herself like a superhero, intercut with the Hoodlum gang happily brutalizing guards like the supervillains they are. Set to peppy music. And, again, in a better-written show, in a show that's a bit more self-aware, this would've been workable. We could've had the point of this scene be really focused on the mood of Riri being oblivious to the criminal activities of her supposed allies; the juxtaposition of a naive idealist who gets suckered into a bad crowd.
Instead, the scene ends up coming off as "hey, look at how cool these guys are" when... when they're not. It's not even particularly cool or stylish. The episode's climax ends when Riri's armour and AI glitches, and Supergenius Riri Williams just panics and can't do anything if she can't interact with her AI. A security guard holds her at gunpoint because she is doing crimes, but then the Hood comes up and shoots the guard to make her escape.
And this starts causing Riri to ask questions... but only about the Hood's morality. Which makes her both feel stupid (really, you don't realize the criminals are going to do violent crimes?) and selfish (she doesn't feel guilty about the crime, only that the Hood shot someone).
Oh, and all of this is around the mystery of Parker Robbins' Hood being weirdly magical. It can teleport, it can bend his bullets, and the audience (and his main goon John King) seeing him converse with demonic voices and having vein-like markings extend around his body. It's kind of an obvious trope as far as supervillain gimmicks go, a neat one that would've been more interesting in a better show.
That said, this episode is a bit better than the previous one, not that it's a particularly high bar to clear. Some themes are at least being brought up. It's just so messy and on the back of a rather unlikable protagonist whose motives and personality remain an indiscernible blur.
Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:
- MCU's Slug is established to originate from Madripoor, a fictional island-state that primarily features in Wolverine comics. Madripoor first appeared in the MCU in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, around the time that the X-Men movie rights reverted back to Disney-Marvel.
- When Riri questions Clown about how Parker got his hood, one of her theories mentions that he wrestled it off a demon, which is his comic-book counterpart's origin story.
- 'Joe' mentions a biometric retinal scanner and snarks about wanting to keep both of his eyes. During the opening of The Avengers, Loki tears out the eyeball of some unfortunate person to break into a vault with such a security device.
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