Ironheart, Season 1, Episode 3: We in Danger, Girl
We are getting into some relatively good material, although I do still feel like how Riri is behaving around the Hood's gang is probably the most unrealistic contrivance especially with what we're being told about Riri as a character. It would have been something if they took the time to actually show the Hood and his gang as a proper 'evil mentor' type figure. Instead, the show makes it quite obvious that the gang is bad news, the Hood is a bit worse, and that Riri knows they're suspicious but keeps hanging out with them. The show is trying to show Riri's intelligence and savviness by identifying the creepy traits... but also she's super-surprised when she finds out that Rampage died off-screen, or that people are actually being killed in these Ocean's Eleven heists? It's really a bit odd. I get that the idea is to show Riri that there are prices to pay for associating with criminals, but as I mentioned in the first episode, the series really does rush to set this up. There were also a couple of moments in this episode that felt very exposition-y, like the revelation of Zeke's ability and Riri's obvious "let's shoehorn an infodump here" moment. Another one was Riri's rapid brainstorming session with Natalie -- just because the show tries to kind of lampshade it doesn't make the dialogue any less clunkier.
Anyway, jumping back to the episode... the first chunk isn't the most interesting. We get some buildup as John King beats up one of the other gangsters for fucking around with the Hood's hood, and the questions about its ability (which as Riri points out, not the most fantastical thing in the MCU world). We also get a couple of scenes with Xavier talking about the memory of real!Natalie, while AI-maybe-ghost NATALIE kind of gets Riri to take her out as a real person. This trip down memory lane ends in Gary's garage, where the real Natalie and Gary died so long ago, leading to a panic attack for Riri.
While this is going on, Riri finds out that Rampage, the guy she replaced, died off-screen. Meanwhile, 'Joe' from the previous episode has became very assertive, which causes him to blackmail Riri to help him with his tech projects that he's finally got the balls to do. We spend another sequence at his little bunker, because Riri needs him to make a bio-mesh skin gizmo that'll let her sneak in a weapon into their next heist location and allow her to steal a piece of the Hood.
We learn that 'Joe' is actually Ezekiel Stane, son of Obadiah 'Iron Monger' Stane... and that's why he's got such an obsession about technology and Iron suits, and why he has a bit of a reaction towards Ironheart's entire existence. It's a nice commentary and parallel to Riri, who finally gets to talk about her own origin story and motivations -- with her being particularly inspired because of her dead stepdad Gary, a 'fixer' who's also super interested in Iron Man. It's a huge, nice moment, and I honestly feel like Zeke Stane probably should've been a primary antagonist instead of a weird supporting character. As far as Riri herself goes, this scene is probably the best at showcasing who she is, and her brand of superheroism.
Finally, we get the heist, this time on an organization called Heirloom that operates on a five-pointed greenhouse island facility. John King keeps telling the Hood to call it off because he's got a bad feeling, and because there wasn't any buttons to push about this particular target. Hood goes on anyway because he's on a bit of a streak and refuses to be remembered as 'petty thieves'. Just as John King predicted, the CEO refuses to back down and gets angrier when Hood tries to intimidate him.
While this is going on, Riri leaves Natalie to control the Ironheart suit, while she herself sneaks into the confrontation and tries to cut off a piece of the Hood's cloak. However, Riri bites off more than she could chew, and her little laser gun triggers alarms that causes the facility to go into lockdown. Everything goes straight to hell, leading the Hood to kill the CEO, and at least a couple more security guards as he fights against them.
Riri manages to sneak away unseen... but is confronted by John King. John sees the scrap of the hood and attacks Riri, not bothering to hide the fact that he likely was the one who killed Rampage. We get a scuffle, but the episode ends with Riri escaping in the Ironheart suit and leaving John behind to suffocate in the CO2-filled trapped room. Also, the bio-mesh skin marker thing was left behind, which would lead back to Zeke Stane.
The episode ends with everyone fucked up -- the Hood's gang walked away without the money but with their target killed; John King is dead; Riri left behind evidence in the scene of crime... and while she did get the piece of the hood, it came at decidedly too high a price. And worst of all, as the Hood rants into the indistinct demonic voices surrounding him, the voices show him a vision of John being killed by Ironheart.
Overall, it is an interesting development. I'm still not particularly in love with the pacing of the show and the depiction of Riri's relationship with the Hood and his gang, but it's a neat enough episode. The Zeke/Riri scene was really well done, and I thought the mechanical aspect of the alarm doors tracking 'weapons', then locking people in with CO2 gas to be a fun little sci-fi concept. I do think showing Riri causing the death of a person to be an... interesting angle to pursue, and a surprising one for a Disney-Marvel show. We'll see where they take it from here. I do think this would be an interesting direction, but I don't exactly have the highest hopes for it to be handled well.
Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:
- Ezekiel Stane or Zeke Stane in the comics is the son of Obadiah Stane who was introduced as an Iron Man villain who was pulling the strings of other supervillains that he pitted against Tony Stark's allies to avenge his father's death, eventually becoming the second Iron Monger. He would eventually also upgrade his own biology, something that this MCU Zeke Stane is trying to do.
- This is the very first time that 'Iron Monger', Obadiah's supervillain sobriquet, is ever mentioned in the MCU -- he's not called that in Iron Man, and he doesn't really get referenced all that much outside of that movie.
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