A solid finale that wrapped up an important plot and character from season one in a tragic and satisfying way.
What If... has always been a bit of a mixed bag. Most of the ideas are very interesting and the execution of those ideas is usually fun at the very least. While most would benefit from a longer running time, I’m not sure that applies to this episode. While definitely fun, and kind of bonkers in both scope and easter eggs, this was also mainly just one long, protracted fight scene. A kind of celebration lap at the end of a season, much like the Guardians of the Multiverse stuff at the end of season one.
This time it seems like the rules are kind of thrown out the window, with crazy manipulation and combinations of power, to the point no mortal could ever actually wield it. So as powerful as Peggy is in this show, she is shown to not just break established norms but actually smash them into oblivion. Of course that was already kind of broken last season with first Ultron and then Killmonger getting a suit with all the infinity stones. Something that took the power of Thanos or the Hulk before. Is a super soldier strong enough?
Quibbles about power creep aside, the other only real complaint was that there was absolutely no time to breathe in this episode, except for the opening few minutes. Strange Supreme’s heel turn felt obvious, and his motivations, while true to the character, felt like a major disappointment given the growth he achieved last season. Yet, I will admit it was rather beautiful and tragic the way he sacrificed himself at the end for his own world. To give the world he doomed another chance, at the cost of his own existence was a very fitting end to the character.
Besides the fitting end to Strange Supreme we got quite a bit with Peggy Carter, or rather Captain Carter. Captain Carter has been the star of a few episodes this season, and she was the lead for the final two episodes. She really is a lot like Steve Rogers, but she isn’t just a gender flip. Captain America was always spread thin trying to uphold an ideal and try to serve his country. I get the very real impression that Captain Carter doesn’t have that problem. She also seems to embrace the world a bit more than Steve, dropping pop-culture references on occasion. I also love her relationship with Natasha.
But this episode was all about Peggy and Kahhori. So let's talk about Kahhori, because she is both fascinating and a bit terrifying. As I mentioned in my review of her introductory episode, Kahhori is shown to be at a level of power that rivals Captain Marvel, as someone imbued with the powers of the Tesseract. We are five years out from the Infinity Saga and we are still reminded how powerful the infinity stones can be, which are universe shattering, all power rocks that when combined with other god level objects should be unstoppable. Except they were not powerful enough to take down a single Sorcerer... come to think about it, the issue isn’t power creep, it’s power consistency.
Anyway, regardless of how powers work, this episode was all about the little fun moments. We get shots of the various alternate versions of Marvel heroes and villains from throughout the multiverse. There was a full on battle with Zombie Scarlet Witch, Hela charging in on Fenris and Ultimate Hulk going to town in a fight so big that it would take a marvel nerd weeks to pick out all the cameos. My favorite moment was Hela falling to her death throwing Peggy her helmet. It might not have been selfless but it was most definitely heroic. Considering what we were shown in episode seven, this is some lovely character consistency and adds layers to Hela when before she was a relatively one-note villain.
Quotes:
Captain Carter: “One of them escaped.”
Strange Supreme: “Yeah, how did you know?”
Captain Carter: “Gremlins, Aliens, Jurassic Park. Collect enough dangerous, well, anything, and something always escapes.”
Strange Supreme: “I know he’s a fifth-dimensional being with that big head and that soothing voice, but that doesn’t always make him right.”
Captain Carter: “Look who it is. You here to help for a change? Or just to narrate?”
Captain Carter: “Right, so you’re here to narrate.”
The Watcher: “It’s my job.”
The Watcher: “Just be careful, I don’t think I can bear to narrate what might happen next.”
Captain Carter: “Okay, starting a prison riot of universe killers. Not my best idea.”
Captain Carter: “Be careful, they’re...”
Kahhori: “Yeah, I know. Zombies are pretty universal.”
This finale was a lot of fun and gave us some wonderful spectacle, but it was thin both in terms of story and characterizations with a heel turn that worked but felt like a cheat.
3 out of 4 Multiverse Cameos
Samantha M. Quinn spends most of her time in front of a computer typing away at one thing or another; when she has free time, she enjoys pretty much anything science fiction or fantasy-related.
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