Oh no. I really, really did not like this one at all...
It started off so promising too! It was actually a proper What If? in terms of taking a canon event and twisting it. I was excited to see the ramifications of the Starks' survival! Something like that would have massive ripples in the timeline, and you could go to some really fun places with it. And then... they just didn't.
I mean, Tony still became Iron Man! Natasha still became the Black Widow! The entire OG Avengers lineup was the exact same besides Alexei shoving his way into it like a drunken bull. Which, yes, that is a bit harsh on Alexei but I'm not very willing to extend him any Christmas spirit after listening to him yell about capitialist pigs for 30 minutes.
I liked him fine in Black Widow, but every subsequent apperance just makes him grate more and more on me. He's a buffoon here, and that's very rarely a character that I enjoy. Seriously, this was a man who was about to be sent undercover in Ohio. He couldn't tone down the screaming manifesto stuff? Please? Him screaming at the fast food worker wasn't funny in the slightest.
I couldn't even really enjoy Bucky, and he's my favorite MCU character! He didn't act like the Winter Soldier at all. He acted like Bucky. And sure, maybe the realization that he failed a job completely broke his programming and made him become a lot more charismatic and talkative, but it felt weird. So many things were weird or made me throw my hands up in the air because sure, I guess that happened.
Why didn't the control words work? How did Bucky get captured and brainwashed again? Did Alexei really never even try to put together a rescue mission for his friend, the great Coney Island hero? I had liked the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid-style ending. That was a good ending. Why ruin it?
Sigh.
There were some things I liked. I liked Ranger Morales, who is presumably Miles' mother. The fact that they cast America Ferrera to play her makes me hope that she and her son will soon make the jump to live action. I liked the idea of Obadiah Stane being the one to arrange the hit on the Starks. It makes sense and feels like a fun complication in the narrative. I did really like the Coney Island memory scene. It was the one time that Alexei did not make me want to tear my hair out, and the memory itself was pretty to watch.
But that's about it. Hopefully the next episode is better.
Random Thoughts
It was also cool to see Goliath in action, and Foster's dynamic with Morales was also fun.
Was the birthday present question a reference to something? It felt very familiar, but I couldn't place it.
I'm sure that there were a ton of references to other movies or shows that I just didn't notice. It felt like they were pausing for audience appreciation on some scenes, and it just went right over my head.
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An Honest Fangirl loves video games, horror movies, and superheroes, and occasionally manages to put words together in a coherent and pleasing manner.
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