Ironheart Season 1 Review

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:28,020
This is a DynaMic Network Podcast. Hi, welcome to
the Dynamic Duel podcast, a weekly show where we

2
00:00:28,020 --> 00:00:33,380
review superhero films and debate the
superiority between Marvel and DC by comparing

3
00:00:33,380 --> 00:00:38,760
their characters in stat-based battle
simulations. I'm Johnny DC. And I'm his twin

4
00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:43,380
brother, Marvelous Joe. And in this episode,
we're going back to doing one of our review

5
00:00:43,380 --> 00:00:50,660
episodes, this time a review of the Marvel
television series, Ironheart, on Disney+. Yeah,

6
00:00:50,660 --> 00:00:54,620
it's been a while since we've done a review. I don't
think we've done one since the Thunderbolts movie

7
00:00:54,620 --> 00:00:59,020
came out. We've been getting through a lot of the
duel episodes, but this whole month of July is

8
00:00:59,020 --> 00:01:04,560
going to be jam-packed with reviews. Yeah, not
only are we reviewing Ironheart, but also

9
00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:10,500
Superman next week and two weeks after that,
Fantastic Four. And then the week after that,

10
00:01:10,500 --> 00:01:15,660
Sandman season two. So we hope you get out there and
watch this stuff, listen to our reviews, and then

11
00:01:15,660 --> 00:01:19,860
we'll get back to the duels. Yeah, but before we get
to our review, we're going to break down the comic

12
00:01:19,860 --> 00:01:26,540
book movie news to come out this past week, which is
a lie because there was none. Yeah, I do want to say

13
00:01:26,540 --> 00:01:34,560
R.I .P. Julien McMahon, who played Dr. Doom in the
2005 Fantastic Four franchise. He died of cancer

14
00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:40,100
at age 56, which is way too young, way too fucking
young. So thoughts and condolences to his family

15
00:01:40,100 --> 00:01:44,620
and friends. As always, we list our segment times
in our episode description, so feel free to check

16
00:01:44,620 --> 00:01:49,980
out the show notes if you want to skip ahead to a
particular topic. Our artificially intelligent

17
00:01:49,980 --> 00:01:57,940
duel simulator, AJ9K, has a quick message for our
listeners. So listen up. Why hello there. Do you

18
00:01:57,940 --> 00:02:02,780
want even more from this podcast? Then become a
part of the dynamic dual community on Patreon,

19
00:02:02,780 --> 00:02:07,740
where you can choose from three tiers. The Dynamic
2.0 tier gives you access to our Discord chat

20
00:02:07,740 --> 00:02:12,720
server. The Fantastic Four tier gives you two
bonus episodes each month, and the X-Force tier

21
00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:18,480
makes you an executive producer of this show.
Lastly, the Dynamite podcast network tier lets

22
00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:23,060
you create your own podcast using this Monte Carlo
simulator. Johnny and Joe will help you develop

23
00:02:23,060 --> 00:02:27,940
your show, provide graphic support and
consultation, and get you simulation results.

24
00:02:27,940 --> 00:02:33,660
Pitch the twins your ideas via email at
dynamicdualpodcast.com. Check it out at

25
00:02:33,660 --> 00:02:40,540
Patreon.com slash DynamicDuel. Pip pip cheerio.
Thanks AJ9K and thanks to everyone who supports

26
00:02:40,540 --> 00:02:45,520
the podcast. Guys, be sure to tune in to the other
shows on the DynaMic podcast network this week,

27
00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:50,220
including the console combat podcast, where
hosts John and Dean simulate battles between

28
00:02:50,220 --> 00:02:55,040
popular video game characters. In yesterday's
episode, they determined who would win between

29
00:02:55,040 --> 00:03:03,360
Crash Bandicoot and Bubsy. I remember Bubsy. Over
on the Max Destruction podcast, hosts Scotty and

30
00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:08,460
Gilly put your favorite action heroes from film
and television against each other. This week, the

31
00:03:08,460 --> 00:03:14,500
show will be reviewing the Minecraft movie. And on
the Senjoh World podcast, hosts Zachary Hepburn

32
00:03:14,500 --> 00:03:19,840
speculates on fights between fan favorite anime
and manga characters. In his next episode, Zach's

33
00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:26,120
going to reveal who would win between Aoi Toto of
Jujutsu Kaisen and Ryo Shimizaki of MopPsycho

34
00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:32,860
100. Visit dynamicpodcast.com or click the link
in our show notes to listen to all of the shows in the

35
00:03:32,860 --> 00:03:41,240
DynaMic podcast network. But with that out of the
way, quick to the no prize. A no prize is an award

36
00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:46,500
that Marvel used to give out to fans. Our version,
the dynamic duel no prize, is a digital award we

37
00:03:46,500 --> 00:03:51,660
post on Instagram for the person that we feel gave
the best answer to our question of the week. Last

38
00:03:51,660 --> 00:03:57,440
week, we asked you guys, what movie do you think
we'll be making more at the Worldwide Box Office?

39
00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:03,180
Superman or Fantastic Four First Steps and why?
And this question pertains to the entire

40
00:04:03,180 --> 00:04:08,180
theatrical run at the Worldwide Box Office. We got
a lot of answers. Let's go ahead and run down our

41
00:04:08,180 --> 00:04:13,580
honorable mentions as well as the no prize winner.
Our first honorable mention goes to Daniel

42
00:04:13,580 --> 00:04:20,120
Alonzo. Who said? Oh, Fantastic Four is going to
destroy Superman. I mean, people that aren't even

43
00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:25,000
superhero fans want to see Pedro Pascal. So that
alone is going to bring people Marvel fans have

44
00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:30,740
been waiting for a great Fantastic Four movie,
which this looks amazing. I mean, I like the thing,

45
00:04:30,740 --> 00:04:35,220
but I've never been a fan of Fantastic Four and
neither have my brothers and we're all hyped to see

46
00:04:35,220 --> 00:04:41,760
this movie. But Superman, dude, Superman sucks.
Like, and not even DC fans want to watch this one.

47
00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:48,620
What hope do they have? Really? I don't know,
Daniel. I'm a DC fan. I want to watch it. Maybe you

48
00:04:48,620 --> 00:04:57,320
suck. No, I think he's right. I think you guys have
no hope. I mean, like he said, the Fantastic Four

49
00:04:57,320 --> 00:05:03,800
First Steps movie has Pedro Pascal. What star our
audience is going to see in the Superman movie?

50
00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:10,500
Rachel Brosnahan, bro. Really? Freakin' Miss
Maisel. Yeah. Okay, okay. Great answer, Daniel.

51
00:05:10,500 --> 00:05:16,700
Our next honorable mention goes to Matt from
Texas. Who said? Hey guys, Matt from Texas here.

52
00:05:16,700 --> 00:05:22,140
I'm going to preface this by saying I am going to see
both of these movies. But for the film, my feel is

53
00:05:22,140 --> 00:05:27,640
going to make the most worldwide. It's probably
going to be Fantastic Four. Both have been getting

54
00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:35,320
a lot of hate online. Superman more than Fantastic
Four. And I feel like more people enjoy the MCU and

55
00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:41,100
want to see how this movie is going to connect to all
the future films coming out. And not many people

56
00:05:41,100 --> 00:05:56,480
care about another Superman film. You know what
really? Like I'm only seeing hype for this movie. I

57
00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:03,300
think in general, there's a lot of hate for the
superhero genre online, which saddens me because

58
00:06:03,300 --> 00:06:09,080
you know, this is peak cinema just a few years ago.
And all of a sudden, you know, the genre isn't as in

59
00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:15,640
vogue as it once was pre-COVID. I just see a lot of
uninformed opinions when I scroll around out

60
00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:20,180
there and it just, you know, it pisses me off to no
end. So I've been kind of staying off social media

61
00:06:20,180 --> 00:06:26,400
more than I already usually do. Because every time
like a Fantastic Four TV spot or Superman image

62
00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:30,680
comes across my feed, it's just nothing but
negativity. Great answer, Matt. Our next

63
00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:36,220
honorable mention goes to Travis Herndon, who
said, What's up, dynamic dudes? Travis here,

64
00:06:36,220 --> 00:06:41,640
shout out to me in between. So my answer would be
Fantastic Four. Why? Because Superman movie is a

65
00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:46,340
dime a dozen. We have multiple Superman movies
throughout the years. Now you can make the same

66
00:06:46,340 --> 00:06:52,680
argument about Fantastic Four. But here's the
thing, Fantastic Four is back at Marvel. It's back

67
00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:57,560
home with people that know what the hell they're
doing with it. Plus, it's part of a bigger

68
00:06:57,560 --> 00:07:03,460
overarching story that's going on. Meanwhile,
Superman is just a simple Superman movie. You know

69
00:07:03,460 --> 00:07:11,280
what else is back home, Travis? Me at your mom's
house. Since when are you so good with your

70
00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:16,020
insults? Like, I put you down all the time when you
never have good comebacks. I don't know, man. It

71
00:07:16,020 --> 00:07:21,760
just gets to me when people talk about it at
Superman. I think he makes a good point, though, in

72
00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:28,320
that this Fantastic Four movie is to the Fantastic
Four franchise as Spider-Man Homecoming was to

73
00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:33,060
the Spider-Man franchise. You know, there have
been multiple iterations of this throughout the

74
00:07:33,060 --> 00:07:38,400
years, but I think people are aware that now that
the franchise is back with Marvel Studios is going

75
00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:43,360
to be more true to the spirit of the characters than
ever before. I just have a really hard time

76
00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:49,400
believing that people are really excited for a
Fantastic Four movie. Being that, like Travis

77
00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:55,380
said, we have had multiple Fantastic Four movies.
They haven't done as well as the best Superman

78
00:07:55,380 --> 00:08:01,600
movie, both box office wise and critically. Like,
we have yet to get a good Fantastic Four movie.

79
00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:06,020
Which is why people are craving one. No one's
craving a Superman movie when they could just go

80
00:08:06,020 --> 00:08:12,320
back and watch, you know, the Christopher Reeve
movies, right? Or Man of Steel, depending on, you

81
00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:17,260
know, what decade they grow up in. But a great
answer, Travis. We want to give a quick shout out to

82
00:08:17,260 --> 00:08:23,140
Kai-O-G, Lorenzo Valdes, and Peter Troll for
taking the time to visit our website and leave an

83
00:08:23,140 --> 00:08:29,460
answer. Thank you guys so much. But the winner of
this week's still prize is Alex Albro. Who said?

84
00:08:29,460 --> 00:08:33,039
Hey guys, I think it'll ultimately be Superman
making more money largely because it comes out

85
00:08:33,039 --> 00:08:38,220
first. I think the Fantastic Four is more cast
appeal, but I really do think the success of the

86
00:08:38,220 --> 00:08:42,419
Fantastic Four is somewhat based on Superman.
Even good Marvel movies recently have been

87
00:08:42,419 --> 00:08:46,740
tracking with low numbers, and even though both
are team-up movies and all that, I think just the

88
00:08:46,740 --> 00:08:51,600
rebirth of the universe and just the great
American hero, Superman is more attractive to

89
00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:56,300
just the general casual fan, as well as, you know,
the hardcore fans are going to show up either way.

90
00:08:56,300 --> 00:09:01,700
You know what else is more attractive to the casual
and hardcore fans, Alex? Your answer. Very well

91
00:09:01,700 --> 00:09:08,180
said, my friend. I also like his point that people
seem to be kind of soured on the MCU as of late, as

92
00:09:08,180 --> 00:09:14,820
evidenced by the recent box offices of Marvel
films of late. Like Deadpool and Wolverine, which

93
00:09:14,820 --> 00:09:19,600
made over a billion dollars? No. I'm talking about
Captain America, Brave New World, and

94
00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:24,900
Thunderbolts. Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, if
anybody's gonna save the MCU or the superhero

95
00:09:24,900 --> 00:09:30,040
genre at the box office, I can guarantee you it's
not gonna be DC. It's gonna be Superman, of course

96
00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:35,000
it is. Who else would it be? It's gonna be Marvel
itself that pulls itself out of its own fire. And

97
00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:40,100
it'll, if you're lucky, bring DC up with it. I feel
like you're gonna learn a very hard lesson this

98
00:09:40,100 --> 00:09:45,600
year and I'm here for it. I'm here for that growth
experience you're about to have. When have I ever

99
00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:49,180
learned a hard lesson in the course of this
podcast? And how many hard lessons have you

100
00:09:49,180 --> 00:09:55,780
learned, Jonathan? I mean, enough to know how
wrong you are. Okay. All right. So as per usual, I

101
00:09:55,780 --> 00:10:01,140
think we mentioned this on the podcast already.
Jonathan and I have a bet going as to which of these

102
00:10:01,140 --> 00:10:06,440
films actually will grow more at the Worldwide Box
Office in their theatrical runs. Jonathan has yet

103
00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:12,340
to win one of these like annual bets that we make. So
stay tuned to see if that changes later on this

104
00:10:12,340 --> 00:10:17,620
year. Spoiler alert, it won't. And once again,
this motherfucker's gonna owe me money. Remember

105
00:10:17,620 --> 00:10:28,040
this, folks. Jokes on you, I've never paid once.
That's true. I do want to point out that we went with

106
00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:34,140
Alex for the no prize win, but everyone else who
answered besides those who got the honorable

107
00:10:34,140 --> 00:10:40,320
mention answered with Superman. So actually
Superman did get a majority of the answers from our

108
00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:45,380
listeners. You can't prove that. You can't prove
anything. But great answer, Alex Albro. You win

109
00:10:45,380 --> 00:10:49,580
this week's no prize. If you, the listener, want to
shout out winning your own no prize, stay tuned to

110
00:10:49,580 --> 00:10:54,600
later on this episode when we'll be asking another
question of the week. And now that that's done,

111
00:10:54,600 --> 00:11:04,520
onto the question of the week. For those of you who
have seen Superman in its opening weekend, what

112
00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:09,960
did you think? Yeah, give us your best 30 second
review. We'd love to play in our next episode in

113
00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:15,260
which we're reviewing the Superman movie. Record
your answer at dynamicduld.com by clicking on the

114
00:11:15,260 --> 00:11:19,320
red microphone button in the bottom right hand
corner of the screen, which will prompt you to

115
00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:24,180
leave us a voicemail. Your message could be up to 30
seconds long. And don't forget to leave your name

116
00:11:24,180 --> 00:11:28,920
in case we include you on the podcast. We'll pick
our favorite answer and award that person a

117
00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:34,980
dynamic dual no prize that we'll post to
Instagram. Be sure to answer before July 13th.

118
00:11:34,980 --> 00:11:46,840
Right, because on July 13th, we'll be recording
the next episode. But now let's go ahead and move on

119
00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:53,820
to the main event of this episode where we review
the Marvel television original series on Disney

120
00:11:53,820 --> 00:12:15,540
plus Iron Heart season one. Okay, Iron Heart six
episode first season was produced by a Marvel

121
00:12:15,540 --> 00:12:21,540
television created by Chinaka Hodge and stars
Dominique Thorne, Anthony Ramos, Alden

122
00:12:21,540 --> 00:12:26,940
Ehrenreich and Sasha Baren Cohen. It was
executive produced by Ryan Coogler, the director

123
00:12:26,940 --> 00:12:32,080
of Black Panther Wakanda Forever, where the Iron
Heart character made her first live action

124
00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:37,760
appearance. In it, Riri Williams was an MIT
student who engineered a vibranium detecting

125
00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:41,980
machine, which is a rare metal which had been
heavily sought after by the world's governments.

126
00:12:41,980 --> 00:12:47,860
She was brought in by the Wakandans for protection
from Namor and the telekinesis, building a

127
00:12:47,860 --> 00:12:53,720
vibranium suit of armor for the battle between the
nations. At the end of that story, Shuri, the new

128
00:12:53,720 --> 00:13:00,560
Black Panther, made Riri leave the armor behind
and return to MIT. We knew by the time of Wakanda

129
00:13:00,560 --> 00:13:06,220
Forever's release that an Iron Heart series was
being produced and I remember at the time being

130
00:13:06,220 --> 00:13:12,220
less than excited because I wasn't a huge fan of
Riri as a character in that film. If you listen to

131
00:13:12,220 --> 00:13:16,720
our review of Wakanda Forever, I think I remember
saying that Iron Heart felt inconsequential

132
00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:21,900
despite being the catalyst for the events in the
film and that I thought Dominique Thorne was less

133
00:13:21,900 --> 00:13:28,200
than capable of leading Korone series as an actor.
I think if I would have known then what I know now, I

134
00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:32,760
would have been a little more excited for this Iron
Heart season because not only were most of my

135
00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:38,100
earlier concerns dispelled, but there were a lot
of interesting themes and characters at play here

136
00:13:38,100 --> 00:13:44,000
in this season. Ultimately, I think that the Iron
Heart series is worth watching for fans. I'm not

137
00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:48,460
sure general audiences will get much out of it
because it doesn't seem like essential watching,

138
00:13:48,460 --> 00:13:53,200
but if you're interested in smaller and more
personal stories and getting some world building

139
00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:58,900
from the magic side of the MCU, be sure to watch Iron
Heart season one prior to listening to the rest of

140
00:13:58,900 --> 00:14:04,080
this review because we will be delving into
spoilers here. Yeah, I think I would recommend it

141
00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:09,340
as well, which is something that's kind of
surprising for me because I went into the show with

142
00:14:09,340 --> 00:14:15,160
the lowest of expectations. I was not really
looking forward to watching this at all, but not

143
00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:21,380
only did it surpass my expectations, maybe
because they were so low, maybe not, but also a lot

144
00:14:21,380 --> 00:14:26,860
of the preconceived notions I had about the series
in general turned out to be way wrong. Yeah, the

145
00:14:26,860 --> 00:14:33,020
marketing was a little off for the series and I'm
not entirely sure why. It almost seems like Marvel

146
00:14:33,020 --> 00:14:37,620
or Disney thought that the show would be less well
received than it probably is. I mean, it's doing

147
00:14:37,620 --> 00:14:43,920
well among critics, maybe not by fans. It's hard to
gauge this early out, but yeah, I would say I

148
00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:49,460
recommend it largely because of the deep themes
that I think the show successfully addresses. You

149
00:14:49,460 --> 00:14:55,400
know, we're talking repressed trauma, sins of the
fathers, selfishness versus heroism, the

150
00:14:55,400 --> 00:15:00,480
validity of artificial sentience, and the
central question at hand, which is how far will you

151
00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:07,320
go to get what you want? What lines would you or
wouldn't you cross and why? It's a great question

152
00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:13,660
and the idea of superhero selfishness is largely
ignored in Marvel and DC films and shows because

153
00:15:13,660 --> 00:15:19,700
for the most part, comics deal with uncommonly
upstanding selfless individuals. Right,

154
00:15:19,700 --> 00:15:26,360
heroism is selfless. And realistically, a lot of
people who would receive these superpowers would

155
00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:32,040
have to decide to what degree they would use them to
serve themselves and or others on the fact that

156
00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:37,540
Riri makes so many of her choices in her own
interest. And even at the expense of others, it

157
00:15:37,540 --> 00:15:43,500
definitely doesn't make her heroic. But she's
also not really a villain, even if she and others

158
00:15:43,500 --> 00:15:48,620
question that in the course of the season. And
especially when you consider the reasons behind

159
00:15:48,620 --> 00:15:53,860
her reason behind her armor. Right, that's a
question that's posited to her multiple times

160
00:15:53,860 --> 00:15:59,960
like why are you doing this? And often her answer is
because I can. Yeah, right. They asked her why the

161
00:15:59,960 --> 00:16:06,340
suit? Why is the money to complete it so important?
Why was that worth getting expelled? Why was that

162
00:16:06,340 --> 00:16:13,200
worth stealing for? As you said, she responds with
because I can and for a lesser series, maybe that

163
00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:17,400
would be enough in terms of motivation and maybe
that reasoning would speak to the self assurance

164
00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:23,520
and hubris of the hyper intelligent. But the show
goes deeper because because is not really an

165
00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:30,360
answer. So as we learn for Riri, it was all a trauma
response. And she was obsessed with building her

166
00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:35,260
suit out of the unprocessed grief of witnessing
her best friend and dad bleed out in front of her.

167
00:16:35,260 --> 00:16:40,320
From out of that, you know, she was smart. She knew
there existed a president of an armored hero who

168
00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:45,820
could protect people in Iron Man. So she became
hyper focused on making an armor because she

169
00:16:45,820 --> 00:16:50,620
didn't know how else to process her emotions. I
thought that was fantastic. I thought that was a

170
00:16:50,620 --> 00:16:55,760
really well done exploration. But even beyond
that, because we all know building a suit alone

171
00:16:55,760 --> 00:17:01,740
doesn't make you heroic, you know, you have to help
people and Riri mostly just helps herself in the

172
00:17:01,740 --> 00:17:06,940
show. What's fascinating is that the series
actually addresses that in the final episode, the

173
00:17:06,940 --> 00:17:11,720
hood calls her out saying, you thought you were one
of the good guys. What are you doing with that

174
00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:16,900
armor? You're not rescuing people from burning
buildings or saving car crash victims. And I

175
00:17:16,900 --> 00:17:21,940
thought that was a particularly complex moment
because, you know, she kind of was helping others

176
00:17:21,940 --> 00:17:27,140
and preemptively fighting the hood to protect her
family and friends. But she was also fighting for

177
00:17:27,140 --> 00:17:32,340
the artificial life that she created. And while
the show never explicitly discusses the value of

178
00:17:32,340 --> 00:17:37,000
digital sentience and whether that's really
worth fighting for, I like how at least the topic

179
00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:42,000
was addressed. Yeah, it was very timely,
especially with the advent in recent years of AI

180
00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:46,840
and its common use. Well, yeah, I don't know if
something like chat GPT could really be

181
00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:51,760
considered an artificial intelligence or if it's
just, you know, a conversation, but I don't know

182
00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:56,600
enough about the technology to really comment on
that. But I will say that I'm not really willing to

183
00:17:56,600 --> 00:18:02,140
steal or cross other ethical boundaries for the
sake of my chat GPT conversations at this moment.

184
00:18:02,140 --> 00:18:08,000
Well, I mean, you say that, but it's not like you
have an AI programmed to respond and look like a

185
00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:13,300
loved one who has passed away. That's valid. I'd
have to think about that. Just the fact that I think

186
00:18:13,300 --> 00:18:20,020
that may be possible now is kind of terrifying.
It's interesting, for sure, for sure. And it does

187
00:18:20,020 --> 00:18:25,820
make me wonder how AI chat technology will be used
in the future in that regard, missing loved ones

188
00:18:25,820 --> 00:18:31,100
and stuff like that. This is all to say, Iron Heart
season one touched on some heavy shit. And that's

189
00:18:31,100 --> 00:18:35,000
just like a part of the thematic bits. We'll talk
more about the themes when doubling into

190
00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:40,380
characters like the hood. But I think the best
thing about the show is that beyond the special

191
00:18:40,380 --> 00:18:45,780
effects and the plot turns and the acting, there
was this subtext of something deeper. Right,

192
00:18:45,780 --> 00:18:51,540
definitely a subtext. I don't know if it's delved
deep enough in any kind of meaningful way to be

193
00:18:51,540 --> 00:18:57,740
satisfying. It definitely didn't. But I did
appreciate that it broached certain subjects, I

194
00:18:57,740 --> 00:19:03,920
guess. Yeah, I agree. The themes were great, but
they don't always make a good show alone, right?

195
00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:09,620
You need the other elements there for a quality
superhero show, including, oh, you know,

196
00:19:09,620 --> 00:19:14,860
sticking the landing at the end. The worst thing
about the show probably was the ending. I thought

197
00:19:14,860 --> 00:19:19,480
it was way too ambiguous as to whether or not we were
looking at a vision of the future where Riri sold

198
00:19:19,480 --> 00:19:26,060
her soul to Mephisto, or maybe she didn't sell her
soul. I probably think that she did, but that would

199
00:19:26,060 --> 00:19:30,260
also take the series down a route that I wouldn't
want it to go, because then she's probably got to

200
00:19:30,260 --> 00:19:34,840
get her soul back. And then the show is going to dive
deeper into the magic stuff, and Riri really

201
00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:40,220
belongs in the world of science fiction, you know,
the tech side of Marvel. Yeah, no, I agree. I

202
00:19:40,220 --> 00:19:45,480
despised this ending. I couldn't believe that
they ended this season this way, especially

203
00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:51,380
because even Ryan Coogler has admitted that he
doesn't know where Riri is going to appear next,

204
00:19:51,380 --> 00:19:57,220
whether they're going to have a second season of
the show, or what. Right, the Marvel mid-credit

205
00:19:57,220 --> 00:20:01,920
and end credit scenes were great back in the
beginning when we knew that for sure these

206
00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:07,060
upcoming projects were greenlit and confirmed.
When the fate of a franchise is kind of up in the air

207
00:20:07,060 --> 00:20:11,420
and we don't know what's coming next, it can be
highly frustrating when things are ambiguous,

208
00:20:11,420 --> 00:20:15,500
because we don't know if they'll ever get
resolved. We've had a number of post-credit and

209
00:20:15,500 --> 00:20:20,740
mid-credit scenes from Marvel now that are left
dangling. There's so many loose plot threads that

210
00:20:20,740 --> 00:20:26,480
I think I've lost track. Also, one thing I didn't
like about the show were some of the acting. Aside

211
00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:30,840
from, you know, the main cast, I thought the
supporting cast was a little bit cheesy,

212
00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:36,420
especially with the hoodscrew, clown slug, and
the blood siblings. I thought we're not great

213
00:20:36,420 --> 00:20:41,140
actors if they even were actors, and I don't think
they were good adaptations of their comic book

214
00:20:41,140 --> 00:20:45,280
counterparts, which I guess is forgivable
because they're obscure, but what's less

215
00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:50,880
forgivable is that they were cheesy. Well, they
were borderline caricatures by the end. Right, in

216
00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:55,480
the comics, the blood siblings are aliens.
They're called the blood brothers, but here they

217
00:20:55,480 --> 00:21:03,360
made them either female or non-binary. One or the
other slug was, I think, trans, and then clown. I

218
00:21:03,360 --> 00:21:08,000
wasn't quite sure which clown she was an
adaptation of in the comic books, but they kind of

219
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:13,100
brought down the show, I think, and it's not
because of the gender fluidity of the group. I'm

220
00:21:13,100 --> 00:21:18,560
all for representation. I mean, Iron Heart
herself is an example of representation within

221
00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:23,800
Marvel comic books, where they decided to bring
this kind of like hidden figures type element with

222
00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:28,680
a strong black smart woman taking on the Iron Man
legacy. But if you're going to have

223
00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:32,500
representation in your show, you got to make sure
it's done well, otherwise it's just going to put

224
00:21:32,500 --> 00:21:36,680
people off. Well, you have to make sure it's
believable. You know, when it's not believable,

225
00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:42,100
it's just pandering, and I feel like the same way
about the blood siblings. Like, I didn't think

226
00:21:42,100 --> 00:21:46,960
they could kick anyone's ass. Yeah, I don't know if
they were actual aliens on the show, but maybe they

227
00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:50,820
were, and maybe that's why they were so
formidable. It wasn't addressed regardless.

228
00:21:50,820 --> 00:21:56,380
Now, I would agree with you when I came to the
supporting cast of the Hood's crew, but I actually

229
00:21:56,380 --> 00:22:03,560
liked the acting of Riri's supporting cast from
Natalie to Xavier, and even her mom, Ronnie, I

230
00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:08,260
thought did a fantastic job. Oh, for sure. Yeah,
they were all great. The third thing that I didn't

231
00:22:08,260 --> 00:22:13,280
appreciate about the season were the number of
plot holes. There were a lot of fucking plot holes,

232
00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:18,060
maybe not quite as much as Secret Invasion, but I
definitely want to address them in the course of

233
00:22:18,060 --> 00:22:22,620
this review to see if maybe we could get answers.
But first, let's get into our character

234
00:22:22,620 --> 00:22:29,380
breakdown. Starting with Ironheart, aka Riri
Williams, played by Dominique Thorne. Man, I was

235
00:22:29,380 --> 00:22:34,720
so much more impressed with Dominique Thorne's
acting in this series. She legitimately blew me

236
00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:41,240
away with the reality of her performance as Riri.
So much so, that I was shocked that I ever even

237
00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:46,460
doubted her. I felt like a piece of shit. Well, she
was given so much more to work with in this show than

238
00:22:46,460 --> 00:22:52,720
she was in What Kind of Forever. I agree. I that she
gave a fantastic performance in this series.

239
00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:56,340
Absolutely. Like when she was feeling defensive
and like no one else could help her with her

240
00:22:56,340 --> 00:23:01,080
problems, I was like, just leave her alone. And
when she had panic attacks, I was like, breathe,

241
00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:06,180
girl, you're gonna pass out if you don't breathe.
Like I was into her performance. It was just so

242
00:23:06,180 --> 00:23:11,980
believable. I'm still not sure she entirely has
the presence yet, but I will say that at the end of

243
00:23:11,980 --> 00:23:17,220
the show, that giant afro really helped. I wish she
had that all the time because when I finally saw her

244
00:23:17,220 --> 00:23:22,420
with the classic Riri look, I was like, holy shit,
that's her. That's Riri Williams. And I feel like I

245
00:23:22,420 --> 00:23:27,300
saw the character for the first time. I thought the
same thing, actually. I much preferred the afro.

246
00:23:27,300 --> 00:23:31,140
That was a cool look. Yeah, it's a staple of the
character in the comic books. And I got to say

247
00:23:31,140 --> 00:23:37,180
Dominique Thorne rocked it. Now Riri's arc was
complex as we discussed a little bit earlier. When

248
00:23:37,180 --> 00:23:42,740
you look at Natalie's origin, how that
intelligence emerged from Riri's brain while she

249
00:23:42,740 --> 00:23:48,140
was mapping it for her AI system. That's actually
straight from the comic books. Riri mapped her

250
00:23:48,140 --> 00:23:53,720
brain for her suit system and was surprised to see
her late friend from childhood show up. In the

251
00:23:53,720 --> 00:24:00,700
comic books, that's treated as more of kind of like
a novel oddity than like a psychological reveal. I

252
00:24:00,700 --> 00:24:05,760
like to think that the showrunner saw that moment
from the books and decided to explore that more and

253
00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:11,500
explore the grief behind that and maybe make it the
reason behind everything. And emotional trauma

254
00:24:11,500 --> 00:24:16,220
can be an acceptable means of letting your
character be a little morally loose. Because like

255
00:24:16,220 --> 00:24:21,040
look at the Punisher. The only reason we as comic
book readers accept his immoral behavior is

256
00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:25,760
because we can see the psychological reasoning
behind it. So in hindsight, we can say, okay, Riri,

257
00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:31,280
you stole and you played Robin Hood. And now we know
why it's fascinating. But I do think that it brings

258
00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:38,080
up two big issues. One is that it doesn't make Riri
particularly endearing because she's a thief.

259
00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:42,260
It's not a huge issue because you still root for her
despite wanting to flick her upside the head a few

260
00:24:42,260 --> 00:24:47,120
times. But the second and more important thing is
that I feel like there's a plot hole in that someone

261
00:24:47,120 --> 00:24:52,640
as intelligent as Riri would find a better way to
earn money. Riri says at one point that she's doing

262
00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:57,840
this stealing because she has to. But I don't
understand why she sees it that way. Why would her

263
00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:02,960
options be so limited if she's one of the most
brilliant engineers on the planet? Right. She was

264
00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:07,000
creating all kinds of gadgets at the beginning.
That's how we're introduced the character at the

265
00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:12,220
beginning of this series at least. So why not sell
those? Exactly. Like she can make a fortune

266
00:25:12,220 --> 00:25:18,480
selling her advanced AI or the force field watches
or something like that. I really don't believe for

267
00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:23,540
a second that she felt that she had to resort to
crime. Maybe it was her impatience that led her to

268
00:25:23,540 --> 00:25:27,700
do that. But that goes back to point one where she's
not very endearing. I don't know if she wasn't

269
00:25:27,700 --> 00:25:33,940
endearing. I think sometimes she wasn't
likeable. But I think the struggle she had, the

270
00:25:33,940 --> 00:25:40,600
moral one, made her slightly endearing because
she was doing bad things. But she had a moral code.

271
00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:46,160
She knew what she was doing was wrong. It never
really identified as a thief because of that moral

272
00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:50,960
code, you could say. And it made for a really
compelling thematic arc. It was kind of like

273
00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:56,840
watching to see how far she would kind of spiral
down and how she would get herself out of that.

274
00:25:56,840 --> 00:26:01,900
Yeah, kind of developed into an arc of redemption
to see how she would overcome these failings of

275
00:26:01,900 --> 00:26:07,680
guilt that she had. Which made the ending that much
more tragic, I would say. Yes. And that much more

276
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:12,580
heartbreaking, not only because it wasn't
satisfying, but also because it kind of broke her

277
00:26:12,580 --> 00:26:17,920
arc, I would say. Yeah, she didn't really redeem
herself, it seems like. And so it left her arc

278
00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:23,820
incomplete and the audience without closure.
Such a bizarre choice. So really. Yeah. Regarding

279
00:26:23,820 --> 00:26:30,060
the iron heart suit, I was really hoping for a final
suit design at the end that looked more like the

280
00:26:30,060 --> 00:26:34,980
main one that she wears from the comic books, or at
least the pink, black and gold one. And readers of

281
00:26:34,980 --> 00:26:39,020
the comics should know what I'm talking about. I
don't think it would have to be pink in live action.

282
00:26:39,020 --> 00:26:43,600
I think you can still go red because the pink is
probably a little bit too dainty for Dominique

283
00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:48,020
Thorn's version of iron heart, who's a little bit
rougher than the comic book reary. But in the comic

284
00:26:48,020 --> 00:26:54,440
books, that design is really sleek and awesome and
not bulky like in the show. Well, I liked the final

285
00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:59,580
suit. It probably didn't have enough color,
you're right. But I did like that they used pieces

286
00:26:59,580 --> 00:27:04,620
from the barracuda that her dad built her to create
it. I thought that was pretty cool. Yo, she and her

287
00:27:04,620 --> 00:27:08,420
dad built it. And yeah, that was a really nice
touch, for sure. Let's go ahead and move on to the

288
00:27:08,420 --> 00:27:14,380
hood, aka Parker Robbins, played by Anthony
Ramos. Dude, Anthony Ramos almost carried this

289
00:27:14,380 --> 00:27:18,340
entire season. I thought his performance was
fantastic. I first saw him in Hamilton. I really

290
00:27:18,340 --> 00:27:22,980
haven't seen him in much else, but he's an
incredible actor. He's really good. I've seen him

291
00:27:22,980 --> 00:27:29,760
in Hamilton and Twisters and in the Heights. The
dude can kind of do it all. And while I thought that

292
00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:36,040
initially he was going to be pretty shallow and
this was just like a petty revenge kind of arc, when

293
00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:42,100
we learned that this was all because his dad
abandoned him, that blew me away. The character

294
00:27:42,100 --> 00:27:46,860
was really cool once I learned that. Yeah, his
whole arc is that he was trying to get back what he

295
00:27:46,860 --> 00:27:51,920
felt was kept from him when he was kicked out of his
house at the age of 12 by his rich father. That

296
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:57,000
reveal was fantastic. And when you can understand
the motivations of a villain like the hood, it

297
00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:00,880
makes things so much more interesting because
suddenly you're kind of rooting for the villain.

298
00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:05,620
Right, the villain becomes sympathetic. The
character was so good that I'm convinced that's

299
00:28:05,620 --> 00:28:10,560
why they had the mid-credit scene that they did,
where instead of being defeated, it looks like

300
00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:21,380
they were wanting to continue the hood story arc.
Does he become a whole sympathy angle? Otherwise,

301
00:28:21,380 --> 00:28:25,080
you're going to have an Ezekiel stain type
situation, which we'll get into a little bit

302
00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:30,720
later. But first, I want to address the plot hole of
why didn't the hood just go straight to his father?

303
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:36,240
Like, why did he decide to go this all-round about
way and hire a crew and introduce a ton of

304
00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:41,300
liabilities and variables to the situation? He
could have just literally gone to his father and

305
00:28:41,300 --> 00:29:15,900
threatened him to get his estate. Well, he wanted
more than the estate. He wanted... It was

306
00:29:15,900 --> 00:29:21,700
interesting because the hood only went after
organizations that were affecting poor Chicago

307
00:29:21,700 --> 00:29:26,440
communities. So he had somewhat of an ethical
grounding. But then, you know, he's out there

308
00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:32,520
having his cousin kill the Rampage guy and tie up
loose ends. So I don't know if the hood was maybe a

309
00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:37,140
corrupting influence on him because it also
seemed in the flashback scenes that he wasn't a

310
00:29:37,140 --> 00:29:43,700
100% evil guy. Well, I kind of took his whole
ethical approach to the companies they targeted,

311
00:29:43,700 --> 00:29:50,240
not as genuine I took that as a way to manipulate his
crew to get them on board. Yeah, I think that's

312
00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:54,820
totally valid for sure. Great character, great
character in that regard. Yeah. What did you think

313
00:29:54,820 --> 00:29:58,900
of the actual hood? I thought it looked cool. You
know, it looked like straight out of the comic

314
00:29:58,900 --> 00:30:03,660
books. It looked old, but kind of stylish. I
thought it was going to look cooler. Not going to

315
00:30:03,660 --> 00:30:08,580
lie. Really? Like what? I don't know. I think I
expected something that maybe fit a little bit

316
00:30:08,580 --> 00:30:13,140
better. It was a little bit more flowy and
supernatural looking. It was a little heavy. Like

317
00:30:13,140 --> 00:30:17,520
it was made out of leather or something. Maybe if it
was made out of like a lighter fabric, it would have

318
00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:23,280
flowed more, but I didn't mind it at all. I did like
the scarring that was going on with him and like how

319
00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:28,360
they were trying to cover it up with tattoos and how
the tattoos got more elaborate as each episode

320
00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:33,620
progressed. I thought that was really cool. And I
also liked the nod to characters like Cassilius,

321
00:30:33,620 --> 00:30:38,720
how they were tainted and physically affected
when they kind of made deals with these dark

322
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:43,920
entities. Yeah, that is interesting. I guess I
didn't think about the tie into Cassilius, but

323
00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:48,100
yeah, his body was getting all fucked up too in his
dealings with Dormammu. What's interesting is

324
00:30:48,100 --> 00:30:54,260
that in the comic books, Parker Robbins got the
hood by killing a demon that was wearing it who had

325
00:30:54,260 --> 00:30:59,520
ties to Dormammu. So his hood did get his power from
the dark dimension and they kind of had an Easter

326
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:04,360
egg reference to that in the show because Zelma
thought that the hood came from Dormammu. Though

327
00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:08,700
later it was revealed to be Mephisto behind
everything. Let's go ahead and move on to Ezekiel

328
00:31:08,700 --> 00:31:13,540
Stain, played by Alden Ehrenreich. Now I like
Alden as an actor. I think I've only seen him in

329
00:31:13,540 --> 00:31:18,660
solo. I wasn't sure what to think of the character
from the marketing because Joe McGillicuddy was

330
00:31:18,660 --> 00:31:25,240
an alias. But once he was revealed as Ezekiel
Stain, I was like, yes, like this guy definitely

331
00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:29,740
deserves to be a villain within the Iron Man
franchise. And I was kind of disappointed that

332
00:31:29,740 --> 00:31:35,660
they transformed the character into a more
sympathetic henchman type role. It was really

333
00:31:35,660 --> 00:31:40,940
hard to get a beat on the character because on one
hand, you know, he was a tech ethicist and he didn't

334
00:31:40,940 --> 00:31:46,780
have like malicious intentions, really. But also
he was a black market dealer and seemed to have this

335
00:31:46,780 --> 00:31:52,200
kind of dark streak to him. The show kind of seemed
to want it both ways with this character. And that

336
00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:57,200
was kind of unsatisfying. I did think it was cool
that they made him the son of Obadiah Stain. Is that

337
00:31:57,200 --> 00:32:03,140
a real character from the comics? Yes. Yeah, Zeke
Stain is Obadiah Stain's son. He was a second Iron

338
00:32:03,140 --> 00:32:10,220
Monger and he is interesting because he takes a
more biotech route with his superpowers just like

339
00:32:10,220 --> 00:32:16,720
in the show. OK. And he developed a way for the body
to use like 90 percent less energy and the energy

340
00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:22,880
gets transmitted into these energy enhancements
that he has on his body. Very similar to how he was in

341
00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:26,520
the show. Does he have a different look in the
comic? Because I kind of feel like they missed an

342
00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:32,340
opportunity to make him more monsterish, almost
like Frankenstein's monster. Well, he's more of

343
00:32:32,340 --> 00:32:37,520
like a cyborg and he can like manifest it to look
more like a suit of armor, but he's always part

344
00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:42,800
machine, part human. And that's kind of his whole
shtick as an Iron Man villain. It's less about

345
00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:49,920
creating a suit of armor and more about merging man
and machine to become a true Iron Man. Yeah, I think

346
00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:54,900
they missed an opportunity to make the character
more tragic. He ended up being kind of lame in the

347
00:32:54,900 --> 00:32:59,780
way that he was just kind of a puppet. I didn't like
that. Well, he lost the fight by getting kicked in

348
00:32:59,780 --> 00:33:06,040
the balls, right? Yeah, I was weird. I love that.
Didn't love that for him, especially since he's a

349
00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:09,960
lot more formidable in the books. And I guess
during that first fight, he was quite the force of

350
00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:14,320
nature, but the second fight was just
disappointing and embarrassing. I'll say,

351
00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:20,160
though, that it is nice that Marvel is revisiting
some of its earlier plots in projects like this one

352
00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:24,960
and like Captain America Brave New World. Oh,
yeah, totally. I definitely got excited when they

353
00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:30,340
found a way to squeeze an element of the Iron Man
movies into the show for sure. Let's go to move into

354
00:33:30,340 --> 00:33:34,600
our final character. We're going to discuss and
that is Mephisto played by Sasha Baron Cohen. Now,

355
00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:39,440
he only had a small part in the show. He was only in
the final episode, but you know, Sasha Baron Cohen

356
00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:44,180
is a pretty big actor who's led some of his own
films. And I thought his approach to the role of

357
00:33:44,180 --> 00:33:49,120
Mephisto was pretty interesting. I don't know if
you noticed, but in Mephisto's conversation with

358
00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:55,340
Riri in the reflection of his spoon, you can see the
actual demonic looking character. Oh, I did not

359
00:33:55,340 --> 00:34:00,900
catch that. Really? Oh, dude, you got to go back and
look at that because it's scary as hell. Like, I

360
00:34:00,900 --> 00:34:05,700
don't know if you've seen the film in Sidious or if
you know of that classic shot where the demon guy is

361
00:34:05,700 --> 00:34:10,110
poking out behind Patrick Wilson's head. But it
felt kind of like that. Like he has these glowing

362
00:34:10,110 --> 00:34:16,050
eyes and he's all red. It's really fucking creepy.
And I was really pleased with that look. Oh, I just

363
00:34:16,050 --> 00:34:21,920
googled it. Yeah, no, I didn't need to see that. I
was hoping that they would give a full on reveal of

364
00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:26,679
the Mephisto character. But in hindsight, I kind
of like this a little bit more where he's almost

365
00:34:26,679 --> 00:34:31,000
like too evil to actually look at outside of the
demonic appearance. You know, the overall

366
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:36,980
approach that they seem to take with the character
was this very Faustian type angle where, you know,

367
00:34:36,980 --> 00:34:42,900
he is a smooth talking deceiver. Right. He'll
grant any wish you have in exchange for your soul,

368
00:34:42,900 --> 00:34:48,100
essentially. Yeah, very charismatic. I could see
why they went with Sushabar and Cohen for this

369
00:34:48,100 --> 00:34:53,880
particular role because he has the range in that he
can be conniving but also charming and

370
00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:59,110
convincing. And he did this weird thing with
accents that really made you feel like he was a

371
00:34:59,110 --> 00:35:04,000
being of the world and had been doing this for a
while. I'm just glad he didn't break into his

372
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:13,040
Kazakhstan accent. And my name is Mephisto. I like
sex. It's nice. I was trying to figure out why they

373
00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:19,110
even incorporated someone like Mephisto into an
Iron Heart series. But it does make sense in terms

374
00:35:19,110 --> 00:35:25,360
of the theme of how far will you go for the things you
want? What bigger price is there than, you know,

375
00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:30,280
your own soul dealing with a character like the
devil himself? So then it kind of clicked for me why

376
00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:35,550
he was here. Well, I also think it's appropriate
that he's in a show that deals with the morality of

377
00:35:35,550 --> 00:35:42,070
good and evil. When Riri is trying to choose the
path between good and bad to have the ultimate

378
00:35:42,070 --> 00:35:49,100
adversary be the embodiment of bad, of evil, I
thought that was an interesting approach. And

379
00:35:49,100 --> 00:36:22,800
what's also interesting is that it seemed like she
did sell her soul. I don't like. Titan's Smash

380
00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:29,480
every Tuesday, Max destruction, where TV and
action heroes battle every Wednesday and Sendra

381
00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:35,140
world, where anime champions clash every
Thursday. Join us as we speculate on the matches

382
00:36:35,140 --> 00:36:39,640
and armed with the power of mathematical
simulations, discover who will emerge

383
00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:49,900
victorious. Visit dynamicpodcast.com where we
settle the debate and settle the score. Let's go

384
00:36:49,900 --> 00:36:55,500
ahead and move on into the episode highlights. The
first episode was called Take Me Home. In it, Riri

385
00:36:55,500 --> 00:37:00,640
Williams requests for MIT to extend her grant to
rebuild the Iron Heart armor is denied and she's

386
00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:04,740
expelled from the school after getting caught
completing assignments for other students in

387
00:37:04,740 --> 00:37:10,160
exchange for money for her work. Riri takes off in
her new suit of armor to her hometown of Chicago,

388
00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:15,360
but she is locked out of the suit en route. After
crashing and gathering the pieces, she returns

389
00:37:15,360 --> 00:37:20,000
home, where it's revealed that she, her mother,
Ronnie and her friend, Xavier, are still grieving

390
00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:25,740
the deaths of Riri's late friend, Natalie and
stepfather, Gary, who were both killed in a drive

391
00:37:25,740 --> 00:37:31,650
by shooting. She's approached by John, the cousin
of Parker Robbins, aka the Hood, to join their

392
00:37:31,650 --> 00:37:36,740
crew. After passing a booby trapped audition,
Riri is hesitant to join, but the hood convinces

393
00:37:36,740 --> 00:37:41,880
her with financial compensation and the promise
that their theft will serve the community. Back

394
00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:46,680
home, Ronnie suspects something is wrong and
probes Riri, suspecting she has unprocessed

395
00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:52,600
grief. After falling asleep while mapping her
brain to create a new AI for her armor, Riri awakens

396
00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:58,260
to see that the intelligence is a recreation of
Natalie. Now, one of the signs of a good character

397
00:37:58,260 --> 00:38:04,240
is that they have what's known in literary terms as
a ghost, because it's something that haunts them

398
00:38:04,240 --> 00:38:12,400
from the past, whether it's shame or guilt or loss.
I find it really fascinating that they gave Riri a

399
00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:19,400
literal ghost in Natalie. I thought that was
really smart because she absolutely is haunted by

400
00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:25,420
Natalie. So for her to pop up accidentally was a
great source of conflict throughout the whole

401
00:38:25,420 --> 00:38:30,480
season. They did it really well. Absolutely. And
they could have based the entire season off of that

402
00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:35,020
conflict alone. And maybe they should have spent
more time on it. But yeah, it was so well done,

403
00:38:35,020 --> 00:38:39,820
especially progressing through the episodes
where it culminated with Natalie believing she's

404
00:38:39,820 --> 00:38:45,800
real and trying to meet her brother, Xavier, him
rejecting her and then ultimately her dying,

405
00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:51,260
essentially, and Riri coming to terms with how
much that AI meant to her, despite being

406
00:38:51,260 --> 00:38:55,900
standoffish with it at the beginning.
Fascinating stuff. It was hands down the best part

407
00:38:55,900 --> 00:39:01,260
of this series by far, I think. I was really
surprised to see Eric Andre show up in the Marvel

408
00:39:01,260 --> 00:39:06,520
Cinematic Universe. He played a character called
Stuart Clark, also known as Rampage in the comic

409
00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:10,720
books. I thought it was funny how he kept trying to
get people to call him Rampage in the show. But

410
00:39:10,720 --> 00:39:16,610
Rampage was the successor, basically, to Micro
and he assisted the Punisher in the comics. And I

411
00:39:16,610 --> 00:39:22,020
think it would be fucking awesome if it turns out
that Stuart didn't actually die. And then he ends

412
00:39:22,020 --> 00:39:27,060
up teaming up with John Berndthal's Punisher
character. All right, he would be a great foil for

413
00:39:27,060 --> 00:39:33,460
that character. Yeah, he's such a great comedian.
Now, is John a character in the comics? Yeah, the

414
00:39:33,460 --> 00:39:39,700
cousin John. His name is John King. He's the hood's
cousin as he is in this show. And he's part of his

415
00:39:39,700 --> 00:39:44,720
gang. He helps him out. At one point, he gets
recruited into another gang called the Zodiac.

416
00:39:44,720 --> 00:39:47,960
And I think that was the only time he had
superpowers. But yeah, otherwise, he basically

417
00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:52,650
serves the same function that he did in the show in
the comic books. Cool, let's get to know. Episode

418
00:39:52,650 --> 00:39:57,860
two was called, Will the real Natalie please stand
up? While trying to come to terms with the Natalie

419
00:39:57,860 --> 00:40:03,360
she created, Riri meets with the hood's crew to
discuss extorting the CEO of a new underground

420
00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:08,820
private highway system called Tunnel. Needing
more parts to complete her armor before the job,

421
00:40:08,820 --> 00:40:13,940
Natalie helps Riri track down a black market arms
dealer named Joe McGillicuddy in the Chicago

422
00:40:13,940 --> 00:40:19,860
suburbs. He takes her to his arms bunker and Riri
finishes her armor before the heist. The crew's

423
00:40:19,860 --> 00:40:25,320
hacker, Slug, gives Riri a computer virus on a
flash drive, though she's startled by Natalie and

424
00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:30,920
loses it. Improvising, Riri helps the crew still
pull off the job with hood teleporting into the

425
00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:36,070
CEO's car and extorting her. Escaping the
underground tunnels, Ironheart is confronted by

426
00:40:36,070 --> 00:40:41,860
a guard at gunpoint and Natalie freezes. The hood
saves her with magic bullets, covering Riri's

427
00:40:41,860 --> 00:40:47,760
escape back home. At the hideout, John tattoos
over the hood's magic scars, which grow worse the

428
00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:52,320
more he uses his cloak. Now could the hood
teleport? I didn't think he could. I thought he

429
00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:57,240
could just turn invisible. Is it like Frodo? Yeah,
he could teleport, he could turn invisible, he can

430
00:40:57,240 --> 00:41:01,960
imbue weapons with Hellfire. He's a pretty cool
character and we're definitely going to use him in

431
00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:07,800
a duel in the near future. But his power set does
speak to another plot hole that I have in that, you

432
00:41:07,800 --> 00:41:11,700
know, forget the fact that he probably could have
gone straight to his father. Why couldn't he just

433
00:41:11,700 --> 00:41:18,180
go straight to the CEOs? Why did he need all these
elaborate plans when he can literally sneak by

434
00:41:18,180 --> 00:41:22,700
anything and just show up like in their home or
something? Yeah, just make him sign the contracts

435
00:41:22,700 --> 00:41:29,460
at gunpoint. So much easier. Exactly. That is a
plot hole, right? Yes. Yep, I would say. Now in your

436
00:41:29,460 --> 00:41:34,020
character breakdown, you didn't mention the
actress who played Natalie. I thought she did a

437
00:41:34,020 --> 00:41:38,820
fantastic job though. I thought from the trailers
and everything that she was going to be super

438
00:41:38,820 --> 00:41:44,240
cringe, but she wasn't. She was fantastic.
Absolutely. Yeah, she's played by Lyric Ross, who

439
00:41:44,240 --> 00:41:48,540
I haven't seen in anything else before. But I
thought she brought a lot of heart to the character

440
00:41:48,540 --> 00:41:55,540
of Natalie, even as an AI for sure. It was kind of
weird to see Natalie on a computer screen trying to

441
00:41:55,540 --> 00:42:00,300
figure out how to escape into the rest of the house
because she's kind of talking to herself on a

442
00:42:00,300 --> 00:42:05,650
screen. But beyond that, yeah, there was a lot of
humanity in her performance. Episode three was

443
00:42:05,650 --> 00:42:10,640
called We Endanger Girl. After celebrating their
success, tensions rise in the crew when

444
00:42:10,640 --> 00:42:16,000
demolition expert Clown touches Parker's cloak
and John Reprimands them. The hood announces

445
00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:22,060
their next target, a biotech company named Air
Loom. Jo visits RiRi at her home, blackmailing her

446
00:42:22,060 --> 00:42:27,020
for engineering help with his biotech designs.
Learning from the police that former crew member

447
00:42:27,020 --> 00:42:33,060
Rampage was killed, RiRi suspects the hood and
John of tying up loose ends. She decides to get a

448
00:42:33,060 --> 00:42:38,760
sample of the hood to study it and learn more about
what kind of threat he poses. RiRi visits Jo and

449
00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:44,420
learns that he is Ezekiel Stain, the son of Obadiah
Stain, the Iron Monger, but that he abhors his

450
00:42:44,420 --> 00:42:50,060
father. She borrows a sample of his biomass skin
design in order to get her laser cutter through Air

451
00:42:50,060 --> 00:42:55,150
Loom's metal detectors, which she can use to get a
piece of the hood's cloak. However, during the

452
00:42:55,150 --> 00:43:01,220
heist, RiRi's laser is detected by security
sensors and triggers a CO2 defense system. RiRi

453
00:43:01,220 --> 00:43:06,110
tries to help rescue the crew, but is discovered by
John out of her armor and with a piece of the hood's

454
00:43:06,110 --> 00:43:11,880
cloak. He tries to kill her, but RiRi escapes with
her armor's help, losing the biomass skin sample

455
00:43:11,880 --> 00:43:16,980
in the process and leaving John to suffocate. The
crew flees and the hood is distraught over the loss

456
00:43:16,980 --> 00:43:22,360
of his cousin. He sees in a vision that RiRi was
responsible for his death and RiRi has a panic

457
00:43:22,360 --> 00:43:27,200
attack over the disastrous turn of events. This
was a good episode. I think this was my favorite

458
00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:33,420
episode. Just because of all the tension of RiRi
working for the guy who she thinks maybe trying to

459
00:43:33,420 --> 00:43:39,400
kill her and figuring out how she was going to get to
him first. I thought it was a cool episode. It was

460
00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:44,760
pretty good. There is another plot hole here
though, in that a laser can cut off a piece of the

461
00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:51,260
hood. You would think it would be heat resistant.
You would think, but also by the end of the show,

462
00:43:51,260 --> 00:43:57,740
RiRi ends up incorporating magic into her suit of
armor and that ends up deleting Natalie, which

463
00:43:57,740 --> 00:44:03,760
leads to the deal with Mephisto. You know what
would circumvent all of that? A shit ton of lasers?

464
00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:08,900
A fucking shit ton of lasers. Like the ones that
Iron Man used in Iron Man 2, where he was fighting

465
00:44:08,900 --> 00:44:13,780
alongside War Machine and he told him to duck and
then he spun around and killed all of those hammer

466
00:44:13,780 --> 00:44:19,680
droids. Just fucking put some of those on the Iron
Heart armor. You'll be able to cut through

467
00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:24,900
anything, including that fucking cloak and just
destroy it. Okay, take it back. This is not a good

468
00:44:24,900 --> 00:44:30,460
episode. This whole show sucks now. I understand
why scientifically she wanted a piece of the

469
00:44:30,460 --> 00:44:35,220
cloak, but I really think they kind of shot
themselves in the foot with the reveal that it

470
00:44:35,220 --> 00:44:39,240
could be cut with a laser beam. Especially when
you're dealing with a character like Iron Heart

471
00:44:39,240 --> 00:44:45,760
who can shoot fucking lasers. Major plot hole.
What the heck? Yeah, yeah. But yeah, other than

472
00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:51,160
that, great episode. Episode 4 was called Bad
Magic. In a flashback, we see Parker and John

473
00:44:51,160 --> 00:44:56,640
attempt to rob a mansion, but are discovered by
security. In the present, RiRi meets with the crew

474
00:44:56,640 --> 00:45:01,820
and suspects that the hood knows she was involved
with John's death. She returns home and analyzes

475
00:45:01,820 --> 00:45:06,920
the hood piece she recovered, which she learns is
magic. She goes to visit Ezekiel and discovers

476
00:45:06,920 --> 00:45:12,000
that he's been arrested for the discovery of his
biomech tech found at the heirloom crime scene.

477
00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:17,220
She visits the prison to apologize, and Parker
deduces the connection between RiRi and Ezekiel

478
00:45:17,220 --> 00:45:22,720
via news of the arrest. Afraid for the safety of her
family and friends, RiRi fashions them force

479
00:45:22,720 --> 00:45:27,920
field-emitting watches. Her mother, Ronnie,
offers to help whatever situation she's in and

480
00:45:27,920 --> 00:45:33,460
accompanies RiRi to Stanton's, a book and candy
shop, to learn what might destroy the hood's

481
00:45:33,460 --> 00:45:39,200
cloak. Madeline Stanton, a former comertase
trainee and her daughter, Zelma, learned that the

482
00:45:39,200 --> 00:45:44,520
hood is working with an ancient evil until RiRi
that it cannot be destroyed. The hood sneaks into

483
00:45:44,520 --> 00:45:50,420
Ezekiel's cell to form an alliance against RiRi
and helps him escape prison. Natalie tries to help

484
00:45:50,420 --> 00:45:56,440
RiRi by bringing her friend Xavier to her, but he's
upset that the AI isn't as late sister's likeness.

485
00:45:56,440 --> 00:46:01,440
The crew uses Ezekiel's biotech designs to outfit
him with cybernetic enhancements, secretly

486
00:46:01,440 --> 00:46:06,440
putting the hood in charge of the programming.
Parker informs the crew that their next job is to

487
00:46:06,440 --> 00:46:12,560
kill RiRi for being responsible for John's death.
A lot of plot holes in this episode. Let me break

488
00:46:12,560 --> 00:46:17,540
them down and see if we can get answers. First of
all, why didn't the hood just go after RiRi's

489
00:46:17,540 --> 00:46:22,660
family right away if he suspected her of being
responsible for John's death? He said earlier

490
00:46:22,660 --> 00:46:30,240
that he had plans for her, but you also can bend
bullets, bro. Yeah, just shoot her at that point,

491
00:46:30,240 --> 00:46:36,100
right? Why not? Why all the complicated schemes?
The hood is not a very efficient villain, I'll say,

492
00:46:36,100 --> 00:46:41,320
in this season. Next plot hole is if RiRi suspected
the hood and John of being responsible for

493
00:46:41,320 --> 00:46:46,700
Stewart's death, which she later brought up with
Clown during their fight in the next episode, why

494
00:46:46,700 --> 00:46:50,760
didn't she bring that up with the crew earlier?
That Stewart was dead, because the crew would have

495
00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:55,680
questioned it at that point. I know, there's
something to be said for a dramatic timing though,

496
00:46:55,680 --> 00:47:00,760
and maybe she really didn't fully trust the crew.
That's fair, that's fair. Maybe that one's not a

497
00:47:00,760 --> 00:47:07,080
plot hole. But how did authorities track the
biomass skin to Ezekiel Stain, considering that a

498
00:47:07,080 --> 00:47:12,560
lot of his stuff was black market and off the books?
That's exactly what I was wondering. Now, to be

499
00:47:12,560 --> 00:47:18,560
fair, he did mention to her that this black market
stuff could be traced back to him, but it was not

500
00:47:18,560 --> 00:47:23,920
clear how. And if it could, I was like, bro, what is
the whole point of the black market then? I thought

501
00:47:23,920 --> 00:47:28,440
this stuff was supposed to be untraceable. Right.
Those are all the plot holes I have for that

502
00:47:28,440 --> 00:47:33,880
episode. Other than them, I did enjoy episode 4. I
really liked the scene where RiRi tried a bunch of

503
00:47:33,880 --> 00:47:37,780
different scientific means to destroy the cloak.
I don't know, I thought some of them were kind of

504
00:47:37,780 --> 00:47:44,200
basic. Like she tried a small bomb, she tried acid.
I guess she could have tried more lasers. Right, so

505
00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:50,160
it's like a laser can cut it, but the heat couldn't,
the bomb couldn't? You just ruined the whole show

506
00:47:50,160 --> 00:47:57,060
for me. Sorry. Episode 5 is called Karma's A
Glitch. In it, Natalie and the Iron Heart suit are

507
00:47:57,060 --> 00:48:02,480
captured by the crew while RiRi meets with Zelma at
a White Castle. Zelma explains her belief that the

508
00:48:02,480 --> 00:48:07,700
hood belongs to Dormammu before the crew ambush
and attack RiRi. She traps the blood siblings with

509
00:48:07,700 --> 00:48:12,600
a force field watch, knocks Clown out with her own
explosive, and manages to get her armor back

510
00:48:12,600 --> 00:48:18,340
before being run down by Slug. However, Zeke shows
up and uses his biotech energy and physiology to

511
00:48:18,340 --> 00:48:23,320
shut down and destroy RiRi's armor. However,
instead of killing her, he spares her life and

512
00:48:23,320 --> 00:48:28,140
tells her to leave the city. She runs home and tells
Ronnie to pack her bags to leave, confessing

513
00:48:28,140 --> 00:48:32,280
everything. RiRi admits her obsession with
building the suit was based on her trauma from

514
00:48:32,280 --> 00:48:36,800
Natalie and Gary's death, and her mom takes her to
the garage where the drive-by occurred and

515
00:48:36,800 --> 00:48:42,340
reminds her of the good memories also had there.
Inspired to build a new suit and fight back, RiRi

516
00:48:42,340 --> 00:48:47,060
recruits her friends to transform the Plymouth
Barracuda her and her dad restored into an

517
00:48:47,060 --> 00:48:52,400
upgraded armor. Convinced magic is the only means
of stopping the hood. She has Zelma perform a

518
00:48:52,400 --> 00:48:58,540
ritual to imbue it with magic energy. Meanwhile,
Parker, believing RiRi is dead, controls Zeke's

519
00:48:58,540 --> 00:49:04,060
body and uses him to invade the mansion from the
flashback, reveals to be his estranged father's

520
00:49:04,060 --> 00:49:08,920
house. Revealing that he was kicked out at age 12
and now has controlling stakes in his dad's

521
00:49:08,920 --> 00:49:17,320
businesses, he forces him to sign over his estate.
Zelma's Iron Heart Armor. Now this was a great

522
00:49:17,320 --> 00:49:23,680
episode, but there is one small plot hole, and that
is why didn't the hood accompany the crew at White

523
00:49:23,680 --> 00:49:28,560
Castle? Like the hood was there for all the other
jobs that the crew was doing, and I don't know what

524
00:49:28,560 --> 00:49:33,060
he was doing at the time they were trying to kill
RiRi, but if he had joined them, he would have been

525
00:49:33,060 --> 00:49:38,040
there to either finish the job or at least see that
Ezekiel Stain was lying to him. Yeah, you kind of

526
00:49:38,040 --> 00:49:44,280
put too much faith in Zeke, I guess, which made no
sense because he was new to the crew and he hadn't

527
00:49:44,280 --> 00:49:50,020
earned that trust yet. Well, I was still trying to
figure out how Zeke was able to defeat RiRi so

528
00:49:50,020 --> 00:49:55,060
easily. Was his electricity draining her
battery? Is that what it was? It seemed like it kind

529
00:49:55,060 --> 00:50:00,480
of short circuited her systems or something like
that. Okay, that makes a little bit more sense, but

530
00:50:00,480 --> 00:50:04,860
you're right about the hood not being there. He
definitely should have been to contribute. And

531
00:50:04,860 --> 00:50:10,140
confirm the kill. I did think it was a little weak
that Zeke just told her to run away. It felt kind of

532
00:50:10,140 --> 00:50:14,520
like a convenient cop out. Despite the fact that
the show went out of the way to establish him as more

533
00:50:14,520 --> 00:50:20,540
of a morally gray person, but that in itself is also
a cop out considering he is a villain in the comic

534
00:50:20,540 --> 00:50:24,600
books. It was all just too convenient.
Absolutely. I hear that all the time where it's

535
00:50:24,600 --> 00:50:28,420
like, oh, superhero movies are done. Why doesn't
the villain just kill the hero when he has the

536
00:50:28,420 --> 00:50:34,780
chance? This is the perfect example of that. Yeah,
for sure. I will say I did love the White Castle

537
00:50:34,780 --> 00:50:41,020
fight showing how resourceful RiRi is outside of
the armor. It kind of reminded me of Iron Man 3,

538
00:50:41,020 --> 00:50:47,240
where we saw Tony Stark take out all the henchmen at
what he thought was the Mandarin's mansion. And

539
00:50:47,240 --> 00:50:51,760
you know, he went to Home Depot and got all
creative. Here, RiRi had to get creative inside a

540
00:50:51,760 --> 00:50:56,860
burger joint and really prove her metal. I don't
know why Zelma didn't help her. Yeah, I guess she

541
00:50:56,860 --> 00:51:00,880
could have used her magic to help fight back,
right? She seems like a pretty powerful

542
00:51:00,880 --> 00:51:06,560
sorceress. I mean, she's not that powerful. She's
still learning in the books she is Dr. Strange's

543
00:51:06,560 --> 00:51:12,080
librarian. Oh, interesting. But I mean, she could
transform candy into other candy. Right,

544
00:51:12,080 --> 00:51:19,120
exactly. So she could like transform one of
Clown's bombs into candy. Into candy. Yeah. The

545
00:51:19,120 --> 00:51:24,380
sixth and final episode is called The Past is the
Past. In a flashback, Parker and John split up

546
00:51:24,380 --> 00:51:29,300
after being discovered by security. Cornered,
Parker is approached by Mephisto who helps him

547
00:51:29,300 --> 00:51:34,200
magically escape. He assures Parker that he can
help him achieve his desire for power, respect and

548
00:51:34,200 --> 00:51:40,480
wealth by giving him the cloak in exchange for his
soul. And Parker accepts the deal. In the present,

549
00:51:40,480 --> 00:51:45,580
the hood argues with Zeke about the emptiness of
his ambitions. RiRi tries to recreate Natalie but

550
00:51:45,580 --> 00:51:51,480
can't and vows to defeat the hood and use its magic
to bring her back. Parker accuses Mephisto of not

551
00:51:51,480 --> 00:51:55,320
fulfilling his end of the bargain, but Mephisto
threatens to replace him with someone more

552
00:51:55,320 --> 00:52:01,520
capable. Ironheart and Zeke fight in a rematch,
and he allows her to knock him out to reset Parker's

553
00:52:01,520 --> 00:52:06,640
programming override. She confronts the hood and
the two fight with the hood transforming into a

554
00:52:06,640 --> 00:52:12,200
demonic figure. RiRi detonates a magic energy
blast that seemingly destroys her armor, but it's

555
00:52:12,200 --> 00:52:16,700
revealed to be a holographic illusion and she
removes the hood's cloak and he's left in pain

556
00:52:16,700 --> 00:52:21,520
without it. Leaving the hideout RiRi is
confronted by Mephisto who also assures her he can

557
00:52:21,520 --> 00:52:28,180
help her achieve her desires. In a vision of the
future, or perhaps, reality, RiRi hacks the

558
00:52:28,180 --> 00:52:34,640
suit's magic to recreate Natalie, or as it turns
out, resurrect the real Natalie. Dark magic scars

559
00:52:34,640 --> 00:52:41,400
form on her skin. In a mid-credits scene, Parker
asks Selma for help. Now the ending aside, I really

560
00:52:41,400 --> 00:52:47,160
liked the final battle between Ironheart and the
hood. I thought it had a great tit for tat momentum

561
00:52:47,160 --> 00:52:54,080
in that she was able to negate his invisibility and
teleporting magic, but he transformed into a

562
00:52:54,080 --> 00:53:00,860
demon who was ripping her armor apart. But then she
set off a magic blast that hurt him but also left her

563
00:53:00,860 --> 00:53:06,280
vulnerable. There was a lot of back and forth that
felt very satisfying in terms of who's going to

564
00:53:06,280 --> 00:53:12,440
win. The hood was definitely a good villain. I did
find it odd that Mephisto or Mephisto,

565
00:53:12,440 --> 00:53:21,380
apparently, is pronounced Mephisto. He was
agreed to every single aspect of our bargain. I'm

566
00:53:21,380 --> 00:53:26,940
like, no you didn't. You promised he would be a
king. What are you talking about? Well, he did

567
00:53:26,940 --> 00:53:31,200
achieve that. He was sitting at his father's
table. I don't know. When Mephisto said that, I was

568
00:53:31,200 --> 00:53:36,380
just like, whatever bro, no you didn't. The devil
is a liar. Yeah, he definitely didn't tell him

569
00:53:36,380 --> 00:53:40,760
about the whole magic scarring thing. I think if he
would have admitted that, maybe he wouldn't have

570
00:53:40,760 --> 00:53:45,140
gone through with the deal. Although Riri knew
about the magic scarring and she still went

571
00:53:45,140 --> 00:53:52,100
through with the deal too. So weird. Such a weird
choice. Do you want there to be a season two of this?

572
00:53:52,100 --> 00:53:56,460
You know, I really like the character of Riri
Williams, especially what they did with her in

573
00:53:56,460 --> 00:54:02,600
this season. I would like there to be a season two,
but I don't want it to continue the story of where

574
00:54:02,600 --> 00:54:08,700
they left it off here. I think Riri belongs
squarely again in the tech side of Marvel, not the

575
00:54:08,700 --> 00:54:14,260
magic side. And I would like to see the hood return,
but maybe as a villain against someone like Moon

576
00:54:14,260 --> 00:54:19,900
Knight or Blade or Ghost Rider or something like
that. That'd be cool. I keep hearing rumors that

577
00:54:19,900 --> 00:54:26,180
Mephisto is going to kind of take over for Kang as
the primary antagonist for this upcoming

578
00:54:26,180 --> 00:54:31,960
multiverse saga. How would you feel about that? I
could totally see that working, for sure. That'd

579
00:54:31,960 --> 00:54:37,340
be awesome. Mephisto is a big enough character to
hold his own against an entire Avengers lineup. If

580
00:54:37,340 --> 00:54:44,100
they do that, I kind of wish they would have
introduced him in a different project than this

581
00:54:44,100 --> 00:54:49,280
show. Well, if they do do that, maybe it'll get more
people to watch this season in the future.

582
00:54:49,280 --> 00:54:55,000
Overall, there was a lot to like about the show, a
little bit to dislike, a lot to question. It's kind

583
00:54:55,000 --> 00:55:00,740
of a mixed bag. I think the strong elements within
it really do a lot to make up for its shortcomings.

584
00:55:00,740 --> 00:55:05,620
The season definitely carries a subtext of deeper
emotional meaning and thematic importance

585
00:55:05,620 --> 00:55:12,500
despite the weak supporting cast, the plot holes,
and the ambiguous ending. All things considered,

586
00:55:12,500 --> 00:55:20,100
I'm rating Iron Heart season 1 3.5 stars out of 5. A
fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I would agree

587
00:55:20,100 --> 00:55:24,800
with you that it's a mixed bag. The lead
performances were great. The special effects

588
00:55:24,800 --> 00:55:30,140
were great. The themes were great. That said, I do
think the writers dropped the ball in several

589
00:55:30,140 --> 00:55:36,020
instances, including the ending, including the
plot holes. I do think ultimately the good

590
00:55:36,020 --> 00:55:40,760
outweighs the bad, which is why I would still
recommend it. So I would agree with your 3.5 star

591
00:55:40,760 --> 00:55:47,020
rating, especially if Mofisto is going to be a
major player in the MCU going forward. And

592
00:55:47,020 --> 00:55:53,540
especially if they're able to clear up the ending
with a subsequent season or some other project. I

593
00:55:53,540 --> 00:55:57,120
think that would actually make this season better
if they cleaned everything up in a satisfying

594
00:55:57,120 --> 00:56:02,720
manner. Still probably not to elevate the show
beyond a 3.5 star rating though. But that does it

595
00:56:02,720 --> 00:56:40,800
for this review. H.J .9K, help close us out. Next
episode is not as good as this episode, because

596
00:56:40,800 --> 00:56:47,380
it's going to be a review of the Superman movie,
which is almost certainly going to be 3 stars or

597
00:56:47,380 --> 00:56:54,520
under. H.J .9K, 5 stars. It's going to be a 5 star
start to the new DCU. Just you wait. But that does it

598
00:56:54,520 --> 00:56:58,900
for this episode. We want to give a big thanks to our
executive producers, John Staroski, Zachary

599
00:56:58,900 --> 00:57:03,560
Hepburn, Dustin Belcom, Mickey Mathen-Geehan,
Nathaniel Wagner, Levi Yatn, Austin Wisalowski,

600
00:57:03,560 --> 00:57:09,360
AJ Dunkerly, Nick Obanto, Scott Camacho, Gil
Camacho, Adam Spees, Dean Molesky, Devin Davis,

601
00:57:09,360 --> 00:57:14,240
Joseph Kirsting, Josh Leiner, Mike Williams,
Oscar Galvez, and Paul Graves for helping make

602
00:57:14,240 --> 00:57:20,100
this podcast possible. And we'll talk to you guys
next week. Up up and away, true believers. For the

603
00:57:20,100 --> 00:57:25,620
Gen Z fam, Iron Heart was low-key mid but didn't
take crazy L's in its flop era and is giving

604
00:57:25,620 --> 00:57:28,840
scabiddy toilet-riss vibes on God. Period.