IR TV Review: WHAT IF - EPISODE 8 (“…Ultron Won”) [Disney+]

For the most part, "What If.." has tried to remain insular in the stories that it tells. It provides a nice alternative to history without affecting it. However the tricky part is that with the multi-verse becoming a seemingly big part of everything Marvel, stories will soon become a lot more complicated. It will be interesting to see how normal audiences engage with this because it takes both a leap of faith but also inherent attention to detail. With Episode 8 of What If...?" entitled "..Ultron Won" it takes on the 4th wall in a certain way. With The Watcher saying at the beginning "This one breaks my heart..." one can tell this will be a little different than others. While Ultron as a character could be tricky as far as his eventual build, the tension is there.

This episode doesn't have the heartbreak of the Strange episode because even though the loss is huge, it doesn't feel as impactful though it does an interesting switch on the Widow/Hawkeye story. Interestingly enough with all the talent floating around in the series, the only original voice for the most part is Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye. Now the concept of what this shows and the impact is pretty cool. But in keeping upping the stakes, the problem becomes, especially leading into the live action movies, how does Marvel keep this pace and stakes? "Shang Chi" had a different part to play but both "Eternals" and "Spider Man" have different trajectories to integrate so it will be interesting to see that play out. This episode, without giving too much away, is also not close-ended so it indeed does have impact but the question becomes is "are these just tenets of what reality might be?" or do they actually have impact in the actual Marvel Universe. Time will tell. B+

By Tim Wassberg