IR TV Review: WHAT IF - EPISODE 9 (“…The Watcher Broke His Oath?”) [Disney+]
Marvel always has a plan one way or another. While the climax of last week's episode was very dynamic, it provided (it would seem) a limited number of wiggle room options. By breaking the 4th wall and also integrating Doctor Strange (which likely makes everything more complicated), the storyline line flitters with a possibility that is both intense story-wise but very delicate to pull off. Granted this is animation but with many of the voices taking part (especially Benedict Cumberbatch pulling heavy duty as Strange) the impact is impending in live action (if these episodes are indeed taken with a degree of canon). With Strange both integral in the next Spiderman as well as his next own next movie, the impact is distinctly looming. Even the recent Venom movie (despite all of its problems) was able to integrate impact of what we are seeing here in the season finale of "What If..." entitled "....The Watcher Broke His Oath?".
Without saying how he in fact does that (which is interesting by the way), the series is able to take what seemed like 7 or 8 disparate stories from separate universes and brings them together to make sense. While it is bedlam much of the episode, there is more a lyricism in how it fits together. There are certain flashpoint moments including one eye lock which means so much, even across multiverses and different points of time. Chris Hemsworth takes the brunt of the joke, likely on purpose, as Party Thor while old rivalries while still locked in different reasonings always come back to a base mythology. Marvel knows its characters through and through and understands that they must grow but inherently they have the same strengths and flaws that they have always had. It is just a matter of how they move forward. While Strange's episode in terms of its sheer power and subtlety is still the best of the season, the season finale shows that planning but also a burst of creativity interacted into this bigger world can come out amazingly. B+
By Tim Wassberg
