Ron Does Stuff

The previous episode really built up the tension as the show heads into its final two episodes, so let’s see if the show continues the momentum!

This episode starts with the AI Natalie looking back on Riri’s past memories of the real Natalie, before being captured by Parker’s gang. While all that is happening, Riri is with Zelma, one of the witches she met back in episode four. She’s telling her that the cloak Parker is wearing is from Dormammu’s Dark Dimension. BUT, she’s only 50 percent sure about it. So this could be someone else? Well, we know who that someone else is, not only because I’m late watching this but also because the casting was announced already.

Their conversation is cut short by the Blood Twins walking into the White Castle telling everyone that the building is now closed due to “health violations”. Fight at a White Castle coming up! They should be happy this isn’t a Waffle House because the employees there will beat up the Blood Twins. Or so the internet has led me to believe.

Riri gets her ass beat for a bit by the twins before some luck allows her to trap them in a protective bubble. Good thing Zeke gave her back that watch! Clown and Slug are up next, but thanks to her ingenuity and Natalie finally freeing the suit from Slug’s truck, Riri is able to fight back.

However, Ezekiel Stane is up next and he has definitely been upgraded. He handily defeats Riri, but thanks to their previous bonding over Alanis, he spares her life. This is my personal headcanon and no one’s going to convince me otherwise. However, Clown sees her leave the scene, so I guess there’s going to be conflict between Parker and Ezekiel, and Ezekiel doesn’t know that Parker has control over his body.

Riri comes back home, and we finally get an explanation for why she is the way she is. I need to sift through my feelings about this explanation because it’s the same thing a male hero would say about why he’s a ~lone wolf~ type of guy, and I started to think, maybe that’s the reason why the first two episodes of the show didn’t resonate with me? But then again, why do I have suce binary expectations about how a man or a woman should react to situations? Something for me to think about.

The show also finally decides on what it wants to tackle. Or at least it’s shed all the accoutrements and finally show us its heart. Its iron heart.

I’m not a filmmaker, and certainly don’t know what it feels like to have to deal with executives and big budgets when you’re creating your project, so I don’t know if there could have been a better way to do at least the first two episodes. Those really were the weakest for me, which is unfortunate, because the first episodes of a show really are the most important ones if you want people to stick around. This show eventually got better for me, but when the first 33 percent of your show is shaky, I don’t know if other people would have stuck around.

While Riri recovers and rebounds thanks to AI Natalie and her mom, cracks are starting to show with Parker’s gang, as Clown helps Ezekiel cover up the fact that he didn’t kill Riri. Clown then tells Slug to hack some autopsy reports for her, since now she’s doubting Parker as well. And that boils over the next day, when Clown confronts him about Rampage’s death, which leads to the hood upping his paranoia and leading to him firing everyone in the team.

The inverse is happening over at Riri’s camp, where Zelma is suggesting that Riri draw power from Dormammu’s dimension, which of course everyone else is worried about. But maybe that’s for another season! If this gets another season.

Meanwhile, Parker is utilizing the control he has over Ezekiel’s body and attacks the same house that he and John did all those years ago. The house, as it turns out, is his father’s. The same father who threw him out years ago after his mother died. So, we’ve got two fatherless individuals who ended up very, very differently. Three, if we’re counting Ezekiel. This is the daddy issues show!

Over at Riri’s camp, the new suit looks great. But things start to go awry when Zelma tries to power it up. The suit can’t handle both the energy from the Dark Dimension and the AI Natalie, leading to Riri essentially watching Natalie die a second time. Damn.