Ironheart S1E04-06 Review | "Bad Magic" "Karma's a Glitch" "The Past is the Past"
Dan Gvozden reviews the final three episodes of 'Ironheart.'
[Welcome to Decoding TV’s coverage of Ironheart Season 1! For each of Ironheart’s two 3-episode drops, we’ve run reviews by Dan Gvozden. If you’d like to support what we’re doing here, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. The review below contains major spoilers for Season 1, Episodes 4-6 of Ironheart.]
Well, it’s hard to believe it, but with this week’s batch release of three Ironheart episodes, the season has come to an end. If Ironheart can claim any record, it might be for “shortest watercooler conversation” with only seven days between the start and end of the season and nearly six hours of content to get caught up on between then. Still, this release schedule does offer an interesting storytelling experiment (at least for those of us who spend too much time analyzing these kinds of things) to break down all the various set-ups to see what the storytellers at Marvel Studios were able to pay off before the credits rolled on the season finale.
When we last saw Riri Williams (Dominic Thorne) and Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos), they had just finished a chaotic heist at Heirlum, but during the process, Riri let his cousin John (Manny Montana) die after he confronted her about her deception. Riri also managed to cut loose a portion of Parker’s cape, but the chaos and stress of her double life sent her spiraling into a panic attack. Meanwhile, Parker was left devastated by his cousin’s death and directed his anger towards the mysterious, shadowy figure that powered his magical cape. On top of that, Riri found out that her new friend, weapons hoarder “Joe McGillicuddy,” is actually Ezekiel Stane (Alden Ehrenreich), the son of Iron Man’s first nemesis, Obadiah Stane. Sure, he might just be a mild-mannered suburbanite who argues with his neighbor Heather (Tanya Christiansen) over their choice of flowers. Still, his recent habit of cutting open his arm and inserting biomechanical weapons seems like something Riri will need to keep an eye on.
EPISODE 4: “Bad Magic”
Episode 4 opens in an unexpected place and time. We join Parker and John before they ever assembled their gang or acquired a magical cape. Plus, the show throws another surprise our way; it is John who is encouraging a fearful Parker to break into a darkened mansion by pushing through its looming, austere gates. Parker reluctantly agrees, overcoming his nerves, and the two hastily make their way through the doors by deactivating the security with a keypad code, sneak down the various hallways, decorated in expensive art, and land in a round office that clearly belongs to the head of the manor.
But this isn’t just any random home. Not only did they come with the codes to the security, but they also know precisely where a safe is hidden inside a false liquor cabinet and have the code to open it. But, as Parker opens the safe, he’s caught off-guard by… a guard, who trains his gun on him. A gunshot rings out, but Parker is safe. The guard falls, revealing that John has shot him from behind, as he reminds Parker, “I’m always with you.”
It’s an effective opening that sets the tone and promise of the final three episodes, which focus on revealing more about Parker’s background, motivations, and the extent to which he’s sacrificed his nobility in pursuit of revenge and the riches he feels that he’s due. That feeling of victimization is further underlined by the hard cut from John’s words to the makeshift wake the gang is holding for him at Desperito’s, the bar/restaurant that serves as the front for their headquarters. Parker remains quiet throughout, as others share their memories of the departed leader.
The sort of gleeful reminiscing amongst the other gang members, especially considering how recently John died, is characteristic of how these fairly cartoonish characters have been written, but feels hollow and thoughtless on the script level. Surely, the mood would have been dampened with their considerations of the mortal peril they might find themselves in if they continue, given the back-to-back deaths of Rampage (Eric Andre) and John. It’s a missed opportunity to flesh out these characters and their personal motivations, even in the face of death, that goes whizzing by.
Parker, on the other hand, is clearly shaken by John’s death, to the point that he starts hearing the sound of Gregorian chants, no doubt influenced by the demonic corruption from his Hood. He remarks to the group that he will miss John’s “loyalty,” adding that it was the thing that got him killed. He suspects that the group has a traitor among its members, adding that he “has plans” for Riri.
Back at Riri’s room in her mother’s apartment, she’s examining the piece of the Hood she lasered off Parker through a microscope. Over her shoulder, Natalie incessantly offers her unique, “trenchant” commentary. Riri discovers that the Hood is emitting a heat signature that’s embedded in the fabric, with no apparent source for the energy to originate. She speculates, with almost uncanny accuracy, that it’s what’s filtering into Parker’s body, slowly corrupting him and destroying his body, but providing him with an unlimited source of energy for his magic and enhanced powerset.
Just then, Riri’s mother (Anji White) abruptly opens the door - a classic “Mom move” - to question Riri about the unexpected and secretive changes in her life: the expensive gifts, late-night outings, her dead coworker, and the police showing up at their house. No mention of the giant robotic suit in the corner of the room? Perhaps that’s the source of the problems, Mom! Maybe ask Riri about that! No? Just me?
Anyway, after her mother leaves, with Riri successfully avoiding her increased scrutiny, the piece of the Hood she’s examining suddenly disappears. Riri freaks out, suspecting that Parker must be nearby, when the piece suddenly returns. Natalie has remained relatively calm throughout this whole ordeal, which strikes me as odd, even though I've only known Natalie for three episodes. Turns out that she’s still hung up on the fact that Riri let John die during the heist, while also admitting that Riri “did what you had to survive.” Will the show let Riri off the hook for allowing someone to die to protect herself and those she loves? Only time will tell. (Yes, kind of.)
But then, Natalie says what we’ve all been thinking since the first episode of this show, “Why can’t you just call up Shuri and have the Wakandans help you out of this situation?” Riri mocks her while noting that it was her fault that the Wakandans were ever threatened by the underwater threat from Namor and his army of Talokanil soldiers. Okay, fair point Riri, I’d argue, but perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to try? What’s the worst that could happen? Even if she laughs at you over her holographic telecommunications device and says, “No,” you’d be right back where you started, and Ironheart would at least have another cameo to help boost its viewership!
Riri heads off to her friend Joe/Ezekiel’s home to discover police tape surrounding the building. Either he’s taken his flower war to the next level, or something bad has happened. Right on cue, his neighbor Heather shows up to say that the cops took him away that morning because evidence of the Heirlum heist was traced back to him. The news has a field day with this story, publicly broadcasting his booking procedures while promoting a false narrative about his father Obadiah’s legacy, which they claim is now in ruins, and the camera spins as they suggest his father is rolling over in his grave. Here’s a note for the future: Ezekiel and Riri won’t be the only characters in this unfolding drama who have severe, unresolved “Daddy issues.”
Back at Desperito’s, the gang wonders why Stane-tech ended up in their Heirlum heist, but are happy to let someone else take the fall for their crimes. Upstairs, Parker has submerged himself in an icy bath, with a timer indicating that he hasn’t taken a breath in over eleven minutes. But when news of Ezekiel’s arrest comes on his television, it catches his attention.
At prison, Riri visits Ezekiel (that was fast!) and promises to find a way to get him out. As it turns out, it’s perfectly acceptable at this prison to discuss your desire to facilitate someone’s escape, but always remember, “No touching!” Either way, Ezekiel turns on Riri, pointing out her selfishness that has underlined all of her actions since they met, and asks to leave.
Even with the heat on her, Riri is keen to keep up her appearances with the gang, so she returns to Desperito’s, where she learns that Parker is hiring another tech specialist for the next heist. He then calls her into a private meeting where he shows her footage of Ezekiel and presses her for information about their collaboration. She lies, but he reveals that he’s known about their partnership and is more upset that she didn’t tell him.
Now that Riri suspects Parker is on to her, she decides to set up security cameras outside her mother’s home, as well as provide her with a watch that is secretly a version of the bubble shield she was selling to other students at MIT. No one can say “no” to a free watch, even if they aren’t particularly fashionable. Riri intends to give one to Xavier as well, but is caught off-guard when Natalie asks if she can finally reveal her existence to her brother, which Riri quickly shuts down. Hey, at least Riri has enough self-awareness about how icky the Natalie situation is to not subject her brother to the reappearance of his murdered sister. That’s got to count for something, right?
Nevertheless, Riri flies off to deliver a watch to Xavier. There’s more of this strange “will they, won’t they” between the characters, which thankfully is never consummated by the season’s end. It doesn’t help that when she asks him if she’s a good person, he compares her intellect and emotional distance to that of Spock. But when she returns home, even Natalie asks her, “What happened? Did y’all kiss?” Is that what you want, Natalie? Just a few minutes ago, you were lamenting that Riri let someone suffocate to death on CO2, and now you want her to hook up with your mourning brother?
Riri returns home and tries to sleep, while her suit monitors the house. But the sound of a gunshot on the television triggers the shield on her mother’s watch, which you could imagine might give someone a heart attack. Her mother is fed up with the secrecy and forces Riri to come clean about her anxieties, letting her mother help her with “magic.” That magic is at Stanton’s candy shop, and at first, I thought she was referring to the healing powers of chocolate. But no, her mother was being literal and introduces her to Zelma (Regan Aliyah), a fan-favorite young magician from the Dr. Strange comics.
Zelma immediately flips them into another dimension, the Western Cortex of Neverish, which freaks everyone out. At this point, I was wondering what Riri’s mother was expecting. Was Zelma selling her edibles before and is only now revealing the full extent of her powers? Riri hands her cape over to Zelma to analyze, and she tells her that it is “natural” and was created in a different dimension. But her mother, Madeline (Cree Summer), throws them out when they tell her where they got the cape fragment, as she warns Riri to stay away and that it's evil magic.
As Riri and her mother walk away from Stanton’s, they brainstorm ways to destroy the cape. Her mother is upset with her that in the five years since Gary’s death, she’s never come to her mother for help despite her mother’s insistence that she’ll never leave her side. Riri is overcome with emotions and is unprepared for her mother’s confrontation, so she flees to her Ironheart suit and flies away, using the armor as a way to shield herself from facing her emotions.
While Ezekiel rots in prison, he’s surprised by the sudden appearance of Parker and his Spirit Halloween-looking cape, chalking it up to a hallucination. Parker assures him that he’s very real and that “My name is Parker, but you can call me ‘Hood’ if you like.” Ezekiel gives him a look that says, “Nah, man, I’m going to stick with ‘Parker.’” Parker tries to convince “Joe” that he can embrace his legacy as Ezekiel Stane, escape from prison with him, and take charge of his new life. Ezekiel doesn’t seem particularly convinced, considering that Parker has as much charisma as a flat tire. I’m not convinced by the show either, mainly because the decision to have his arrest happen off-screen didn’t allow me to fully understand the extent of his fear and anger towards Riri.
To compound Ezekiel’s reasons to dislike Riri, she pulls a B&E on his weapons bunker. Well, to be fair, he hid a spare key to the door under his “Live. Laugh. Love.” doormat, which Natalie points out to Riri after being asked to blow it off with the Ironheart suit’s weapons systems. Inside the bunker, Riri engages in a “cooking montage” that wishes it was in Breaking Bad, as she tries to figure out if anything can destroy the cape. Except, wait… didn’t she use a laser to cut it free from the rest of the cape? Can’t she just do that again? Was that a one-time deal? To quote that one Imperial officer from the Family Guy: Blue Harvest special, “What, are we paying by the laser now?”
Overcome by her anxiety, Riri hops back in her armor and flies over Chicago, freaking out that her family is directly in the path of a dangerous, magical madman. Boy, this show shifted from a “fun” montage to an anxiety fever dream in no time! And, back in prison, Ezekiel’s cell door unlocks, and a series of lights, controlled by Slug (Shea Couleé), guides him out of prison.
Xavier, ever the hapless bystander, is trying to fall asleep for the night when the Ironheart suit shows up hovering outside his window. The suit kidnaps him and brings him to Riri, who is still in the midst of her worst anxiety attack yet. He tries to comfort her by telling her that it is okay not to be fine, and she can open up to others for help. And that’s when Natalie chooses to reveal herself to her brother as the “person” who kidnapped him and brought him to Riri. He immediately freaks out, which is a reasonable reaction, and insists that no matter how Natalie came to be, Riri should have deleted her. Finally, a sensible person has taken the stage! But then, seconds later, he hands Riri back her watch and exits stage left. Boo. Marvel should let this Xavier lead his own team of X-Men in the future; he clearly has the X-gene for “common sense.”
Parker casually sits on a rooftop, watching footage of his dead cousin John, when he receives a text from Clown (Sonia Denis) that they have brought Stane to their headquarters. Somehow, the team has acquired the technology that created the Winter Soldier and is preparing Ezekiel for a series of bio-alterations—their only stipulation being that he must shave his head to resemble his father. Then, sporting a new hairdo that would make Private Pyle envious, he’s strapped into a giant machine, they push a button, and the computer literally reads “Uploading DNA” while Slug changes the admin of Ezekiel’s upgrades to Parker Robbins. Then, with a wooden spoon in his mouth, no anesthesia, a hope and a prayer, they activate the machine, and a bunch of random drills approach Ezekiel’s bare temples.
And with that, Parker orders his team to arrange a hit on Riri, demanding her head, as the screen cuts to black and Anthony Ramos’ song “Villano” plays over the credits, perhaps to make up for his juiceless performance as this series’ primary villain.
EPISODE 5: “Karma’s a Glitch”
This episode begins as Natalie and the suit sit atop Chicago’s Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, if only to shore up this show’s STEM credentials, and watch back footage of her and Riri’s childhood visit there. She pauses the recording and aligns an image of the real Natalie’s face with her face, comparing its intricacies and pondering her artificial existence. But, before she can really plumb the depths of her digital soul, Slug uses a giant magnetic arm she purchases from Giant Magnetic Arms ‘R Us to trap the Ironheart suit inside of an armored truck.
Zelma, defying her mother’s wishes, meets with Riri at a local White Castle. The two eat burgers while discussing the secrets behind Parker’s Hood, which Zelma speculates comes from the tyrannical ruler of the Dark Dimension, Dormammu. Zelma must have seen 2016’s Doctor Strange, because she’s perfectly recreated a drawing of Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) and the purple scarring around his eyes that he earned while serving as Dormammu’s servant on Earth.
But, before she can explain further, the Blood Siblings (Zoe Terakes and Shakira Barrera) show up and violently kick all the other patrons out of the restaurant. Their guts will thank them later; no one survives the otherworldly, Dark Dimension-inspired torment that a White Castle meal wreaks on one’s guts. Then, the show engages in its weakest attribute: a choreographed fight sequence, where everyone is suddenly imbued with ninja skills. Still, this one stands out above the rest because Riri uses her tech knowledge to take out the entire gang, trapping the Blood Siblings in a watch bubble (which you’d think would be able to be deactivated internally?), and blasting Clown with a tube of compressed air to counter her grenades. Slug then chases Riri with their truck, as she does her best impression of Charlize Theron in Prometheus and runs in a straight line away from the oncoming vehicle before the Ironheart suit forms around her. She then uses the suit's strength to flip the truck and flip off Slug.
As the chaos of the fight dissipates, Riri moves her helmet and vomits onto the sidewalk. I told you, never eat at a White Castle!
To make matters worse, Natalie is furious with Riri for even considering deleting her and leaves, just as Ezekiel shows up with his bioelectric upgrades crackling under his skin. He then pulls an Emperor Palpatine on her, frying her with blue electricity, while offering that, “Hey, at least we’ll always have Alanis.” In a continuation of his father’s legacy, Ezekiel tears Riri’s suit off her body, disarming her. Still, he ultimately spares her, tells her to leave Chicago, and warns her that Parker won’t be as forgiving. The scene ends with Riri, pinned under the remains of her armor, abandoned by everyone she ever held dear, and has to tear open her own chest to free herself and the chest reactor that houses Natalie.
Riri comes home to find her mother furious with her, but concerned about how badly Riri is hurt. She nurses Riri’s wounds and begs her to give up on the suit, pointing to it as the source of all of her troubles. But, Riri clarifies that the reason she’s so hellbent on building an iron suit is so that she can keep her family safe, unlike her stepfather, Gary, and Natalie, who were helplessly gunned down in a drive-by shooting. In this show’s version of “no man is an island,” Riri’s mother clarifies that “it is my job to make you feel safe, not the other way around.” Natalie reappears to support Riri’s mother, as Riri has people looking out for her. Together, they encourage Riri to stop running away from and avoiding all her problems, and to fight back. “But,” Riri asks, “how am I supposed to fight?”
Cut to Gary’s autoshop. Yes, for a second time this season, it turns out that Riri’s mother is incredibly literal. She wants her to suit up and punch her problems. Inside the autoshop, Natalie projects a memory from when Riri was eight and used the garage as a home for her inventions. Her stepfather attempts to distract her from her work by dancing to “Brown Skin Girl” and encourages her to find ways to enjoy her life outside of her inventions. Riri thanks Natalie for the memory, suggesting that, “You’re a glitch, but you’re my glitch.” So, just as Riri decides to face her problems head-on, it becomes the perfect moment for her mother to reveal that she bought back their old, classic sports car so that she can repurpose it into a new Ironheart suit. Ah, that classic YA staple where a close ally of the protagonist has an immediate fix to the problem that they’ve been facing all along, if only they were vulnerable enough to ask for help in the first place!
Ezekiel returns to Desperito’s and tells Parker that he’s killed Riri with a patently false, drama-free story that Parker sees right through. Clown backs him up by detailing everything that happened at the White Castle, but without directly saying that Riri is dead. After a tip from Riri that Parker killed Rampage, Clown asks Slug to hack into his autopsy reports to assuage her curiosity. Meanwhile, Xavier finds an apology note from Riri in the mixtape that he uses to remember Natalie.
As Riri rebuilds her armor in the autoshop, she’s rejoined by the various characters who’ve existed on the edges of this series, starting with Landon (Harper Anthony) the little kid who discovered her crashed suit and sold popsicles in the first episode of the season. Riri keeps running out of energy to power the new suit and knows that she’ll need an infinite supply of energy to fight against Parker’s magic, which… sure… I don’t think this series has done the work to make Parker into an intimidating threat enough that Riri would need an arsenal of weapons to stop, but… if they insist!
Speaking of, Parker’s gang is also insufficiently afraid of him. During a group meeting, Clown publicly questions if he killed Rampage. It turns out that Rampage’s autopsy revealed that he’d died of an overdose, but he was known by the crew for being straightedge. Parker flips out, attacks Slug for going behind his back, and then fires the rest of the crew. He’s going to take out Riri himself!
Zelma and Xavier show up at the autoshop with coffee. Xavier has chosen to forgive Riri. He was moved by her apology letter, where she quoted Captain Kirk as a way of expressing her understanding of what made Natalie special. Xavier has decided that he’s not comfortable with the existence of Natalie, but that he will try to accept how much she means to Riri. (No! Dude, I had so much faith in you!) The team then bonds over the slow dissection of Riri’s mother’s car and the construction of a new Ironheart suit, which Zelma imbues with magic. Before long, they are in the back alley testing out weaponry that can blast holes through sheets of metal. I know that Chicago has a gun violence epidemic, but this is on a whole other level!
Back at the ancestral Stane residence, Ezekiel’s anthophile neighbor, Heather, threatens to call the police on him for cutting her flowers and suggests that his father would be rolling in his grave if he knew what had become of his son. This triggers something in Ezekiel, who then tries to turn his bioelectric powers on Heather’s flowers, only to realize that they aren’t working anymore. He turns around to see Parker pull up behind him in a car, gloating that he has full control of the enhancements inside Ezekiel’s body. He orders him to get into the car and then, armed with two dueling pistols, he controls Ezekiel’s body to break into the very same mansion that he and John tried to rob at the start of this week’s episodes.
While Ezekiel does his best impression of Logan Marshall-Green in Upgrade and violently takes down the home’s guards, Parker enters the house to confront Art (Paul Calderón), a business magnate who owns all the various companies that Parker’s gang has been slowly robbing and controlling since the outset of the season. He wants Art to sign over the rest of his businesses to him, as well as the mansion, so that Parker can finally receive “what he was owed.” You see, it turns out that Art is Parker’s father, who kicked him out of the house at the age of twelve after considering him a “liability”, right before his planned lesson to Parker about how coercion invalidates contracts. Parker, who was desperate for fatherly attention, acknowledges that getting in trouble was the only way he knew to get his father’s attention. So, his father puts it more bluntly: “I didn’t want you.”
Parker, incensed, disappears and reappears behind his father, gun to his head, and insists that he sign the contract in ink or blood. He signs it, telling Parker, “It’ll never be enough.” He’s probably right about that, but I’ll pipe in and reemphasize that either way this “under duress” signature will never hold up in a court of law. It’s never too late to learn how the law works Parker!
Meanwhile, Riri suits up for the first time in her new Ironheart suit, which looks suitably awesome and quite distinct from the series of shiny Iron Man armors that defined the iconography of the MCU for so long. If Iron Man’s armor is the glossy supersuit, Ironheart’s is the matte version. She commands her friends and family to “Power me up. Let’s fight magic with magic.” Zelma warns Riri that all magic comes with a cost and then conjures up powerful magic totems to provide the suit with unlimited energy (let’s not ask where Zelma is getting these powers from; it only costs something when the villain needs a limitless energy supply).
But, something goes wrong, the suit can’t handle both magic and an artificial intelligence like Natalie. Her hologram begins to disintegrate, with Gary’s voice from the drive-by shooting incident punching through. Riri tries to back up Natalie to her laptop but runs out of time, as Natalie melts away into nothingness.
EPISODE 6: “The Past Is the Past”
Episode 6 returns to the scene of the crime, specifically John and Parker’s original attempt to rob Art’s home. Apparently, there’s more to the story, which picks up as Parker flees from the cops who’ve responded to their break-in. He escapes into a tunnel where he meets a man who speaks to him from the shadows and invites him to solve his problems by going through a door, which appears to be that of Desperito’s. They enter the bar and - holy shit! - it’s Sacha Baron Cohen as Mephisto. I mean, sure, they don’t yet call him Mephisto, but as a long-time Marvel Comics reader and someone who has been discussing all these shows and speculating about the first appearance of Marvel’s version of the devil with David Chen since WandaVision, there was no mistaking who this was. I mean, heck, I should have known it from the name on the door. Who else would be behind a bar named “Desperito’s”?
Beyond that, Cohen is a perfect, unexpected choice that feels worth the misdirection after all these years and shows. That said, I’m sure it will be minutes before a YouTube fan-channel details for me how Mephisto was actually behind all the stories in the Marvel Television productions all along, probably to the tune of “Agatha All Along.” I’ll admit, I’m a bit unsure of how I feel about Marvel’s dealmaking devil being played by someone who is so unmistakably of Jewish descent, if only because of the stereotypes that it plays into. Still, Cohen plays the character with a soft menace, only briefly betraying his affable manner to present the threats behind his words. Cohen is uniquely gifted at presenting himself as unthreatening; he finds subtle ways to insert his various characters, from Borat to Bruno, into people’s lives, and it renders Mephisto as less of a demonic ruler than a prankster, as if he’s daring you not to take his deal.
The deal he offers Parker over pizza is that he will make him into someone who becomes a legend and fulfill his deepest desire to be as rich as his father in an unspoken exchange for his soul. Parker accepts the deal, as Mephisto declares him a king, referring to him as “your majesty” and draping him in the cape that we’ve come to associate with Parker’s demonic powers. It’s a nice touch that gives a reason why Parker’s powers are tied explicitly to a cape. While I’ve not vibed with this sanded-down reinterpretation of Parker Robbins from the comics, this swerve from the comics’ Dormammu-powered Hood was a clever misdirect. I particularly enjoyed the choice to set this whole exchange in a pizza parlor, as the two divide up slices of the pie that is Parker’s soul, because Parker Robbins in the comics became a sort of Godfather in Marvel Comics’ version of New York City.
The show cuts back to the present, where Parker sits at the head of a table before a feast fit for a king, but with purple veins crawling across his face. Ezekiel sits across the table from him, refusing to eat until Parker uses his control to command him to stuff his face. The filmmakers don’t do much with the moment, but something is chilling about forcing someone to stuff food into their mouth. Ezekiel gathers as much strength as he can to attack Parker with a fork, only for his implants’ programming to turn the utensil back into his leg.
Meanwhile, Riri attempts to bring back Natalie by reuploading her consciousness into the Ironheart armor, but it doesn’t seem to be working. Well, yeah, Riri… don’t you know how these things work? You just got done healing your trauma by choosing to trust in the support of your friends and family, so, of course, you can’t bring back the digital representation of that trauma! Go spend a week writing coverage as a script reader and report back to me once you figure out how third acts work. Or, you can refuse to learn the lesson of this story and decide that you need to steal Parker’s cape so that you can use dark magic to bring her back.
Oh, you are going with the second option? Well, can’t say I didn’t warn you.
Riri blasts off in her Ironheart suit to confront Parker, who is in the middle of confronting Mephisto in Desperito’s elevator. He’s upset that Mephisto hasn’t kept up his end of the bargain, which is kind of how it works with the devil. The riches that he’s earned with the cape’s powers feel empty. “Can’t you give me more?” Mephisto laughs at how easy this whole thing has been, other than that Parker hasn’t been quite as successful an agent for him as he would have liked. So, he plans to replace him with someone more appreciative, unless Parker can manage to hold onto the powers he gave him.
Riri enters Desperito’s and confronts Ezekiel, who has been ordered to stop her and doesn’t want his lie about her death to be discovered. She detects that he’s not in charge of his body, and as they fight, she establishes a plan to knee him in the groin so that his instinctual biology takes over just long enough for her to override Parker’s control. And speaking of family legacy, she promises to pull her kick so as not to end the Stane family name. And so, she kicks, he reacts, and it seems to work. It’s perhaps the first time any two people have solved their conflict through a kick to the groin, though Ezekiel reminds Riri that they still aren’t friends. “I have millions of dollars of weaponry inside of me and nowhere to put this anger.”
Riri runs past Ezekiel and confronts Parker, demanding that he give her his hood. Parker has a laugh at the appearance of her new suit and points out that they are similar, noting that no matter how much she might see herself as the hero of this story, she’s not using her new suit to help other people. His words strike a chord, so Riri lashes out at him with her magic, and a fight ensues. As they wrestle over the Hood, Parker starts to physically transform into a demon and tears into the brand-new Ironheart suit, forcing Riri to activate the built-in self-destruct mechanism.
Parker corners Riri, points both of his guns at her head, and forces her to beg for his mercy. However, when he goes for the kill shot, it is revealed that this Riri is just a hologram she programmed to deceive him. I’m still not sure how this works, considering it is revealed that the Ironheart suit is perfectly fine moments later. So, what was the demon Parker tearing into moments earlier? The show has gone out of its way to show the audience that the holograms aren’t tangible, so did he just not notice that he wasn’t touching anything when he tore into her armor?
Let’s not think about all this too hard. Riri certainly hasn’t, because despite what she just witnessed the cape doing to Parker’s body, she grabs it from him and watches him writhe around on the floor as the demonic forces flee his body. He begs her to return it to him, “You don’t know what it’s like without it. It hurts.” She responds, “I know,” and leaves.
On her way out, she encounters Mephisto sitting alone, eating pizza, and waiting patiently for his next victim. He offers her food, “You hungry?” and they both simultaneously answer, “Always,” in a clever reflection of Riri’s penchant for selfishness born of devilish intent. He forces her out of her suit and beckons her to sit with him. She quickly realizes that he’s the one who gave Parker the Hood, as he starts to play towards her insecurities and desire to make a name for herself. But, even he gets a laugh when she calls him Dormammu, as if she has the upper hand on him, before revealing his true name: Mephisto.
It’s then that he extends his hand to offer her a deal: he can bring Natalie back from the dead. But we don’t see whether she accepts his deal before the show leaps into the future. After a series of time lapses of Chicago public transit, as if this show briefly became The Bear, we join Riri in her lab, with her comic book-accurate hair, when Natalie suddenly returns. Riri tells her that she’s been trying to hack the magic to bring her back and asks her to “run diagnostics.” Natalie is confused and asks, “Where’s Gary?” Riri reaches out and touches Natalie, who is now tangible, and confirms for herself that this is the real Natalie, brought back from beyond the veil.
We return to the meeting between Riri and Mephisto, where he insists that, “They say time heals all wounds, but that’s bullocks.” Riri is interested in his deal, but clarifies only if it is just her that he wants. He agrees, and she takes his hand. And so, she’s sold her soul to the devil in exchange for Natalie’s life and the fulfillment of her quest to find a way, no matter the cost, to protect her family and friends. It’s a frustrating ending, for sure, that intentionally avoids completing the standard “hero’s journey” structure, where the protagonist gets a clean win after learning to overcome their inherent character flaws.
Riri’s win is anything but “clean,” as depicted by the purple vein of corruption that snakes across her arm as she embraces Natalie in the show’s final image. Does Riri think she can outsmart Mephisto and is willing to risk defeat if it means saving Natalie? Is she so unwilling to do the work to heal her trauma and manage her anxiety, with the possibility that it limits her ambitions and renders her work to anonymity, that she’d rather make a deal with the devil? Has her arrogance and self-importance led her to answer “yes” to both questions? Or, is this a purely selfless sacrifice to save her friend’s life? The show doesn’t seem to take a side or let us into Riri’s thought process.
It’s only in the show’s post-credits sequence that we get any idea of what future, if any, there is for these characters. Parker, seemingly unaffected by the end of his deal with Mephisto (save for a wicked face tattoo), enters Stanton’s for guidance to the Sorcerer Supreme, who is currently Wong. Filmed in 2022, this sequence was likely meant as a setup for the Strange Academy show that was announced before Marvel Television was restructured and it was put on pause. That show was to star Zelma Stanton as she attended a school established by Dr. Strange to train young magic users in the MCU, as established by the comic of the same name.
But, with that show in limbo and Marvel’s muted, quick release of this series, it seems unlikely that we’ll soon learn more about the finale’s plot twist that renders Riri an agent of Mephisto, see how Ezekiel’s unfinished business with Riri plays out, or if there will ever be any romance between her and Xavier. In the meantime, we’ll have to ponder over the five-year production process that brought us Ironheart, as it closes out Marvel’s Phase 5 with a bit of a whimper and the promise from Marvel executives that they’ve learned what it will take to right the ship in their Phase 6 slate.
Dan Gvozden is a film and comics critic who lives and works in Baltimore. If you enjoyed this review, check out his Spider-Man podcast, The Amazing Spider-Talk.