Ironheart “Will the Real Natalie Please Stand Up?” Review

Season 1 Episode 2 – Riri’s new A.I. dredges up painful memories ahead of her first heist with Parker and his crew.

Please note, our reviews are based on likes and dislikes. These contain significant spoilers. If you haven’t already watched the episode, we recommend that you click off the article and come back once you have watched the episode. Enjoy!

What I Liked

1. Riri manages to fix her suit thanks to all the tech Joe has collected. I enjoyed their scenes together. Joe’s clearly intelligent, but is often overshadowed by others telling him what to do. Riri jumps on that at first, but by the end, there’s a mutual respect building. I also love a good suit-up moment.

2. We get our first real glimpse of Parker’s powers. After the mostly successful heist (despite Riri’s hiccup), Parker enters Sheila’s vehicle in the tunnel using invisibility. Yesterday, I said he didn’t feel believable, but this episode starts to change that.

3. The branches growing on Parker’s back as his brother walks in was a creepy, intriguing moment. Parker throws out some subliminal lines about why “it had to be this way.” I enjoy villains with mystery and hidden motives. He presents himself as kind to his crew, but clearly something darker is simmering underneath.

4. Riri manages to create the AI using brain-scanning tech. While I have my concerns (see below), the scene with her mom was emotionally strong. Her mom knows about Natalie because of conversations between them, and when she asks Riri if she can do it again, Riri says she can’t. It hit a note; if someone close to me did that, I’d probably ask the same question, too. I really felt for her mom here.

What I Disliked

I’m not a fan of this AI. Natalie appears in 3D, looking and acting like a regular human. It doesn’t feel believable at all. I know modern AI is advanced, but come on, Vision needed the Mind Stone to reach this level of realism. Even Wakanda needed time and effort to revive him without it. Are we really supposed to believe Riri did this by accident? Huge dropped ball.

Favorite Moment

Riri and the crew begin their job, and this scene felt far more believable than anything in episode one. The action was well done; the team worked in unison until Riri crashed after being startled by Natalie. Honestly, I liked everything about this sequence.

Standout Character

Dominique Thorne carried the episode again. She’s fantastic, more in control, back in the suit, and completely owning the screen. Parker had a good showing, but Riri easily stole the episode.

Verdict

This was a clear improvement over episode one, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. We’ve now seen Parker’s powers, Riri is back in the suit (with a questionable AI), and the story is moving in the right direction, just slowly. It’s not an episode that will blow anyone away, but it’s decent. A solid step forward.

Rating 7.2/10