What I’m Watching: What If…?

What If…? Season 1, Episode 8 “What If…Ultron Won?” (B)

The concept in this episode is definitely very interesting, but it gets difficult to stay involved and engaged when a being possesses such incredible power that nothing can defeat them. Having Ultron hear the Watcher while he was narrating to the audience was a major breakthrough moment, one that signaled just how destructive he could be given his newfound perception of the grandeur of the universe around him. His constant noting of a need for peace was starkly contradicted by the way in which he laid waste first to the planet and then to Thanos when he walked through the portal with all the stones, sawing him in half with his eyes instantly instead of even trying to divine his purpose (which in this case, was equally genocidal in nature). Conjuring hundreds of versions of himself to “bring about peace” everywhere by destroying everything was a fearsome notion, and it hardly seems like one dossier would be enough for Black Widow and Hawkeye to be able to stop him. I did enjoy Captain Marvel’s “Listen, Skynet” barb, and if anyone was going to give the Watcher a hard time for sticking to his principles for so long and finally needing to break them, it would be Doctor Strange, who had to examine his own complicated morals a few episodes ago. Hopefully, this will all lead to an enthralling multiversal conclusion, or maybe season two will feature characters hoping from one world to the next, which I would find more appealing than the inconsistently satisfying episodes of this season.