Ironheart Episodes 1-3 Review
The first three episodes of ‘Ironheart’ have flown into Disney+, landing with a clunk as they tease the battle of magical forces versus technological innovation. It’s a far smaller affair than what audiences are used to, with the events so far being confined inside Chicago. This smaller focus is something that helps the series, no doubt it keeps costs down. The heist in episode three does raise things up a notch, hinting at a step up in the next episodes.
Dominique Thorne infuses a lot of energy and passion as her dialogue leans heavily into youth subcultures. The action, while fine, hasn’t risen to the level of exciting yet. Anthony Ramos plays a likeable villain Parker Robbins, with a crew that so far only exemplify a singular trait.
Thorne is far more energetic in these first three episodes, with a peppiness that is bound to transfer onto those that are more closely related to Riri Williams as a character. In the first three episodes, it’s clear Williams is written for a younger demographic, leaning into the language of younger generations as she bounces off her AI best friend Natalie. This can get a bit overbearing at times, especially if audiences aren’t in the exact demographic of Williams. Williams’ primary person to bounce off is her AI, and it is a bit cliche that Williams is keeping Natalie a secret from her lover, especially as he expresses a longing to talk to Natalie again, but Williams wants to keep her a secret. No doubt her lover will find out that the AI that takes the form of Natalie exists, and gets super upset with Williams for keeping her secret until he inevitably gets over it. Hopefully that doesn’t pan out in the final few episodes.
Williams’ Ironheart suit looks far better than in ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’, with a more realistic feel to it, especially after she’s forced to rebuild it from scratch. It helps to contribute to the overall feel of the show, that the youth in this universe can only get by on the scraps they take from others. This feel extends to a lot of the locations in Chicago, though the two tech hubs are sterile, like they don’t belong, which is praise as that is the idea.
Opposite Williams’ is Anthony Ramos as Parker Robbins, aka Hood. Ramos plays him with a likeability that it’s hard to see him as a villain yet. And he’s not, as he’s been taken over by Hood, a dull raincoat that looks like it was bought off Etsy. It does grant Robbins power to turn invisible and bend bullets, but at a steep price. In the third episode audiences get a hint that Hood is after something larger, though as of yet it’s unclear.
The first three episodes so far haven’t impressed with the action, especially as ‘Ironheart’ hasn’t done anything cool with her suit yet, and display any of its capabilities. So far, it’s been limited to hand to hand combat, and most of that is Robbins’ crew and not Williams herself. Hood so far hasn’t shown a lot of promise in the action department either, as he’s mostly just going and threatening leaders of tech companies. The idea of magic versus technology hasn’t come up much yet. This is something else that episodes four and onwards should hopefully address. The third episode did ratchet up the tension though, with Williams becoming in over her head very quickly, and likely having to face the full consequences of this in the following episodes.
The series so far seems to be leaning into a modern Robin hood, where Robbins and his merry band seek to extort the leaders of major tech companies. While the third episode hints there’s a larger goal with this, the poor hitting the rich is likely to strike a chord with the younger audience it’s going for. Though this might have the effect of again alienating anyone outside of its core younger audience, as that’s the group that are feeling the angst the most. Luckily, the writing hasn’t strayed into being cringy, at least not yet. Moments like the Ironheart suit being somehow powered by solar energy at night did bring it close to that line though.
If the audience are happy to match the very energetic and Robin Hood esque ‘Ironheart’, then Marvel will likely have a hit on their hands. But it’s likely that only a certain demographic will, which is concerning. The action in the show is not something to seek out just yet, though episode three does show signs that this will be improved in later episodes. Ramos’ interpretation of the Hood is so far the best aspect about the show, as he’s a likeable guy who has clearly fallen in with the wrong piece of clothing, though is flawed enough to let it keep corrupting him. Only time will tell how the rest of ‘Ironheart’ will play out.
