What If...? "What If... What If?" Series Finale Review (Spoilers)

[matt_zimmer]

What If...? "What If... What If?"

I was disappointed.

I definitely liked the Epilogue and thought it was filled with the proper amount of beauty and wonder. But I was disappointed the preceding 25 minutes were just a slugfest.

I was really hoping there was a larger reason the Watcher was in trouble, or that his mission and powers gave him some moral responsibility to not change things for fear of damaging the Multiverse. It would be an interesting controversy to explore if Uatu wasn't entirely right.

Instead, the other Watchers' insistent on noninterference is essentially down to fundamentalist dogma. Did not love the heroes being called heretics. Making that the actual problem makes it no controversy at all, and the episode and the premise is instantly less interesting to me.

Most superhero fans watch superhero shows and movies for the slugfests. For me, I watch them for the same reason I watch ALL TV shows and movies: For the drama. The episode definitely fulfilled the fandom obligations of the former. But that bit never interests me. It failed on the thing that actually does which is a disappointment for a series finale. It's also why I ultimately think most superhero projects are usually unfulfilling. There are exceptions, but I don't think most of this stuff understands the value of drama. The MCU itself has been getting further and further away from that and it makes me sad. ***.