What If...? Thoughts (spoilers)

Well, that was dumb as hell and I loved every second of it. The series was, ultimately, everything I wanted from it. It didn't have to make a whole lot of sense, or be some amazing cinematic masterpiece, because What If comics are by their nature dumb as hell and don't make a lot of sense. And I feel like anyone who expected otherwise is kind of missing the point.

I was a bit confused at first about Gamora showing up, because we never saw her story. I couldn't figure out if that was just me having no memory of the episode, though. Which is a problem for me, because I will just lose entire days sometimes. But I double checked, and it does seem like this was her only appearance. So I do think it was a bit odd that the finale just kind of ignored episode 3, and then introduced someone brand new. It's obviously not an off-shoot of episode 3, because Tony's still alive.

And can we just take a moment to talk about how whoever was in charge of this series just really does not like Tony Stark. We watched this fool die three times, and then get utterly disrespected in the finale. Like, bro. WTF did Tony ever do to you? lol

Overall, I think the stories did get better as the series progressed though. Episode 1 was just the First Avenger with a different skin for most of it, and episode 2 was kind of the TV equivalent of a curtainfic for the first act. Episode 3 was Fury's Big Week, remixed, and while it had some funny moments, didn't feel very fresh. I don't think the series properly picked up until episode 4, with Strange. This was the first episode where it felt like they were deviating from the script, even though it did play with the same mechanic the film used, fussing about with Time loops (though to a very different end). I think episode 5 was probably the low point for me overall though, just because I've been bored with zombies since 2005. The absolute high point was episode 6 though, just because the plot took about eight left turns by the end. Tony Stark basically being Justin Hammer hit all my buttons, and Killmonger's story was very engaging, I thought. Episode 7 was just pure stupidy, and even though it ultimately made no sense at all, I laughed the entire way through it, and really that's all I asked.

Doing the finale in two parts was a really good idea, I think, because it gave them a full episode to set up the threat and raise the stakes. I think if they'd gone and tried to cram everything into a single episode, we would have lost a lot of the really goofy character moments that were present in the final episode.

That final scene though. The one after the credits. Again, hmm. I think this is my one complaint about the series, how Peggy's story as Captain Carter wasn't about Peggy. It was still about Steve. Just let the man die. Fuck's sake. Give the woman her own story. I'm over Steve. I don't care about him anymore. Get lost.

But Loki getting a flying kick to the face? Yes, love that. I am always down to see that loser get owned. More of that, please.

Overall though, very pleased. Enjoyed this series very much, and according to IMDB, there's a second season on the horizon, which I am totally down for. I'd love to see it focus on some of the newer characters, because outside of the zombie episode, and a couple of outliers, it was mostly Phase 1 and 2 characters.