Some incredible imagery and action sequences aren't enough to save the finale of What If...? from becoming a mostly, and shockingly, dull affair outside of the spectacle. Most of the show's lingering problems came to bite it in the ass in the finale - short runtimes, lack of development, and a needless insistence to connect to the wider MCU pantheon rather then stand on it's own as fun, you know, "WHAT IFS?". It's times like these where I really start to see the criticisms of the wider MCU phenomenon and agree with them, especially since What If...? takes these potentially cool ideas and some great animation and instead asks "Ok but what if character met character early???" which just isn't interesting to me.
Still, as a spectacle, it's hard to go wrong here. I always the more cosmic stuff in the comics and so far this show has been the best representation of that side, particularly when Doctor Strange and Infinity Ultron are duking it out. The actual climax is a bit undercooked but it's at least a clever Chevkov's Gun that makes sense in the larger scale and the actual resolution for certain characters like Supreme Strange and Captain Carter are solid (less so for ones like Star-Lord T'Challa whose potential continuation gets wasted early). Overall a mixed bag of a finale.
Review by LegionWrexBlockedParent2021-10-13T17:57:07Z
Some incredible imagery and action sequences aren't enough to save the finale of What If...? from becoming a mostly, and shockingly, dull affair outside of the spectacle. Most of the show's lingering problems came to bite it in the ass in the finale - short runtimes, lack of development, and a needless insistence to connect to the wider MCU pantheon rather then stand on it's own as fun, you know, "WHAT IFS?". It's times like these where I really start to see the criticisms of the wider MCU phenomenon and agree with them, especially since What If...? takes these potentially cool ideas and some great animation and instead asks "Ok but what if character met character early???" which just isn't interesting to me.
Still, as a spectacle, it's hard to go wrong here. I always the more cosmic stuff in the comics and so far this show has been the best representation of that side, particularly when Doctor Strange and Infinity Ultron are duking it out. The actual climax is a bit undercooked but it's at least a clever Chevkov's Gun that makes sense in the larger scale and the actual resolution for certain characters like Supreme Strange and Captain Carter are solid (less so for ones like Star-Lord T'Challa whose potential continuation gets wasted early). Overall a mixed bag of a finale.