Review: Ironheart, “The Past Is the Past” | Season 1, Episode 6
Riri’s story ends on a weird, bold note—and a long-awaited cameo
Huh. Given how much flack I give Marvel for always falling back on the same old tropes, I guess I should applaud a finale that attempts to go in an entirely different direction instead, delivering a classic shoot-’em-up laser fest finale…but only briefly and in service of a much weirder, wilder endpoint. But a successful structural departure comes down to execution more than intention. And given how odd (and unfinished!) that execution feels here, it’s honestly hard to know what to make of “The Past is the Past.”
It's also hilarious that the much-discussed Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen) finally makes his official MCU debut four years after all that WandaVision speculation and it’s barely even made a cultural blip. When these Marvel Disney+ shows first debuted, they felt like appointment viewing. Now I’m not sure how many people are actually even watching Ironheart, especially given how Disney has all but buried it with this odd release schedule. And the lack of clarity on what the MCU plans to do with Riri moving forward also colors how I’m viewing this finale.
If I knew that Riri’s story would be continuing on somewhere, I might be more intrigued by the choice to end this season with her making the “wrong” decision—giving into Mephisto’s devilish temptations rather than heroically rejecting them. But, as is, it’s hard to know what to make of that choice. Is Ironheart meant to be an eerie, self-contained Twilight Zone-esque fable about a traumatized young woman who started and ended this season making decisions with little consideration for how they affect other people? Is this a low point Riri will have to overcome on her path to true heroism? Or does the show think bringing Natalie back from the dead is the heroic move of a future MCU superhero?
