What If …? 2×09 “What If… Strange Supreme Intervened?” is a disappointing Season 2 finale for What If…? – one that feels like retreading the same ground, much like some of the episodes in this season 2. There is, without a doubt, some magic in Season 2 of What If …?, but the show’s insistence on telling the same story that has already been told with Strange Supreme and on sticking with Captain Carter, when other characters might be worth exploring, hampers a season that could be some much more than it is.
That isn’t to say that Hayley Atwell’s Captain Carter isn’t an interesting AU character, it’s just that at this point it feels like we’ve played around with her quite enough, to the detriment of other possibilities. What If…? is at its best when the show throws completely ludicrous combinations at us, instead Season 2 seems to build up to the same conclusion with Strange Supreme and with Captain Carter once again saving the day.
Been there, and seen that.
Perhaps the already announced Season 3 of the show would benefit from focusing on other characters – or different combinations. The addition of Kahhori helps a bit in the finale, but the bulk of the narrative still rests on Captain Carter’s shoulders, and the bulk of the bad choices once again rest on a Strange who already learned this lesson. That means there isn’t much to learn in this anticlimactic finale.
In fact, there was a little bit of a strange déjà vu to “What If… Strange Supreme Intervened?” – at least it’s good to know Marvel’s curse of repetitive storytelling can affect male characters as well! It’s not just Wanda that has to suffer, like in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Overall, Season 2 of What If …? has a few very good episodes, some decent ones and some that are just okay. It’s not a surprise that Season 1 was, and it’s far from being the triumph the first season ended up being. But that doesn’t mean the show is a mistake or that Marvel shouldn’t continue making it. If anything, Season 2 feels like the show just played it way too safe, to its detriment.
Marvel has enough characters, even among the ones people know to make What If…? an enjoyable experience. It’s about time the show started taking some risks – storytelling-wise, character-wise, and even ship-wise. Otherwise, what is even the point of a show meant to explore different possibilities? Fanfiction has done that for ages and has taken many more risks. We might as well go back to reading that. We won’t get the cool cameos, but we might just have more fun
Things I think I think:
- Did anyone enjoy Season 2 of What If…? more than Cate Blanchett? The jury’s out on that.
- Benedict Cumberbatch plays Strange with the same seriousness he plays everything, and that’s partly why Strange works so well for me.
- Am I the only one who just hates The Watcher? He’s so pretentious.
- He also never respects people’s needs to say goodbye to their new friends.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of What If…? 2×09 “What If… Strange Supreme Intervened?” Share with us in the comments below!
New episodes of What If…? were released daily from December 22nd to December 30th on Disney+.