Let’s Talk about Marvel’s What If…? Episode 3-8

So, it comes down to this. We’ve reached the final and some would say ultimate What If?

That question is, “What If…What If?” So, I guess that’s two questions?

I’m not quite sure how the match works out, but now is when we reach the stunning conclusion of the Marvel animated series.

Let’s talk about Marvel’s What If…? episode 3-8, the one with the war of The Watchers.

Fractured Time

As a reminder, The Watchers are multiversal beings who see through space and time.

For this reason, I can’t help but wonder about the curious decision to fracture time at the episode’s start.

We bear witness to a discussion between The Eminence and his latest appointee, The Watcher.

Before the two celestial beings came into conflict, our narrator, Uatu, hero-worshipped The Eminence.

The latter individual personally chose Uatu to become a Watcher, and we watch the character take his vows.

The conversation isn’t particularly formal, though. It’s more of a discussion about how the job works and what Uatu believes.

At this moment, the duo appears likely to work together harmoniously for all eternity, presuming eternity even exists for Watchers.

Then, we quickly cut to the sight of Uatu in chains as his former mentor admonishes him for asking the unthinkable question.

Apparently, the one no-no about The Watchers is that they should never ponder the question, “What If?” Uh-oh.

We know for a fact that Uatu has done this 24 times and counting. That was the episode count before the imprisonment.

The trio of beings from the Order of Watchers can no longer ignore Uatu’s violation of his sacred oath. He’s a threat.

And we learned at the end of the previous episode that Peggy Carter is the worst criminal in the eyes of The Eminence.

She has crossed universes and timelines to stop the worst criminals of the multiverse, and that’s…apparently a bad thing?

So, the Order of Watchers has taken her prisoner as well. But her team of allies found out.

Thanks to the assistance of a universe-killing Infinity Ultron, they plan to enter the Observational Plane and free Uatu and Peggy.

The Invasion

I can think of a handful of flaws with this plan, such as aligning with someone who admits to having destroyed a universe.

But, as the saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures.

The Watchers are BIG MAD about Uatu. They know he saved countless MCU characters, including – I kid you not – Madisynn.

Dear Marvel: we know this show is coming back some day. It’s inevitable. So, please start writing that Madisynn episode now!

Anyway, The Watchers reveal Peggy Carter, who is also tied up by mystical bonds. She awkwardly tells Uatu she is rescuing him.

The Order sentences Peggy to death. Before they can carry out the sentence, the first member of the team arrives.

Folks, it’s Infinity Ultron. A stunned Uatu asks, “He’s…with you?” The disbelief is palpable, and we get it.

Ultron goes on offense against The Order, covering them while they get in the ship. Uatu understandably asks, “WHAT SHIP?”

This is a lot for him to process, but at least he and Peggy are out of their magical chains now.

Enter the new super-team we met in the last episode. As a reminder, it’s Storm, Kahhori, and Byrdie the Duck.

Byrdie is the magical child of Darcy and Howard the Duck. This is her third appearance this season, which is one more than Peggy.

Ultron sacrifices himself so that the others can escape, although I’m not sure that was the plan.

I don’t think Ultron realized that The Eminence and his crew could/would defend themselves. He falls quickly.

The Escape Route

The superheroes in the interdimensional spaceship have a plan. They expect to find safe harbor in Dr. Strange’s universe.

As a reminder, this particular evil Dr. Strange restarted the universe he’d destroyed by using his own essence.

Theoretically, this place exists beyond the purview of The Watchers, making them vulnerable here…or at least not omnipotent.

Otherwise, Uatu realizes that this is a fight they cannot win. “We cannot run from them. We cannot hide.”

Byrdie attempts to take the ship within the seams of the multiverse to reach Dr. Strange’s realm.

Alas, The Order finishes off Ultron and turns its attention to the spaceship before it can reach its destination.

The Eminence appears in a planet-sized form and flatly states, “No more running.” The ship disintegrates.

Since we’re using cartoon physics here, the team members survive this violation of the known laws of science.

So, we reach an empty planet where The Order and Team Peggy (that’s what I’m calling them for simplicity) have a showdown.

Peggy’s team appears totally overpowered, but Uatu has a plan. He asks the women to take an oath. It’s The Watchers’ Oath.

After the superheroes recite the dialogue, they become Watchers as well. The Order suddenly looks small. It’s five on three now!

War of The Watchers

The Order doesn’t appreciate Uatu’s sharing their sacred oath with mortals.

Suddenly, this trio suits up in armor and glow weapons. Well, The Eminence uses the gauntlets on his fists, but you get the point.

The War of The Watchers begins, and it’s hilariously over the top with everyone demonstrating OP abilities.

At one point, The Eminence splits Peggy’s shield. She doesn’t even hesitate and starts using both parts as weapons.

Given her success, I idly wonder why she hadn’t been dual-wielding shields this whole time.

The battle goes back and forth, as you’d expect, and it lasts for eight minutes of a 28-minute episode.

At one point, Uatu has The Eminenc down for the count, but he refuses the killshot. Instead, he begs for logic to win the day.

Still livid, The Eminence soars into the sky, with the other two council members joining him.

This even larger Ultra Watcher overwhelms the party, promising that they will be erased from every existence. That’s high stakes.

Peggy is in danger of disintegrating, with her arm already gone.

However, ever the heroine, she defiantly states, “I am not losing any friends today!”

At this point, she performs a similar move to the squid kill last episode and tears a hole in the fabric of space-time.

She teleports Team Peggy to Dr. Strange’s universe. Somehow, she dies, but The Watchers live.

The Eminence scoffs at her noble sacrifice and attacks Uatu.

But powers don’t work here. Strange has absolute power here, no one else.

The Moral of the Story

At this point, The Eminence finally engages in an adult conversation with Uatu rather than treating him as an underling.

The Watcher reveals that he still believes in the mission and hopes to “share what I have learned” with The Eminence.

Their friendship repaired, the two of them watch a sunrise together. The Eminence doesn’t quite get it, but he’s trying.

Then, Uatu delivers the show’s ultimate message. “To understand, you will need to do more than simply watch. You must learn to see.”

We cut to the funeral of Peggy Carter, where Storm wishes the dead woman could join them.

At this point, Uatu reveals that for the first time in ages, he feels like someone is watching him.

So, we can look forward to the resurrection of Peggy Carter in the eventual What If series renewal.

Hopefully, this one won’t take as long as the 27 years between X-Men: The Animated Series and X-Men ’97.

The story ends with The Watcher explaining the mystery of the afterlife.

“Time. Space. Reality. It’s more than a linear path. It’s a prism of endless possibility where a single choice can branch off into infinite realities, creating new phenomena beyond what you could possibly imagine.”

As our narrator speaks, spectacular visuals show new Marvel characters in the multiverse.

We’re talking about Riri Williams as The Punisher, Thanos as Wolverine, Kingo as Iron Man, The Hulk as the Sorcerer Supreme, and so forth.

This amazing montage punctuates the point that What If…? still has plenty of stories to tell…but not for now.

We have pondered the question, “What If…?” for the final time for a while.

Final Thoughts

I want to say two things about the final season of What If…? (for now).

The first is that the program finished strong and found a terrific way of bringing the story full circle.

We thought The Watcher was teaching us and, partially, Agent Carter. In the end, Peggy taught Uahu instead.

She was the one who reminded him that he was an individual with a name, not just an impotent voyeur. I quite like that.

But the other thing I have to say is that the first half of the season was noticeably better than the second.

Episodes five, six, and seven are actually quite good by the show’s standards.

As for eight, well, Marvel always takes a turn for the ridiculous in the third act. It’s a thing. So, I’m okay with that.

For my money, the season one finale remains the best of three season-enders, though.

So, I’d be exaggerating if I said What If…? finished strong. It peaked with the Darcy/Howard the Duck episode.

Still, this was precisely the sort of ambitious storytelling we should expect and demand of Marvel. I really want more of it.

Please don’t keep us waiting too long for the next What If…? season or its successor. Marvel fans need more of this!

 

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