What if...? Season 1 Finale Review!

Episode Nine

So, here we are. The last episode of Season One. The one that wraps everything together with a nice little bow and blows all of our collective minds.

Eh, it was okay.

This episode picks up right from where Eight ended so you can’t watch one without the other. But, most importantly is the title of this episode. The Watcher has broken his oath to never interfere in the universes in order to help them from getting completely annihilated by someone who gained enough power to threaten them all. We have seen the mighty fallen, now it’s time for him to get back up.

And get together a ragtag team of our old interdimensional friends to save the multiverse. Not really what I was expecting but it does make sense in a cosmic god playing chess sorta way.

It does tie everything together nicely. There are some people from dimensions we know, and then some from dimensions we don’t. There are some epic battle scenes; the stakes have never been higher. They use teamwork and clever means to take down the evil threat.

And yet something about it felt lacking. Like there was something missing from the story. But I can’t quite put my finger on it.

I enjoyed the What If series; don’t get me wrong. I was excited to watch every single episode to see where they would land next. And I do so love when things are brought back in unique ways. Ways that make sense for the series, but are still pretty surprising.

And maybe that’s why this episode didn’t land in the same manner; it was no longer surprising.

It did have a few little spots where I was a little caught off guard, but nothing that was mind blowingly grand. And, after the episode leading into this one, I guess I was expecting more than just an old hat trick.

Of course, that’s not to say this episode is bad. Or any of them for that matter.

I’ve been hearing a lot of people nitpicking and over analyzing every single avenue of this show. Some people end up talking about how it doesn’t explain how some of the mechanics in one episode don’t work in another. But it’s worth remembering a couple of things.

One, this is an anthology first and foremost. The only thing that connected the universes together was a smooth-voiced narrator. Each one plays by its own rules just like the Twilight Zone or Tales from the Crypt or Goosebumps. (for some reason, only horror is popping into my head.)

Two; if the writers spend the episode talking about every minute detail that changes, each episode would be three hours long. It’s not worth knowing that Tony Stark never sneezed at the right time, which then set off his death in the zombie apocalypse.

Three; we should stop overanalyzing to the point of tearing the thing apart. Trust me, I love dissecting a story as much as the next guy, but sometimes you just have to sit down and allow suspension of disbelief to take over. Not everything has to be explained. Not everything has to be analyzed. Sometimes a story is just a story; it doesn’t need to hold any deeper meaning.

It’s fine to want to look deeper and find meaning where other people just see conflict and characters. But you shouldn’t do it to the point where the thing you’re enjoying is no longer enjoyable because you had to see the man behind the curtain.

Anyway, off my soapbox.

Over all, it was an enjoyable episode and wrapped up everything nicely enough. I do have all the plans to watch Season Two. So if the only reason you come to this website is for the What If reviews; Why? There’s so much more to this! Go explore the fricken site!

And hopefully, I’ll catch ya in the next round of reviews, my friends nerds! Peace for now!