Ironheart Episodic Coverage: “Will the Real Natalie Please Stand Up?”

“Will The Real Natalie Please Stand Up?” Breaks It

“Will the Real Natalie Please Stand Up?” is a terrible continuation of Ironheart. It has a lot of fun moments. It highlights both the fun science fiction concepts it’s playing with—and, to a lesser extent, magical concepts—while giving us an action-packed, CGI-packed heist scene. But it also, jarringly, has the same “convenience” factor to its narrative that plagued “Bring Me Home,” but to a much, much, much worse degree.

What I mean by that is Ironheart puts stuff in so we can have this narrative, and then doesn’t justify it well. I complained before that Riri shouldn’t be this blasé about the crimes she’s committing—and now I am doing so even more. She didn’t want people to get hurt, and there’s a whole moral conundrum about that security guard, but even before that, it’s barely obfuscated during the meeting that the Blood Siblings are going to hurt plenty of people to pull off the heist.

The Premise Of The Show Is Already Falling Apart

But, like I said in the previous article, I get that we can’t have a story like this without a little stretching of logic. “Will the Real Natalie Please Stand Up?” needed a fight scene, after all, and at least Riri wasn’t in the room to directly see people get knives thrown at them or their bones broken. I maybe could’ve moved past it. But then the story made the same sort of mistake with Joe and collapsed multiple houses of narrative cards. I get he’s set up to be basically a sidekick to Riri—someone she can get some tech from and talk tech with—but think about what this episode is telling us. Think about what just happened in those scenes. “Will the Real Natalie Please Stand Up?” actually just ruined a big part of the show. Riri finds someone whose hobby, for apparently no strong reason, is collecting millions of dollars of advanced tech. So advanced Riri can make a suit good enough to pull off a heist. It’s likely meant to be a side quest to build some tension before the first heist and include some comedy and downtime, but that’s not what actually happened.

It’s not just a side quest solved. It’s much bigger than that. Isn’t the entire reason Riri is doing crime because she wants to get enough money to upgrade her suit? I get that she also wants glory, and The Hood keeps saying this is a way to get more glory, but there are so many plot holes now. Riri can just take Joe’s stuff—she already has taken Joe’s stuff—and doesn’t need the money anymore. The only way the next episode can really salvage itself is if Riri quits the heisting quickly, and the heist crew turns on her and becomes the main antagonists.  

It’s Still Possible For Ironheart To Fix Its Main Story

If that doesn’t happen, the only way the story could have stakes anymore is because of the arc with N.A.T.A.L.I.E. and artificial ghosts. And thankfully, that part is still really good. That part can carry a leaking show to some emotional conclusion. “Will the Real Natalie Please Stand Up?” is already getting into the concept of souls in fascinating ways. It talks about the nature of grief and of how we remember those we’ve lost. Those few scenes with N.A.T.A.L.I.E. and Ronnie are some of the best in the episode because of how it blends character dynamics with the premise. It’s so good, in fact, I actually love the plot-hole preventing plot point that brain copying is incredibly dangerous. It both makes sure the story doesn’t become all about cloning people and still offers the moral conundrum—if the story wants to go there—of what someone might do to bring back a loved one. In this regard, Joe actually serves a fantastic purpose as a morally compromised tech ethicist. Now the story can have two characters bounce big science fiction ideas back at each other, with real-world consequences being explored at the same time. And I’d watch that for hours.

So, we’re at a tipping point, then. The biggest swing in quality I’ve seen from a Marvel show. I like all the actors, and the camera work, and the general pacing from both “Will the Real Natalie Please Stand Up?” and the previous episode, but I don’t think that’ll be enough to save Ironheart if the massive plotholes aren’t promptly fixed, subverted, or proven intentional within an episode or two. The test in the third episode—and my review of it is coming soon.

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