Review: Marvel’s What If…? “What If… the Watcher Disappeared?”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

The Watcher is judged by members of his own kind for his crimes of repeatedly breaking his oath, leading the team of Captain Carter, Storm, Byrdie, and Kahorri to save him.

OUR TAKE

What If faces its penultimate episode and just like the last two seasons, it’s the first of a two parter that will lead us into the proper conclusion.  THIS season is already shorter than the last two by an episode, which themselves were originally meant to be ten but then COVID cut off one for the first season and then they just decided to cut off another for the second…ugh. Basically what I’m trying to say is that I’m sad that the current state of television has led to this show ending so prematurely. But at the very least, it looks like we’re headed into a finale that celebrates all that came before and the possibility of what we could get, as The Watcher faces judgement for his choices, but those choices may just end up saving him.

Seems that Captain Carter has continued her multiversal escapades since the end of last season, with original breakout character Kahhori joining the team alongside a version of X-Men’s Storm who got Mjolnir and the adult version of Byrdie, the daughter of Howard the Duck and Darcy who we saw born just a few days ago. There’s been plenty of discourse about Captain Carter since she first premiered and I’m not gonna comment on most of it, aside from that I think she’s worked fine in the appearances she’s made, with this being no exception. Last season she confronted The Watcher about his worries about what may go wrong if someone stepped in to do the right thing, and now she is the result of his choices to save multiple worlds that will hopefully save him too, as she recruits a different Infinity Ultron to join the cause in finding him. Unlike the rest of these reviews, I haven’t actually watched the episode that comes next, which is the finale, so I don’t know where this is all going to end up, but hopefully they make it count. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.