Welp. That was depressing and dark as fuck.
Talk about getting the Bad End.
But if this is a taste of what Multiverse of Madness is going to be like... Consider me even more hyped.
Every week I think "man, it can't get better than this", and every week I'm also surprised because yes, it can be better. The series keeps digging and digging every week in a way that it's impossible to guess what's coming next. Impressive work by Marvel Studios as always.
Pardon my language, but holy fuck.
Easily the best episode yet, and for the sole reason of being an emotional wallop mixed in with some truly stellar visuals and ideas. Doctor Strange has always been one of my favourite characters in the MCU for the sole reason of that he is magnificently flawed - he is arrogant, unable to accept failure, and ridiculously human in his emotions. This episode puts that at the forefront by showcasing a Strange who goes to the dark side in his unwillingness to accept the death of Christine (whose relationship with Strange is done better here then in his own movie oddly enough) and the consequences that lend from that.
It's this emotional center that puts it a league above the other episodes with only maybe the T'Challa episode reaching those heights, and if anything proves that Multiverse of Madness, which is getting closer and closer, is a film to be extremely excited for.
Holy shit. Who would have guessed an animated D+ Marvel show would have the darkest stories in the MCU? Easily my favorite story of the whole MCU.
[6.4/10] This was easily my least favorite What If? episode so far. Part of it is simply that I’m just more lukewarm on Doctor Strange than a number of other Marvel characters. I find him a little annoying, even post-transformation, and he doesn’t have the rascally charm that Iron Man does.
But some of it is that this doesn’t feel like much of a “What If?”. Instead it just feels like a...random Doctor Strange adventure? Obviously losing Christine is a big divergence, or it should be, except for the fact that everything we saw in the Doctor Strange movie pretty much happened as we saw it before. This is just an added mini-sequel, which doesn’t have much of a twist on anything we’ve seen previously or remix known stories in interesting/unexpected ways.
(The closest it comes is Dr. Strange walking into the street and seeing serious, potential world-ending events going down, a la Infinity War.)
It doesn’t help that I don’t care much for Christine. She and Strange had a pretty generic romance in the movie, so resting so much on his undying devotion to her doesn’t really track with my level of investment in the couple.
Still, there’s some cool stuff here to appreciate. I love the animation of Strange summoning various mystical creatures (including the same squid creature from Peggy’s episode?) and then briefly transforming into them. Likewise, his beleaguered look as he consumes more and more of them is striking. The look of the human characters is still a tad too janky and flat for my tastes, but once they start moving and things start getting a little more fanciful and impressionistic, the medium really shines.
I also appreciates that this is the first What If? story not to have a happy ending. The idea that if Christine died, Doctor Strange would be “half a man, living half a life,” accidentally destroy the universe, and get nothing more than a “You were warned, you idiot!” from The Watcher is a bold move. You can only pull this sort of thing off in an Elsworlds-type tale, so I appreciate the series going for it.
That said, I’m near the point of giving up on the MCU’s concept of time travel and alternate dimensions/timelines/branches etc. Endgame had a few headscratchers (mostly what the hell happened with Cap), but largely made sense, and Doctor Strange’s use of the Eye was internally consistent. But everything we’ve seen from there just gets fuzzier and fuzzier.
Why didn’t the TVA or He Who Remains get involved here? How was The Ancient One able to branch the timeline and make duplicate Doctor Stranges? (Doctors Strange?) Why is Christine’s death an “absolute point” in time, when obviously it’s avoidable in the mainline MCU timeline, with Stephen Strange still becoming the Sorcerer Supreme? I’m willing to grant the premise of the episode, and I hate to nitpick stuff like this, but it just seems like these MCU projects are getting further and further afield of consistency and a comprehensible framework the further we get into this multiverse business.
Overall, there’s still plenty to enjoy here. There’s an almost Twilight Zone-esque tale of obsession gone too far at the heart of the episode. But it’s centered on a lesser character with some peculiar story choices along the way.
This episode was the first time Marvel’s What If delivered something worth watching. Turns out they can actually make a good and compelling story when the characters are complex as they were here and behave as the source material, instead of having everyone on the screen act the same and constantly quipping lazy jokes all the time like in previous episodes.
Visually, this was also the most appealing offering from What If so far, with interesting concepts and effects clearly inspired by Jack Kirby's visuals often known as Kirby Krackle or Kirby Dots.
This was the first episode that felt like watching something straight out of a comic book and I hope the rest of the show is more like this episode and less like the previous three.
That was insane! This show gets better with every episode!
The first one where the character actually speaks with the watcher too, mad!
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME POST-CREDITS SPOILER!
So, FFS how did MARVEL know that we would want a movie based on this episode? :joy:
Awesome episode, very dark. Exactly how I like it!
"What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?"
Ohhh, I get it. It's a mETaPhOr!!!
It seems both the writing team and the animation department for this series keep one-upping themselves every episode! I feel like I keep saying this, but this is the best episode so far! Ignore my rating—ratings are silly—because if you haven't watched this, please do.
Christine: "Stephen. Something wrong?"
Stephen: "Why does this keep happening? Aren't we allowed to be happy?"
I know this will upset people, but I like this episode more than the movie. I just think his negative character arc fueled by his heartbreak is pretty damn emotional, you know? Like, losing his hands? Eh... not so much.
"'Gain the power through absorption of other beings.' Absorption?" — Stephen
Uh-oh.
I'm also can't believe they let Strange choose the bad ending! I mean, he lost! He even tried to bargain with The Watcher, but the episode ends with him all alone! A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one!
Wong: "Oh, that's not great."
Stephen: "Nope, it's not."
I love how Wong is so nonchalant about being absorbed by Strange's evil twin.
I hope this series maintains its current trajectory; its self-contained nature allows the writers to do so many weird things I don't see them doing in the movies. Plus, the animated action is a welcome addition. Can't wait for next week!
But like, is no one going to acknowledge when evil Stephen role-played Christine to trick normal Stephen? Wtf?
7/10
Marvel doing dark stories with their characters? A welcome surprise. I love Doctor Strange and seeing him implode from his own vices was really cool to see. I don't however understand how in this particular one they jumped to him and Christine already being lovers since at the point of his crash in the movie they weren't a (formal) thing.
This episode was so damn fucking tragic . Really didn't expect it to end like this.
this ep was so sad
Would have worked better for me if it was Tony and pepper then tony went the strange way and tony is just as intelligent to pull it all off the same as strange did. Tony and pepper I am 3000 times invested where although in our reality Steven was a bit of a dick with Christina and although she was a fun and likable character in
DS 1 we just haven't had chance to get to know her in the MCU so I just wasn't that invested in his mission to sort it all out and messing with a fixed point in time I just knew it wasn't going to end well so I saw that ending coming a mile away. With that being said this was my second favourite episode with episode 2 still being the best and most fun and interesting.
It was nice to see the giant Octopus thing back in this that Captain Carter was fighting that was a nice touch and I absolutely love The Watcher he's the most interesting thing for me in this series and is a definite scene stealer, I love an episode devoted to him are for him to cross into the MCU movies that would be frickin awesome.
I loved Strange on Strange and wanted more of that so I'll guess I'm counting the days till
Multiverse of Madness
To get my fill of that
(Cough SMNWH post credits lol).
X FINAL THOUGHT:
A dark and cool episode that had my interest when it kicked in and got funky
And I enjoyed the pacing and conclusion of it all
And i'm definitely ready for this type of Multiverse Madness (see what I
did their) to be crossed over to the CINEMATIC UNIVERSE.
8/10
this was a crazy episode.
My statement about how these episodes are literally getting better every week still stands. This one really leans into how powerful and dangerous Doctor Strange can be if he puts his mind to it. It goes to so many dark places, and even though it makes sense in retrospect, I didn't see the ending coming. This bodes well for the rest of the series, so I can't wait for the next episode!
Oh, wow... That was just spectacular.
Dark.....ohhhhhhh...so dark....the series is picking up the pace...
Rachel McAdams in a time travel story? Fine with me. Great episode.
Very predictive episode, but it was interesting to see one without a happy ending.
Yeah, as always Disney stealing back to back from the Japanese. Christine dying here is a rip off of Mayuri from Steins;Gate.
It's really hard to be invested in this story because Christine is such a flat character. She's a vessel for Stephen's love but never gets enough depth to be more than an object Stephen desires. As is the fate of almost all fridged women.
Overall I do appreciate just how far the story takes its premise even if its foundations were underbaked.
Meh on this one. On one hand it's interesting to see the Doctor Strange turning evil story. On the other it does not make much sense.
Why is Christine's death an absolute point without which he can't become a supreme wizard ? It just does not happen in the main timeline and he still has the same destiny, so what makes it absolute there ?
Then, the one thing about Dr Strange, is his IMMENSE mental strength. I mean, the whole climax of the first movie is just him getting killed again, and again, and again until an eternal multi-dimensional entity gets so tired of it that it wants it to stop, and the guy is still sane and fine after that. Then he tries and live millions of version of the fight against Thanos that all end up with half of the universe disappearing. Still fine. A bit of a stretch that Christine's death, would break him so totally that he'd give up humanity and the world for it.
Anyway, why would the Ancient One let this version of him have so much power ? He literally turned to the mystic arts for the most cliché impossible and immoral thing to do in basically any story: bringing back the dead. This is THE big no-no.
So yeah, not a big fan of the result.
I like how dark the What If? stories can get.
Watching this episode after watching Multiverse of Madness gave so much more meaning to the end of world timelines.
This episode's main plot resembles that of the The Time Machine movie : https://trakt.tv/movies/the-time-machine-2002
doctor strange supreme better be in multiverse of madness or we riot
best episode so far imo
I love this show, each episode has been great so far
I would not have guessed this is the way they were going to go with this one. Wow. Dark indeed. But that doesn’t mean I’m not exciting to see what’s next for What If…
There really is a darkest timeline
It was nice, but kind of... boring?, like the idea was interesting but the voice acting is not Benedict strong plate really. Anyway it was a dark chapter so i preffer that to ridiculous comedy.
This is definitely by far the best What If episode so far. Whoa!!! I’m loving the multiverse stuff now. :exploding_head:
Oh boy, I’m glad this is just an alternate universe! Also I wonder what other absolute points in time exist in the mcu.
Initially, I thought that Christine's relationship with Strange and her eventual death were underdeveloped/rushed and that it wouldn't really work in the end (because I lacked empathy towards her), but it did (kind of). I liked this episode quite a lot. Best episode thus far.
This episode was truly haunting. Others have covered the great job they did on the story itself, but how about that ending? The universe literally collapsed around Dr. Strange and the decision he made, as he was warned it would. Dr Strange did what he could to hold it back but was only delaying the inevitable. How scary is that thought of everything just collapsing into nothing? This was the best episode of this series so far hands down.
Holy shit. Dr Strange is probably my least fave of the MCU films but wow they nailed this 'What If'. Once again I'm glad the TV universe has the room to tell stories like this and WandaVision that can delve into the darkness that the films strive so hard to avoid.
Absolute stellar ending. So dark and exactly how it should finish.
Wow, they really flaunted Disney's animation in this one.
A really great episode. After a slow start, this show has found it's footing after the last 2 episodes.
Review by TinkaBlockedParent2021-09-03T11:04:24Z
I‘m starting to see a pattern here: Every second episode is great. The others, not so much.
Boy, am I glad Benedict Cumberbatch was available to voice Strange himself. There are some actors that just have a special kind of voice that it becomes jarring when someone else takes over their characters.
This episode was the darkest and most tragic yet. While all the Avengers died during the last episode, it was more set up in a semi-comedic way than here and this episode offered bigger consequences overall.
Playing with the scenario that Strange didn’t lose his ability to operate as a surgeon in his accident but love of his life Christine Palmer is an interesting concept, especially since it offers an emotional side of Strange we rarely get to see.
After losing Christine, Strange follows the same pattern as the Strange we all know and love, except while "our“ Strange was able to move on with his life and found greater purpose in becoming The Sorcerer Supreme and eventually an Avenger, this Strange is unable to let go of his lost love and goes down a much darker part.
It is heartbreaking to watch Strange, with all of his powers and magic, being unable to save Christine, to have him witness her dying no matter how much he changes the situation and being unable to stop it. An absolute point in time, the Ancient One calls it, something you cannot change.
Obviously Strange doesn’t give up which ends in him consuming powers of different creatures and eventually ending up in a battle with himself for control, and the fate of the universe. In a twist, unusual for Marvel‘s normally more positive endings (even the last episode ended with a glimpse of hope) the "good" version of Strange loses, Christine is brought back to life, only to die at the cost of the universe breaking. Strange feels remorse, tries to bargain with the Watcher (who interestingly interacts for the first time with a character), shows remorse for his actions, but is ultimately faced with the consequences of destroying his universe.
The episode offer so much in its short run time.
The animation of the fight scenes is mostly great, so are backgrounds and especially the ancient library. I‘m still iffy about the facial expressions though. It’s so stale and off-putting.
But back to the positive aspects. I appreciate how the episode shows the depths of dealing with grief. No matter how much good you achieve or what purpose you get, sometimes you just cannot overcome loss and it can let even good people to lose themselves in it. Because Strange is never evil here, just very very lost. It also deals with the question to what lengths we would go to change one crucial aspect in our past for a better future. And I think everybody can relate to that feeling. We all have at least one moment we wish we could go back to and change and this episode deals with the reality of not being able to do so.
I really hope "What If“ really found its footing with this episode and will deliver more excellence like it.