Ironheart Episode 3 Review

[00:00:00] This is Defenders TV Podcast on TV Podcast Industries and we're talking about Ironheart Episode 3. We in danger, girl? I'm only doing this because I have to. Not because I'm a bad person. You're joking, right? Everyone you're talking about is a criminal. Including you. No, I'm not. I'm an engineer. What I'm building is... Important? Iconic.

[00:00:24] Look, anyone who's ever accomplished anything iconic in life has had to do some questionable things to get it done. Before my hood, I was a nobody. With it. Maybe a little unsavory, but I'm unstoppable.

[00:01:09] Beat in the air. Yes. Oh yeah, don't let anyone spike your drink, girl. Mardi Gras. It is Spring Break. It is Defenders TV Podcast on TV Podcast. And we're talking about Ironheart Episode 3. We in danger, girl. I am one of your hosts, Chris. Welcome back. I'm one of your other hosts, Derek. And the third and final host, I am John. Hello there, fellow Defenders.

[00:01:37] Hello, hello. We are in the final of our three episode jump. The drop of content that was the first three episodes of Ironheart Season 1. It all came out on day one. And it's an interesting thing. They really set it up as, here is your Ironheart. Here is the episodes. Here is the story.

[00:02:03] And they definitely leave the character and the story in an interesting place. They do. Absolutely. They really do. I used to have an old mantra when we watched TV to begin with, right back in the days of Gotham, when we started out, when there was 22 episode seasons, that kind of stuff. Which is always give a show three episodes to prove whether it's the show for you or not. You don't have to commit yourself to a show just because you were interested in it to begin with. Give it three episodes, though. And then decide whether it's for you.

[00:02:30] And now, all of a sudden, all of the streaming servers are dropping three episodes in one day. That's still like, no, no, that's not the case. Give yourself a couple of weeks was what I really meant. Give it three weeks. Watch the episodes over three weeks. If you keep coming back every week for the fourth episode and the fifth episode, you know it's a show for you, right? If you don't keep coming back after three weeks of having that commitment to being there every week, then you know it's not a show for you. So they're doing this show over two weeks. They're doing three episodes one week and three episodes the next.

[00:02:59] But I do think they also were going, here's something for everybody. Here's a whole story that you can sink your teeth into with this new character that you may not have been too interested in when she was introduced in Wakanda forever. But here you are. Here's an arc, at least, of this story that will prepare you for the rest of the show. Yeah, agreed. And they do it right by introducing the right amount of villains, the right amount of action,

[00:03:28] the right amount of, I want to say that WTF moment, that kind of like, what just, how did that happen? Yeah. And they do it with that kind of standard Marvel action-y kind of, like, it reminded me very much of Ant-Man by the end of this, where we had those kind of Ant-Man heists with a bit of, with a bit of comedies kind of sprinkled in.

[00:03:55] And usually one character that stand out, and I will get into which of those characters I think will stand out by the end of this. John, very quick thoughts. What did you think of this episode? Oh, I thought this was a really good sort of conclusion to this kind of first part of the three. Like you said, it just, I think it ramped up over the course of the three episodes, and this leaves you with, you know, another heist.

[00:04:22] But there's real implications coming from this for the hood, for Riri, for the team. And, you know, again, it's a bit more development on Parker, his methods. And, yeah, I just really enjoyed how this went down, to be honest. And the continued just evolution of, you know, of Riri and Natalie.

[00:04:50] So, you know, you have them effectively going to one of their old places where they would sit down and having that moment, which I thought was kind of interesting. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. But, gentlemen, should we get into our spoiler-filled discussions of this episode?

[00:05:06] But before we do, don't forget to head on over to tvpodcastindustries.com, where you can subscribe to all of our podcasts, listen to the whole host of what we've been doing over the many, many years, over a decade of content for our Marvel fans. Yes, it is all there. And we want to hear from you. We want to hear your thoughts about every episode of Ironheart.

[00:05:28] You can email us to feedback at tvpodcastindustry.com or pop on over to Facebook and join us on our group at facebook.com slash group slash tvpodcastindustries, where there's a spoiler post up for each of the three episodes so you can share your thoughts as you watch along. And we will chat about them in the next couple of weeks as we go through the rest of the season of Ironheart. Excellent. But, Derek, do you want to tell us who gave us what, where, when, and how? With our episode details. Yes, of course. The head writer for the show is Chanika Hodge, as we mentioned before.

[00:05:58] This episode was directed by Sam Bailey, once again, who directed the first two episodes. And the episode was written by Francesca Gales and Jacqueline J. Gales. They wrote She-Hulk episode three, The People vs. Emil Blonsky. A really good episode of She-Hulk, and we all really enjoyed that. And now putting their talents to the wonderful Ironheart. Excellent stuff. Quite cool. Quite cool. John, do you want to tell us what they gave us with your synopsis for Ironheart Season 1, Episode 3, We in Danger Girl? Sure.

[00:06:25] While celebrating their successful operation against Tunnel at Parker's headquarters, Clown plays around with Parker's mysterious hood. But before Riri and Clown can investigate more, his right-hand man, John, angrily confronts them. Parker calms the team down and starts planning for their next heist on a secure facility known as Herloom. This time they're having difficulty with blackmail leads, and John tries to call the whole thing off, but the hood pushes them onwards.

[00:06:53] Riri wants to investigate the properties of the hood, especially after being told it's magic, but she has more than enough problems dealing with Joe and her new AI. Joe McKillicuddy has plans that he insists she look over, while at his house Riri learns he has a bigger secret than she thought. Joe is actually Ezekiel Stane, the son of tech genius Obadiah Stane, who died trying to kill Tony Stark.

[00:07:22] But he entrusts Riri with some of his experimental new biomesh skin on the provision that it doesn't get traced back to him. Riri uses the biomesh skin to help get some cloak tech inside Herloom for their next job. She wants to get a sample of the hood while Parker is busy with the heist. But things go awry, and Riri triggers the alarm system.

[00:07:46] As they all escape, John learns of Riri's attempted betrayal and confronts her, promising to demote her with his trusted knife. But Natalie manages to get through the security systems of Herloom to save Riri with the iron suit. As she does, John remains trapped in the secure greenhouse and suffocates from the biosecurity measures. Inconsolable at the death of John, Parker screams for the hood to show its true self.

[00:08:14] But instead it shows him the death of John and an image of Riri's iron suit. Safely home, Riri realises things were worse than she thought. She left Ezekiel Stane's biomesh skin behind her, implicating him in the unsuccessful heist. Ooh, lots of reveals, lots of moments, lots of big things happening in this episode. And John, once again, you're the only John on the Ironheart team. Yes, that is true. Yep. RIP John. RIP John.

[00:08:43] We hardly knew you. He was a bit of an a-hole though, thankfully. Yeah, he was. You're the better John. Well, he was HR. Yeah. I will demote you with my knife. And will we get into our case notes for this episode, guys? Yes. Let's kick off with case note number one, the magic hood. So, technology versus magic. We are, it is a magic hood. Or it is technology, we just don't know what it is. It is indistinguishable from magic.

[00:09:11] But we know magic is part of the MCU, so it is a magic hood. Yeah. Like, it is fantasy, it is noisy, it is, it's got some creepy ass voices attached to it. Yes. And it shows you visions. Absolutely. I do like the way, you know, Riri's trying to figure it out saying, you know, is it vibranium? Is it Pymtech? And ultimately, it's Parker that says, no, it's magic.

[00:09:40] And yeah, she gets a little bit upset about that. Yeah. Because people only say that when they don't know what it is. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Like, you've got to bring this in with a character like Riri. You've got to challenge those opinions that science is the only way. So, a great way to do that is to bring her face to face with some magic. I also like how the episode begins with them all celebrating their win at Tunnel, all dancing around in their money showers.

[00:10:09] Except, of course, for Slug, who's done that many times in Madripoor. And it's like, yeah, yeah, one money shower is like any other money shower, says the character. Love that. But the big moment is actually that Clown has been working on a way to break the hood out of its casing and has finally broken into the vault where it's stored and brings it out, wears it, and says, oh, there's a bit of a weird feeling. It's hot, but not hot in a cool way. Exactly. And they decide to work together.

[00:10:38] Riri and Clown are going to work together to discover what's behind the hood, what it's made of, what the properties are. Is it magic? Is it science that they don't understand yet, as they say? And it's John that breaks them up. Yeah, no, he's kind of really put that down, get it off. And it causes a huge amount of tension. And I think this is kind of where we learn a bit about the magic hood anyway. But it's also a bit more about Park.

[00:11:05] I mean, in the sense that he dispels and calms that situation down quite rapidly. And even to the point as well where, you know, clowns sort of coming back and saying, well, you've not even said sorry and apologized to me, to John, because you slammed my head on the table, you know, to get the cloak off me. And he says, look, I'm sorry.

[00:11:32] And you kind of see Riri even acknowledge that. And there is this kind of sense as well, not just around the hood, but that there is a genuine sort of notion to Parker and his motives and what he's doing that he believes in them. Like, that's quite compelling, is quite attractive and quite inclusive. Yeah.

[00:11:59] And, you know, I guess in a sense he's that charmer. But it's so good that even, you know, Riri is asking him about the hood after it's all happened. And it sort of strays into this area as well then about that, you know, look, I'm not bad. I don't want to kill people. Are we doing good here kind of thing, you know? Yeah.

[00:12:23] And, you know, you have Parker come back saying, you know, everyone who got anywhere had to do something maybe slightly dodgy or bad. Or sometimes massively dodgy. Like, remember, Tony Stark, the character that I keep mentioning here, was a weapons dealer. He only got out of being a weapons dealer when he got blown up by one of his own bombs. And he was out there to show off more bombs, basically. So, yeah, that's a really good point that he's making.

[00:12:52] You know, there are tons of people who have used nefarious ways to get themselves in positions of power. And if Riri thinks she's going to be able to get herself in those positions without using some nefarious ways, he thinks she's kidding herself, basically. Yeah. Yeah. I do wonder, though, is there an influence coming from the hood? Is that the reason why John was so aggressive about getting the hood off Clown and getting it back to Parker and he wasn't as pushed about it?

[00:13:18] Is that the reason why this family unit are starting to kind of break under the pressure sometimes? That they're all being, they're all in the presence of the hood? Is that maybe some kind of influence that's coming out of it? I guess so. I mean, I think the main thing I took from it was the heat. Mm-hmm. Because actually, as well, I think you get a clearer idea here that the hood is making Parker hot. Yes. Not just hot, but damn hot. Yes.

[00:13:48] You know, because you see him taking an ice bath and so on. That's right. And so, again, maybe it's the flames of hell coming through. Again, is it a Mephisto thing here? Yeah. But it's kind of, you know, that Clown senses that immediately. Yeah. After wearing it only for a few minutes.

[00:14:14] So, again, you get this sense of it influencing, for sure, whoever is wearing it. Yeah. Not too sure about sort of more broadly. But you do get that sense. And you get this sense of it being a heat that's coursing through the veins of Parker with, you know,

[00:14:42] you almost, I think, hear a bit of a sizzle, actually, when the veins grow more. Well, that's what I was wondering. You know, we were talking about the last episode as it being veins growing. Is it more burn marks that are coming up? Maybe. And the scales. Yeah. That it's burn. It's scabs. Second or third degree burns from the hood itself. Because we hear John coming into the room when Parker's doing his workout.

[00:15:10] We hear John coming in saying, you know, it's the middle of October. It's a very hot day. And you've got the heating on. And he is, Parker's sweating from head to toe. So has he just gotten so used to wearing the hood so much that it's so much heat that he's turned the temperature up to keep himself at that level of heat all the time now? You know? Yeah. Maybe that's it. I think there's definitely something. It's a hot-headedness. There's, like, coming off of Parker more and more.

[00:15:36] And then part of it, I do think there might be something kind of, some charismatic element, whether that's pure Parker or whether that's Parker and Hood. Who knows? Agreed. There's more to the story. And it's one that you're just really interested in learning more and more about. Absolutely. Like, they're building up Parker as this. I want to say he's not an anti-hero, a villain type of approach.

[00:16:04] Like, he's definitively a bad guy. Well, yeah. He says everybody is, basically. He's not a bad guy. He's saying everybody who needs to get a lot of money does it by nefarious means. I'm no different than any of the rest of them. He's not justifying it to anybody. He's being very real when being asked a question. That's what I mean. I think it's the genuineness in his motive and his comparison with other people. It's kind of the small guy against the large guy, you know? Yeah. The big guys.

[00:16:34] And it's the fact that the thing that separates them is probably the law being on their side, even though, in essence, they're kind of doing similar things. And at the moment, at the beginning of this episode, I definitely accept it. By the end of the episode, I'm starting to question it more.

[00:16:49] And I feel like that bigger plan, until we learn what it is that he's attempted to get to, what's the end game for these heists, what's that, I think we'll learn whether he is a trustworthy person, whether he's just trying to get money the only way he can, or whether he's a bad guy, I guess. Or whether he's getting sucked in and influenced by the hood more and more. So I should say, is he fully in control? Yeah.

[00:17:15] I'll call out one bit that we saw when John is initially telling Parker to call off the heists because they don't have the plans. It's not all coming together, Grace. There is that news report in the background on the TV. And we see a gentleman. And that is a part that pushes Parker forward, that propels him forward.

[00:17:39] And I think that gentleman on the TV, on the news, who is a member of the tech industry, that's all it kind of says, I'm assuming maybe it's a dad or an uncle or someone who has wronged Parker. Right. That is the grand plan that they're working their way up to. Yeah. That is because there's just, that is the man that triggers Parker to push forward. That this heist is going to happen. Yeah.

[00:18:05] So whoever that man is, is the end game. And I'm interested to see what is the background there. And we usually get a flashback episode. I don't think we'll get a flashback episode in six episodes. So I think we'll get a background couple of five minute flashbacks on who is Parker and how he became the hood. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. But a really interesting moment at the beginning of this episode where you find out about this magic hood.

[00:18:35] As well. Speaking of finding out about peoples and what drives them. Case note number two. Mm hmm. Ezekiel Stain. I mean, Joe McGillicuddy. Yes. Yes. Yes. To find out who Joe really is. Um, this had been kind of spoiled for me via some comic books, kind of internet sites on who they quote unquote thought this character was going to be.

[00:19:03] Uh, because it is, the actor is such a famous actor. He was Han Solo. Like you're not going to get this character just to play a Joe blogs. So unfortunately for me, that was ruined, but I like how they're doing this. They are making this character meek and slightly crazy. Mm hmm. And he is being, his iron monger is being drawn out by Ri Ri. Yes. The evil.

[00:19:34] He is our big bad by the end of this. Maybe. Uh, I, I, I'm assuming that is where they're kind of stepping up to. He is the big bad or. He is the big bad they planned for in a season two. Right. Maybe. Yeah. Because it is always good to, when you have, um, the son of a bad guy who's trying to change his ways and doing all he can.

[00:20:00] And then the hero messes it up, which by the end of this episode, the hero messes it up. Very much. And that causes the meek, mild-mannered person to go psychopathic, which was already there, but they just needed to be brought out. Yeah. Yeah. In this case, I really like the, the kind of attention to detail they have about this character of Ezekiel Stein. You know, they joked about it earlier on in the season that he chose the name Joe McGillicuddy. That's definitely a fake name. Nobody could be named that.

[00:20:28] There are definitely Joe McGillicuddy's in the world. But I like that they're all, they already called it out. This guy's got a fake name. But he's hiding behind this name because he knows for a fact, if anybody ever finds out that he's connected to Obadiah Stein, who tried to take down Stark Industries, and he's involved in tech, they will instantly have an assumption about him. They'll instantly assume who he is. They'll instantly have a negative connection, a connotation to him. And he doesn't want that. He doesn't want any connection at all to that world. So he's tried everything he can.

[00:20:57] And there's almost that moment we mentioned in the last episode where he says he's never touched any of the technology that he's been gathering from all across the world. He doesn't put his hands on it, doesn't get involved in it. There's almost that heroin addict that is surrounding himself by heroin. It's almost that feeling about him as a character that he doesn't want to get involved because he knows how bad it could go for him if anybody connects him with anything negative. But he can't resist. He can't help himself getting near it all.

[00:21:26] Well, that's, yeah, I mean, that's it. Although, as he says, I guess the spin that was put out that, you know, he died in a plane crash. I would die, yeah. But he knows that's not true, that he went full supervillain. So, like, you know, he also opens up here to Riri about that.

[00:21:50] But I like then that he says, you know, you have the same energy as him and I can't be a part of it. I've tried my whole life to not be like him. So, again, it's the reason why he's not touched the tech. He feels like he will kind of turn into his father. And you have Riri saying, well, you know, you are your own person. Yes. Like, there's a choice here. It's like, you don't have to be, you know, Obadiah Stane Mark II.

[00:22:18] It's not like being the Hobgoblin or whatever, you know, in terms of Spider-Man. So, it's like, it's just, I like how it hints as to why he had his kind of peculiarities in the second episode. Why he was sort of being really specific. So, I mean, just the fact.

[00:22:43] It's also to note that she finds out ultimately by putting his dad's ashes on the floor. It's in the plastic bag. And I have to say, you'd think for a guy that did have some kind of tech element, even though he doesn't like to necessarily brag about it, he would have a better hoover that he did, because when he hoovered, I'm sure it was pumping out dust. It was. Like, it really wasn't.

[00:23:12] It was blowing it all over the place. It was. Yeah, I think that's kind of the joke. And I wonder if it's that he doesn't want to have any technology at all in his house. So, even a good, you know, a good vacuum cleaner of some sort could possibly give it away and show that he's surrounding his house in tech. Like, remember, he keeps all of his good tech off-site in the silos. So, I wonder if that's part of it. Yeah. Yeah. I will quickly just call out the...

[00:23:39] how quickly he moves forward in terms of this. Like, again, what we see with Riri and Tony was always that they were surrounding themselves in a suit of armor. Like, they were putting it on. Where Ezekiel Stane in here, plus in the comics, is he is more biotechnology. Yes. So, we see here he's implanting himself with... And he talks about it even.

[00:24:07] He's like, I have all these ideas of, like, muscles that will allow people to lift three times their weight and skin that makes you bulletproof. He talks about all these things. And we see then that he's already starting to implant himself with a chip. So, within 24 hours. Do you know, there's some really good moments with that as well. Firstly, I love that he calls over to the house and Riri's mom, Ronnie, answers the door going,

[00:24:36] Why is there a middle-aged white man in my hallway? And he goes, he's 36. Chris, he's younger than all of us. Every single member of our team. He's younger than us and being called middle-aged. How does that tell you? We're just, we're not even middle-aged now. We're old. Oh, wow. Don't have his hair cut or his beard. That's the pointer. But also... Or wear plaid khakis. Exactly. But also, there's an interesting one in the middle of the episode, if you notice. So, he pushes Riri to come to his house at 6pm the following day. Right?

[00:25:05] And then she gets a call while she's out. And we'll talk about the other side of it. While she's out, she gets a call from him going, No, you need to come over right now. And then we find out when she calls over at 6pm as originally arranged, that the reason why he's calling her over is because he's cut into his own arm. He tried to do an implant on himself with nobody around. And now he's going, please come over and bandage me up, basically. But I love that little thing in the background because it's not really mentioned as to that's why he suddenly tried to change the plans completely. But yes, he's tried to operate.

[00:25:33] I do like when he's at the door that he blackmails her and he goes, and thank you for teaching me to stand up for myself. He's kind of gotten his creative juices flowing from her pep talk. But he wants to kind of be that team with Riri. I love that he's got, I've got nanotech, I've got this biomesh fingernails that will never crack or break. Biotech muscle that will repair injuries.

[00:26:03] Because obviously this then becomes important for the heist because Riri wants to modify the biomesh. I think he describes it to make it more illegal, effectively. And because she needs to get into, on this heist at Erloom,

[00:26:28] which has this really peculiar security system that it will sense anything that's metallic or foreign that will endanger, effectively, the product, which is biology. So she can't actually go on this heist in her suit. She needs this biomesh to hide, effectively, a laser cutter that she uses

[00:26:54] to try and get a sample of Parker's The Hood. In a sense, he doesn't fully know what reason it is for, but he ultimately trusts her to, which, you know, again, as I think you said in the last episode, more than likely some blowback here on this, sort of at this moment, blossoming relationship. Because he says, look, yes, make it more illegal,

[00:27:21] but make sure it doesn't trace back to me at all, you know? So, and of course, as I mentioned in the synopsis, there is that issue. Well, absolutely. She effectively has put cloaking technology in the skin so that she can hide a weapon behind it. So this could be used by any person trying to get through a security gate and hide a gun, yeah? He knows this. Riri lies to him and says she's just going to take it out in a test run

[00:27:49] and make sure that she can test it, which she could be doing. But no, she's going to the worst place possible. She's going to do a heist with other criminals and leave it behind, implicating the son of the Ironmonger in a technology scam, effectively. So, yeah, this is not good for poor Ezekiel staying here. Yeah. And I do like the fact that he's doing this to hide, not for any interference means, just in case he gets found out, somebody will make that connection to him and they're going to make that connection to him

[00:28:18] and this tech heist, effectively. So, worst possible case scenario. Yeah, absolutely. I think we go on to case note number three, Gary and Natalie and their sort of origin, in a sense, or their death. But part of that, and part of that connection is I do, with the previous point, is I do like Riri confining in Natalie saying, I think I've created a monster in Joe

[00:28:45] because of all this sudden creativeness coming out around tech. She's got tons of blueprints that he just printed off overnight. Exactly. You know, she's like, has some dope ideas, she says, in all the chaos of this sort of stream of consciousness of ideas. But it's ultimately, you know, Natalie is wanting attention here. She doesn't want to be treated as a high-tech genie

[00:29:13] and so wants her and Riri to have sort of, in a sense, time together. And part of it, in terms of we're talking about Joe, is that, you know, Natalie's saying to Riri, look, he would absolutely lose his stuff if he knew what you were doing with this suit because part of this suit, part of the reason for her building the suit

[00:29:39] was that it was Gary, her stepfather, who was a fan of Tony Stark. Again, love to break things down and fix them back together again. I genuinely had to go and look up on IMDb what the release date for Iron Man was because I was going, hang on a second, 17 years since the first Iron Man, since Obadiah's day, Stane died since the first Iron Man movie.

[00:30:08] That's what inspired Gary and that inspired Riri and Riri's only 18 and 19 years old. She would have been a toddler when the moment of I am Iron Man happened. So, yes, that's how long has gone by. And in the Marvel Universe, I think we're about caught up now to real timeline in Marvel Universe after the time jump with the snap. So we're around 2026, 2028, somewhere around that. 2027, 2028, yeah. That's where we are. Around there, but I had to genuinely look it up and go, hang on a second, they're saying 17 or 18 years ago

[00:30:37] when this incident happened and that all inspired Gary. And another thing that I did look up, just for reference for our fellow Defenders, there is a character called Gary who was very important in Iron Man 3. This is not the same Gary. I had to look it up. Gary was a guy that helped out Tony when he had lost all of his stuff. He was a guy that helped him get all of his stuff back together. Everybody loved him in Iron Man 3. They really enjoyed the character, but it's not the same Gary, unfortunately. Wish it was. That would have been cool.

[00:31:06] But Natalie basically asks for a day out with Riri to just prove that she is similar, that they can just have some time together, that just even spending some time with this version of Natalie will help Riri out, will help get her mind clear, maybe set her back on the path where she's not using the suit for heists with the Hoods gang. So I kind of like this moment when we get a little bit of time spent with these two friends because Natalie is a great character to spend time with. Agreed.

[00:31:36] And the way that they paired this casting of two actors is just phenomenal. They really, they vibe off each other or there is this chemistry and it is that very strong. And it reminds me of Peter and Ned from Spider-Man. Absolutely. The last three movies. It is that just best friend in jokes, things like that. And they really nailed that so well in the script,

[00:32:05] in the delivery. And overall, just I think it was fantastic. I think as the backstory of Natalie and Gary is kind of fully gleaned out, I think what we get is that this is highly traumatic for Riri. And it has been. And it's only when you really understand that she was there and she she was thrown out of the way by Gary as Gary ran to protect

[00:32:35] Natalie and the two of them were shot and killed in the drive bike. Yeah. We understand the the PTSD almost kind of panic attacks that grip Riri every now and again. Now, towards the very end of this episode really makes sense as the walls come crumbling in. We've seen that Natalie is able to pull Riri back earlier in the episodes but not being able

[00:33:04] to do it at that end point really shows how far and how deep the issue is. Absolutely. But it's fun to see that you know that these best friends have each other's back because they have given them time in this episode alone just to really kind of connect. Absolutely. I mean, I think that first panic attack there in the in the repair shop the car repair shop and you know Natalie is able to calm her down as you said Chris

[00:33:33] and it's kind of that point where Riri is like okay like my Nat was the only one who knew how to calm me down when I spiraled which is what her AI does like how and it's you know it's how do you know how to do this effectively and so like it's really it's kind of that the breaking down of those barriers or boundaries that she has with her AI high tech genie.

[00:34:03] Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And one of the things that this indicates in the episode as well is that this is all built from Riri's memories of her version of Natalie because this version of Natalie says to her I don't remember everything I don't know all of the holes in my life there's holes there maybe that would be the same if I was still that Natalie I don't know that I won't know that but there are moments when she is just an AI bot she's in the scene of the crime where both

[00:34:33] both herself and Gary died and she looks down at the ground and sees the chewing gum that was in her mouth when she was shot to death and rather than having a profound moment or having a moment realizing that Riri is freaking out here she looks down and goes oh I wonder if there's a taste on that Riri pick it up and see if that chewing gum still tastes of my taste from five years ago when I was shot dead effectively so she is still a robot she is still just AI she is still a program

[00:35:02] and it's coming through here in that moment when Riri's at her absolute lowest and then connected to that is she starts glitching when Riri goes into panic mode so similar to when Riri had the gun pointed at her and Natalie glitched and stopped moving there's potentially an even closer connection between Riri and the AI because it's created from her mind rather than it being programmed just being programmed it's been created in a way that it's a closer connection to Riri than any other way of being

[00:35:32] created I guess good but yeah it was a really well done moment it's really sad what happened with Riri and what happened with Gary and Natalie but visualised really well as a really good scene definitely definitely should we move on to our case note number four the failed heist at heirloom yeah absolutely so as you kind of mentioned a bit of this earlier on that the the heirloom

[00:36:02] heist has to be a tech free zone they can't use their tech so they can't use explosives to get in there Riri can't use her iron suit to get in there and John can't use his knives to get in there they have to if they do get inside it's fists and fists alone that will get them into this heist and of course there is the benefit that they have where Parker has the hood where he can invisibly walk in so Riri makes the plan that she's going to send

[00:36:31] the suit off to act as a sentry while she not in the suit goes inside uses the tech that she got from I guess we can call him Zeke now she used the tech that she got from Zeke to hide a piece of equipment to take a bit of the hood so that she can study that yeah so I really liked all of this absolutely but there was just a little niggle as to why you would

[00:37:01] attempt to do that here I mean in the end it I was like why would you attempt to get that sample in this high pressured environment in this way and it is she gives is that he will be so distracted by the situation that he's in he will not notice at all if I've taken a piece of the hood you do wonder since Clown broke into the vault

[00:37:30] I wonder maybe it's just a drop line or a scene or an extra line that could have fixed it where you see him going back putting it into the vault and changing the code so it will take Clown another three months and by the time she figures out how to break into the vault again all of the jobs are done the end of the line has come and it doesn't matter anymore or whatever it is as I say I loved the whole heist sequence the failed heist absolutely but it was just that little niggle why do it in this situation it's the most risky way of

[00:38:00] doing it and ultimately then at the end when you see the biomesh sample with the laser cutter at the scene of the crime you kind of go in okay yeah so it is because you know it's partly writing in to implicate Ezekiel at that scene but it's not just that either it's I suppose to give it a bit of a benefit I like

[00:38:30] this because it ends off not just being a risky thing that Riri did it ends off in the worst possible case scenario not only does she drop the mesh there and implicate Zeke who she said she absolutely wouldn't and knows how bad this is for him not only that she's the one that set off the alarms if she hadn't done this they may have gotten away with the heist yeah and John would still be alive yeah agreed everybody else who could have died in that situation fair enough I totally get that and it

[00:39:00] is just like it's I I say I really like how it goes down but it's you know you're saying intelligent person that's a really stupid choice it's a stupid choice of getting the sample yeah yeah you know I think it's probably also driven by the fact that you know she does get the visit from the police officers to the apartment with her mum and sort of

[00:39:29] learns that Rampage has been found murdered her predecessor yes so and again it's just layering the doubts that she has on Parker yeah despite how he comes across and so on it's just layering those doubts so I get that element of it you know there's that youthful impatience to it absolutely yeah and it leads to a wrong decision big time yeah

[00:39:58] and it also shows through part of this it shows the crumbling psyche of of Parker he is will like he does straight up just kill like yeah it it's even a failed heist on his side as well because there was again no plan there was a plan to get in but there was no like as John

[00:40:28] they which leads to an interesting kind of debate and how it all kind of sets up but ending it with this ending it with the death of John yeah potentially and

[00:40:57] obviously Parker and the hood seeing the visage of of the suit of armor and the death of John again it's just it starts building points upon points upon points where you're like oh there is a lot of opportunity in terms of where this storyline goes especially when you have these

[00:41:26] criminals the rest of the criminals so like we know that HR likes to kill people so and we also with the drop line John says that Parker likes to watch and be there when it happens yeah so we see his eyes go black as he kills the target so again is it the soul of a demon sucking in

[00:41:56] the soul as every time you kill it takes on that piece I did think supernatural as soon as I saw that and I'm like okay definitely a demon you know Mephisto confirmed yeah well Dormammu Mephisto's the devil Dormammu is effectively a god in the dark dimension but I think is referred to as a demon trying to think if

[00:42:26] the devil is yeah devil's a demon as well I mean I guess both of them it's a toss up heads or well there's also there's the dark dimension Krothok which is the one that's connected to Wanda and the Scarlet which there's many I think they're going to lean into pushing that oh there's a demon and it will be a demon it may not be Mephisto I think at this point they're going to string Mephisto along as long as

[00:42:55] they can I think they accidentally fell into Mephisto in WandaVision where for some reason somebody thought it would be hilarious that this theory would come out and they never had any intention and then they had an intention to have a joke about it in Agatha and everybody went you better show us him soon and I think this is where they're going to show us him I think we may see Mephisto by the end of the season I don't think even Marvel

[00:43:25] would do it a second time I think we will connect to even if it's not Mephisto connected to the hood I think we may see Mephisto with this series let me just say as well if they do it suddenly opens up damnation which is great yes yes great story absolutely anything else about the failed heist that we want to talk about one thing I really liked when Hunter confronts hood about why

[00:43:55] he's there it's just an interesting moment he realises that the hood is behind him already so I wonder was he in they used the hood in the past maybe and Parker stole the hood at some point he realises that he's there and then looks at him and says I've seen this

[00:44:25] before a flamboyant young upstart taking out the competition so I wonder if that's what it will do it one by one and instantly he's caught out in that they do one the technology is in there Hunter knows this everything is now in lockdown it's all done Riri's

[00:44:55] technology sets off the clown sets one of the you know greenhouses on fire and that's the bargaining chip that

[00:45:24] Parker initially has or what he thinks he has over Hunter Mason but of course that's when the doors close on clown and the blood siblings and that's when the CO2 starts to get pumped in in order to put out the fire which it does so like and then it's like he's you have nothing because I was kind of thinking it very much looks as though it was the the laser

[00:45:54] but she's literally just set fire even non high tech places have got a fire system so flash blinking you'll miss it the hacker does turn off the fire suppression system that is one of those things that are on the laptop for a split second as they are tip tapping away on the screen fire suppression system deactivated I

[00:46:23] double checked that because I was like that doesn't make but it is very very quickly before we move on to our next case for those who are interested in the hood there is the what if which we have covered on this very here podcast channels the hood is in

[00:46:54] the hood is taken and Parker stole it and became the new hood and that's why they are aware of this so it is that kind of cabal of crime syndicates led by the hood but the hood has now been stolen by someone else maybe that's Parker's dad

[00:47:23] maybe that's parker's old boss maybe it's some form of that and essentially the all these highfalutin ceos all report to this original hood i think that's an interesting because we saw something that at least the mantle of the hood being passed or stolen or taken in that what if and it's an interesting because again for those bit of weird lore

[00:47:51] this was supposed to come out before what if so we were supposed to have known and seen the hood before we first met the hood exactly in the what if yeah yeah exactly so that's what makes it fun writing the synopsis for this episode because you're you're for any of these episodes because you're constantly going parker's parker the hood's the hood they are two distinct characters but when parker has the hood on he's the hood as well he's got the mantle of the hood while wearing the hood

[00:48:17] so it makes it really interesting writing the synopsis uh for these episodes uh good stuff that's the failed heist that's our second last bullet point let's close it out with the aftermath in this episode what this all leads to and the closeout of the episode itself the panic attack it is a full-blown well put together well crafted panic attack that really sets up like really falling to pieces and

[00:48:43] not being able to kind of catch that panic attack uh out so it's it's the full weight of her actions yeah coming down and to bear on not even to bear on her crushing her but the realization of her actions and the consequences they haven't hit her yet but she's aware of them and she's a smart girl

[00:49:08] she's figured it all out that this is all gone badly and it is let's be honest it is all based on the fruit that she has born like it is hers like it's because of what she did so exactly exactly and it's all going to come down on zeke as well that's the that's the worst part about it yeah and also then as you say it's you have parker lashing out um at the hood

[00:49:37] effectively saying i'm done with you you know really cut up about john yeah dying um and as you say the hood shows parker both sort of the final moments of john suffocating and but also then who effectively was really behind uh his death uh with the silhouette of the iron heart suit there and i i

[00:50:03] wonder as well if it sort of hits more because you know as they're trying to escape from uh loom and the failed heist parker is saying where's john yeah you know reary get up there in the sky and get him and she comes back and so she effectively is lies straight to him you know as well straight to his

[00:50:26] face that not about his death she does call that out but obviously not that she was behind it so um yeah that's kind of fairly epic as well absolutely absolutely but that's where we are at the end of the the first three episodes does anyone have any notes before we move on to our defense uh just to mention and to keep an eye out for it uh in the other three episodes as well um and this episode the money party at the beginning the money falls to the floor and spells out iron

[00:50:56] heart on the floor in dollar bills so dollar bills y'all absolutely great stuff with that then i will kick on over to john unlike your namesake you are still alive so will you tell me do you defend this episode of iron heart i do i give this four and a half bio threats out of five um yeah i really

[00:51:22] really enjoyed the the whole episode i thought it really had that momentum up right to the end with both parker lashing out and reary and sort of freaking out and panicking out and i kind of like that because i i think actually what these first three episodes have done they've kind of run these two characters parallel in terms of and that's why they've um you know in a sense they've kind of

[00:51:52] come together and this is where they've broken apart in terms of what's happened and how it's transpired and it's all down to the hood you know and the the questions over that so i really really enjoyed that um i loved uh joe and reary in this it all just flowed really really well so yeah four

[00:52:19] and a half bio threats that's a five for me excellent stuff derek do you defend this episode absolutely defend this episode i think the build on the season in these three three episodes so far has been fantastic getting us to this point at the end you know we got the little things that we knew coming into the show which was that this was going to be magic and technology in this universe coming crashing to a head they quite literally did that in this episode we have the magic on one side the

[00:52:48] uh technology on the other side and that's how the rest of the season i guess are definitely the next episode that's how that's going to play out uh technology versus magic so uh really intrigued to see how the season goes what a great build up in these three episodes and it's interesting hopefully this isn't the format that disney do with all of their shows but they literally just did this with andor that was this is how andor was released over four weeks three episodes a week it's just a lot yeah in one day to take in uh three episodes of a show of a brand new show uh every

[00:53:16] week it would be a lot but i'm looking forward to the three next week uh after this one so uh yeah definitely defend this episode chris wrap us up to defend the third episode of iron heart season one i do i don't have much more to add as you said it's this every episode has built on each other uh as any good show should and my in the intrigue and the my want for the next episode has grown

[00:53:42] each episode so yeah i really defend this and i'm interested to see as you said where next week takes us um i'm really just hope they stick the landing they they've created so many really good um story beats that i'm wanting i'm hoping for that real iron man superhero landing into the ground

[00:54:05] and it's like yeah and i'm sure we're gonna get that re-re-williams iron heart land in her full suit of armor so yeah absolutely completely defend this episode but i think it's about time we head on over to the mit student bar for a bit of a pulp quiz i think so john what is the questions oh maestro yes uh

[00:54:31] fellow quizzes uh fellow defenders the question for this episode how many greenhouses are off the central atrium at the heirloom headquarters that the hood and his team break into excellent oh very good i can't remember no i think i know the number same i think i know but i think i'm wrong i think there's one more or one less than i think there is john do you want to give the question one

[00:54:59] more time yeah how many greenhouses are off the central atrium at the heirloom headquarters that the hood and his team break into great stuff that's the third question of six there'll be three more next week and all you need to do at the end of the season once you have all six correct answers email us to feedback at tvpodcastindustries.com and you'll be in the chance of getting your hands on some iron heart goodies if you've missed any of the questions pop on over to the website at

[00:55:26] tvpodcastindustries.com all the questions should be up there under pub quizzes on the top uh top center i think it is at the moment and you'll see all the questions for the iron heart quiz that's it for this week hopefully we'll get to hear your feedback and when your thoughts on these three episodes if you haven't sent them into us yet you can get them get them into us through feedback at tvpodcastindustries.com or pop it over to our facebook group at facebook.com slash groups slash tvpodcastindustries and there's a spoiler post up there for each of the three episodes that have been

[00:55:54] released so far with then that it is time for us i was gonna say go have a panic attack but no it's time to us blast off like ree ree into the chicago air so with that we will speak to you very soon as we cover episode four five and six in the near future yes episode four bad magic five life's a glitch and the finale the past is the past are released on july 1st so until then we will

[00:56:24] speak to you again soon absolutely see you next time thanks so much for joining us thank you so much fellow defenders uh speak to you next time uh and until the fourth episode keep watching keep listening and of course keep defending bye bye bye bye bye bye