September 29, 2021
What If is an anthology television show based on the comic with the same name. The show was released on August 11, 2021, and planned to make six episodes in a season by October 6. The first three episodes of What If are fantastic. What If … Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?
is full of fun and exciting action with charming characters.
What If … T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?
tells the story of T'Challa, a good nature hero who wants to help the galaxy and becomes a famous mercenary but faces drama with his adoptive father.
What If … the World Lost Its Mightiest Hero?
is a murder mystery following a lead of a sympathetic character and an excellent defeat of a villain. The fourth episode,
What If … Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hand?
is a disappointing mess.
The episode begins with Stephen Strange and his love interest, Christine Palmer driving to an award ceremony about Strange performing a successful hemispherectomy. When Palmer dies in a car accident, Strange goes on a magical search to find a way to resurrect her. During his journey, he finds the Eye of Agamotto, a cradle that controls time. He uses it to time travel. Strange travels to the day of Palmer’s death but fails to save her multiple times. The mentor of Strange, the Ancient One, tells Strange that Christine’s death is irreversible because it is an Absolute Point, a significant point of history that cannot alter. When the Ancient One attacks Strange, he travels to the Lost Library of Cagliostro and finds a book about time manipulation. The book stated someone can break Absolute Point by absorbing magic from creatures. When Ancient One attacks Strange, she creates two versions of him. The alternate Strange that did not time travel tries to prevent his original self from breaking the Absolute Point. Strange kills alternate self and breaks the Absolute Point, which causes the world to become a gem killing everyone.
The relationship between Strange and Palmer is generic because Palmer supports Strange during her time on the episode. Palmer being a two-dimensional character makes her death less impactful. Her death scene is the best part of the episode because it is unpredictable. A happy conversation quickly escalates into a car crash, switching a lighthearted mood into a dark one. Strange time travel to save Palmer makes no sense because he did not try time travel when he first discovered the Eye of Agamotto. The Absolute Point creates a plot hole since Strange became a Sorcerer Supreme with a living Palmer in the MCU movie, Dr. Strange. Also, Strange is an unsympathetic jerk because he absorbs magic from innocent creatures, which kills them. The only good part is Strange's clothes became dark over time which represents him becoming evil. His final design is fantastic because his gray skin, multiple eyes, wings, and tentacles on his back, claws replace his fingernails, and tall height makes him look like a monster. It is a great visible design to show his delusion makes him a selfish monster. The ending is satisfying because Strange faces consequences by Palmer being scared of seeing the final form of Strange. Another satisfying part of the punishment is Strange painful watching the world getting destroyed as he regrets breaking the Absolute Point.