Episode Review: Ironheart Episode 2 - "Will the Real Natalie Please Stand Up?"

Welcome back to the blog readers. As the final main MCU project to release that was shepherded in the Bob Chapek era, Ironheart (2025) definitely did not have a lot of expectation going into it. I thought the last episode was okay, but it definitely has a lot of work to do to really win me over. Could that start in this episode, titled "Will the Real Natalie Please Stand Up," written by Malarie Howard, and directed by Sam Bailey? Stick around to find out.

NOTE: I will be using spoilers for my thoughts, so DO NOT read ahead if you have not seen the episode.

---

After not being the biggest fan of the first episode of this show (but definitely seeing some promise in it), I was interested in seeing how we would follow that up in this episode. Would we see more heist stuff? Would we see more Hood stuff? Now there's a Natalie AI and we don't know what to do with it? This episode was a step-up from last episode but not enough of one that I am ready to say I like this show yet. Although Dominque Thorne is still killing it as Riri Williams.

Speaking of Thorne, her performance in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) was good, but not enough with a weak characterization to be able to sink our teeth into it. But I saw something different in the last episode when we really got to see some more from this character. She killed it last time out and she did it again this week with another look into the grief that Riri is dealing with from the loss of her best friend. Clearly she can handle these big emotions and I am definitely looking forward to seeing if we get some heavier stuff with her in the final four episodes of this series.

Now I want to briefly talk about the story of this episode. We start immediately where last episode picked up, where Riri discovers the Natalie AI that she mistakenly brain mapped to her suit and she passed out. She comes to and the AI gives itself the name N.A.T.A.L.I.E (Neuro Autonomous Technical Assistant and Laboratory Intelligence Entity). Riri is able to wheel the suit and her AI in her bedroom where she is able to stave off her curious mother Ronnie as she explains to the AI it cannot reveal itself to anybody. Natalie's brother Xavier asks Riri out to a concert that night, and she accepts.

Meanwhile, Parker Robbins and his crew are watching an informative advertisement on the TNNL system, a private express highway for the rich that exploits the community. Riri arrives and meets the gang, and learns of the objective and what her role in the heist will be. Parker requests the suit and Riri tells them it is home charging, but is in need of a part. N.A.T.A.L.I.E. points Riri (who was looking for Stuart, the member of Parker's gang that she replaced) in the direction of black market tech dealer Joe McGillicuddy. Meanwhile, the AI is able to jailbreak itself out of Riri's suit and accidentally runs into Ronnie, who is stunned at what her daughter was able to do.

Joe introduces himself to Riri as a biomechanic and she has to beg him to lead her to the part she is looking for. He eventually agrees, but wants no part of what she is involved in. He takes her to his biometrically-enhanced silo that has all of the tech he claims is a hobby. He claims this bunker made him feel closer to his father (Obadiah Stane maybe?) and the two bond over having deceased father figures. He asks her why she would build the suit if only to use it for crime and she rebukes him by telling him she can. He refuses to touch a magnetic resonation field because he does not want to be implicated in a crime, but she is able to convince him to do so before flying off to take part in the heist.

The mission goes off without a hitch to start off, but N.A.T.A.L.I.E. finds its way into Riri's suit and causes her to drop the hard drive with the virus down a vent. When told this group does not improvise, she tells them there is no choice and does something with the hand part of her suit (under the direction of N.A.T.A.L.I.E.) to knock out the entire system. Parker phases into the car of the CEO of TNNL and blackmails her into putting the group on TNNL's payroll. When Riri returns to the surface, she is met by a guard with his gun drawn on her and the AI, and it freezes up on her, leaving her face uncovered. Parker is able to shoot the guard by curving his bullet, therefore saving Riri's life. Back at the hideout, they celebrate Riri and her success in their mission as she asks Clown about Parker. Her answer is cryptic in the sense that she has no idea what Parker is like as John stumbles on him assessing his newly-formed scars as the episode ends.

Ironheart kicks it up into another gear with some fun and interesting dynamics, but not quite enough yet to move this into the next echelon of shows. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.