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 T’Challa as Star-Lord with the rest of the Ravagers, including Yondu and Kraglin, in ‘What If…?’ episode two, now streaming on Disney + (Photo provided via @saraandthejets1 on Twitter). 

TV Review: Marvel’s ‘What If…?’ shines in its second episode

 The second episode of What If…? follows a timeline in which a young T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) was taken by the Ravagers instead of Peter Quill. This leads T’Challa to eventually take on the same moniker as Peter, becoming Star-Lord and changing his Marvel universe mightily as he goes along. 

This episode is an improvement over the first in almost every conceivable way, aside from the animation, which remains stellar in its quality and style. The characterization is better across the board, the plot is much more interesting and unique, the voice cast is absolutely bonkers and it manages to have a satisfactory and emotionally resonant ending. In a cinematic universe over a decade old, it’s hard to pull off genuine surprises; this episode manages to do just that multiple times.

While the episode starts off as a seemingly close retelling of the first Guardians of the Galaxy film, it quickly changes course to become a completely stand-alone story, and it’s all the better for it. The episode paving its own path to establish how vast the Marvel multiverse can be is amazing and is also something that shouldn’t have been held back until the second episode of this series. Making this series feel necessary to general audiences is an uphill battle it will have to continue fighting, however, as the series still has no real connection to the rest of the MCU. While this isn’t really an issue for the quality of the series, it could impact the series’ longevity, regardless of its already confirmed second season.

The performances, especially from Chadwick Boseman and Michael Rooker, are phenomenal and feel on par with the live-action projects. While the previous episode was no slouch when it came to its voice cast and performances, episode two blows it completely out of the water. Almost everyone reprises their live-action roles, including those you may not expect. There are a few notable missing voices though, Dave Bautisita’s absence being especially noticeable. The cast’s performances are amazing across the board, though mentioning and giving proper credit to many of them could be seen as major spoilers. 

A special mention needs to be given to Chadwick Boseman, who’s giving his final posthumous performance in this episode. He absolutely nails every line and gets to show off a bit more swagger and charisma than as the live-action T’Challa. It’s amazingly fun to hear him in this role, but that fun diminishes as soon as the credits roll and the reality of his loss really hits. Losing such an incredible talent is exceedingly sad, but it’s great to see that his final performance was for a character he loved and that inspired so many. 

This episode misses no opportunities and becomes the gold standard for what this series can be going forward. Though an episode this good and fun after last week’s very plain premiere raises some serious questions about What If…?’s consistency going forward. Consistency is something many anthologies, even veterans of the genre like Black Mirror, struggle with mightily. Hopefully the series can overcome this prevalent issue as it progresses. Regardless, go into every episode of this series with the expectation of seeing something solid instead of something extraordinary, as the former is the most-likely outcome.  

@zachj7800

zj716018@ohio.edu

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