Ironheart Season 1 Episodes 1-3 Review: A Strong Start With a Lot of Heart

Ironheart Season 1 Episodes 1-3, “Take Me Home/Will the Real Natalie Stand Up?/We In Danger Girl” are a worthy beginning to the origin story of one of Marvel Studios’s most charming additions, Riri Williams.

The story begins with Riri in a bit of a slump, having been expelled from MIT for her (admittedly industrious) plagiarizing business. Now at home in Chicago, she is haunted by the memories of her best friend and her step-dad, with a broken suit in need of expensive repairs.

How she works her way out of this rut is the driving plot of the series — Riri needs resources to build her suit, and she gets mixed up with some unsavory elements as a result.

Riri’s ambition has taken her far, but this time it has landed her in trouble she cannot escape, as she becomes entangled with a criminal crew in need of her engineering expertise.

Riri’s struggle to pair her ambition with doing things the “right way” is a particularly intriguing premise. 

The story becomes especially interesting as we learn more about the chinks in Riri’s armor regarding the killing of Gary, her step-dad, and her best friend, Natalie. There are rare moments of shaky vulnerability, like the panic attack during Ironheart Season 1 Episode 2, “Will the Real Natalie Stand Up?” that Dominique Thorne portrays very well.

The rest of the cast is also quite strong: Anthony Ramos as the leader of the criminal crew, Parker (a.k.a. The Hood); Alden Ehrenreich as Joe, Riri’s mad scientist supplier; and Lyric Ross as Natalie all give powerful performances. Shea Coulée as Slug, the stylish hacker, is also extremely entertaining to watch.

The series also distinguishes itself with its cinematography. Each episode presents a new and inventive way to display the title card, and there are clear stylistic distinctions between present-day scenes and flashbacks with Riri.

The twist of Natalie being the AI that Riri creates for her suit is a great choice, bringing Riri face-to-face (literally) with her grief and the feelings she is trying so hard to ignore.

Lyric Ross is also outstandingly charismatic, and her chemistry and quips with Dominique Thorne work really well to make you believe that they were, in fact, best friends.

The first three episodes — the entire first half of the season — set up what seems to be an upcoming showdown between The Hood with his mysterious magical powers and Riri with her new suit.

Whether or not all this intrigue will pay off well enough remains to be seen, as this 6-episode formula has spelled doom for good Marvel television stories in the past.

By Ironheart Season 1 Episode 3, “We In Danger Girl,” the series quickens its pace, as another heist goes awry, and Parker’s cousin and protector John (played by Manny Montana) dies as a result.

Riri is at her lowest by the end of this episode, and there is considerable potential for a compelling story about her dealing with her grief, the consequences of her choices, and her journey to rebuild herself for her fight against The Hood.

However, the six-episode season formula has gotten old, and the divisions between specific storylines have become blurred. Or worse, certain storylines do not get enough time to breathe.

For example, we learn by the third episode that Riri’s new friend is the son of Obadiah Stane, Tony Stark’s mentor, who eventually tried to kill him. Both Riri and Joe (or Ezekiel) struggle with the legacy of those who came before them, which makes for a poignant moment between the two and for the story. 

Not only did this reveal feel like an offhand MCU tie-in, but it was also weakened by the fact that this moment of shared grief would have been so much more impactful if it had happened with Riri and her mother instead.

Her mother spends most of these three episodes as merely a voice in the background, which is a shame, considering she also lost her husband.

Despite some plotline hiccups and occasionally one-dimensional characters, Ironheart starts with a strong first half that establishes a protagonist you can root for in the ambitious and inventive Riri Williams. 

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The next three episodes of Ironheart drop Tuesday, July 1 at 9/8c on Disney+.

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