Welcome to the Wkly Hit List, and I hope that everyone had a wonderful June this month. We have faced an incredible heatwave that lasted for almost a week, but we came out of it still alive, though I can't imagine that it will be the last time as the summer is just getting started. The next three months will be very crucial as KlicKNet Productions will try to produce its first independent film project. Rhodey, NY - a NickCam spin-off. To those who are reading this post right now, you can help raise the funds for Rhodey, NY by making a contribution on IndieGogo through the following link: indiegogo.com/projects/rhodey-ny. Pretty soon, KlicKNet Productions will be looking for a cast and crew, among other things that needs to get done, so we need all the help we can get. I know that most of you need help trying to the most decent news topics of the week, and that's where the 5-Day Rounder comes in.
Our Inside Scoop this week is about the first three episodes of Marvel Television's Ironheart that dropped this week on Disney Plus. Just to point out, there are only six episodes in this new series, and the last three episodes will premiere this coming Tuesday, so instead of a weekly event like many Marvel Shows before, Ironheart will last for only two weeks. Also, Ironheart is the last project in Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Phase Six starts in late July with the worldwide theater of the Fantastic Four: First Steps. Since KlicKNet is gonna real busy with other things this summer, we're going to recap and review the first three Ironheart episodes as much as we can, so let's get to it. WARNING: This piece may contain spoilers, so if you haven't seen Ironheart Episodes One, Two, and Three yet, stop reading now. If you would like to continue at your risk, then be my guest.
As expected, Ironheart picks up where Black Panther: Wakanda Forever left off, and see Riri Williams try to make something "Iconic," something "Undeniable," as she says. As you remember from Wakanda Forever, she wasn't allowed to bring the Ironheart suit she built against Namor home with her, so she's gone back to school at MIT to try and built the suit scratch, personally I think she could have make some kind of blueprint of her Wakanda suit, maybe download a copy of the plans and built it back up later. But instead, Riri has to start from scratch, and as the first episode begins, it appears that she has successfully achieve her goal, but there's a downside to it. Riri has been helping other students and schools plagiarize their work in exchange for money, but her College Dean and Professor catch on and expel her after refusing to her request to extend her grant for another year at MIT. Riri takes off in her new suit of armor to her hometown of Chicago, but it completely falls apart, so she has to hall it all the way up to her apartment where she lives with her mother Ronnie Williams.
We learn that Riri has been grieving the deaths of her best friend Natalie Washington and stepfather Gary from a drive-by shooting, and then we meet her other best friend, Natalie's brother Xavier who thinks Riri's talents should be taken seriously. Later, we come to where Riri gets trapped in elevator which contains a gas bomb, and she uses her brain to fight her way out, but this was all just a test set up by John and his cousin Parker Robbins, also known as "The Hood." Side note, Parker has some weird looking tattoos on his body and he's able to do magic like Doctor Strange. They recruit Riri to join their gang, and while she denies their offer at first when Robbins offers financial compensation. At home, Riri gets into a fight with her mom over the loss of their loved ones and her mom tells she needs move past all her grief in order to move forward. Well during her session of brain-mapping a new artificial intelligence, Riri ends up creating a digital recreation of Natalie.
We pick it up with Episode Two where Riri tries to figure out what is going with her new AI which is calling itself N.A.T.A.L.I.E. which is short for Neuro Autonomous Technical Assistant and Laboratory Intelligence Entity. Riri isn't keen on keeping this AI around, since talking to her dead best friend is freaking her out, and even more so N.A.T.A.L.I.E. pushes back against running the diagnostics that could get her deleted. The next morning, Riri goes out on her way to order N.A.T.A.L.I.E. to stay hidden from her mother Ronnie, and the AI is transferred into Riri's computer, then Riri heads out to meet with Parker, leaving N.A.T.A.L.I.E. to her own devices, and runs into Xavier, who invites her out later that night. With her armor incomplete, Riri heads to Evanston, Illinois to seek the help of Joe McGillicuddy, a black market arms dealer suggested by her N.A.T.A.L.I.E., of course Joe has a few secrets of his own, but we'll get into that later on. We learn that Joe wants technology to be used to benefit all of humanity, and as he helps Riri, her suit is back online and she goes to help Parker and his gang for their first job, targeting a company called TNNL, which wants to turn Chicago's freight tunnels into a private highway at the expense of local communities, that definitely doesn't seem fair, but it's nice to see that there certain themes in this series like the clash between the wealthy and middle-class.
We return to N.A.T.A.L.I.E. whose behavior is similar to Riri's best friends Natalie, and she escapes into Riri's home devices and encounters Ronnie who is shocked and impressed at the same time. N.A.T.A.L.I.E. ends up interrupting Riri during the gang's heist and Riri drops a computer virus designed to sabotage the highway's demonstration held by TNNL CEO Sheila Zarate. The CEO is blackmailed by Parker into hiring them to prevent further damage, Parker then comes to the aid of Riri who is cornered by a security guard and cannot move due to N.A.T.A.L.I.E. malfunctioning. Parker shoots the guard and helps Riri escape, but we learn later that N.A.T.A.L.I.E. froze because the encounter with the guard triggered memories of Natalie's death and the AI expresses suspicions about Parker's powers. After attending a concert with Xavier, Ronnie confronts Riri about N.A.T.A.L.I.E., and asks her to build another AI modeled on Riri's Stepdad Gary, of course Riri refuses, as she is unsure of N.A.T.A.L.I.E.'s true origins.
The third episode of Ironheart is very significant because it determines where the rest of the series goes from here. Parker's crew is celebrating their victory over TNNL but there's tensions amongst them and Riri and gang member Clown end up touching Parker's magic hood which angers John. Parker announces their next target: a biotech company in Chicago called Heirlum whose innovations are harming small farmers. Riri has been questioning the morality of the gang's heists since the gecko, but Parker insists that "greatness demands morally gray decisions," and it kinda funny he says that because we'll see later how these decisions come with dire consequences. We turn to N.A.T.A.L.I.E. is still suspicions about the criminal gang Riri is working with and urges her to upgrade the Ironheart suit so it no longer restricts N.A.T.A.L.I.E. access. Riri becomes suspicious of Parker herself after one of his gang members dies, so she turns to Joe McGillicuddy, and that's when we learn the truth about him. When Riri finds a bag of ashes in Joe's home, he admits that the bag contains his father's remains, the name on the bag label reads Obadiah S. and that's when Joe reveals that he's Zeke Stane, the son of Obadiah Stane from the very first project of the MCU, Iron Man.
Zeke has reframed himself from repeating his father's mistakes and advises Riri to do the same, after revealing his injuries from self-experimentation, he gives her a sample of biomesh skin to hide enhancements. We cut to the next heist where Riri deploys N.A.T.A.L.I.E. in her suit and attempts to discreetly cut a piece of Parker's hood during a negotiation with Heirlum CEO Hunter Mason. However, Riri ends up setting off an alarm and triggers a gas purge system, this causes the gang to be sealed inside their respective locations with no way out but N.A.T.A.L.I.E. comes to their recuse. Parker kills Mason and the security in the area while John discovers that Riri is not in the Ironheart suit and goes off to find her, Riri finds her way out of a vent and runs directly into John, who sees her holding a piece of the hood. He ends up thinking that Riri killed Parker and fight her while also admitting to have killed off one of the gang members earlier. Riri makes it out alive thanks to N.A.T.A.L.I.E., but loses the biomesh, and John suffocates and dies after being sealed in one of the rooms as Riri informing Parker the situation. The episodes ends with Parker angry about John's death, renouncing the hood, and shouting to somebody that he trusted them, but suddenly, he has a vision implicating that Riri was involved in John's Death. Meanwile, N.A.T.A.L.I.E. tries to help Riri overcome her recent panic attack.
After watching all three episodes, my overall thoughts about the series is still up in the air, so we'll have to pick up conversation next weekend. See Ya!
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