Sean Marshall This week’s Marvel’s What If… focused on Stephen Strange & what would happen if, instead of losing his hands, he lost his heart. It follows Stephen during the night that he was recklessly driving his car, but this time he has his girlfriend Christine in the car with him. If you saw the Doctor Strange film, you know that his impatience led to his injury, which then led to him meeting the Ancient One who trained him to become the Sorceror Supreme. Well, in this universe, Christine dies & Stephen comes out of the accident unscathed. This leads Stephen down a path of sorrow & causes him to do whatever it takes to bring Christine back regardless of what his actions may create or destroy.
I must say that this is hands-down the best episode of What If…? Marvel has pushed out. This episode is extremely emotional & makes you think about the pain of loss & what you’d do to remove that pain & gain back what you’ve lost. As you watch Stephen go through the darkness & strive to reach the light that was snuffed out, you will end up questioning your mortality & the mortality of those that mean the most to you. I won’t go into spoilers, but I legitimately got up from my sofa & said: “Well, I’d do the same thing, Stephen.”
What stuck with me throughout this episode was the scripture Mark 8:36 that says: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, but lose his soul?” Man, you know from the start of this episode that things will go far left at the episode’s climax. Is the theme of the episode new? No. It has a Shakesperian tone but is utilized so perfectly here that you won’t feel as if you’re slapped with something familiar.
Laura Karpman’s music, as usual, was perfect & took my emotions on a ride. A.C. Bradley wrote a fantastic script for this episode & made viewers relate to this dark tale on a personal & emotional level. There is a scene where The Watcher interacts with Strange, which is the first time we’ve seen him do this with any character & that scene was powerful! Well done.
Again, this is by far the best episode I’ve seen from the What If…? series & I hope to see future episodes that hit home.
What If...Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?" Review
Pros
- Dark & emotional story
- The music
- The face-off between Doctor Strange & The Watcher was powerful
