Ironheart (2025) – Episode 2 Recap & Review

The Review Geek

26-06-2025

Episode 2
Despite it being the last thing she'd want, Riri wakes up to find that Natalie is the model for her new AI. She immediately attempts to change that, but she doesn't know how, and she doesn't have the time.
In a matter of minutes, she must leave to meet her new team. On her way out, Xavier invites her to a party with him on the weekend, to which she happily accepts.
Parker Robbins, the Hood, gives her a run-down of the group. Slug is their hacker and one of the most-wanted people in Madripoor. Jeri and Roz Blood, the Blood siblings, are their brute force.
Clown is their pyro specialist. John is Parker's cousin and is responsible for many tasks, like recruiting and driving. Then, he explains their plan to sabotage TNNL, which wants to turn Chicago's freight tunnels into a private highway and negotiate with them. Still, the only thing on Riri's mind is when she's getting paid.
She still needs a few tools for her suit to work, so she orders her AI, now N.A.T.A.L.I.E., to find someone who can sell her the parts. Before that, she doesn't forget to lock the AI to her laptop, so it won't mess anything up while she's away.
To Riri's surprise, her black market dealer is a coward who can't stand up for himself. So she quickly gets him to take her to where he has the parts she needs.
Meanwhile, N.A.T.A.L.I.E. is snooping into Riri's laptop to find her photos with the real Natalie. Inspired by them, it finds a way to hack its way out of the computer. Although it reveals itself to Riri's mother, the woman appears happy to see Natalie once again.
Things are going well for the protagonist as well since she has just arrived at the dealer's hideout. They talk for a minute, and he questions her reason for building the suit, but she doesn't give him a proper answer. As soon as she's ready, she rushes out of there to do the heist.
Riri joins clown and flies right into the tunnel system. The plan is running smoothly until N.A.T.A.L.I.E. hijacks the armor and surprises the girl, which makes her drop the hard drive containing a virus important to their scheme.
They quickly think up a new plan to override and shut down the system, showing they can work well together. Then, Parker blackmails TNNL's leader inside her own car, as the hood allows him to go invisible and hide there.
Before leaving for a team meeting, Riri celebrates with N.A.T.A.L.I.E. However, when a guard spots them, the AI freezes and glitches. Because of that, the girl can't take control of the iron suit and almost gets shot.
Hood saves here in time by shooting the guard's shoulder, giving them time to run away. Later, she asks Clown about their leader, and she says the only weird thing about him is that he has some sort of mark on his back. Riri doesn't get to ask anything about that, as John tells her it's good to stay away from people's matters.
Parker congratulates the whole group for the heist and tells them they'll reach the greatness they deserve. When he's alone, though, the marks on his back start growing like roots, hurting him. His cousin sees that and tries to convince him to stop using the hood, but he refuses. Someone messed with his life when he was younger, setting him on this new path.
The Episode Review
It's an odd choice to have the second episode of your six-episode miniseries focus on Riri getting parts for her armor, but that's exactly what happens. During practically half of this episode, Riri goes after an arms dealer and talks with him. It's not a bad joke per-se, but seeing him being a coward isn't funny enough to justify that. Also, we don't get to learn anything new about Riri or see him doing exciting things with the suit.
Thankfully, her mission does a good job at that. It's fun seeing her flying through the tunnels and thinking up a new plan with the AI. The afterparty also shows the Hood as a charismatic leader.
It's probably the first time in MCU history that seeing a villain for longer without their costume is a good choice. The 'roots' on his back also set the stage for the magical elements of the show and for his motivation, which can be interesting.
Still, it's hard to enjoy his part of the plot. Like in the first episode, their actions almost do not weigh on Riri's mind. The only thing that makes her hesitate is seeing Hood shoot the guard, but she quickly forgets that.
The show tries to put that as the reason she asks about him, but it's not convincing. If she was surprised by his actions, she should be suspicious of the whole group and their motives. She only asks about him to advance the plot.
It's also weird to think that Ironheart doesn't focus more on N.A.T.A.L.I.E. here. Even though she's still grieving Natalie's death, she only has mixed feelings about the AI at the start. Again, as they need to move on with the plot, she accepts its help.
We do get a few emotional moments out of it, but they are few and far between. It's just another sign that the series will have quite a few problems with character work.
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