I really wanted to like Ironheart. I went into it with an open mind, hoping for something fresh, exciting, and worthy of continuing the Marvel legacy. But after watching the first episode, I can confidently say-this one is a hard pass. Let's start with the villains. Or rather, let's start with the people the show tries to pass off as villains. In the very first scene, we're introduced to the "bad guys" breaking into a house, and honestly, I thought I had accidentally switched over to Home Alone 3. These guys didn't feel like a serious threat-they felt like clumsy, dollar-store burglars pulled straight from a rejected sketch comedy show. Zero intimidation factor. Zero complexity. Just bad wigs and even worse dialogue. Speaking of dialogue, the script is rough. And I don't mean in the "it'll get better by episode three" kind of way. I mean rough from the start. The lines feel forced and unnatural, like someone was trying to make TikTok catchphrases sound like character development. There's no rhythm, no nuance, and certainly no real emotional weight. Every character feels like a caricature, and the writing does nothing to ground them in reality. I didn't believe anyone-or anything-they were saying. The pacing? Glacial. We live in a world where first episodes have to hook the audience fast. Marvel should know this. But instead of momentum or intrigue, we get long, drawn-out scenes filled with meaningless banter and exposition that leads nowhere. It's a superhero show that somehow forgot to bring any excitement. If the first episode was supposed to light the fire, they forgot the matches. As for the main character, Riri Williams, I was hoping she'd be compelling. After all, she's filling some big shoes. But this version of her comes off flat and underdeveloped. The show tells us she's brilliant and important, but it doesn't show us. There's no meaningful arc or tension-just a lot of telling, with very little payoff. I kept waiting for the spark, that "aha" moment that makes you root for her. It never came. Visually, the show doesn't help itself. Marvel has money-lots of it-and yet Ironheart looks like it was filmed with the leftover set pieces from three other shows. The CGI is mediocre, the set design uninspired, and the overall feel is more like a YouTube fan series than something from a billion-dollar franchise. Marvel, you're better than this. At least, you used to be. I get that this show was trying to do something different-diversity, new voices, fresh perspectives. And I support that completely. But diversity without excellence does a disservice to everyone involved. Representation matters, but so does quality storytelling. You can't just slap a new character in an Iron Man suit and expect it to carry the same weight. You have to earn it-and Ironheart doesn't even try. To be fair, I only watched the first episode. Maybe it gets better. Maybe there's some magical transformation that happens later in the series. But with the amount of content out there today, shows don't get the luxury of a five-episode warm-up anymore. You've got one shot to grab the viewer's attention. Ironheart not only misses-it barely even tries. So, yeah. One star. And that's mostly for the effort it took to get this thing filmed and edited. I respect the crew, the actors who showed up and did their job. But as a viewer, I'm out. Life's too short, and my watchlist's too long. Sorry Marvel. This one's not it.

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