Recap: Things Go From Bad to Worse for Riri in Latest Episode of Marvel's "Ironheart"

Things are looking very bad for Riri Williams after the first three episodes of Marvel’s Ironheart. She botched her team’s last mission by trying to steal a piece of Parker’s hood, resulting in John getting killed. Now she may have made herself a powerful new enemy. And on top of that, she lost a piece of tech that is going to get her new friend in a lot of trouble. Now, she has to scramble to make things right.

The episode opens with a flashback of John and Parker working on a job, before the latter had his hood. The two break into a mansion and Parker eventually finds a safe. As he begins to open it, he is surprised by a security guard but John saves him by shooting him. John tells him he’ll always be with him and we jump back to present day as the team mourns his death. The team says some words about John but Parker keeps his eyes on Riri. He eventually tells the team to get ready for their next mission. When Riri asks if he has anything for her, Parker tells her he has plans for her.

Back home, Riri tells Natalie she can’t find any answers about where Parker’s hood comes from, saying she checked energy signatures like Wakandan, Kree and Stark. She also acknowledges that Parker will be coming for her eventually. Her mother comes to the door briefly and when she goes back to her work the piece of the hood is gone. After a moment of panic, it reappears where it was. It seems the hood is still interacting with Parker. Natalie suggests Riri call Shuri. Riri mocks her with a fake conversation that ends with Shuri hanging up on her. Instead, she heads to meet with Zeke.

Riri arrives at Zeke’s house to find police tape all over it. She asks his neighbor, who tells him police came and took him, referring to him as Ezekiel Stane. We then see news reports on his arrest, calling him the “bad apple" of the Stane family.

The team sees these reports and talk about how Zeke will be taking the fall for them for the Heirlum job, while Clown wonders aloud about how his tech got there in the first place. She also points out that Parker is being weird, and we see that he is training himself to hold his breath in an ice bath. He emerges to see the news reports on Stane and immediately takes interest.

Riri visits Zeke in prison and is met with a cold response. Zeke calls her selfish and says he never should have trusted her before walking away from their conversation.

At the hangout, Riri reunites with the team. Clown tells her Parker has brought on a new tech specialist to work with her. Parker calls her into his office and shows her the reports on Zeke and implies that she got help from him for the job. Their relationship is clearly strained, though neither is willing to show all their cards.

Riri installs security cameras around her home before rushing off to give her mother some kind of watch. Ronnie is skeptical and tries to get more information from Riri, but of course her daughter remains quiet. Riri tells Natalie she is going to meet Xavier to give him another watch and convinces her AI to stay at home.

Riri gives Xavier a watch and refuses to provide any information. She asks him if he thinks she’s a good person and he essentially explains that it’s all subjective. They trade some more flirty banter laced with more Star Trek references before she leaves.

Back home, Natalie tries to convince Riri to sleep and she reluctantly agrees. She struggles to sleep though and instead checks her security cameras. She even eventually puts the suit on and lies down in her bed. She wakes up when she hears gun shots and her mother screaming. She breaks down her door to find Ronnie in a force field in her bed. She says her watch must have heard the gun shots from the TV and created the force field.

Ronnie tries to get Riri to talk as they share some literal tea on the couch. She admits she can’t help her daughter with science and instead offers to help her with magic, somewhat teasing. She tells her she has a place she can bring her for some magic.

The next day, they arrive at Stanon’s Sweets, Reads & More, which his owned by Ronnie’s friend Ms. Stanton. They head inside where they are greeted by Zelma Stanton before her mother, Madeline, arrives. In the comics, Zelma Stanton is a magic wielder who serves as the librarian at Strange Academy, where young magic wielders learn their craft.

Before Ronnie or Riri can explain why they’re there, Zelma asks about what’s in Riri’s pocket. Before she removes it, Zelma tells her to wait and transports the four of them somewhere else using magic. Riri and Ronnie freak out a bit at the use of magic while Madeline scolds her daughter for visiting other realms without her permission.

Zelma asks for the thing in Riri’s pocket, which is the piece of Parker’s hood. Zelma and Madeline inspect the cloth and explain it was created in a different dimension. Zelma brings up Kamar Taj, which of course is where Doctor Strange was trained. They’re interrupted by screeching when Ronnie opens up a jar. Zelma rushes to close it, explaining that once they get inside your brain, it’s hard to get them out. Madeline refers to “them" as brain maggots, which is a nod to Zelma’s comic history. Zelma was introduced when she went to Strange for help with a condition, which ended up being mind maggots, a name that was slightly changed for this show.

When Ronnie asks about Madeline being an actual sorcerer, Zelma laughs and says her mother dropped out of Kamar Taj when she was born. Madeline takes the opportunity to praise Zelma’s whole new magic of her own, calling it amazing and reckless.

Zelma “reads tea leaves" to get more information on the fabric and Madeline is visibly horrified by the results. The group is transported back to the candy store and Madeline tells them to leave. She explains that the cloak comes from one of the darkest dimensions known or unknown. Madeline says the entity that created it influences whoever wears it. Riri tries to learn the entity’s name but Madeline refuses and forces them out of the store, but not before telling Riri to destroy the cloak.

Walking away from the store Rire brainstorms aloud way to destroy the cloak while Ronnie silently panics. She eventually scolds her daughter for even having the piece of the cloak in the first place. The two argue over everything that’s been happening before Riri steps into her suit and flies away.

In prison, Parker breaks into Zeke’s cell and makes him a proposal. He tells him they both know Riri Williams and he offers him a way out of prison and a job with him and his crew. Zeke is reluctant, but Parker tells him to think about it and give him an answer that night.

Riri gets to Zeke’s bunker, telling Natalie she just needs a quiet place to work on a way to destroy the cloak. After using the spare key under the mat in front of Zeke’s secret bunker, she gets to work, testing every possible scientific way of destroying the little piece of fabric. When nothing works, Riri begins to panic and she gets back in the suit and flies off. In the air, she begins to have another panic attack and makes Natalie land so she can get out of the suit. As she hyperventilates, Natalie says she has an idea and flies off.

Back in prison, the door to Zeke’s cell opens but no one comes in. He peeks out to find a light flickering. When he walks to it, he finds another. We see that Slug is the one leading Zeke out of the prison and he eventually makes his way out to find the rest of the team loading his stuff into a truck.

Xavier wakes up to the sound of Riri’s suit knocking on his window. When he investigates, the suit opens up and gestures for him to get in. He refuses but the suit takes him to Riri anyway. Riri wonders why he’s there and the two hug. He asks how she brought him there and Natalie appears to say she is the one who did it. After a moment, Riri asks what he thinks of her new AI and he hesitates before saying he’s horrified by it. In one of the most heartbreaking moments of the show, he tells Riri to delete the AI because it is not his sister. Riri seems to consider his request for a moment, which causes Natalie to go back into the suit and fly off. Xavier also drops his watch and storms off, leaving Riri alone.

Parker watches a video of him and John on his phone before getting a text from Clown telling him they got Zeke. The team helps Zeke to put a machine together and Slug offers to help “upgrade" him. Slug applauds the incredible code Zeke got from the black market and straps Zeke into the machine that will seemingly install his biotech to “upgrade" him.

In the closing moments of the episode, we see Parker giving the team their next assignment, to bring him Riri’s head.

Well it didn’t seem as though things could get worse for Riri but they certainly have. The Hood and his crew are now openly coming after her and she pushed away everyone who was close to her. And while this episode offered a lot of exciting moments, the most interesting for Marvel Comics fans is probably the introduction of Zelma Stanton. Hopefully, that brings us one step closer to Strange Academy coming to the MCU.

Marvel’s Ironheart is now streaming on Disney+.