Ironheart – Karma’s a Glitch review S1 E5

Karma’s a Glitch continued Ironheart’s intriguing fusion of a tech-focused superhero, magic and a strong if somewhat unconventional family unit.

As the show’s penultimate episode for season 1 (or the series?), Karma’s a Glitch again raised questions as why Disney felt the need to release Ironheart’s full six episodes in two weeks. The drama, character development and decent action sequences should have been enough to warrant a full six-week run…along with a few more episodes to further flesh out some of the supporting players’ backstories.

Last episode found Riri at her lowest and she was having a rarity for a superhero as she was experiencing a panic attack. Again, Riri has shown a greater amount of vulnerability than most heroes. Ironically, the only other MCU hero that was dealing with crippling anxiety attacks previously was Tony Stark back in Iron Man 3.

N.A.T.A.L.I.E. rolled out to further explore her programming when Slug snatches her with some capture device. One seriously sticky point for the series is how Slug is as smart as the show needs at any given moment, yet Parker still needed Rampage, Riri and Ezekiel for tasks it seemed pretty clear Slug could just as easily handle.

Riri is busy meeting up with Zelma to get more insight into possibly stopping Parker. In a nice bit of connecting the dots continuity, Zelma tells Riri about Dormamu, who she believes gave given Parker the hood. That’s a perfectly reasonable theory. She also mentions Kaecilius (the villain from the first Dr. Strange movie) who Dormammu used as a pawn and also had weird growth on his face. This is solid insight and this magic tie-in is definitely helping Ironheart stand apart from Iron Man further.

Zelma warns that Riri is going to have to shut Parker down for good. Perhaps the incident with John rattled her as Riri stresses there has to be another option. It sure seems like if John was expendable, his demon-influenced cousin might be that other exception to her rule especially since Riri hasn’t gotten her Avengers ID card in the mail just yet.

Jeri and Roz arrive at White Castle, who got some serious product placement in Karma’s a Glitch, to break up this convo. They’re looking for payback now that Parker told them that Riri killed John. Zelma bounces, which is odd since she would easily be able to deal with a pair of muscled up goons. That felt like a misstep in Karma’s a Glitch as Zelma is more than willing to help Riri battle demons, but two powerless thugs are when she decides to run away?

Surprisingly, Riri holds her own for longer than expected despite never showing any fighting prowess before. She manages to ensnare them in her energy shield device. Riri had a spare since Xavier didn’t want the one that she made for him. Next up is Clown, who Riri manages to stop as well, but not before planting some doubt in her head that Parker won’t kill them all off like he did Rampage.

This Karma’s a Glitch fight scene certainly gave off more Iron Man 3 vibes with Stark is fighting without his armor and using his ingenuity to get out of problems. It mostly works well here besides some puzzling choices. Another was Riri’s decision to run into the street when Slug appears instead of just walking over a few more feet onto the sidewalk.

Like Zelma’s exit it was more for style points for Karma’s a Glitch. N.A.T.A.L.I.E. managed to free itself from Slug’s trap and suit Riri up just in time to smash Slug’s truck.

Karma’s a Glitch illustrated another major issue with Ironheart. For a show skewing younger with its high-school age protagonist, it’s not very kid-friendly. Language parents probably wouldn’t want their children to repeat is uttered far too often with this episode being the biggest offender. The language doesn’t work for what should be the target audience.

With Parker’s crew down, it’s time for Riri to make good on her escape until her suit starts conking out. Not from some user error. This time it’s Ezekiel/Joe who’s arrived on the scene with his new electrical powers. With Electro already being a presence in the MCU, maybe going the Firebrand route for Ezekiel/Joe would have been a better approach.

Joe’s “At least we’ll always have Alanis” was a pretty good line. He starts breaking apart her suit, but he doesn’t kill her. Instead, he warns her to leave Chicago now. Ezekiel might share his last name with Obediah, but he’s not at all like his father.

Battered now to go along with her emotional bruises, Riri finally comes clean to her mother including the reason she needed to make an iron suit. It was the only thing she could do to protect Ronnie and Riri after Gary and Natalie got gunned down. This was another quality mother/daughter moment, which is weirdly one of the few examples in the MCU. The other obvious one was Queen Ramonda and Shuri.

Seizing the opportunity, N.A.T.A.L.I.E. shows them both a hologram memory of Riri and Gary to remind her what she was working so hard to forget by staying away from the garage. Riri apologizes to N.A.T.A.L.I.E. for treating her so disposably, which definitely like a well-earned scene as this series played out. Karma’s a Glitch had a good balance of action, but these emotional beats with Riri and her family unit might have been even better.

MORE:

• The Old Guard 2 review (2025)
• GI Joe Classified Series Cobra Rattler Wild Weasel review No. 184 (2025)
• Marvel Legends ROM review (2025)
• Superman movie review (2025)

Now properly motivated, Riri is ready to start whipping up a new suit and thanks to Ronnie buying Gary’s car back, she’s got the base for it. Deciding she needs to fight magic with magic, Riri calls in Zelma to aid in providing some special touches to the suit while Ronnie beings in Landon (the wagon kid) and Xavier comes to help too after getting out of his feelings. This led to a long montage in Karma’s a Glitch, but it was well done and fit the tone of Ironheart.

Back with The Hood’s gang, Parker questions Joe’s story of how he killed Riri until Clown backs him up even though she knows he let her go. Parker offers Joe a spot on the crew and still feels pretty good despite Joe turning him down. Clown confronts Parker asking straight up if he killed Stuart. Interestingly, the crew is all in agreement that the hood is corrupting him instead of just thinking he’s a terrible boss. After tossing them around, Parker fires them. This was a smooth counter to Riri, who is expanding her circle as she is finding strength from her family unit while Parker dismisses his crew.

Maybe he doesn’t fully need the crew now that his evolving powers allow him to control Joe. He takes Joe to the house he and John tried to rob earlier and confront the owner — his father, Arthur (Paul Calderon). Parker wants control of Arthur’s main business as he’s been “acquiring” the other branches of Arthur’s empire. That’s a clever connection to all of his heists. In fairness, Arthur comes off like a jerk dad so it’s hard to feel especially sympathetic towards him.

With the suit fully assembled, it’s time for Zelma to do her…well, magic. Zelma warns that magic typically has a cost, but Riri isn’t worried since she trusts Zelma. What neither counted on was the fusion of magic and Riri’s advanced tech would create a power surge and something had to give. Riri tries to offload N.A.T.A.L.I.E. onto the desktop, but it doesn’t look like the download finished.

Karma’s a Glitch sets up a huge confrontation with The Hood vs. Ironheart and a mini cliffhanger with the fate of NATALIE. For all the naysayers of the show, it’s been a very solid and enjoyable ride.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Photo Credit: Disney

Now that you finished Karma’s a Glitch, it’s time to check out the inspiration with the Ironheart: Riri Williams trade now available on Amazon.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.