REVIEW: ‘What If…?’ Season 3 Episode 3 — “What If…The Red Guardian Stopped The Winter Soldier”

Created by A.C. Bradley, What If…? Season 3 has been off to a stellar beginning. This new entry to the MCU’s anthology series has focused on the characters introduced in the latest phase of the MCU and on putting together combinations that we may not have thought of yet. What If Season 3 Episode 3 pulls together one combination that works naturally, “What If…The Red Guardian Stopped The Winter Soldier.”

With Bucky Barnes’ Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) deployed as a sleeper agent, Alexei Shostakov’s Red Guardian (David Harbour) also joins in. Whereas Winter Soldier has a brooding demeanor and fancy outfit, Red Guardian can’t stop being comedic. Of course, when the two polar opposites find each other, Alexei stops Bucky from killing Howard and Maria Stark.

What If Season 3 Episode 3 is all about who Bucky and Alexei are as people. The Red Room and their orders may put them on a quest to acquire The Rook, but the joy in this episode comes from watching the suave Bucky and the loud fish-out-of-water Alexei navigate the world with S.H.I.E.L.D. on their tails. Winter Soldier wants to shoot everything, and Red Guardian wants to fight hand-to-hand or avoid it if he can.

Without relying heavily on prior What If… stories published in comic books, What If…? Season 3 has been able to find its own voice. What If Season 3 Episode 3 is no exception to this new formula. Harbour’s voice acting as Alexei is fantastic. Moving back and forth between his eccentric Russian accent and reciting communist manifesto talking points, Alexei is absolutely hilarious. Playing against Bucky’s cold demeanor is what makes the comedy electric.

Comedy takes the driver’s seat in What If Season 3 Episode 3.

There are purely dumb moments of the What If Season 3 Episode 3 that are accentuated as America Ferrera’s role as Park Ranger Morales and Laurence Fishburne as Bill Foster (Goliath) as they follow the Soviet duo. The simplicity of this episode is where it’s at its best. The continued dedication of Season 3 to embrace different genres, concepts, and sides of the MCU characters is making this season better than the subsequent ones.

What If Season 3 Episode 3 is a buddy comedy more than it is a superhero story. As the duo try to get help from Kiff Vandenheuvel’s The Rook, the reveal about capitalism driving the need to kill the Starks breaks Alexei. There really isn’t anything deep about the Starks in this story.

Instead, the mistake leads the duo to confront the Rook and leave Alexei facing his existential dread about realizing he’s been working for capitalist pigs the entire time the Red Room was brainwashing him. Their comedy of errors results in a fun chase through the streets of Las Vegas, which uses physical comedy and Harbour’s voice acting to the max.

What If Season 3 Episode 3 has lifted a mountain: It made me excited to see Harbour’s Red Guardian in other MCU media. Watching the duo fight alongside each other, joke next to each other, and ultimately watch the American Dream overcome Russian Communism is hamfisted and hilarious. Friendships change the course of history in this anthology episode, with David Harbour adding more red to the Avengers.

What If Season 3 Episode 3 is streaming now on Disney Plus, with new episodes airing every day until December 29, 2024.