WHAT IF Season 2 Episode 6 Breakdown | Ending Explained, Post Credits & Marvel Easter Eggs

Welcome to the Heavy Spoilers show, I’m your host Paul, and in this video, we’re breaking down What If.

Episode 6 of Season 2 has a lot to unpack from it, and throughout this, we’re going to be going through it all. In it, we follow a brand new character created for the show who comes across the Tesseract. I think this is one of the strongest entries in the season and was surprised by how much the new character made her mark. Recently, there’s been a big move in Hollywood to start telling the stories of Native Americans, and so far, I’ve really enjoyed them. Prey was fantastic, and this one is too, with us getting some stuff in Echo coming next month. I got to see the first three episodes of that, and though I can’t talk about it too much yet, they do lean in with a lot of ancient Native American history.

WHAT IF SEASON 2 EPISODE 6: BREAKDOWN

The episode was written by Ryan Little, who went above and beyond to make it culturally authentic. Kahorri comes from what’s known as the Mohawk people, and he consulted with language expert Cecilia King to nail the dialogue. Little also worked with historian Doug George to ground this as close to reality as possible.

Well…close as it can get with a Tesseract…you know what I mean.

Either way, from this point, it’s spoilers ahead, so if you don’t want it ruined, then I recommend you turn off now. Please hit the thumbs up if you enjoy the breakdown, and make sure you subscribe for videos like this every day.

With that out of the way, thank you for clicking this, now let’s get into WHAT IF.

Ok, so the entry starts off with us hearing the tale of Ragnarok and how in this universe it happened centuries prior. In the 616…or like…hmmm…the main universe, ’cause Feige says it’s the 616, but like…that’s the comic universe, and then 2099 says Earth-1999999…the movie universe.

In that, the Tesseract was hidden out in Tønsberg, which we saw in The First Avenger.

However, here Surtur arrived early, and with him, he’s brought Doom to Asgard. Similar to how he destroyed it during Ragnarok, we see him plunging his sword into the land.

The white explosion also riffs off what happened in that film, wiping out the entire plane.

Now, during the strike, we see Odin using the Tesseract to block it and can catch him in his warrior garb. This is something he wore at the start of Thor, and they’ve clearly paid attention to how he looked there.

This move sends the Tesseract hurtling to Earth in a moment that feels like it’s riffing on the start of Man of Steel. Either way, it lands in what would come to be Upstate New York, which is known as the Akwesasne region.

Sorry for butchering that, and yeah, going to hold my hands up and say I’m not as up on all the cultural aspects as I’d like to be. So if I get something wrong or there’s something I miss, I’d love it if you guys dropped it in the comments to point this other stuff out. Kahhorri’s going to be a big person in the show, as we already know that she appears in the finale.

Now, as always, the title screen spoils who’s in it, and not only do we have the new actors, but we also have Cumberbatch…Cumberbatch and one of my favorites, Clancy Brown. Man’s in everything, but it’s always good to see him, and yeah, we’ll talk about what he does later on.

Now we cut to a cornfield to see what was actually one of the staples of Native American food. However, beyond that, the Dine or Navajo, symbolically held corn up as a symbol of sustenance and life. According to Utah.edu, this was one of the four sacred plants that were said to be given to the Dine as it provided both food and medicine. The site also says that eating corn brought clearer thoughts and it also unlocked new knowledge.

WHAT IF SEASON 2 EPISODE 6: KAHHORI’S POWERS EXPLAINED

This idea of new knowledge is represented in Kahhori, who discovers the Tesseract when running through the forest. This is alongside Whata, who stumbles across the grounds of an old battlefield. Now, not to get all Pet Sematary on you, mate… but right…Native American burial grounds are obviously used in horror a lot due to the superstition around them. The Overlook in The Shining was said to be built on one, there was Poltergeist, and of course, the aforementioned Pet Sematary.

Which is somewhere where I don’t want to be buried. I know it’s a stereotype, but these stories did have a basis, and because the skeleton here was never properly buried, the land’s said to be cursed.

Again, trying not to be ignorant…but I’m an idiot.

Now Kahhorri talks about the lake there and how the people fought to gain control of it. This is because it has the power to transport people to the sky world, and the Tesseract of course houses the Space Stone. This allows one to travel to any point in space, which is why Thanos was able to do it. The Tesseract itself actually has powers linked in with black holes, which is why it also appeared like that. Black holes are also the key to traveling in the multiverse, which is why they were brought up so much in Loki.

MT’s done a big video talking about them all, which I definitely recommend you check out. There’s lots of stuff apparently going to be involving them in the future, so that’s the perfect video to brush up on.

Anyway, upon returning home, they see it’s been ransacked by colonizers who chase the pair until they find the lake. Turns out the one above was a decoy, and the real treasure lies beneath the surface.

Kahhori is shot and sent into it, which is when the Tesseract draws her in. Rivers are often seen as mystical, which is why they get used in stories a lot. The One Ring was discovered in one, Excalibur was tossed into one too, and beyond that, they can also be a place of rebirth. This is why Baptisms were carried out in them too, as they washed away the sins so that one could start anew.

But I’m not a rapper.
Here Kahorri is sucked into the Tesseract before being shot out due to the Space Stone’s ability to send its users away. A blue portal also opens in the sky, similar to what we saw during The Avengers.

Kahorri is then sent to the sky world, where she comes across those that were sent there too. We learn that when the Tesseract landed, it cracked the cube and let out waves of Space Stone magic. In the comics, the Cosmic Cube was a weapon used by the Red Skull that, when fractured, started to change reality. Though they changed it for the movies to house an Infinity Stone, I wonder if they looked to that for some of the inspiration.

We, of course, also have Captain Marvel, who shot the thing to get powers. This, like Kahorri, washed her in its glow, though their skill set is slightly different.

Now we learn that Kahorri’s ancestors traveled there, and we can even see images of them in the constellations. Constellations have often been used to tell stories, with ancient civilizations using them for the basis of their myths.

We learn that people disappeared when going to the lake, and it was deemed cursed to stop people from returning.

However, these people simply moved, and the civilization has been imbued with Space Stone magic, which we see them performing. In Infinity War, when Loki went to stab Thanos, he held back the knife using the Space Stone. This is why we can see blue on the blade, as it shows that that’s what controlled Loki. This is how they’re able to fish the rivers, and we get given the grand tour by a character named A-tahraks.

These people haven’t been able to tell those back home because they haven’t been able to get back, but hey… it’s not all bad. The land is a paradise, and they don’t age or get sick, plus, you know, these guys always hit the thumbs up. This also explains how Kahhori was able to survive the gunshot and heal up as quickly as she did.

However, Kahorri worries about life back home, and we see the village isn’t doing too well. Attacked by Conquistador Gonzalo, we see as the village burns around them. He also mentions Queen Isabella of Spain, which dates this as roughly the end of the 1400s or potentially the start of the 1500s.

Hearing of the Fountain of Youth, this is what they’re here to get.

Now back with Kahorri, Atahraks asks what kind of clay she’s made from when we see her mastering the abilities with ease.

There were some that believed the first humans were made from this, which came from the story Popol Vuh. He also mentions how he has some turtle in him, with these being animals that Native American myths were based around. Kahorri says she has some wolf in her, which makes me think that this may be based on the coyote and the turtle. This is similar to our rabbit and the turtle race, which is why Atahraks is slower than she is.

He just wants her to stay behind, whereas she’s desperate to go back home.

Many have tried, but none have made it out, and those who live here have settled and made the most of it.

They continue their rituals, though, and carry out hunts in which they grab the fruit off the back of the planet’s native animals. She ends up flipping one over her head which I wondered if it was riffing off Peggy doing it with the car.

Obviously, she’s the bloody best, and back on Earth, we see as soldiers tread into the waters.

WHAT IF SEASON 2 EPISODE 6: ENDING EXPLAINED

Taken across to the paradise, we see as Kahorri is finally happy and even get a moment playing off Titanic.

However, the peace is broken up by the arrival of the troops, and I was wondering why they didn’t have the powers, but maybe they just didn’t know how to use them yet… kind of explained it to myself… the ending explained guy is giving his own ending explained.

Now we see as she berates the others for kind of losing their way due to living in paradise and sees it as neglecting the people back home. Pulling the portal down, she decides to return home with the others questioning whether they should leave the peace they’ve found.

Back on Earth, we catch the Native Americans getting sent towards the ships where they would most likely be enslaved.

Not to stick up for Isabella, mate… not trying to white knight for her, but according to the history books, she was actually against Native Americans being used as them. She actually ordered the return and arrest of Christopher Columbus because of his position on it. However, the people were forced to be classed as subjects of hers, which again was against their will.

This meant that she could claim whatever she wanted and ravage the land for her own benefits.

Again mate, if you feel I’m wrong on this stuff, just drop it below, and I’ll try not to let my fragile little ego get offended.

Now Kahorri storms the beach and shows off her new abilities, but the cannonballs prove to be more than the bullets. However, the sky people arrive, inspired by her speech, and decide to help out against the invaders.

The people are saved, and though Kahorri could’ve lived in the peaceful lands, she decided to return home.

Cut across to Spain, where we catch the Queen being told her forces have failed to conquer the new world.

At this point, Kahorri and co. step out of a portal like Thanos in Endgame and tell her that they just want peace. Her throne is destroyed as an example, and this is going to bring world peace.

Potentially.

It’s broken up by Supreme Strange, who says that he’s been looking for Kahorri. What happens next, we don’t know yet, but it’s likely going to take us to the finale.

I’m guessing that the Peggy stuff is going to play off there too, and I’m interested to see where it’s going to go.

Now tomorrow, MT is going to be doing the video because I just haven’t had time to cover it because of Christmas. Don’t worry, yeah… man’s going to smash it, and what… what do you mean his videos are better than mine? Anyway, I hope to see you back then, and I’ll return for episode 8.

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