Summary
What/If Episode 2, “What Now”, sees Anne’s grip tighten on Lisa and Sean’s marriage in a decent, dark follow-up to the pilot chapter of the Netflix series.
This recap for Netflix’s What/If Season 1, Episode 2, “What Now”, contains significant spoilers. We have provided extensive coverage on Mike Kelley’s neo-noir social thriller, and you can read the recap of the previous episode by clicking these words.
What/If Episode 2, “What Now”, deals with the aftermath of Lisa’s (Jane Levy) decision to allow her husband to spend an entire night with the ruthless, cold, yet sleek Anne, whose charisma and sexy-by-nature persona somehow captures every room she walks in. There’s insight in this chapter regarding Sean (Blake Jenner), and his past as a baseball player that suggests he was some violent monster. Early signs indicate that Anne (Renée Zellweger) has used his past against him.
Episode 2 manages to question Lisa’s choices and points at her morality for taking the money. Her confrontation with Anne almost felt obligatory rather than heroic, with the famous CEO not backing down to her rhetoric. Is her genetic sequencing business more valuable? At this point, it seems so, with Lisa willingly accepting an invitation to her house later on.
What/If Episode 2, “What Now”, provides us with some key moments in the less relevant, yet exciting storylines. Angela is pregnant, and her nervousness around this biological truth suggests that Todd, her husband, is not the father. Instead, it is Dr. Ian Harris’s genetics consoled in her womb. What/If marks the doctor as an arrogant, reckless soul, who seems to enjoy playing with life – in one scene, he asks Angela to handle a live beating heart; a task she has never undergone before. What will Todd do with the truth?
The other side story in Episode 2 is the couple, Marcos and Lionel; they present themselves as a modern, loving couple, but Marcos desires to experience what he missed in his younger years; promiscuity and nights of endless sex. Lionel is outstandingly understanding, even allowing Marcos to have his pick from the club for a consensual threesome.
But on to more pressing matters; at the event that Lisa is invited to, Anne wants to set up the board, and cruelly suggests her best friend Cassidy stands down, which Lisa passionately prevents. It seems Lisa’s board now has its makeup, and also confirms that Anne is deadly serious in making her company work, but more importantly, at the board creation event, a woman called Maddie is there as a clumsy waitress. Sean is stumped, realizing it is his high school ex. Both Lisa and Sean believe Anne did it on purpose.
As What/If Episode 2, “What Now”, closes, Sean visits Anne to understand her game. As he arrives, it looks like Anne has finished a session of steamy sex. She asks Sean if he will let Lisa know he is with her, and as she says that, his phone buzzes – it’s his wife calling.
What/If Season 1, Episode 2, “What Now”, continues its early momentum.
Our coverage of What/If season 1 does not end here. You can read the recap of episode 3 by clicking these words.
