It all starts with the mission report of December 16, 1991. If you're a Marvel Cinematic Universe fan, that date might ring a bell, and that's because that's the exact day Tony Stark's parents were brutally murdered by an unlikely ally: Bucky Barnes. Granted, back then he was brainwashed and called a different name: The Winter Soldier — a killing machine following Hydra's every order. Unfortunately, he was just about to do one of the worst deeds of his life, even if he wasn't fully conscious about it.
That's where the tale of the third episode of Disney Plus' What If...? Season 3 began; on the night that Tony Stark lost everything. As a quick side note: this is the first episode of the season that actually begins with an event that audiences have seen before on the big screen, and that's nice. I hope we get to see the ramifications of how the stories we know and love could've panned out if a thing or two had been different and not just completely new scenarios over and over again.
The Red Guardian wants to prove himself
The story begins when General Dreykov — a member of the Soviet Armed Forces and the leading man behind the Red Room — assigns the Red Guardian a new mission: to go undercover as a Senior Data Input Manager in Ohio. Unfortunately, this isn't an exciting task whatsoever, and so the Red Guardian becomes determined to prove his worth once again to be assigned bigger and better tasks. And how will he do that? By ignoring the Data Input Manager chore and going after a bigger fish, of course.
The Red Guardian overhears Dreykov giving the order to unfreeze The Winter Soldier and send him after Maria and Howard Stark. So determined to show his true value, Alexei Shostakov shows up at the crime scene just before Bucky is able to put his targets out of their misery and leave no witnesses behind. The Red Guardian stalls The Winter Soldier by saying the mission is just to steal the super soldier serum, and that leaving the targets alive would help spread the word about their doings. The two then get into a quick fight scene as Bucky wants to complete the mission, but then the police arrive and the two have to rapidly flee the scene.
After failing their mission, receiving no extraction, and having no more leads left, Bucky and Alexei come up with their next move: Find "The Rook". He's the same man who gave the tip about Tony Stark's parents carrying the super soldier serum and someone believed to be a secret agent working to conspire against the United States Government. Not much else is known about this shadowy figure, except its location: Las Vegas. Unfortunately for our protagonists, someone else also entered the scene, and that's Dr. Bill Foster — a S.H.I.E.L.D. operative hunting for the men that almost got the Starks killed, as well as the superhero Goliath (you know, the one that can grow in size using Pym Particles).
While on their way to Las Vegas, Bucky and Alexei come across a police checkpoint where Bill Foster is looking for the culprits behind the Starks incident. Of course, the doctor is able to put two and two together and begins a frenetic chase after the Marvel anti-heroes. Bullets are shot, a farm is destroyed, and Goliath grows in size to hunt his prey. However, the new super duo is finally able to lose the police after, quite literally, driving off a cliff and then escaping on foot.
Afterward, the Red Guardian and The Winter Soldier share a brief but heartfelt moment in a veterinary while treating their wounds. The former tells the latter to close his eyes and try to remember anything before his brain-washing. While most memories are foggy, there's one clear as a day, and it's a picture of Coney Island. It's not much, but it's enough for Bucky to learn he indeed was someone more than the assassin Hydra made him to be. Unfortunately, that special moment is quickly interrupted as the super soldier gets a call where he's assigned a new mission: to kill his new partner The Red Guardian.
Nonetheless, the two go to Las Vegas and set themselves to finish their original mission: find the infiltrated agent The Rook. They finally meet him inside the suite of an expensive hotel, and much to everyone's surprise, it turns out The Rook wasn't a big Russian spy, but rather Obadiah Stane. You know, the same man that wanted to kill Tony Stark back in the events of the first Iron Man movie, and the guy who would eventually name himself the Iron Monger. He made a deal with General Dreykov to reveal the location of the Stark's super soldier serum with the promise that they would be killed in exchange. But since things didn't go according to plan, and it was all Bucky and Alexei's fault, Obadiah attempts to shoot them.
All hell breaks loose as the Red Room's task force also arrives on the scene, as well as Dr. Bill Foster along with the police. Eventually, Bucky and Alexei are cornered, and a Hydra agent begins to recite the words to brainwash the former and turn him into the Winter Soldier. It all seems lost for a moment, but Bucky is able to resist the conditioning now that he remembers he used to be someone else before his life as an assassin. Then the two heroes launch into action and the episode jumps forward in time.
While Bucky was unfortunately captured again by Hydra, The Red Guardian was recruited into the Avengers as we get to briefly watch him alongside the likes of Iron Man, Black Widow, and Captain America. This might be the strongest episode of the season so far, and the pairing of Bucky and Alexei allowed for a pretty good chemistry and some funny moments along the way. Hopefully, the stories that are yet to come can be as good as this one.