SWAT guy attacks, Evelyn deflects and pinky-punches him skyward with the Super Smash Brothers KO sound. He crashes back as Evelyn adds a ground-slam finisher. We dolly out revealing destroyed atrium carnage—flickering emergency lights mimicking fires, dust settling everywhere. Waymond catches collapsing Evelyn as she mutters “it’s gonna be so hard to explain this.” He removes his glasses—Alpha Waymond!—he’s been watching her. Evelyn laughs genuinely proud: “Did you see how good I am?” declaring she’ll defeat Jobu. Alpha Waymond warns her stupid plan pissed off the multiverse, then: “and it just might work.”
We debate the Smash Bros sound—immersion-breaking or perfect? It works because it’s appropriately ridiculous without announcing itself, embedded in gamer subconscious. We explore rare genuine smiles in cinema (Professor Francisco Menendez’s rom-com structure: save unguarded joy for right before tragedy or film’s end), notice the romance-novel-cover two-shot aesthetic, and catch Evelyn’s deflection when praised—she can’t acknowledge being good at anything.
Script had Joy running up with Waymond but production wisely cut her for later story logic. The dolly-out feels like a scene break (commercial return aesthetic) despite being fight’s end. Ke Huy Quan’s “it just might work” channels 80s Goonies plucky-kid energy—his default state without glasses on.
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