The Present

The Present is the eighth episode of the first season of NBC's Iron Man. It premiered on November 14, 2011. It was directed by Jack Bender and written by Melinda Hsu Taylor & Greggory Nations. It was also the eighth episode of Iron Man overall.

Synopsis
Tony and Pepper continue to grow closer while Rhodey  tries to discreetly relocate everything. Happy gets Olivia's help for getting Pepper a present.

Plot
Tony and Pepper meet with Bethany and Stane to figure out how to lower costs of their products due to stocks significently dropping. However, Bethany agrees to take over the costs, promising to have it all fixed by the next day. Tony doubts this but lets her take over. Tony asks Pepper if they can go out for dinner, saying completely platonic. Pepper asks why. Tony reveals he remembers it is her birthday the next day and he knows Happy will shower her the whole day, so he wants to be able to do one nice thing. Pepper agrees. In their base, Rhodey realizes Tony will be gone for most of the night and decides to move everything to a better, more secured base.

Happy now spends the entire afternoon trying to find a present for Pepper. He goes to Olivia for help, so she goes shopping with him to help him find a present. They go to Pepper's favorite store and find a diamond necklace. Olivia says girls love diamonds and necklaces. Happy buys the expensive necklace and hides it in their apartment. Olivia goes home where she takes over the TV after Jarvis falls asleep. At the restaurant, Tony and Pepper have a good time, ending with the latter kissing Tony. The two go to Tony's car where they have sex. Rhodey travels with everything from the base to a rundown warehouse with a basement, their new base.

Happy gets worried past 11:00 and calls Pepper. Pepper answers and realizes she had been gone too late and promises to be there in 20 minutes. Tony offers to drive her home, but she walks home, to punish herself. They promise not to say this to anyone. Tony drives home where Olivia learns Pepper hates diamonds. Olivia texts Happy, who tries to hide the necklace but Pepper arrives just as he tries to hide it. Pepper tells him she loves him no matter what and kisses him. Happy asks if she is okay, and she agrees, not telling him she cheated on him. The next morning, Tony goes down to their former base where Rhodey stands with nothing else. Tony asks where everything is and Rhodey takes him to their new base.

Starring

 * Rupert Friend as Tony Stark/Iron Man
 * Kate McKinnon as Pepper Potts
 * Edi Gathegi as James Rhodes
 * Sarah Hyland as Olivia Stark
 * Maggie Grace as Bethany Cabe
 * Maxwell Caulfield as Edwin Jarvis
 * Dave Legeno as Obadiah Stane

Guest Starring

 * Jason Ritter as Happy Hogan

Trivia

 * This episode takes place on November 14 and 15.
 * This episode achieved 13.55 million U.S. live viewers.
 * The episode received horrible reviews, with nearly every critic calling it the worst episode of the series, even in 2017. It scored 11% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 0 out of 100 on Metacritic, and a 2.3/10 on IGN.
 * This episode is rated TV-14 for D-L.