We have to talk about ‘Ms Marvel’. And for that matter, Marvel shows in general, because there’s a genuine question we should be asking ourselves: Would we see them if they didn’t have the Marvel Studios logo at the beginning? Do they honor the characters or are they just attempts to get the attention of the fan and not spend a single week without thinking about superheroes? Episode 4 of Kamala Khan’s series doesn’t help, showing at the same time the best parts of the Marvel series…and, of course, the worst.
eye! From here on there are spoilers. Read on at your own risk, true believer.
Travel to Karachi
My biggest problem with ‘Ms Marvel’ is that he has not responded to what he promised in the first episode, a wave of creativity with animation accompanying the protagonists, a visual style of its own and a tone that was not ashamed of being profoundly adolescent. In episode 4, the series has nothing that made it special visually, and beyond the change of scenery and some of the topics to be discussed, already It’s just another Marvel series.
In this case, after seeing the train that brought her grandmother from India to Pakistan, Kamala decides to go to Karachi, where she meets Red Dagger. In the comics, this number is very emotional and it helps our protagonist understand who she is, reconnect with your past and discover that you really are needed in New Jersey more than there. the tv episode strips the comic of all emotion and gets mixed up in the origins of Kamala’s powers.
At least while talking about the origin of his powers we don’t have to witness action scenes and chases that seem to be taken from ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ (this is not a compliment). Kamala’s powers could give so much of herself (become a giant, elongation, etc.) reducing them to being able to create shields with their hands is, at best, disappointing. They have turned one of the funniest and most original Marvel characters into someone wholly nondescript in terms of his abilities. And, as a fan, it hurts me to say this.
Get on my blue train
Not everything is negative in this episode of ‘Ms Marvel’, which is right again when showing Kamala’s day to day and its union with tradition. The Karachi that he shows us is not a Karachi with conflicts, of course: it is a happy and sweet place where bonfires are made on the beach, everyone speaks English and fruit stalls are run over in chases… But at the same time less dares to show us another place outside the United Statesand link it with Partition and the Indian and Pakistani past.
One of the problems of ‘Ms Marvel’ is that it wants to cover too much: It’s an origin story, but it also wants to tell the story of Pakistan, show Kamala’s loves and heartbreaks, the routine with her family, and the problems of being a young Muslim woman in America. and although your intentions are very good, at the moment of truth the concoction is not perfect. Half of the plots have had to be paused for the series to introduce us to new characters that are added to the hodgepodge of faces that already made up the three previous episodes.
At least gives us a great final shot with a good cliffhanger, time travel included, which can hopefully make amends for the series. Once Kamala knows the origin of her powers (and they stop tinkering with her inhuman abilities) we may be able to see some fight scenes up to the task with some enemies who, beyond the comic name, they do not surprise or convinceperhaps because its history is too fanciful or because there are too many concepts at the same time.
watery action
Maybe I’m judging ‘Ms Marvel’ harder than I should, but the truth is that most of the scripts don’t hold up. No matter what Kamala does, the consequences are never particularly harsh. From episode to episode it seems that what has been happening is forgotten, and that leads to every great power carrying zero responsibilities. There are characters who die, others who see their wedding ruined, but Kamala keep doing what you want without control: is more, encouraged by his grandmother.
Also, everything the series gets right in the short distances (the conversation between mother and daughter, the first encounter between Kamala and Red Dagger) it breaks completely in the action and chase scenes, which, as I say, do not survive the expectations. Edit breaks make it hard to tell what’s going on and the preparation of them is not so different from that of a bad video game, in which four bad guys slam off the ceiling after a cutscene long explanation.
In the end, neither the Underground, nor the action, nor the adventure, nor the origin of the powers: if we keep watching ‘Ms Marvel’ it’s because of Kamala, the sensitivity that the series shows in the most intimate moments, the risk in telling something so close and at the same time distant from the rest of the UCM and the perfect casting of Iman Vellani. However, it’s a shame that the series has turned to the most prototypical side of Marvel being able to offer something truly unique.