Greetings from your friendly neighbourhood member of the brap brap brigade! (I’m quickly running out of new alliterations, can you tell?) Even so, I’m glad you’ve waited until now to read my feedback – freeloaders don’t deserve such things.
Anyway, I liked this show a lot more than I was expecting to. Along with Loki, it’s put Marvel Studios’ TV series back on solid footing for the most part. With that being said though, I’d really love to see how it was edited. While the overall pacing didn’t bother me too much, the first episode gave me some whiplash. Going from new footage, including a fight with Daredevil to copy/pasting stuff from Hawkeye was certainly a choice. I’ve since found out that there were more ties linking this show to Daredevil: Born Again that did get removed though. One was Matt Murdock being a contact for Mya throughout the series. Still, Daredevil and Echo felt like lifelong adversaries after sharing just one scene together. Hopefully it’s something they revisit down the road.
Focusing on more positives, I loved setting the series in Oklahoma. Having the story unfold there gave the show its own tone and really helped double down on the grounded storytelling. Having something happen in a small town just makes it feel bigger or more epic to me as well. It’s not unlike how Wandavision took place in Westview. Mya’s family and supporting cast also set a nice foundation, connection and stakes throughout. Although New York is important to the MCU, being in a small town made it feel like threats could impact anyone at anytime.
Despite this, I do wish Mya could’ve interacted with family on screen more often. I thought we were going to get a closing scene with her and Bonnie at least. I did find out afterwards that the two were originally set to end the series by leaving to meet Matt Murdock in New York though. My guess is that more footage was left on the cutting room floor.
fight scenes throughout the series were done extremely well, even when they incorporated Mya’s mystical powers in a subtle way. Along with the barebones physicality in New York however, the confrontation at the roller rink stood out especially. It was brutal in a good way and felt gritty like the Netflix shows.
For me though, episode four was the main course of the series. I absolutely loved the overall exploration of how grief or trauma can impact people for generations, It splintered off into many interesting directions and made Fisk a perfect foil. Showing how trauma shaped both himself and Mya was genius. It made you hate Kingpin even more for using it to weaponize Mya. As if his brutal assault on that ice cream vendor wasn’t horrifying enough, having him realize how he could use Mya as a child when she kicked him made it so much worse. Having re-watched this episode and editing my feedback after your second podcast, Fisk’s manipulation is even more dreadful to me. I can’t look at how he showered Mya with gifts and gave her so much attention without comparing it to allegations made towards a former chairman of a certain sports entertainment company. Even so, I do think Fisk originally loved her as a child in his own twisted way. Strange how it makes even a comic book supervillain seem less evil in comparison… but I digress.
Focusing on the performance specifically, Vincent D’Onofrio took his depiction of Kingpin to another level. Watching his cerebral approach, child-like temper and twisted justifications truly make him unlike other villains in the MCU. You can see how Fisk believes he has control over Mya because she doesn’t kill him. In reality, she doesn’t do it due to her fear of becoming the same. Given how emotionally damaged he is however, it doesn’t even enter his mind until she doesn’t arrive on the plane. It’s stuff like this that makes him so interesting to me. He’s evil… but an incredibly interesting type of evil.
In the end, I think the weakest part of the series were Mya’s powers. From what I understand, having a spiritual connection is an important aspect of the culture and I get it: I’m a middle-aged white dude so that part isn’t meant for me specifically. Just like Daredevil gives blind people some representation, I think it’s awesome that Echo provides representation for a very different minority. Personally though, I thought the show was at its strongest when they focused on grounded storytelling. It didn’t help that Mya’s powers weren’t necessarily presented well in the final episode either. Although I love the scene inside Fisk’s mind and understand why it was important, the idea of it left me confused. He was obviously furious at her afterwards so why would he just leave? He still seems evil in the post credits so healing his trauma doesn’t seem to have removed his impulse to do bad things. I just wish it could’ve been explained a bit more clearly, especially since he presented his trauma as his driving force the episode before.
while I was fine with flashes of Mya’s ancestors during various fights, interacting with them in the present was a step too far. Being flanked by the “echoes” in the final battle was heavy handed to me and so was sharing the powers with others to dismantle Kingpin’s goons. Although Secret Invasion did it to a much larger (and worse) extent, it was the typical last minute power boost out of nowhere to save the day. And what was up with that abrupt cut following Fisk’s defeat? One second he’s reeling from Mya’s mind healing powers and the next he’s jumping in a car with his posse to get out of there. It was another strange editing choice.
A couple random thoughts:
- Since she can apparently heal traumatic experiences, could Mya technically defeat the Hulk?- I’ve read people online saying they want to see Biscuits and Madison meet. I say we get an animal superhero team going with Billy Jack, Lucky the pizza dog and Morris instead. (Who else is gonna stop the bird from Iron Man 2 when he shows up looking for revenge, am I right?)
Anyway, I was originally going to defend my alleged contradictions for the Hella episode of What If… but this feedback is long enough. Instead, I’ll own my hot take with honour and bid you fine folks adieu! Wishing you got to record these more regularly but until X-Men ‘97 at least, it’s time to sooth my soul with our country’s liquid treasure… an ice cold Canada Dry. Brap mother freakin’ brap!
