I am not sure how comfortable I am with the trend wherein Superheroes of colour, Ms Marvel, Black Panther, and now Echo derive their superpowers through tapping into some kind of ethnic traditional heritage. I get that there is an attempt to use the Superhero format as a way to explore and celebrate World cultures, that's very Disney of them, but there surely must be some other way to do that which doesn't always involve talking to yet more ancestral ghosts? White superheroes get to have at least some other options.
Echo is a spin of of a spin off. We first saw Maya, the native American, deaf, amputee, ex-mobster in Hawkeye, and back when it was first announced, I thought she would be an odd choice to be at the centre of a new Marvel tv show. I am sure there is a well established lore and decades of comics to draw on, but for members of the general public she is a very obscure choice. But perhaps that is the secret to what makes it a good series.
Echo expands on the relationship between Maya and Wilson Fisk, aka "Kingpin". On one side we have a kid grown up into a life of violent crime, and on the other side we have her adoptee mobster father gradually warming up to his parenting responsibilities. Wilson and Maya's relationship gets destroyed in the finale of Hawkeye, so Maya relocates out to her quiet family town back in Oklahoma. The story alternates between her kicking heads and her reuniting with folksy small towners. It is nice to see the homework done when it comes to presenting native American Chaktow culture. From what I understand, there were a lot of Chaktow artists involved in the production and writing. Putting aside the cheesy way in Maya's powers eventually manifest themselves, the show finds a neat balance between reflecting the traditions and the Chaktow as modern day people with normal lives.
I have previously enjoyed the Marvel shows over the movies, and Echo is no exception. Whilst the short number of episodes means this could have easily been a movie in its own right, the format discouraged the writers from going for bombastic, epic story telling. The stakes are appropriately low, whilst still being suitably melodramatic.
I am slightly miffed how Disney can't let these shows exist as their own entities without requiring you to watch their other series first. And on top of that, each show acts as extended trailer for the next series. Echo depends on you to have watched Hawkeye, and serves to set up the next Daredevil show. Echo is a decent little drama, and I wish Disney would let it be just that.
Series Speak No Evil
I am not sure how comfortable I am with the trend wherein Superheroes of colour, Ms Marvel, Black Panther, and now Echo derive their superpowers through tapping into some kind of ethnic traditional heritage. I get that there is an attempt to use the Superhero format as a way to explore and celebrate World cultures, that's very Disney of them, but there surely must be some other way to do that which doesn't always involve talking to yet more ancestral ghosts? White superheroes get to have at least some other options.
Echo is a spin of of a spin off. We first saw Maya, the native American, deaf, amputee, ex-mobster in Hawkeye, and back when it was first announced, I thought she would be an odd choice to be at the centre of a new Marvel tv show. I am sure there is a well established lore and decades of comics to draw on, but for members of the general public she is a very obscure choice. But perhaps that is the secret to what makes it a good series.
Echo expands on the relationship between Maya and Wilson Fisk, aka "Kingpin". On one side we have a kid grown up into a life of violent crime, and on the other side we have her adoptee mobster father gradually warming up to his parenting responsibilities. Wilson and Maya's relationship gets destroyed in the finale of Hawkeye, so Maya relocates out to her quiet family town back in Oklahoma. The story alternates between her kicking heads and her reuniting with folksy small towners. It is nice to see the homework done when it comes to presenting native American Chaktow culture. From what I understand, there were a lot of Chaktow artists involved in the production and writing. Putting aside the cheesy way in Maya's powers eventually manifest themselves, the show finds a neat balance between reflecting the traditions and the Chaktow as modern day people with normal lives.
I have previously enjoyed the Marvel shows over the movies, and Echo is no exception. Whilst the short number of episodes means this could have easily been a movie in its own right, the format discouraged the writers from going for bombastic, epic story telling. The stakes are appropriately low, whilst still being suitably melodramatic.
I am slightly miffed how Disney can't let these shows exist as their own entities without requiring you to watch their other series first. And on top of that, each show acts as extended trailer for the next series. Echo depends on you to have watched Hawkeye, and serves to set up the next Daredevil show. Echo is a decent little drama, and I wish Disney would let it be just that.