It seems like the MCU is looking to recalibrate itself given there's only one movie slated for this year, but it looks like they'll still keep things going on the TV side for 2024. I've just finished binging their first project of the year, so I'll get to talking now while keeping spoilers to a bare minimum. This series spins off from the Hawkeye series, which introduced Maya Lopez as a character. She's a deaf Native American woman who works with the Tracksuit Mafia (the criminal organization Hawkeye fights throughout his show), and it was eventually revealed that said group is under Wilson Fisk (AKA Kingpin) himself. Among other things, it was established that Fisk (who is the very same one fans have come to enjoy in the Daredevil Netflix series) viewed Maya as the daughter he never had, and that relationship was tested in the latter episodes of Hawkeye.
I know I've basically just spoiled a significant of Hawkeye just there, but I'll nonetheless keep this next part as vague as I can. By the finale of that show, Maya learns a key truth about Kingpin, which leads to a fateful confrontation that ends in a cliffhanger. Echo takes place a few months after that incident, and follows Maya's journey back home to Tamaha, Oklahoma, where some of the Choctaw Nation reside. She's not there to reconnect with family, however, and is actually only passing through in order to execute a plan to cripple (and eventually take over) Kingpin's operations. The first episode stands out to me, as it recaps a number of things that I already know by replaying scenes from Hawkeye almost verbatim. I understand that this is a consequence of the show being explicitly designed "to be enjoyed without prior knowledge of the MCU" (which is what the Marvel Spotlight designation is meant to represent), so this approach makes sense. Plus, there was merit in seeing some of these scenes again, as they're presented in a completely different context here. With that said, the fact that the concept of Marvel Spotlight even exists is something that bugs me, but that's not a discussion for this blog entry. Throughout the series, it's established that while Maya had a loving family back in Tamaha, tragic circumstances led her to move to New York City with her father. This resulted in Maya drifting completely apart from the rest of her family, so seeing her run into different family members led to interesting interactions. It seemed like the throughline here (at least as I see it) was Maya realizing what family actually means by reconnecting with them and cutting off Kingpin (who has been her "family" for close to two decades) from her life for good. Of course, Maya doesn't get there immediately, as she's content keeping her presence in her hometown quiet at first and only calling in when she needs something, but I like how her attitude changes over time as she interacts with her family more. In terms of the supporting cast itself, I feel like they could have been given more time to be fleshed out as characters. Enough is presented here that I could get a sense of who they were and their connection with Maya, but I felt like some characters (especially a few that are established to have a deeper relationship with Maya) weren't given enough time to shine. When Echo was first confirmed to be coming to the MCU, I was extremely curious about what they would do with her powers. In the comics, she is functionally similar to Taskmaster (able to copy movements perfectly, allowing her to mimic the fighting styles of other characters), so I wondered if they would keep that or just make her a regular person who can fight really well. Hawkeye led me to believe the latter, but this show establishes that she does have some sort of special abilities. It's a far cry from her original power set, but I nonetheless found it a cool deviation that pulls from a not-so-expected source while also still fitting her superhero name perfectly. This show spares no time and expense weaving in many aspects of Choctaw culture into the show, showing off both elements of the tribe's history as well as how much of the culture persists in present day. I'm assured that the people working on the show coordinated closely with the Choctaw Nation to ensure the accuracy of what they portray here as well, and I commend the effort. In particular, I found the flashbacks to the past a tad jarring at first, but it eventually became clear that it ties in more closely to Maya's story and character, and I thought it was really cool to see how Maya's heritage is as significant a foundation to her character as her backstory. I can't really fault anyone for not even knowing this show is out now, as even amongst comic readers, Echo isn't a high-profile character, and she is overshadowed in the Hawkeye series by big tie-ins and Kate Bishop. Chances are, if this show is even on your radar, it's likely because you heard that Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin is back after his brief stint in Hawkeye. Given his master class performance in the Daredevil series as one of the most significant villains in the entire Marvel pantheon, the excitement in seeing him be fully integrated to the MCU is totally understandable. While you don't get much of Kingpin compared to a season of Daredevil, what little they have him do here is still really great. Wilson Fisk still feels like the terrifying menace he was back when we first saw this portrayal in 2015, but things are made distinct from what we've seen before thanks to his unique relationship with Maya. We see a bit of how Maya, for a time, looked up to Fisk, and we see a different style of manipulative from Fisk as he endears himself to Maya as a sort of father figure and basically trains her to be his weapon (as opposed to his usual methods of horrible blackmail). Fisk is also still very much the threat he was in Daredevil as well, as the reach of his influence remains utterly horrifying, his ruthlessness is on full display when people outlive their usefulness, and the constant threat of him possibly going ballistic and beating someone to a pulp is very much alive and well. Overall, it was a delight to see Kingpin again, both with the stuff that made him so compelling to watch and the new character angle with Maya. That said, I feel like we could have used more scenes of Kingpin and Maya's relationship in the past in order to further show how he basically indoctrinated her and how that warped her world view. With Kingpin being here, the possibility of Daredevil making another MCU appearance had many foaming at the mouth. I dare not exclude myself from that, as I also know that Daredevil and Echo have some history in the comics, which led me to wonder if they would build that up in some form on this show. I'm not going to give too much away, but I would temper my expectations a bit if you're coming into this hoping it's Daredevil Season 3.5. It's not. It's very much a show about Maya Lopez, and I think expecting Matt Murdock to hijack the show is doing a disservice to the interesting stuff they do for Maya as a character. Both the presence of Marvel Netflix characters and the landmark TV-MA rating (a first for the MCU) had people wondering if the action here would hit the highs of Daredevil or be as gruesome as The Punisher. Personally, I feel like what they do here in terms of the fight choreography is really great. In particular, I enjoyed the fight scenes for how visceral each encounter felt at times, and I also appreciated how they didn't overdo things just because the show's rating gives them more wiggle room. The R-rated brutality was used in ways that made such scenes featuring it impactful, instead of being just a blood-and-guts fiesta. Where I think this show stands out the most is its sound design. Given the nature of Maya's character, there's not a lot of spoken dialogue, so for the bulk of the series, the most you hear was whispers coming from the people talking to Maya as they sign what they say. In pivotal scenes, the audio would be reduced to things like muffled sounds/speaking, the sound of heartbeats, or even dead silence. It's such a different vibe that puts Maya's experience into perspective to some extent, and the fact that the show is largely on the quiet side in terms of volume makes certain sounds more impactful. As you may expect, ASL (American Sign Language) is used prominently on this show, and I'm glad that they have other characters (primarily Maya's family) be fluent in it such that you see it way more often than if it were just Maya signing. This coupled with the show's sound design had me laser-focused on watching the characters sign as well as the emotions they're conveying with their faces or how they're signing, and I found myself super engaged with the dialogue as a result. I do have to point out, however, that a significant factor that led to my focus on the signing is that I actually know a tiny bit of ASL, so I was trying to learn new words and refresh my memory on the few words I do know. If there's one complaint I could level at this show, it's probably how the finale was handled. I quite felt the short runtime here, and I really think more time should have been allotted to build certain elements up. They at least do something interesting with the resolution of Maya and Kingpin's confrontation instead of ending in some generic final battle. Save for one exciting exception, you're not going to get any insane tie-ins to the larger MCU here other than referencing stuff that's already known. There is, however, an interesting tease at the end that has me excited for the direction of some stuff coming in the future. After the disappointment that was Secret Invasion, I'm glad that Echo was an enjoyable watch. I think it did a solid job of making what many would dismiss as a minor character interesting, the representation of both Choctaw culture and deaf people was prominent and meaningful, I enjoyed the fight choreography, and the show manages to expand a little corner of the vast world of the MCU by adding new facets to it (like a different side of Kingpin, or the implications of where Maya's abilities come from). I would have liked a more streamlined first half, a few more episodes to build up certain things, or a more interesting resolution, but for the most part, I liked what I got here. Given the MCU's struggles as of late in terms of what's come out and all the noise about it online, I understand that it's a hard sell to get people back on the train. Like I said with The Marvels, I don't think this is the "we're so back" lapsed fans may be looking for, but I think there's merit in exploring its different tone (and I don't just mean the mature rating) and giving a character you may not be that interested in a chance. All I'll say outside of that is this important reminder: it's not Daredevil Season 3.5. - end -
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June 2024
Derryck
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