MS. MARVEL S1E6 NO NORMAL 🤩

PREMISE

Back in Jersey, Kamala finds Kamran and protects him from Damage Control, who will stop at nothing to take him in.

EPISODE MVP

IMAN VELLANI – If we haven’t learned anything already, the engine that makes this show truly run is the performance of Vellani. In the last episode, she was not on screen for half the episode, and the show had a different vibe. Not bad, but noticeably different.

Kamala is such a fun character to watch and easy to root for. Her arc has been incredibly gratifying. The first couple of episodes, she played defense because she didn’t know how to use her powers. Then, in the Pakistan episodes, she gained confidence in her powers. And in this episode, she is completely on the offensive with full-blown assurance in everything she can do. So with that, it seems fitting that the climactic showdown of this season isn’t with one particular villain but rather a firework show of Kamala’s confidence in her new role. Ya love to see it.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

CREATIVE FREEDOMS – I’ve been someone who long advocated for the MCU to use a lot more creative freedom in explaining the origins of these characters. I believe the MCU should be its own entity aside from the comic books, and strict adherence to certain characters’ comic book backstories do more harm than good.

In the comics, Kamala develops her abilities after exposure to a gas that causes people with dormant Inhuman genes to undergo sudden evolutionary transformations. Having Kamala explore her direct connection to the Inhumans like in the comic books would seem really complex and honestly, not nearly as gratifying as what we get in this show.

LINE OF THE WEEK

“Your mother and I tried for years to have a second child. We’d almost lost hope. And then you came. Beta, you were just…perfect. That’s what Kamal means in Arabic, “perfect.” But in Urdu, it’s more like what’s the word? Wonder… Marvel. Kamal means Marvel.”

-YUSUF-

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

The VILLAIN ProbleM – HAWKEYE and WANDAVISION notwithstanding, the main problem with MCU shows is the outright lack of a big bad villain that is both formidable AND charismatic (which may be by design for all I know). Maybe the big bads are being saved for movies theatres (even though that itself is hard to tell given the phase 4 movies that we’ve gotten so far).

Quite literally, everything about the Clandestines was underwhelming. Their abilities, the idea that they were menacing, their goals, and even their demise were underwhelming. The Clandestines as a crew has been the most disappointing set of villains in any MCU TV show by far. They are in fact so underwhelming that they are not even remotely a part of the climactic battle of this season.

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The ending of this season stuck the landing. Vellani’s performance throughout was never anything short of wonderful. There is SO MUCH to like here. Normally, with a finale this strong, I would be very excited for what is to come, but I don’t know how much hype I can have unless a second season is announced. There’s so much potential here.

MS. MARVEL is streaming on Disney+ now