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For the past few years, just about every MCU installment could’ve been critiqued with the phrase, “Well, it could’ve been worse.” Who knows what Kevin Feige and Disney had in mind before this time four years ago when Covid-19 started to make headlines. A worldwide pandemic for the first time in about 100 years and a strike of actors and writers along with superhero fatigue has both Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery wondering how they can salvaged the millions if not billions of dollars already allotted for the next batch of movies and TV shows this decade.
Echo had a few things that might have piqued some interest. First off, it was the first thing through the new banner Marvel Spotlight, which is supposed to be more serious and darker stories with mature elements, even though Echo only seems to up the violence level. So, watching a series on Disney-Plus that is rated T V-MA had people changing their settings. Second, it was dropping all at once as other streaming services (Netflix and Peacock) do this. I’m wondering why Disney and Hulu haven’t done this already. Third, it would include American Sign Language as well as Choctaw language. As people call for inclusion (and Marvel has always been about that), having a series feature Indigenous people of the Choctaw Nation using ASL is the epitome of inclusion, especially since the main character is played by an actress who is deaf and also has a prosthetic leg.
Of course, the “woke” critics are probably grumbling that they’re not going to watch, even though the series is set in conservative red-state Oklahoma (event though it was filmed in Georgia). Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) had a smaller role in the uneven 2021 series Hawkeye where she was introduced working for Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio reviving his role from the Daredevil series). This series focuses on her life as well as Kingpin’s hold all over the world. No spoilers needed as Kingpin who Maya shot in the Hawkeye series has been in a coma for about five months.
The series focus on Maya’s life as she was living in the Tamaha, Okla. community as a child. But one night, her mother, Taloa (Katarina Ziervogel), is killed in a car crash when criminals cut the brake lines to her car, hoping to kill her husband, William (Zahn McClarndon). Taloa’s mother, Chula (Tantoo Cardinal) is angry with William for his criminal background and shuns him. William takes Maya who loses her leg in the accident with him to New York City, where she meets Fisk and becomes like a niece.
But it’s revealed that Clint Barton as Ronin killed William and she trained with Fisk to be what she is now. That is until she realized it was Fisk who ordered her father killed and thus she thought she had killed him and been on the run since. She arrives back in Tamaha where to get revenge as Fisk has operations in the Sooner State. And being back in Oklahoma, it means she has to run into some people who can help her and others she hopes to avoid.
It’s a story told time and time again. But what makes it work is Cox’s role as the main character. This is only her second series and only role so far. Cox manages to add some depth and pathos to a role that has become too formulaic as the “Person On The Run Confronting Their Past” trope. Since most of its set in Oklahoma as well as interior buildings that are supposed to be in NYC, there’s only so much you can do. And five episodes stretched out to about three hours if you deduct all the recaps and credits is one hour too long.
However the casting of Cardinal and Grahame Greene as her former flame, Skully, who assist Maya when she arrives in town help carry the series. Cardinal and Greene appeared in the Oscar-winning movie Dances With Wolves and it’s great to see them again after so many years. However, their roles in the white savior Taylor Sheridan-scripted Wind River (which also featured Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen of the MCU) were wasted. Cardinal rises Chula approve the angry grandmother/old Indigenous stereotype. And Greene seems always a joy to watch.
Chaske Spencer, who is actually a native of Tahlequah, Okla., near where I live, is a nice addition as Henry “Black Crow” Lopez, Maya’s uncle and William’s brother. However, Cody Lightning as Maya’s cousin, Biscuits, seems like he is more akin to the cocky and whacky Reservation Dogs which also starred Devery Jacobs. She who was one of the few good things about that overrated pompous show, but sadly, she is wasted here as Bonnie, Maya’s other cousin.
Thankfully Marion Dayre, series creator, and the writing and directing staff, keep this from becoming what Reservation Dogs became – pretentious. Indigenous Native Americans need their own shows. Unfortunately, just existing isn’t grounds for excellence. The powers that be keep this from becoming a retread of stereotypes, which was my problem with Reservation. I mean, there’s scenes in this series at a PowWow and there’s scenes focusing on Choctaw history and ancestry. However, it doesn’t insist upon itself.
You can relate to the characters on a universal level. They just happen to be Choctaw and Indigenous Native Americans. There’s good people and there’s bad people. It never does feel like it’s patting itself on the back or trying to put itself up on a pedestal. Most of the time in Oklahoma and other states with a good percentage of Indigenous people, PowWows aren’t an everyday occurrence.
There are some great action scenes here and Cox proves herself to be a wonderful action hero, especially when she finds herself battling against Daredevil (Charlie Cox). And there’s a scene involving White Zombie’s “Dragula” that is totally thrilling. Yet there’s the rub. After building up some great action scenes in the first half, I will say the ending is kind of a letdown, which even for MCU levels is saying a lot. I do get the feeling through D’Onofrio’s performance that he sees Maya as family despite their checkered history.
I don’t doubt we’ll see Maya and Kingpin in other entries. Both Cox and D’Onofrio are great actors. I just feel more could’ve been done here but maybe Marvel (and Disney) wasn’t willing to allot more money. An episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law cost about a reported $25 million each. You can do more with less, but it you can see where they got chintzy with the money.
That still shouldn’t stop you from tuning in, if nothing more for Cox who is a star in the making.
What do you think? Please comment.