Ms. Marvel presents a change of scenery and a particularly flirtatious fight
Despite an epic quarrel, most of “Seeing Red” feels like a quiet reflection on a damaged family history
TV Reviews Ms. Marvel
Well, we’re not in Kansas anymore. Or Jersey City, I should say.
Last week’s episode teased a visit to Karachi, and while I wasn’t 100-percent convinced it would happen, the show proved me wrong. And so here we are for the majority of this episode, in Pakistan’s largest city and one of its buzziest, brightest, and busiest. Yet somehow, this installment largely felt quieter and more contemplative than those that preceded it.
Kamala (Iman Vellani) and her mom arrive in Karachi, still a little on the outs over how Kamala “ruined” her brother Aamir’s wedding. But their relationship isn’t the tensest mother-daughter one in the episode. That honor goes to Muneeba (Zenobia Shroff), Kamala’s mom, and her mother, Sana (Samina Ahmed). From the moment Sana greets her daughter at the airport (and if you think that looked chaotic, trust me, Pakistani airports are 10 times more chaotic in reality), you know that there is going to be awkwardness. Like all good Pakistani mothers, Nani follows up a warm greeting to her daughter with some criticism to bring Muneeba down a peg or two (“your skin is so dry”).
After driving through the streets of Karachi, Kamala arrives at her grandmother’s house, a gated property that is huge. We know from last week’s episode that when Muneeba and Yusuf arrived in America, they found things hard, with Yusuf (Mohan Kapur) “working very long hours for very little money.” But in Pakistan, Muneeba is clearly from a comfortable, if not wealthy, middle-class background, or perhaps even upper class, given that Kamala’s cousins take the group out to the “club” (that most British and colonial of things) for lunch. There’s a whole essay to be written about class and status and wealth, and how immigrants often experience a change in all of these when they move to a new country, but this is probably not the place for it.
Kamala stumbles across what appears to be Nani’s art room, full of paintings Sana has done, as well as newspaper clippings and photographs on the wall referring to Partition and floods in Ferozepur, a border town. This room is a memory vault of sorts. Nani tells Kamala that she paints because “we lost so much during Partition. And I thought the only way I can hold onto what we had lost was to create it myself.” The losses of Partition and the significance of seemingly small symbols are a big theme of this episode, which is really focused on how your history and the loss of it has long-term and damaging effects—but can also be a motivator.
Nani then blithely confirms that Kamala is a Djinn, and when Kamala asks how she can be so casual, Nani’s answer is that Kamala is focusing on the wrong thing, that “it’s just genetics.” I’m not quite sure Nani is right here. I think it is a big deal if someone tells you you’re a Djinn, but she’s not the only one who is playing fast and loose with Djinn mythology this episode. More on that later.
After a brief nap, filled with some nightmares where Kamala relives the criticism thrown at Ms. Marvel back home, she’s off into the city. One super spicy lunch and quick (and not very informative) historical tour of the city later, Kamala’s left on her own by her cousins, who would rather have coffee with friends than take Kamala to the train station, where she hopes to somehow connect with her family’s ancestry.
It’s a good thing they don’t come with her, since Kamala sneaks through some signs telling her a part of the station is prohibited, donning the eye mask Bruno (Matt Lintz) presented her with last episode. (Does she really think this will disguise her?) There, as she’s look at an Avengers mural, a knife comes flying through the air and embeds itself into the wall next to her.
And that’s our introduction to the Red Dagger, aka Kareem (Aramis Knight), who quips “found you” from behind Kamala before the pair engage in the most flirtatious fight I’ve seen in some time. Kareem, who wears a red scarf covering the lower part of his face, found Kamala because he sensed Noor, and after trying to one-up each other, they settle on a brief truce to get away from the station guards who have finally noticed the disturbance caused by the pair fighting with knives and beams of light. Kamala, with no regard for her own safety, just agrees to go off with Kareem when he asks. To be fair, he has very cute eyes, and so 16-year-old me would probably also have followed him.
Kareem takes her to a rundown Chinese restaurant, which actually hides a very hi-tech, very beautiful building behind it, home to the Red Daggers. The plural is technically correct, but there do only seem to be two members: Kareem and Waleed (Farhan Akhtar), the latter of whom is in charge. As the trio dig into Chinese food, Kamala makes fun of Kareem’s red scarf. It’s harmless bickering, but Waleed steps in to tell Kamala that the fabric has significance and has “protected the identity of warriors willing to take on the mantle of the Red Daggers.” It’s not the last time this week that we’ll see the significance of clothing and materials.
The Red Daggers protect people from the “threats of the unseen,” like Djinn. Waleed reveals that the Clandestines are not like the Djinn from stories or religious texts, and that if Thor landed in the Himalayan mountains, he too would be called a Djinn. Does this mean the show is using “Djinn” as another word for alien? It’s a little puzzling, because if these aren’t the Djinn from stories or religious texts, why call them Djinn at all? Why invoke those ideas? I’m not quite sure where the show is going with the Djinn storyline yet.
With technology rivaling Tony Stark’s, Waleed explains a little more about Kamala’s great-grandmother Aisha’s home, which is connected to ours but hidden. Its energy source is Noor, and there’s a heavy implication (I say implication because Waleed uses the word “if”) that the Clandestines want to use Kamala’s bangle to tear down the veil separating the two dimensions, which would result in our world being destroyed. Kamala must protect the bangle, which Waleed notices has an inscription: “What you seek is seeking you.” What is Kamala seeking? Home, connection, identity? And how are those things seeking her?
Kamala heads home to join her grandmother on the balcony (where she stands listening to the azaan, the call to prayer). Nani wants to know if Kamala has found what she’s looking for, telling her that she’s still trying to figure out who she is. “My passport is Pakistani; my roots are in India,” she tells Kamala. “And in between all of this there is a border. There is a border marked with blood and pain. People are claiming their identity based on an idea some old Englishman had when they were fleeing the country. How is one to deal with that?” How indeed. Partition wasn’t just the movement of a people; it was the ripping of them from their roots, and even now, 75 years later, a feeling of displacement remains for many Indians and Pakistanis. An arbitrary border resulted in decades of pain and loss, but it’s interesting that this discussion takes place right after Waleed reveals that the border between Aisha’s dimension and ours must stay in place. Borders as both separators and protectors is an interesting idea, especially in our world, where technology erodes borders. But some governments seem intent to use physical barriers to keep people out; and wars, of course, rage because of borders.
After so much intense background, there’s a moment of lightness for Kamala as she heads to a beach bonfire with Kareem and his friends, while at home Nani and Muneeba try to reckon with their differences. A frustrated Muneeba attempts to clean up, softening slightly when she realizes that all the toffee boxes scattered around are ones that her mother kept in case she came back, since Muneeba loved toffees as a child. It’s a touching moment, which makes the conversation afterward hurt all the more. Sana and Muneeba are still clearly divided over Muneeba’s decision to leave. Muneeba says she needed a break because she was “shunned by neighbors because of my crazy mother and her wild stories,” which Nani refuses to accept. All she wanted to do was share her stories with her daughter, while all Muneeba wanted was a mother living in the present. The relationship between Muneeba and her mother explains so much about the relationship between Muneeba and Kamala.
The next day, back at the Red Dagger headquarters, Kamala is practicing using Noor, wearing a red kurta that I think is the one she bargained for (badly) in the bazaar. Waleed presents her with a blue waistcoat, telling her that “there is history in every thread of this fabric so you always remember where you came from. You’re not alone.” It’s really significant that so much of Kamala’s superhero costume (or an early iteration of it, at least) is coming together in Pakistan, and that it’s consisting of traditional items like the kameez and the waistcoat. Clothing is important, and for many Pakistani immigrant communities, it was also what marked them out as different in their new homes, sometimes leading to discrimination and the abandonment of certain items of clothing for protection from racism. In recent years, we’re seen both the appropriation of items worn by South Asians (stripped of their meanings and presented as fashion) and the politicization of them (just look at France and its population’s obsession with Muslim women covering themselves with hijabs or burkinis in public). That Kamala is shown to be making these cultural clothing items part of her costume, and wearing them with pride and joy, is beautiful.
But there’s no time to dwell, because from the ceiling come the Clandestines, who earlier escaped from the Department of Damage Control’s Super Max Prison. Waleed and Kareem manage to get Kamala out of the building, and they all hop on a motorized rickshaw to try and escape, while some of the Clandestines follow in one of those highly-decorated trucks Pakistan is famous for. And what follows is my least favorite thing that the Marvel Cinematic Universe does: a chase through a city that leaves behind destruction. Granted, the damage here isn’t too bad, and there aren’t any fatalities (Kamala manages to save a family on a motorbike from harm by throwing up a shield of Noor), but there will still be plenty of merchants picking through destroyed goods and wondering how they’re going to make their money for the week.
The fight continues through the streets, and Waleed has a split second to make a decision: Does he throw his knives at the Clandestine coming up behind Kamala and Kareem, or does he protect himself from Najma’s (Nimra Bucha) attack? There’s no choice really, and he sacrifices himself to protect the teenagers, giving Najma the chance to stab him in the back. Kamala and Kareem don’t have time to grieve, because the Clandestines are closing in. Running into what looks to be a fabric dyeing factory (with plenty of purple cloths—have I mentioned yet that clothing and fabric is significant?), where they’re briefly behind a protective veil of hanging fabrics, the pair prepare for the Clandestines to close in, which they do.
It’s looking like the pair will lose, especially when Najma leaps out and strikes Kamala’s bangle with her weapon. Instead, what happens is that we get what looks like a breaking of the veil between worlds, and Kamala is thrust into what seems at first to be a vision. We think that she’s seeing that Karachi train coming towards her again, like at the end of episode three. But this is no vision: Kamala actually seems to be in 1947, at a train station as crowds surge around her, trying to get on the last cars. That means, of course, that a toddler Sana is somewhere in this crowd, either about to be separated from her father or already separated. Could it be that the light she sees, the light that led her to be reunited with her dad, was actually sent by a from-the-future Kamala?
We’ll have to wait until next week to find out, but it’s a wait I’m fine with, since I’ll need some time to process that final sweeping shot of the episode. Kamala, dressed in blue and red among a sea of people in washed out colors, climbs aboard a train. The camera zooms out to show thousands of people clamoring to get on trains. It’s an extraordinarily moving and disturbing moment: All these people wanted was to survive, to find a home when they had been suddenly rejected from theirs.
It’s this closing image, as well as Nani and Waleed’s talk of protection, of identity, of the importance of history, of the significance of items that connect you to your past, that make this episode so meaningful. Aside from the big fight scenes, a lot of “Seeing Red” felt quiet. It’s an episode that takes us to places we rarely see on television and gives voice to people and ideas that we often try to hide, perhaps because acknowledging them means acknowledging our hurt and trauma and—for some—the part they played in causing it.
We’re left, I think, in an unsatisfying place when it comes to the Djinn mythology being employed by the show. But I know that this is an episode I’ll come back to again and again, for its quiet understanding of how we can be so easily torn apart, but also how we can find help in unexpected places.
Stray observations
- Maps, maps, maps. There are maps everywhere in this episode: Kamala examines one on the plane; they’re all over Nani’s house and in the headquarters of the Red Daggers. Maps and land and borders tie in nicely with the ideas being explored throughout Ms. Marvel.
- Is there a super max prison in Marvel that is actually super max? Because I feel like more people escape from them in the MCU than remain locked up there.
- “How do you know I’m not Canadian?” Kamala asks Kareem during their flirt fight. It’s a cute nod to the fact that Vellani is Canadian, not American.
- An incomplete list of Very Pakistani Things: those beaded curtains being used instead of doors, the embroidered pillowcases we see when Kamala is taking a nap that nearly every Pakistani household has owned at one point or another, biryani in a bag, a whole family just casually using one motorbike.
- No Yusuf, no Bruno, no Nakia. This episode takes away a lot of the secondary characters we’ve grown to love, but the honing in on three generations of women really works.
- Talking of Nakia, she’s not talking to Kamala, as we see from all those unanswered texts. This is a friendship I desperately want to see make it through, so I hope we see it being repaired in future episodes.
- Poor Kamran. I feel like I ignore him a lot, but he has been set aside this episode, not just by me, but by his mother too. Sure, the Clandestines help him get free of the super max prison, but once they’re out Najma tells them to leave her son behind, since he made his choice by helping Kamala. Ouch.
- Farhan Akhtar was wonderful as Waleed this episode, but he’s not the only big name South Asian actor linked to the series. This episode saw Pakistani actor Fawad Khan’s name appear in the credits, although it’s generous to describe him as being in this week’s episode. He was, I’m fairly certain, in the photo of Nani and her father that Kamala looked at (and definitely somewhere among those thousands of people in the final scene), and so we’ll see him more next episode as Aisha’s husband/Sana’s father.
- This episode made me hungry, especially for the king of South Asian street food, pani puri. Unlike Kamala, I’m pretty sure I could handle the spice.
- The train station mural (of Ant-Man) that Kamala looks at is by Saira Hussain and is an homage to Adrian Alphona, the original illustrator of the Ms. Marvel comics.
- A quick history factoid: The Brit who decided on how India would be split had never been to the country before he arrived on July 7, 1947 as chair of the boundary commissions. Cyril Radcliffe had five weeks to split the country up, so it’s no wonder Partition was as horrific as it was.
118 Comments
Looks like the Supermax prison was introduced ahead of an expanded role/setting in She-Hulk. I am starting to get an itch for an official explanation of what Damage Control actually does in the MCU. It’s a federal agency, yet they raked Peter Parker over the coals for events that happened overseas. They also seek out enhanced individuals for … what exactly? And their prisoner transports seem to be very lacking considering they are taking in enhanced people! America, explain!
I think they’ve essentially replaced Shield as the government arm to handle enhanced individuals. I really don’t see any problem with them taking issue with Spiderman’s activities in London. The United Kingdom are close allies and we have extradition laws with them. Our agencies certainly have an interest in what US based heroes do worldwide.I’m also pretty sure the Sokovia Accords are still a thing in the MCU. One of the biggest points of that was a superhero can’t operate in another country without UN approval.
I’m very curious about the status of the Sokovia Accords in the current MCU continuity… the last time they mentioned it was in Endgame cuz Beard Cap had been running from the law since Civil War…. but then The Avengers arose as the last line of defense against Thanos. I can’t help but think they would have either dissolved the Sokovia Accords during the 5 year time jump, or they would have dissolved the accords after the Avengers finally beated Thanos? After everyone was returned during The Blip wouldn’t societies view of superheroes have reverted back to being grateful for their presence?
We wont really know until we catch up with General Ross at some point I guess. It’s been very unclear.
Peter was in trouble for allegedly murdering another American citizen. As for the rest of DODC’s deal and the bad security for super max, the most American government answer I have is, why do it right when you can do it cheap?Also, the Clandestine just leaned into the whole Djinn thing for the same reason Batman sticks to shadows and dresses like he does, fear is useful.
“Peter was in trouble for allegedly murdering another American citizen”Technically Mysterio was an American citizen, but the general public thinks that he is from an alternate Earth. So legally wouldn’t he be considered an “alien” an not an American citizen – at least not the MCU’s America?
While Tony Stark was alive, Damage Control’s mission was simply to clean up after supe-related incidents: Contain & repair physical destruction, provide medical attention to bypassers, et cet.Since his death, however, they seem to have been expanded into the investigation & enforcement agency for the Sokovia Accords, despite not being at all qualified or equipped for that job.
Gonna be honest: they have done nothing for me so far in this show. I even forgot they were part of the Spider-Man movie.
Yea, Damage Control has a very specific role in the comics, it’s weird to see them being used in the MCU as basically a second-rate SHIELD
While I’m still high on the show as a whole, this was for me by far the worst episode that they’ve done so far. It was just disjointed and filled with weird decisions like I couldn’t understand the purpose of the cousins in an episode so filled already. Furthermore I really wish they had established the Red Daggers before as for a seemingly important story component, I’m still really confused about basically everything about them.This really hit home for me how of a good job they did with the New Jersey cast as they really manage to ground the show effectively and make it breathe. As good as Kamala is, without those interactions, everything here just felt like it was stumbling.
agreed. maybe it’ll make sense in the larger context of the whole show, but this almost felt like a (less good) pilot for a different ms marvel series.
Could it be a victim of “6 episodes wasn’t long enough fit everything in properly, so some stuff had to get left out or fast-forwarded”?
I mean the show knew that they had 6 episodes, so it’s on them to figure out how much story they could tell. At this point, though, this is utterly perplexing as it starting to be a feature on these shows.What confounds me here, though, is that the pacing in the first three episodes was excellent, so it was really startling to see it just go through the window in this episode.
It does feel like they crammed a ton in here to the point of making Kamala feel like a passenger in her own show.
The short episode order seems to be the shows biggest problem. Ms. Marvel is honestly the first MCU hero that I think would work better being totally serialized. Forget having her appear in The Marvels film just give us like 24 episodes of this show.
I also feel this way about Spider-Man but to a much lesser extent due to how blatantly cinematic he is as a character.
Also, gimme a showdown between Night Light and Night Monkey puh-lease.
This really hit home for me how of a good job they did with the New Jersey cast as they really manage to ground the show effectively and make it breathe. Wow. Does it not occur to you that this episode just showed the most grounded portrayal of Pakistani daily life in popular mass media and the only reason you didn’t find it “grounded” is because it’s foreign to you? That your expectations of “grounded” only apply to your own experiences?
Settle down there, they were talking about characters and story pacing in this episode. Nothing was said negatively about the location or its people, you freak.
“You freak?” LMAO. The scenes in Pakistan are just as “grounded” as those in NJ. Random dude saying that saying it isn’t “grounded” unless they can parse it through their own experience isn’t a criticism, it’s their own failing of having expectations that must conform to the expectations they’d narratively be comfortable with.
Let me get this straight. You criticized them because you thought they disliked how Pakistan and its people looked, even though they had zero complaints about the location or the people and were talking about the characters and story. And now you’re doubling down, insisting there is something sinister about how they view Pakistan.It was not a good episode. It has nothing to do with its depiction of Pakistan or its people, they did a good job with that. But everything is rushed, there’s too much exposition dumping, and there were too many narrative shortcuts to move the plot, including the “supermax” prison break which was, duh, not in Pakistan.
Yeah that person seems to have negative reading comprehension lol
For all the positive to say about this show, the Clandestine have to be the weakest MCU show antagonists so far. They are just hilariously inept and for some reason the show wants them to be considered a tremendous threat, but never seems to be willing to do the work. It also doesn’t help that they are riddled with that MCU approach of refusing to make their villains feel at all complicated figures.Having written all that, I was not surprised how easy it was to escape from Super-Max. I mean why would they put even basic security measures up there? It was literally apparently just one door to reach freedom.
Hawkeye’s were more inept. Maybe not Kingpin, I guess, but he was barely there.
That was intentional, though; the Tracksuits are objects of ridicule canonically.
Bro
Trust a bro!
I couldn’t believe the sheer production scale of this episode. Ms. Marvel may be the most cinematic of the Disney+ shows. All the Karachi locations. The final wide shot of the Partition train. Not to mention completely new end credit animations entirely set in Karachi with the new characters instead of Kamala’s family and friends back home.
Apparently the Karachi scenes were all filmed in Thailand. Also I noticed the credits have a huge number of South Asian names, especially in the art departments.At least when this series ends I know we’ll get more Kamala (and Monica!) in the next Captain Marvel.
This episode was handled differently, by far. I would argue there hasn’t been any show meant for Western audiences that had done such a great job of romanticizing the sights and sounds of Pakistan as well as this one.
That Supermax prison was an absolute joke. Transporting 3 (or is it 4?) enhanced individuals in a dimly lit basement with 1 or 2 guards and seemingly no cameras or other security?Is there another shoe still to drop with the leader of Clan Destine? I’m pretty sure we’ve already had Aisha shown as a separate character but I’m waiting for someone in Kamala’s family to see her and recognize her as part of the family.
Makes me wonder if they’re intentionally trying to show Damage Control as a bunch of complete idiots who got their job via political machinations instead of being qualified for it. I guess comic book universes tend to rely on their superhuman prison system being absolutely terrible. Of course I still don’t know if the Clan Destine have any real powers without their noor. They really don’t seem to, which makes Damage Control even crappier at their job.
They seem to have the power of offscreen teleportation, but otherwise you’re right.
In that wedding fight it looked to me as if they could conjure some magic weapons (e.g. that whip totally didn’t look real to me). But maybe I’m wrong, I watched it only on my phone’s little screen.
The weapons all seemed to be physical other than coming out of nowhere. The whip was CGI but it was likely supposed to be an urumi whip considering how wide it was. That would fit as I saw one guy use a gada (type of mace type found across India). Still not sure if they can summon them or if it is just bad editing since they seemed to all have their weapons without warning after escaping from prison.
Just rewatched that fight at the wedding. When it starts in the kitchen, none of the Clandestines has a weapon. Then, at one point their leader (Najma?) grabs a pan to fight, but then the bearded one (Aadam?) taps his chest (like people tap on their communicator badge in Star Trek) and his weapon (the mace-like device) appears, there’s even a little sound effect with it. This was definitely not a physical weapon he was carrying on him before. The fight then moves to the big room and they all have weapons. The black woman (Fariha?) carries kind of a spear which she would have had a hard time concealing, even under her long coat. The bald guy (name?) pulls out his belt to fight but it seems to vary in length during the fight, transforming into a long whip sometimes, looking to me more like some magical extension than a real object. Najma at one point throws a dagger-like object at Kamala, which could have served as a hairpin before but the scene so fast and short that it’s hard to tell what it is and where it came from.When they break out of prison in ep. 4, they also have their weapons back immediately after breaking free from the prison guards, so I guess there must be some magic involved (unless Damage Control let them keep their weapons while they were moved around in the prison). While breaking out, Naijmas “dagger” (for the lack of a better word) also is able to heat up to melt the lock on a door.So, to me it looks like they have some kind of supernatural powers in our world.
Nice catch. I’ll have to rewatch it to make sure I notice that.
It seems they can summon or at least sapeshift/disguise them
I’ve been trying to find someone who can explain to me why people watch film and TV on their phone screens. Seems like an abomination to me. Like I get busy lives etc., but I just wouldn’t be able to enjoy viewing new film or TV content on a screen that small.
The explanation is simple: I had a long train ride and only my phone available for viewing. Of course I could have waited until I had a bigger screen at my disposal, but then I would not have been able to watch until much later.
I can forgive “these people who are ostensibly good at their jobs are in fact total morons” if they lampshade it in the show somehow. Just having them get easily defeated and nobody comments on it is lazy writing.It would have been better (but maybe was more difficult for production reasons) to have them escape while in transit to the prison, instead of already inside the ostensible super-max prison.
Agree with you on the lampshading. Kind of like how I would have had no issue with Isaac’s bad accent in Moon Knight (since he wasn’t actually English) if someone had made even just one offhand remark about it. Tiny bit of self awareness goes a long way. Something about Damage Control being privatized and run on the cheap, or a “lowest bidder” comment would explain them really well.
“bad accent”I dunno, I saw several English people who said it was spot on, if a little exaggerated (but then also saw it pointed out that Isaac said he’d done it that way on purpose because the character isn’t actually English).
The Red Daggers protect people from the “threats of the unseen,” like
Djinn. Waleed reveals that the Clandestines are not like the Djinn from
stories or religious texts, and that if Thor landed in the Himalayan
mountains, he too would be called a Djinn. Does this mean the show is
using “Djinn” as another word for alien? It’s a little puzzling, because
if these aren’t the Djinn from stories or religious texts, why call
them Djinn at all? Why invoke those ideas?
I think that what they are saying is that in the MCU, there are no Djinn and there are no Norse god; only aliens who were mistaken for figures of existing Earth mythologies. It’s a way of using those mythologies without being bound by their rules.
yo that is a very good assessment
– How did Kamala get a passport so quickly? (She’s been to Pakistan before.)
– When did Kamala get the bangle off?
– Kamala’s family is apparently wealthy.
– Ummmmmm…where did the Red Daggers get all of this advanced technology?
– The Clandestine are just called Djinn. Like a lot of us thought.
– They escaped. I’m shocked, shocked. Well, not that shocked.
– Glad they left Kamran behind. Choices have consequences.
– The one guy just kicked all four of their butts in less than a minute, and now two of the Clandestine are dead. This is not great writing.
– Still don’t know if Zoe is still in custody.
– I love this series, but I didn’t like this episode. The fights felt weak. The Clandestine don’t seem to hold up as good enemies. The Red Daggers served as an exposition dump that honestly didn’t feel like it really told us anything. The show seemed to be trying to manufacture chemistry between Kamala and Kareem that wasn’t working. Muneeba and her mother seemed great. The ending was a high note. Just about everything else in this episode was just bad. I’m not mad, just disappointed.
Are those Clandestine dead? This is a legitimate question as if they are that easy to kill, I am just beyond baffled on why they are supposed to be a major threat worthy of legends?Also when the Red Dagger dude brought out the 3D presentation that only showed the other dimension taking over the city, I legit giggled about how they were using such technology for such a minor display.EDIT: Also the Kamala/Kareem stuff was absurd, even though I know it is from the comics. I mean, in four episdes, they established that Bruno has a massive crush on Kamala, then brought in Kamran to be the Pakistani-born romantic interest for her with a mysterious background. Only to have her then to fly to Pakistan and instantly meet a Pakistani-born love interest with a mysterious background there. It is… odd decision-making ot say the least.
Clan Destine is only a “major threat” if they breakdown the barriers between dimensions with both bangles. Najma clearly states they have no signifcant powers in this dimension because they’re cut off from their own. They’re basically just good fighters who don’t age, who have been, unsuccessfully, trying to find both bangles for decades. That the existence of these extra-dimensional beings happened to contribute to legends, and labeled a djinn, is pretty explicitly shown to be a cultural artifice in this episode. Narratively, they can’t be a ridiculously OP enemy, and still present a scenario where a sixteen year old who is fumbling through life and newfound powers can handle them. The opposite, that Kamala is instantly a cosmic powerhouse, and eradicates a super powerful foe, would be dumb, and rightly complained about.As to your edit. The fuck? You’re talking about the “romantic interests” of a SIXTEEN-FUCKING-YEAR OLD. Do you think it would be more realistic for a sixteen year old girl, who was always an outcast, and is now finally being seen as more than her social status, to be declaring some definitive “romantic interest?” Rather than show is doing what it is doing, which is actually realistic.
What? Everyone knows that teenagers are always 100% consistent in their behavior and thoughts, never forget about the big picture and get caught in the moment, and only ever flirt with people whom they have complete and total intention of devoting themselves to.
(/s ….just in case you know)
Yes, that was the totes the point of my criticism. Teenagers flirting with numerous people, even if one of the three people referred was not an actual point of flirting. Stellar reading comprehension there.
Ill explain it to you, she’s 16 and flirty.
I liked this episode but the bad guys evil plan is pretty weak. Their dimension will be revealed and that will in turn destroy ours for some reason? I expected something a little more original in terms of threat.
“The Red Daggers served as an exposition dump that honestly didn’t feel like it really told us anything.”This is my biggest criticism of the episode, everything they told us we already knew. I was excited to get a few more pieces of the puzzle and instead they just recapped that the Clandestine are beings from the Noor Dimension and allowing them to return home will destroy our dimension.I really liked the family stuff and the relationships between the three generation of women is well done and interesting, but as far as the overarching plot of the series this one was shockingly light on doing any work on it.
– The Clandestine are just called Djinn. Like a lot of us thought.I suspect it was “Mythical creatures called Djinn existed in Islamic/pre-Islamic lore, and then these kinda-superpowered being showed up afterwards and ‘Djinn’ was what they reminded someone of”
That’s what I’m saying. They’re simply called Djinn. They aren’t actually the Djinn of mythology.
Before this episode, I thought that the Clandestines made up that whole thing about being Djinn just to impress Kamala. But in this show Waleed also talked about Djinns, so I guess it’s more what you said, beings of unknown origin and powers who are labeled with some mythical name that might more or less fit them.
– Kamala’s family is apparently wealthy.I’ve never been to Pakistan, but I spend a few weeks a year in India for work, which has similarities as far as economic social stratification, and it’s very different than what you’d be accustomed to in the West. There’s a massive difference between the “middle class” (basically any business owner that exports goods), that has very large homes, drivers and usually maids, and the general populace that lives in tiny congested apartments. The “upper class” lives in full on mansions. In India, at least, that would be the home of a family that had successful businesses in the past, but it wouldn’t be considered “wealthy” like having a home like that in America would be. – The one guy just kicked all four of their butts in less than a minute, and now two of the Clandestine are dead. This is not great writing. (and) The Clandestine don’t seem to hold up as good enemies.I’m not sure what you expect them to be. It’s already been stated that they don’t have access to their powers, and they have to, narratively, be something a sixteen year old fumbling with her new found abilities can handle.
I’ve never been to Pakistan, but I spend a few weeks a year in India for work, which has similarities as far as economic social stratification, and it’s very different than what you’d be accustomed to in the West. There’s a massive difference between the “middle class” (basically any business owner that exports goods),
that has very large homes, drivers and usually maids, and the general
populace that lives in tiny congested apartments. The “upper class”
lives in full on mansions. In India, at least, that would be the home of
a family that had successful businesses in the past, but it wouldn’t be
considered “wealthy” like having a home like that in America would be. Thanks for putting this into perspective! When I saw Nani’s house I was like “Really? Do they have to make the grandma a wealthy widow who lives in this fancy mansion with servants?” as I saw both of Kamala’s parents being of more of a well-educated middle class background. But of course I was seeing that from my European perspective where having maids and drivers is really only for the extremely rich, not for middle class.
If they were real, they’d be old money rich in Pakistan based on that house (old but spacious) and the boat club membership Not the super rich, but certainly well off
To be fair to Kamala, she doesn’t seem to be fumbling much anymore
– To me it sounded like the Red Daggers were an organisation that was around for a long time to protect certain people. So it might make sense that they had sponsors etc. to acquire such advanced technology. And also that they are powerful enough to fight and kill Clandestines. My big question is: how many of them are there? We only met two and Waleed, who looked like the leader of the organisation, was killed off. Are there others who can help Kareem and Kamala?- I thought the fights looked quite good compared to some other Disney+ shows (I’m looking at you, Book of Boba Fett!).
“The show seemed to be trying to manufacture chemistry between Kamala and Kareem that wasn’t working.”Gonna disagree here. I think they had great chemistry from the jump, although it does feel a bit odd to throw another love interest into the mix
The chemistry, in and of itself, may have been working, but the way they were trying to manufacture it wasn’t. A flirty meet-cute fight? Kamala being allowed to run off to meet him in a country she’s been in for less than 24hrs? Given the way that we’ve seen her mother keep tabs on her before, that doesn’t line up.
Her mother seems to believe that she’s spending the whole time with her cousins, and her cousins seem content to just let her do her thing. It’s a lot more plausible, if still sort of weird. I don’t think the cousins are bad people, but they seem very nonchalant about the whole “first time in Pakistan” thing.
I think the show is okay. It’s trying really hard to respect Kamala’s background, so hard that it sometimes makes the superhero stuff feel like an afterthought. The villains have not been developed beyond “they’re evil”, and their arrivals always feel like they’re interrupting our hangout time with the other characters.I wouldn’t mind binging this one because 6 weeks feels like a long investment for something that is little more than an effective time killer.
I love that Ant Man is now an A lister to the public. He went from “nobody knows Ant-Man” to being on murals around the world and that’s great for Scott.
…I would say Giant Man is the A Lister. 🙂
That’s because he has the Power of the Podcast!
I actually don’t like that because he has more MCU appearances upcoming. I really like the idea of keeping this joke going for as long as possible. The scene in the car (from Ant-Man And The Wasp) where Hopes calls out Scott for referring to Captain America as “Cap” is fucking hilarious.
I’m glad they are bringing up Partition because it was a TRULY horrific event that happened that gets swept under the rug consistently.Fuck the British. Seriously, fuck that entire country – they fucked up the entire world and walked away from it scot-free. The atrocities they committed in India and Pakistan alone should be enough to condemn them, but there’s so much more.One thing though: Partition wasn’t “equal” for India and Pakistan. Don’t get me wrong, lot of Pakistanis suffered, but they in turn caused a SHIT TON of problems for Indians. There were agreements in place that said that anyone who had property in Pakistan and were “Indian” – would swap with people who were “Pakistani” in India, so a mutual exchange of property.Guess what Muslims and “Pakistanis” did? Many of them would stay in India, send their children/extended family to Pakistan, to claim the property that was promised from incoming Indians, while still retaining the property in India. There were MILLIONS of Indians who ended up as refugees in their OWN FUCKING COUNTRY.So – anyone who thinks Pakistan suffered more than India is fucking deluded.
For real. When most people criticize America for the crap we did/do, I sit there & let them go off because they’re usually right. But when the English try to take the moral high ground, I hit ‘em with the ol’ “I learned it by watching YOU, Dad!”
Welcome to Imperialism. The Brits did it, the French did it, the Germans did it, the Dutch did it. Since the British Empire was the largest the world has ever seen, they had the opportunity to do the most damage. That doesn’t excuse the last 150 years or so of American Imperialism; they should have known better.
It’s also good to remember that every state of any significance throughout all of history has engaged in imperialism, to a large degree because in the preindustrial era it was usually the most cost-effective way to gain resources, moreso than developing the local economy. It’s a minor miracle that we’ve gotten as far away from it as we have (…not that everything is perfect now). And it’s always been a moral disaster, relenting only because the meme that “hey maybe conquering people and taking their stuff violently is bad” has gained some traction.
I’m not really comfortable with how the show places much or all of the blame on the British, when conflict between Hindus and Muslims had been going on for decades. The British opposed creating separate countries. The Pakistan Movement, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, wanted to create a Muslim state. Hindu nationalists wanted to ban Islam and expel Muslims, and have an all Hindu country.In 1942, Gandhi helped pass the Quit India Resolution, which called for the swift end of British rule and mass civil disobedience until they left. As a result, the Congress was jailed for three years.The British made several proposals to try and keep India unified. The Muslim League agreed to them, but Jawaharlal Nehru, a prominent non-Hindu Indian nationalist, opposed it and effectively made the proposals fail.Jinnah declared August 16 1946 to be Direct Action Day, and he said to Indian Congress, “We do not want war. If you want war we accept your offer unhesitatingly. We will either have a divided India or a destroyed
India.” The result was mass riots in Calcutta between Hindus and Muslims. 4,000 people died in three days. Imagine 9/11 not happening all at once in minutes, but across several days, and not knowing whether or not your home would be burned down or if your friends and family would be safe. Imagine if you could hear screaming outside for three days.
There was a lot more that happened, but Partition happened for a variety of reasons, but not only is it weird to blame the British for it, it’s weird to not possess any animosity for those in either faction perpetuating the violence. I’m not even in disagreement that British colonialism is bad, it just doesn’t feel accurate for a Pakistani character who was a child while it was happening, not to mention her daughter who wasn’t there. The British weren’t the ones engaging in ethnic cleansing. Tensions between India and Pakistan persist to this day.
I 100% agree. Blaming the British for dividing India because (checks notes) a substantial minority within India demanded it be divided, and Britain was unable to prevent massive ethnic violence predicated on that demand, is absurdly myopic. I’m not saying there is no blame to be put on Britain, but it is bizarre to reduce the people of South Asia to victims with no agency of their own.(See also: the partition of Palestine)
“The British opposed creating separate countries” – might want to read up on your history better – they purposefully seeded conflict before they left. Who do you think planted all of ideas for Jinnah? Yes, the British ARE to blame and rightfully so – their entire MO throughout history is to divide and conquer – they perfected the concept. Leaving India and Pakistan the shitshow it is right now was the last parting gift from the British on their way out. This is actually pretty irrefutable at this point.
Why would the British stoke conflict that would result in giving up their own hold on the region? What would they have to gain from that? I never said they were blameless or did anything right, just that it’s not as simple as white man are root of all evil. Wasn’t a Brit who murdered Gandhi.
You’re fucking clueless. Not worth arguing with because you’re so goddamn out there you can’t see it. Dismissing this entire thread, because go fuck yourself.
Hey, I didn’t mean to make you angry, I think this is a sensitive topic for you, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to help me understand your point of view and why that’s contrary to everything I’ve read about the subject. I’m going to assume you’re just unable to have an adult discussion about these events if anyone doesn’t parrot your point of view, and you’re making it very personal with these immature responses. The fact that you tried to make suffering a contest between Pakistanis and Indians and in your opinion the latter “won” means you have clear biases and are only interested in talking shit about the British and Pakistanis, and probably shifting blame away from Indians. The fact is, Partition was the result of a complicated series of events, politics, ideologies, etc. occurring in the span of an entire lifetime. Your desire to scapegoat and be angry does not change that. I hope you find peace with this eventually.
Wrong on every count so far sparky, but again, you’re not worth the effort. You’re talking into the void, so fuck you.
Yeah yeah, grow up and dismiss the thread like you said you would.
Already done, motherfucker. Now kindly fuck off and die in a fire, thanks! 🙂
Indians hating on this show due to long standing complicated feelings towards Pakistani people is the cringiest thing ever. That’s comparable to a white person complaining that there’s Black people on their TV.
Not hating on the show at all. I’m just pointing out a grievous error in people’s understanding and what was written in the article. The show is fine.
Just want to say I love these reviews. I’m a 40 year old white bloke in London, and I’m a nurse, so it’s fair to say I have a lot of Muslim friends and thought I generally understood the culture. Watching this show and reading the reviews shows me – I know fuck all. And I’m really enjoying the learning.
Yes, because the Pakistani British girl I know finds all their forced representation to be tremendously eye-rolling.
i’m really enjoying this show. it is very charming. the fight scenes are really goofy but really cool, also.
does the bangle also make Kamala a good fighter? She was able to out manoeuvre the baddies, so was wondering if that was the bangle making Kamala move around?
Sense of time is rough with this episode. She was training with the Red Daggers and it must have taken a few days for the Clandestine to escape *and* make their way to Karachi. Obviously she’s showing better aptitude than a novice after a day or two of training but that’s not uncommon even for unpowered individuals in action shows/films.
Though likely they’ll explain some of it by the Noor empowering her.
I don’t think Clan Destine were ever successfully in custody. I’m pretty sure they escaped nearly as soon as they reached the prison, which means that they were probably no more than a day behind Kamala. If they’d actually been successfully locked up, I imagine we’d have gotten at least a short interrogation scene. But otherwise, there’s really no reason for them to all be transported together from one place to another inside the prison, other than that they’ve only just arrived.As for Kamala’s skills, I don’t think she’s fighting altogether that well, but there were I think two times in this episode where she pulled off something pretty impressive and actually seemed surprised to have done so. I think rather than the bangle or the Noor actively helping her, there’s some sort of imprint of a fighter left in the bangle that she’s accessing like her own muscle memory.
I’m not Muslim, but I am Brown and an Asian descendant of the British Colonies. I don’t bring that particular painful understanding of lore or politics to this. But as a Brown kid who grew up in a White nation, and a comic/fantasy geek for over 50 years, I’m still just saying HOLY CRAP LOOK AT ALL THESE BROWN PEOPLE BEING BEAUTIFUL. Just glad we got here, man.
I think people are looking for more depth in the Djinn aspect then there is. If your myths/beliefs have supernatural beings and suddenly a superpowered being appears without other context it makes sense that one would conflate the two.
Should the show have done so since it appears to be a sensitive topic for some? Debatable. But, in universe, it makes sense that it would happen.
I thought the action scenes in the previous episode were pretty weak, but this episode was much better. Both the initial fight with Kareem and then the big battle seemed much better thought through in terms if how they connected with the overrall storyline and in terms of the staging.Except the chase required suspending disbelief about the amount of traffic. Sort of like the scene where Nick Fury is being chased through Manhattan in Winter Soldier. Neither city has ever been so free from congestion.But filming on actual streets at all instead of pure SFX is a minor miracle, even though I read they used Bangkok as a substitute.
The Winter Soldier chase scene was in Washington D.C., not Manhattan. But to your point, I think S.H.I.E.L.D./Hydra did some traffic control magic to try to contain Fury, hence the relative lack of congestion.As for Ms. Marvel, I am totally digging the show. Not only entertaining, but educational, given the dearth of positive representation of South Asians/Muslims in American pop culture. More more more, please!
The Winter Soldier chase scene was Cleveland standing in for Washington DC. If you base the amount of congestion on actual shooting location, seems about right.
I’ve been watching the show “Assembled” on Disney Plus (that’s basically a “the making of the MCU”) and it’s honestly kinda gross how fake it all is… for the final fight Rockefeller Centre was recreated flawlessly on a sound stage in Atlanta. Basically everything in MCU films is manufactured, they have that kind of money.
Like 90% of Shang-Chi was filmed in front of green screens. Even in Eternals apparently Feige took a lot of the “on-location” footage and recreated it digitally in post.
Traffic was definitely a fiction. I get that you’d need a couple thousand extras to properly fill a Karachi street, but it could have been a unique set piece then instead of the generic chase it was (tuktuk notwithstanding). Speaking of, it was really disappointing that Kamala basically ignores her powers the entire time, except to protect that one family. She could have been throwing up roadblocks behind them the entire time which would at least give a new dynamic instead of just saying, “go faster.”
Same in the hand-to-hand fight. Instead of trying to take one-on-one fights, she should have been throwing up shields all over the place.
Kamala’s power reminds me of Lauren Strucker’s Molecular Manipulation from The Gifted, but the visual aspect of the former’s makes it more compelling to watch. 2 things that bug me in this episode:1. The Supermax prison scene. Lazy writing on how these 4 Clandestines escaped2. The stark difference between how Kamala was learning the robes in Episode 3 and how she’s quite competent in the fight against Red Dagger
Kamala’s cousins are AWFUL. Who takes somebody to a place with a dress code without warning them first? And who abandons a child in a crowd full of strangers in a whole dang continent where they’ve never been before? But this is no vision: Kamala actually seems to be in 1947I didn’t get that vibe at all; I thought they were just dropping us in a flashback & then ending the episode abruptly. But if you’re right, then that’s actually a nod to how Kamala’s powers work in the comics: Since she doesn’t have Pym Particles to let her cheat around the law of conservation of mass, whenever she shrinks or grows, she technically “time travels”, borrowing/lending the excess material from another version of herself in space-time throughout the multiverse who is doing the opposite.
“Who takes somebody to a place with a dress code without warning them first?”This pissed me off so much! They picked her up, saw exactly what she was wearing, knew it didn’t fit the dress code, but didn’t say anything. Then when they get there and the staff tell Kamala she doesn’t fit the dress code, they proceed to clown her about it. What the hell?Ditching her was even shiittier.
Yes, all true, but I kinda liked the realism of Kamala travelling to the other side of the world for this meaningfull experience and her cousins could care less:P Like, really, random American person, I’ve got group texts to respond to, WTF?
“What you seek is seeking you.” What is Kamala seeking? Home, connection, identity? And how are those things seeking her?Maybe the other bangle?
Disappointed (and predictable) that they offed Waleed so soon. The whole Red Dagger stuff felt so rushed. Sort of like the Clan Destine last episode felt rushed. This really is feeling like one of the only D+ MCU shows that would have benefited from MORE episodes, not less.
I actually think at least half of them would have benefitted from more episodes.
“It’s a little puzzling, because if these aren’t the Djinn from stories or religious texts, why call them Djinn at all? Why invoke those ideas?”Djinn seems to be a chatch-all term ancient Indus people used for being beyond humanity—Asgardian would be as much Djinn as the Noori, Skrull, mutant, ect. I think what Nani was saying here is that the specific flavor of otherness isn’t as important as the immediate familial bonds.
First things first: I absolutely love this show, something I had not expected. I had never heard of Ms. Marvel before the show was announced and really didn’t feel the urge of watching a show about a teenager who discovers her supernatural powers while also having to deal with other issues. But I gave it a try and I’m utterly delighted. I think the actors are great, the characters are fun, the setting and the styling of the show are very good (the production scale of this episode seemed to be huge, almost film-like).
Secondly, I like reading your reviews, they give great additional insights.One problem I have with the show is that the motivations of the baddies are very badly explained. That Damage Control team, why do they want to get to Kamala so desperately? And what exactly are their plans with her? (I guess this will somehow be explained in the next two episodes?) How did they know about the Clandestines at the wedding? Or did they know at all? And if they didn’t know, why did they bring such a big team with specialized weapons to arrest only Kamala who was not very skilful with her powers in the first episodes? And if they were so well equipped for arresting the (supposedly very powerful) Clandestines, why did they make it so easy for them to break out of the “Super Max” prison? Regarding the Clandestines: How long have they been in our dimension and why did they get there? (I think this was touched upon in one episode but I can’t remember it.) They seem to be around at least since 1947, so why all of a sudden are they now hell-bent on getting the bangle? Why didn’t they try to get it from Nani earlier? How did they find the Red Daggers’ hideout in Pakistan? (Like, can they sense the bangle and its location when it’s activated (and only then), even from the other side of the world?) Do they really just want to get back to their dimension, even if it will destroy ours? Or are there other motives at play? If they want to take over our dimension: why? (But also: Couldn’t the writers think of another threat than “our world will be completely destroyed!”? For the first task of a young superhero newbie there should be some smaller scale threat that still feels dangerous enough for the viewers to care.)Of course there were lots of other little quibbles with this episode: How did Kamala get her mum to fly with her to Pakistan on the spot? It’s not like Nani pretended to be on her deathbed. How could the cousins abandon Kamala like this in the middle of a huge bustling city where she’s never been? – But yeah, I can ignore these things because I just enjoy the ride. Not everything has to make sense or be explained in detail. 🙂
While not terrible, this is definitely the worst episode so far. Everything is so rushed, too much doesn’t make sense, and the story doesn’t get much time to breathe.The standout, “What the hell?” moment for me was when Kamala just does a crazy ninja flip shoulder throw. Like, we don’t even get a truncated training montage, she’s just Captain America now.How did the Clandestines know where to find Kamala? How could they not have been flagged as no fly by the DODC?Not only was Kamala allying with the Red Daggers much too fast, which started with her being attacked by them, but apparently Kamala is fine with them murdering the shit out of the Clandestines. Just a moral quandary they left unaddressed. A child teaming up with murderers.Nani tells her to come to Karachi and she barely has anything to say or do to warrant the trip that couldn’t have been done over the phone. Just fucking piss away $4,000 just to say, “You’re a Djinn, no big deal, k bye.” Was it her intent for her granddaughter to team up with the Red Daggers or to time travel to 1947? The Red Daggers imparted more knowledge than her.Also, the whole villain’s goal will inadvertently kill everyone and they don’t care story has been done to death. Glory from season 5 of Buffy comes to mind, as well as Ego in Guardians 2, both of which were massively better villains than Najma, someone whose heel turn was so quick and meaningless. If the show had more episodes to not rush through the story like it’s been doing, it might have come off as more of a betrayal than “the lady I met once lied and is evil now.”
i think the Djinn thing isn’t really that complicated.
the Clandestines may refer to themselves as “Djinn” but it’s likely just a swerve to make a connection with Kamala and give her something she is already familiar with as a way to connect with her. perhaps there are actual Djinn, but these characters are not them. they are something else.
this is my guess as to the Djinn direction here
I got the impression from Najma’s original explanation that whatever their species are, more of them had crossed the border than just the six we know were banished a hundred years ago. Perhaps others were banished further back, or maybe there was just some more casual strolling across the border in the past. But in any case, most of the tales of Djinn that have accumulated over the millennia came from those creatures, and not just a handful that appeared practically yesterday.
That slow zoom out at the end made me gasp. The scale was surprising and impressive, but I just couldn’t believe how hard they committed to the horror of what happened to those people. It honestly felt more devastating than a lot of the mass casualty sci-fi/fantasy events depicted in the MCU up to this point, and I was really blown away that they allowed them to go that far and really commit to showing that. Disney is hella committed to depicting generational trauma these days.
I wonder if that second bangle is going to show up.
What was up with them using the soundtrack from Tenet in the fight scene with the Clandestines? That kind of threw me off there
To answer your question about the Djinn: In Pakistani lore (at least, the kind I’m familiar with), Djinn were creatures of another realm parallel to ours. Though Djinn aren’t inherently good or evil, most stories I’ve heard are of the evil ones.With all due respect though, the frame-by-frame recap isn’t needed, though I did want to read more of your thoughts on how Kamala’s relationship with Muneeba is shaped by Mueeba’s with Sanaa (which you barely mentioned lol).Also, it’s important to point out that many repercussions of the Partition are still being dealt with today, with one of the main ones being Kashmir. The British, very superficially, separated Indians into strict categories by religion. A gross oversimplification. Before their influence, religions got together much more peacefully.
So on another site i ran into some (white, anti-”woke”, “diversity is ruining comics) types who complained bitterly about Nani having a dog; that “their Muslim friends all told them” that dogs are considered unclean and no Muslim would have one as a pet. So first point of course: Muslims are no a monolith. There were folks complaining about the style of wedding last episode but it is typical of South Asian weddings. Maybe not Saudi Muslims, sure.Basic Google Fu tells me that while nowhere close to the number of pet dogs in North America, there are thousands of pet dogs in Pakistan. I can see that for some Muslims a dog wouldn’t be allowed in the house.The showrunner is pakistani-american so I hardly think this is “white creatives doing what they think is accurate.” especially when it is bad faith motherfuckers trying to “score points” when they hate this show because they “can’t relate to it”.
A throwaway joke that I didn’t quite get: when Muneeba and Kamala are sharing toffee and Kamala complains about how tough it is to chew, is the suggestion that the boxes Nani had cluttering up the house are really stale? (I know US toffee is not quite the same thing as toffee you get elsewhere, so I wasn’t sure if I was missing something.)
That was my impression, but then Muneeba didn’t seem to put off by it, so maybe they are much harder in Pakistan? I’ve had caramels with quite a wide range of chewiness, so maybe toffee is similar.
The Clandestines know Aisha had the bangle. And they never thought to track down her daughter? Or grand daughter? Or great grand daughter? They know Kamala has it now, and apparently knew she was in Pakistan, and they didn’t go to her grandmas house immediately?
“my least favorite thing that the Marvel Cinematic Universe does: a chase through a city that leaves behind destruction”That’s not unique to the MCU tho, that happens in most action media.
I’m also glad for these reviews – between you and the person reviewing on Gizmodo, I (white, American) am learning heaps more than I would from just watching the show.
I feel like this is a really good story about a Pakistani-American girl coming to terms with her identity and heritage that has a mediocre superhero story tacked on.
I am love, love, LOVING this show (sincerely), which does not mean that I don’t have a few nitpicks…
– for it not having affected the plot at ALL, why didn’t Kamala simply use her (cell phone’s) GPS to find her way to the train station? – the Clandestine’s escape: *ugh* nearly everything about the way the writers are (not) handling them is incredibly stupid/lazy/performative, in an otherwise fantastic show. From the Djinn’s initial capture, through their transport to whatever office building the DODC works out of, through their booking, and their transport between ALL of these places…the sub-basement tunnel of the supermax prison was their FIRST opportunity for escape? – and only one (two?) guard(s) escorting them to (I assume) their cells? Seriously? They are four super-powered baddies. (So maybe that WAS the best time to escape?)
– and their weapons were WITH them?! Not in a separate lab/lockup? Jesus Fucking Christ. – “Sure, the Clandestines help (Kamran) get free of the super max prison, but once they’re out Najma tells them to leave her son behind…” Yeah, about that: the establishing shot of the prison made it seem like it was a SPRAWLING facility, out in the middle of Nowhere Woods, USA. The shot of them walking up that stairwell showed they were barely out of the sub-basement tunnel they’d *just* fought in; they all (including the now-solo Kamran) have a LOOOOONG fucking way to go before having effected their “escape”. I imagine they’ve got dozens (hundreds?) of armed guards, dozens of magnetic/triple-locked/redundant doors, a couple miles-worth of twisting, maze-like, switchback hallways, etc. Their escape (I’m sure) could have been an episode in and of itself. – the chase/fight in the streets was cool, but…just dumb. Or, at least, the way the Clandestines fought it was incredibly dumb. They had multiple opportunities to take down their target (Kamala); Kamala & Co. had a half-dozen opportunities to safely escape. But I guess we needed a ten-minute chase scene? /shrugsHaving said ALL that: this still stands as one of my favorite Marvel TV shows. <3 <3 <3