Category: Directed by Meera Menon

Ms. Marvel (2022) s01e03 – Destined

This episode feels oddly short like they knew they needed to keep the big action finale, so they cut material from before it. It’s a good episode—much better than I’d have been expecting had I known A.C. Bradley’s name was on the writing credits (she wrote a lot of “What If,” which is a very poorly written show). But it’s uneven. The episode gets away with it thanks to director Meera Menon, who got a fabulous grounding for the big action sequence.

But does everything need to do a Jurassic Park raptors-in-the-kitchen reference now?

Anyway. The too-short episode.

The episode opens with a flashback to 1940s India and the discovery of the bangle bracelet, along with a Captain Mar-Vell nod (I figured the blue arm was a nod, I didn’t realize to who, thanks IMDb trivia). It’s an Indiana Jones-ish archeology scene with a diverse, affable cast. First, it made me worried they were going to tie in “Moon Knight,” then I realized no one was thinking hard enough on “Moon Knight” for them to do it.

In addition to the Norse Gods and the Egyptian Gods being real, we’ll find out some supernatural creatures from Muslim mythology are real too. In the comics, Ms. Marvel is an Inhuman. In the MCU, “Inhumans” was a major flop and the last gasp of the pre-Disney+ TV unit. It seemed unlikely the origin would carry; the replacement is solid. Though, again, the MCU’s going to run out of gods to literalize at some point.

Cute and apparently very good guy Rish Shah’s mom, Nimra Bucha, knows all about lead Iman Vellani’s origin. Including Vellani’s great-grandmother, played by Mehwish Hayat in the flashback. Vellani’s only got so much time to process her secret origin before Bucha asks her to magic her and her friends into their home dimension. Did they know Peter Parker was Spider-Man from somewhere across the Spider-Verse and got dumped in the Tri-State Region? Probably not. Wouldn’t be terrible, though.

Okay, so. Vellani’s best (non-Muslim) friend Matt Lintz is jealous of Shah and worried about Vellani after her first public night out as a superhero, but still very interested in the origin and the don’t-call-them-Eternals Vellani’s pals with now.

He’s going to start researching Islamic mythology and running experiments on Vellani’s power vectors or something, but he also—apropos of maybe a cut scene—makes her a Robin mask. It’s a good scene when Vellani gets the mask because she’s about to talk about superheroing with her understanding mosque sheikh Laith Nakli, but it makes as much sense in the moment as Lintz getting her a sandwich.

They never talk about the mask for the rest of the episode. It’s like something got shuffled and never fixed. Because Lintz and Vellani have big scenes together. Lintz tells her he’s going away to Cal-Tech, he tells her helping Bucha will destroy the fabric of the space-time continuum, but he doesn’t tell her how or why on the mask.

Of course, Vellani’s also very busy getting ready for brother Saagar Shaikh’s wedding, which will be the backdrop for the main plot. Important subplots include Vellani’s best friend Yasmeen Fletcher winning her mosque council campaign and dealing with racist federal agent Alysia Reiner. That plot at least lasts a few scenes; there’s another subplot about ace YouTube video producer Vellani going viral with her first night out fiascos. It goes nowhere.

It’s seriously like they had an episode, cut half of it, and tacked it on to another episode. Destined’s only got about forty minutes of actual content. So it’s short by all metrics.

So, the wedding preparation, then the wedding. There’s a big action sequence at the wedding, with the don’t-call-them-The Old Guard attacking Vellani, which has significant repercussions for Lintz and Fletcher as well. Not to mention Shaikh and Travina Springer’s wedding getting interrupted.

It’s a great tone shift. Like, the wedding preparation stuff is strong. Good material for Vellani, Fletcher, and mom Zenobia Shroff. It fudges the first act being truncated. And the wedding, with some great dance sequences and very nice, light, lovable family drama, comes out of that preparation run-up.

But the public attack and superhero fight in the reception hall? It’s a sharp turn. And very well-executed.

The resolution’s a little less complicated than it ought to be but still good—the show knows to just focus on Vellani, and it’ll get through—with an intriguing, albeit seat-of-its-pants cliffhanger.

This episode should’ve been the longest, not the shortest.

Ms. Marvel (2022) s01e02 – Crushed

So, there was an end credits scene in the first episode of “Ms. Marvel.” It gets recapped in this one’s intro; there’s no end credit scene in this episode. Marvel/Disney+ needs some consistency, warning, or not to drag out the end credits to make the run times look longer.

The scene introduces Damage Control agents Arian Moayed and Alysia Reiner. Reiner’s a racist; Moayed knows she’s a racist and tries to manage it internally. Not much else to the characters.

We don’t find out Reiner’s a racist until this episode when it’s a lengthy scene beat. I actually wasn’t expecting “Ms. Marvel” to be so blunt about the U.S. government being racist against Brown people, especially Muslim ones. I also wasn’t expecting them to do a young Muslim woman empowerment arc either. Lead Iman Vellani’s best friend, Yasmeen Fletcher, is running for mosque council against the odds (meaning entrenched sexism).

For most of the episode, Fletcher’s second lead. Like, Crushed gets a lot done thanks to the script (credited to Kate Gritmon) and Meera Menon’s direction. The first episode did sitcom-level introductions for most of the cast, particularly Vellani’s family; this episode quickly and efficiently deepens the characters.

It’s outstanding work.

The episode starts being about Vellani and her best (guy) friend (who loves her and she doesn’t know), Matt Lintz, doing superhero training for her new powers. Vellani knows the bangle bracelet has something to do with it, but not what. Lintz’s souped-up StarkPad (though Apple exists in the MCU, at least AirPods) determines the bangle just unlocked Vellani’s pre-existing abilities. She thinks it’s got something to do with her great-grandmother, but mom Zenobia Shroff doesn’t want her asking questions about that part of family history.

Then Fletcher needs her help with the campaign. Part of her decision to run involves their mosque having a shoe thief on the women’s side and the male governing body not caring. It seems like it’d make a good first mission for “Ms. Marvel,” but it will not be her first outing, which this episode ends with. Vellani’s got a doozy of a first night out, like, it’s great stuff.

The postscript to it, which moves the plot along too fast, is a miss, but the episode’s already done so much. Including introducing a good romantic interest (Rish Shah) and doing an Adventures in Babysitting homage.

We also meet brother Saagar Shaikh’s fiancée Travina Springer; they crash a sorta date for Vellani and Shah, and it’s a great scene, then Springer’s back at family dinner. It’s a fine device to get in some exposition (Springer hearing family history relevant to the bangle) and strengths the family stuff. Dad Mohan Kapur continues to be an adorable sitcom dad.

Vellani and mom Shroff get one really nice scene, but Shroff’s secrets are now a brewing b-plot.

The hard cliffhanger’s a letdown, but the episode’s otherwise excellent, with multiple especiallys.