Chris Connor reviews the fourth episode of Ms. Marvel…
After fighting off her adversaries at her brothers wedding last episode Kamala and her mother are summoned by her grandmother to Karachi, in part to investigate the source of her mysterious powers and the bangle attached to them. The whole episode takes place in Pakistan, a departure from the New Jersey setting of the first three episodes adding a globetrotting nature to the series and helping it to keep moving. While other series like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier have been slightly burdened by the pace of their storytelling and jumping from location to location, here it feels organic and adds to Kamala’s story, helping us get a sense of her family and heritage.
Kamala is initially awestruck by Karachi, a far cry from her home and the episode paints a fine picture of the local culture and is reverential throughout showing an authentic and articulated view of the city and its locals. Spending time with Kamala’s cousins and her nani shows how different she is to them and Kamala’s inquisitive nature. The seeing red of the title is likely a reference to Red Dagger who is introduced in the episode and an ally and love interest of Kamala in the comics.
Aramis Knight is instantly likable in the role and hopefully has a large part to play in the remainder of the series. He has fine chemistry with Iman Vellani and their bickering and banter are some of the episodes highlights. Red Dagger and Waleed begin to fill in some of the blanks regarding Kamala’s Great Grandmother and the forces after her powers.
There are some thrilling action sequences once again highlighting the improvisational nature of Kamala’s powers and the fun that can be had with these. There are some exhilarating chases over Karachi’s rooftops and a car chase to boot making this easily one of the most action packed episodes of the MCU on TV to date. In spite of the frenetic nature of its second half, the episode manages to balance its character moments and give us a meaningful introduction to our newcomers. The action here is some of the strongest in the Disney+ series and the series as a whole visually suffers far less from some of the issues that have been noticeable in other series.
The episode’s cliffhanger introduces a whole host of avenues for the final two episodes to pursue and will likely shift the structure of the show completely. This ups the impetus of the series adding a must see element and its frustrating we have to wait a week to find out how Kamala will get out of this particular predicament.
Once again this episode continues the pure fun and straight from the comic feel of the earlier episodes and fans of Ms. Marvel on the page will surely lap up what is on screen. Rarely has the MCU, especially of late felt this vibrant and enjoyable. It is a refreshing reset after the gloom of Doctor Strange and Moon Knight, showing the tonal range the franchise has based on the characters within it.
Ms. Marvel continues its winning formula of fun and embracing Kamala’s Pakistani heritage making it an engaging and action packed spectacle full of heart and breathless entertainment in equal measure. Lets hope the final two episodes of what has to date been an overwhelming success, stick the landing and complete what might be one of the strongest projects in the MCU’s 14 year run.
Chris Connor
