Summary
Echo, Alaqua Cox, has an origin story before the Fantastic Four and the X-Men.
I am a big comics fan, and I like some other people knew of Echo long before she appeared in Hawkeye, I had remembered her from the pages of a Daredevil comic I had long since read. Within said comic she was a side character, important to the plot sure but a bit player overall, it was Daredevil’s book. Then you get around to Hawkeye a show that didn’t really need to exist, but that aside the clear breakout character of that show is Kate Bishop, Hailee Steinfeld, she should have been the one to get a spin off. In both of these cases Echo was a side character, no one at the end of that series said I wanted more Echo, no one, but hey Disney pushed ahead with a Disney + series. Was it because it was good optics for Marvel studios to be like we are so progressive look at how inclusive our projects are we are up lifting this disabled minority character and giving her a platform aren’t we magnificent, I’ll let you decide.
Anyway they dropped the series all at once because they had a lot of faith in it, not, Disney claim it broke records but then they always say that don’t they. Anyway, the series as it was had moments of interest, I liked seeing a superhero story take place outside of New York and I like the Native American Mythology that was woven into the series, both of these things helped to give the series some flavour.
However, I think the single biggest problem with this series is the lead, Cox cannot act and is not a believable action hero either. Whether she is hearing a touching personal speech about how loved she is, or being punched in the face she has the same look of being irritated throughout. I don’t know if this was poor direction or instruction for her but the character she looked angry all the time even when she wasn’t supposed to be it was jarring to say the least. Moreover, I just don’t believe her as an action hero taking down guys three times her size, it pushes the boundaries of believability to such a point that it is laughable.
Again the violence wants to be shocking but it just isn’t, it is still tame and boring and if this is what r rated Marvel looks like then its just more of the same we have already grown to hate. In the comics you get blood it feels real, here it just feels like watching a soap opera.
Overall, if I was Disney I would stop all these Disney + shows they are really truly hurting the brand, do you think Agatha later in the year will get people to care about the MCU again, let me tell you it won’t.
1.5/5
Pros.
It is only 5 episodes
It has a unique flavour
Cons.
Cox cannot act
The series didn’t need to exist
It is dull
It adds nothing to the MCU
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Another Millennial Reviewer 