Echo Review: The Power of Family

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Following the events of Hawkeye, I have to say that Echo was an interesting Marvel television show. Now, as a major spoiler for Hawkeye, I’m really glad that Kingpin doesn’t die during Hawkeye’s finale. When I first saw that scene, I was in disbelief that Marvel would kill off one of their major villains. However, when Kingpin is shown later in Echo, I was definitely relieved. He made for an interesting villain in Maya’s story.

So, to start, let’s go over the characters for this show. Overall, I have to say that I really enjoyed the cast for this show. The first thing I want to mention is that Marvel has finally written a solid female lead. Contrary to some other female leads we’ve had, Maya felt oddly human in her interactions. She was a strong character, yet Echo wasn’t afraid to go over her faults and shortcomings. Sure, she won most of her fights, but there are plenty of moments where she’s admitted to being wrong. Besides being a good female lead, she was also an entertaining lead. Yes, Maya had plenty of good action sequences, but I think the best part of her character was her slow change over the course of the five episodes. As per most of my reviews, I like to go into spoilers, so from this point onwards, there will be spoilers for Echo. As I was saying, I enjoyed the ending mainly to see Chula and Maya reconcile.

So, besides Maya as a lead, I have to say that the other characters were great as well. For comedic purposes, Biscuits was hilarious, as the naïve relative. Although he was quite dumb, the way he acted and carried himself was quite endearing. Along with Biscuits, I also liked Skully’s character. He added some balance to the dreary atmosphere of the show.

When it comes to Bonnie, I kind of wish she had a bigger role in the story. The flashbacks established that she was very important to Maya, but as the story progressed Bonnie was only used as a pawn to capture Maya, which I feel was wasted potential. From the start of the show, I didn’t really like Chula all too much, but her actions throughout the show do make sense.

Instead of embracing her family during times of grief, she built walls, which divided everyone else after that. I do have to say that the conversation between Chula and Maya in the last episode was quite powerful though. Finally, Kingpin was interesting this season. I know his whole reason this season was to get Maya back, but I felt like most of his decisions were questionable at best and idiotic at worst. For being the big crime boss, he leaves a lot of holes for someone like Maya to take advantage of.

When it comes to the plot, I have to say that the beginning was slow and a bit confusing. Coming from Hawkeye, Maya never really had a backstory besides Kingpin being the reason for her father’s death. I don’t quite remember if Maya had that big of a native background in Hawkeye, but it did fit the theme of this show. It just took a second to understand and realize that fact.

Besides Maya’s background, the build-up of the fight between Kingpin and Maya was a slow burner. Although it took a while, I was invested by the time episode three ended. Now, the final fight itself felt a bit like a letdown. It was interesting seeing Maya use the power of her ancestors to fight off Fisk, but I’m not sure if I really liked the whole, “give my power to my family” angle they took.

It reminded me of Thor: Love and Thunder a bit too much, and having Boonie and Chula automatically fighting experts was a bit too much. The end of the fight was also a bit anticlimactic as well. Having Maya trying to “heal” Fisk like she was healed felt a bit too much like a fairytale ending. I’m glad it didn’t work on him in the end though.

Now for some general thoughts. First off, I loved seeing blood and violence this season. With such a dark show, having no blood would have been off-putting. I know blood isn’t for everyone, but it sold just how dangerous Kingpin is, and the lengths he will go. It felt like a true mafia/crime show. The other thought I had was my thoughts on Echo herself. The show’s angle of having Maya being the echo of her ancestors was a nice touch. Considering the angle the show was going, it all makes sense.

But before writing this review, I did a quick search on who Echo was in the comics. After finding out that she’s named Echo based on her ability to copy those she watches, I do feel a bit of sadness that we lose that part of Maya’s character. Although it could be explained later on, I still wished they used her cooler, comic accurate backstory. Having her ability to echo others would also explain how she fought off Daredevil so easily as well. I feel like this was a bit of a missed opportunity.

Overall, Echo was a good show. Had a bit of a rocky start, but it definitely builds up quite well. The last fight was a bit boring and the origin of the name “Echo” does leave a bit to be desired, but this show had a good female lead, which I appreciated.