Marvel’s latest Disney+ offering, Echo, isn’t as bad as the online kneejerk reactors are saying. It’s not great either, though. There are two main reasons for this, both linked directly to the way Marvel and Disney produced and marketed the show. But there’s another reason Echo might not be embraced as much as it deserves, and that’s squarely on the fans. But let’s save these for the conclusion.
THE SHOW
Echo follows Alaqua Cox, reprising her role of Maya Lopez (Echo) from the Disney+ Marvel Hawkeye series from 2021. Maya is a deaf Native American Choctaw woman who previously led the Tracksuit Mafia (in Hawkeye), working for her “uncle” Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio), the Kingpin. Maya is on the run after attempting to murder Fisk (after learning that he was actually responsible for her father’s death), and returns to her hometown in Oklahoma, where she intends to take the fight back to Fisk’s organization. Of course, Fisk isn’t actually dead and before long, Maya’s troubles come to town and all the friends and family she was trying to avoid are in the crosshairs.
Almost every episode opens with a glimpse back into the history of the Choctaw tribe, from the legendary to the historical, until we finally get flashbacks to Maya’s own personal story growing up with the Kingpin as her surrogate uncle/father. We also get action scenes and glimpses of life in Maya’s hometown, but never really get a sense of what her ultimate goal is. She seems to want to take over Fisk’s crime empire, but this isn’t ever really discussed in any detail. This vagueness in motivation isn’t a problem in the personal moments, which are the absolute highlight of the series, but undermines the dramatic push of the Kingpin narrative until finally we get a conclusion that feels rushed and only barely resonates.
Stick around after the end credits of the final episode to get a glimpse of a Daredevil: Born Again teaser.
THE BACKGROUND
Echo was originally solicited and filmed as an eight-episode mini-series, however Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige reportedly found it “unreleasable” and ultimately much of the series was reshot and the episode count was dropped to five. In an uncharacteristic move for Marvel’s Disney+ releases, the show was then announced to be dropping all five episodes on the same day – a tactic Marvel had not tried before. Unfortunately, to most of the genre critics, this, along with the reports of production problems, signaled a lack of confidence in the material and led to a long buildup of dread and much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the online critical community.
To offset this, Marvel released a promo trailer a month or so ago, highlighting the gritty, violent action, appearances by Daredevil (Charlie Cox returning yet again) and Kingpin, and a first-ever Marvel Disney+ rating of TV-MA. Suddenly there was a groundswell of positive buzz, even amongst the deniers, because that trailer was fire, making the show appear to be a throwback to the action and bloody violence of Netflix’s Daredevil and Punisher.
At the same time, Marvel began emphasizing Echo’s focus on Maya’s Choctaw heritage, working with (according to Wikipedia) Choctaw Chief Gary Batton, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer Dr. Ian Thompson, and executive director of Cultural Services Seth Fairchild to ensure authenticity with the language, the design, and the history of the tribe in its representation in the series.
To be honest, when the violence is front and center, its nicely staged and effectively brutal, although in the end, it lacks the bloody, hands-on physicality of the Netflix shows referenced in the advertising. And when Maya’s family and community are on-screen the show shifts to another level of relatability and honesty, thanks to the behind-the-scenes work, but just as importantly because of the supporting cast – none of whom get enough to do.
THE CAST
Echo is carried by the one-two punch of Alaqua Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio, both of whom bring their A-games. Cox, who actually has a prosthetic leg and is deaf in real life, provides an enigmatic and powerful performance in a way belying the fact that Hawkeye was her acting debut. Her physical acting enhances and emphasizes her emotional performance, which had to have been difficult given that all her dialogue is delivered in sign. I’d go so far as to say that the critics I’ve seen saying they had a hard time relating to the character in the opening is because of this distancing.
D’Onofrio slips back into the role of Wilson Fisk like a perfectly tailored white suit. Eschewing the more cartoony comic-book elements that hampered his presentation in Hawkeye, here Fisk is back to being the emotionally and intellectually complex character he was on Netflix. We even get the canonization of his childhood origin of beating his abusive father to death with a hammer. His physicality, whether it’s beating the snot out of someone or trying to control what is clearly a storm of emotion just beneath the surface, is perfection.
The legendary Tantoo Cardinal and Graham Greene are the highlights of the supporting cast, playing Maya’s estranged grandmother and her grandmother’s ex-boyfriend respectively. After the death of Maya’s mother in a truck accident after the break line was cut by her father’s criminal rivals, Chula (Cardinal) breaks down and forces Maya and her father (the also legendary-at-this-point Zahn McClarnon) to leave. It’s been twenty years since she’s spoken to Maya. The grief also seems to have been the cause of the breakup of Chula and Skully (Greene). Every scene between these two actors is gold. They play off of each other naturally, with Greene’s flirtatious attempts to get closer and Cardinal’s faux-annoyance with his advances, playing like something straight out of a “mainstream” show like Reservation Dogs or Rutherford Falls.
Speaking of those shows, pulling the casting directly from them, we also have Devery Jacobs as Maya’s childhood friend Bonnie, who is wasted in this part, plus the delightful Jana Schmieding and Dallas Goldtooth who literally make anything they touch better, funnier, and more real. Rounding out the supporting cast are two native actors I wasn’t familiar with going in, but both brought solid performances to the show: Chaske Spencer as Maya’s Uncle Henry, the owner of the local roller rink and low-key criminal connection for Fisk, and Cody Lightning as Maya’s cousin Biscuits, who brings the comedy relief. And lest I forget, Darnell Besaw plays Young Maya to perfection.
THE PROBLEM
Whenever the focus is on the community, Echo is great. There’s a fantastic show hiding in there that could have really been groundbreaking for Marvel and Disney+. The problems come whenever we shift to the crime story, but even there, we can see a glimmer of potential that is ultimately missed. Sadly, the series leans on the crime narrative more than the community narrative and in the end relies too much on cliches, vague relationships, and a climactic episode that is borderline absurd, undercutting all of the emotional weight that the series had been trying to build.
The violence ends up being typical of a Marvel TV series, offset by a few moments of added blood, and a few almost shocking moments where Maya straight-up murders Fisk’s henchmen. But none of this has any impact or repercussions – with clearly murdered people just disappearing and never being referenced again. It’s like the show just couldn’t figure out how to realistically incorporate the TV-MA grounded violence it promoted into the emotional realism of Maya’s familial story. The two narratives clash in a way that hurts the final product. Also, this definitely isn’t anything close to a Daredevil Season 3.5 as he makes one guest-appearance in a flashback.
I’m sure cutting it from eight episodes to five was the main reason for this. Especially when they decided to spend the first episode setting up the character with not only Maya’s childhood flashbacks but a LOT of awkwardly edited-in clips from Hawkeye. That only gave them three full episodes to spend developing the characters and building the world before the regulated big finish.
On the plus side, though, that “regulated big finish” undercuts expectation in a way I applaud. We don’t get the catharsis of an extended explosion of violence and chaos, instead embracing healing and acceptance. I’m sure this is going to piss off a lot of fanboys, and the way Fisk’s small army of henchmen were handled could have definitely been treated more seriously, but centering on the intimate conflict between Maya and Fisk was a strong stand to take.
THE RANT
These are those two problems Marvel Disney+ brought to the table that I mentioned at the outset; excessive editorial editing and misleading promotion. The fan problem has to do with not only this show, but most – but not all – of the Marvel Disney+ slate. Fans want a return to the fun, action-oriented Marvel that we had in the build-up to Avengers Infinity War and Endgame. We’ve been looking for a clear through-line and a distinct Big Bad waiting at the end. And since Disney+ launched, we have not gotten that.
Instead, what we’ve gotten are shows and films – for the most part, minus Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk – have been more character-based with a predominant focus on dealing with guilt and loss along with a healthy dose of learning to love oneself. And with most of the current online noise about Marvel benefiting from emphasizing doom and gloom, playing into identity politics, and generally salivating over the number of clicks that can be generated by talking trash, negatives are emphasized over the positives in ways that just weren’t done over the first three Phases, despite these same issues existing and being acknowledged all along.
THE CONCLUSION
I’m afraid that this desire for attention on the parts of the online critical community is going to damage the reception of Echo, which is a solidly middle-of-the-road Marvel series. It’s as good as or better than most of what Marvel has produced for TV, including Netflix, which may or not be brought back into the Marvel Cinematic Canon (looks like as of this writing, Netflix is back, baby!), and is easily stronger than the Hulu shows. I’d say that the one-day drop of the entire series works well for Echo because this isn’t a show that is reliant on cliffhanger endings or big dramatic action set-pieces. It’s about character, heritage, and emotions. With the way the show was cut down, waiting a week in between episodes would only hurt the show and keep it from finding its audience.
And I hope it does find its audience, because it deserves it.
It also deserves some sort of extended cut that allows the finale to breathe.