Continuing on Part 2 of Disney+ Marvel 2023 & 2024 Catch-Up. Part 1 was all about Secret Invasion and Loki (Season 2). But you look smart, so I bet you already knew that!
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Echo – Established Characters
Maya Lopez/ Echo
Okay, another street-level mercenary of the MCU to explore. And when this series starts out, it’s super confronting to see Echo merking bad guys fast and hard. I hope the show wasn’t hoping to set us up with a hero here, because Maya Lopez must be seen as an anti-hero in my eyes, and that never changed. But we’ve had anti-hero stories excel the MCU before – Punisher, Deadpool – so I was open to giving her a shot. Maya is hostile and ungrateful when we first meet her family; but I get it – there’s trauma, and she’s used to being on her own, while these smalltown folk seem lovely, and so Maya’s attitude just comes across ugly. I also state that I think she develops the worst superhuman abilities we’ve seen, and I call them “hotplate hands”. It initially seemed to me that the tree ancestors picked a disciple to hold their superhuman abilities in a time of immense struggle, but then we see that all the women have it, like a maternalised power, neither making Maya particularly special, nor chosen. She even saw her mother get hotplate hands when Maya was little and Maya either forgot, or didn’t think to investigate that, especially after it happened to her. Very weird. And then comes the drama with Fisk. This series only exists because Maya was set to shoot the Kingpin in the head, and either missed or changed her mind, which also sets her up as a dope from the outset. Plus, don’t forget, she ran the “tracksuit mafia” in NYE which were a laughable organisation at the time, in Hawkeye. Maya has Kingpin at gunpoint another three times in this series, and either shoot him or don’t! 💁♂️ Crazy notion, but I think this series could’ve been much stronger if Maya had chosen to go back with Kingpin – a sort’ve “nature v nurture” debate, where Maya’s mother would have taught her peace, and to cherish life; but her father and the Kingpin raised Maya to know violence, and so that’s the only life that feels right to her. Then Maya could’ve continued to play in the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again series, and I love the juxtaposition to Daredevil as the blind hero, against Maya as the deaf badass. In Maya deciding to come home, it feels like a solemn ending for a character we’ve barely journeyed with, and so it’s not as impactful as it could be. If I see Secret Invasion as a necessary conflict executed horribly, then Echo was equally unnecessary, but a cool idea for a family drama that’s ultimately weak-sauce.
Wilson Fisk / Kingpin
Well, we were left with the impression that the only outcome imaginable for Fisk was a bullet to the head. But he’s in hospital, breathing steadily, with a nick to his left eye that heals before the series ends 🤡 It’s the most soap opera thing the MCU has done by far! Although, I know, folks come back from the dead in the comics all the time, and aren’t we all super glad that Vincent D’ofrio’s Kingpin will be around for Daredevil: Born Again? Still, I think Kingpin is the best part of this series too. His motivation may be watered-down, or one note, but I can jive with the angle that he legitimately cares for this girl he calls niece, and so he forgives her for coming after him for what he’s done. He sees Maya as an heir and wants her back by his side. The flashback scene where Fisk pulverizes the ice-cream man is classic Fisk, and I’m glad to add that moment to the character’s pantheon. Yet, the whole idea that Fisk was going to nuke an entire Native American celebration, I don’t believe. That’s not his style. He’s affronted by personal attacks and inconveniences. The fact that he has Maya’s grandmother and cousin at hostage to get at Maya; now, that I believe. And now that it seems Maya has taken away the pain behind Kingpin’s rage, are we going to have a philanthropic Wilson Fisk moving forward? It’s doubtful. But there’s a story in there, where Kingpin runs for mayor, and Daredevil doesn’t believe he’s turned over a new leaf, while he genuinely has, which could be interesting. I’ll have to wait to see.
Daredevil
This is a most hopeful cameo indicating that the true “man with no fear” from the Netflix days, will return again for Daredevil: Born Again. But I’ve never really had much doubt.
Echo – New Characters
Zane
This guy is just a bit more than your standard unhinged henchman. I feared him through the screen. Well done, actor Andrew Howard – I take note.
Maya’s Family (Biscuits, Chula, Skully, Henry “Black Crow” Lopez, Bonnie, Taloa, William Lopez)
The melodrama doesn’t hit at any turn. There’s a cousin called Biscuits, for goodness’ sake! The family is warm, but generic as all get out. And they did abandon Maya – out of hurt, out of stubbornness, out of fear – there’s no getting around that. Just because we have a series now meeting them for the first time doesn’t erase what we’re told has happened before. That’s not to say they’re not worthwhile. Tantoo Cardinal (Chula) – who is this actress? She is fantastic. Chaske Spencer as Henry is pretty good too. And we already like Graham Greene; Wind River and Twilight after all. Obviously, this series is an excellent opportunity to showcase Native American talent, so bully for them. It’d just a shame the content won’t be more memorable.
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Agatha All Along – Established Characters
Agatha Harkness
My contention with the MCU has long been that it has grown outward way too far, and way too fast. What do we have now? Humans, science, aliens, quantum realm, underwater civilisations, multiverses, wizards, Egyptian embodiments, and now witches? Delving into this series, my first thoughts were that I hope this series isn’t frivolous; I hope it ties back around to connect with the MCU again in some meaningful way. But with that in mind, the first episode absolutely flew by, intriguing as hell. As did the second episode, and the third 😳 The comic books off-shoot one-off stories all the time, and so long as they’re good, why rebuke them only because this might be a limited run? Kathryn Hahn is effortlessly and freely charismatic with this character, so who am I to deny the world this dose of her magic? But remind me, what was Agatha’s beef with the Scarlett Witch in WandaVision? Was it merely that she was known by the moniker “witch” when she wasn’t at all, so Agatha challenged her in her own bubble to see how she ticked? That sounds about right. I love how this show boasts horror elements, comedy, and sets up a girl squad featuring the likes of Aubrey Plaza and Patti LuPone. Agatha has been locked in visions since Wanda left her, and once broken out of them, she is powerless and desperate to find a way back. Agatha is completely selfish, deceitful; so used to being in control that she’s constantly deflecting from this vulnerable position with humour. And you sense that Agatha is always one step ahead, always scheming in her mind, yet unsure if her plans will actually work given this is newfound territory. She forms a partnership with “Teen” as if a surrogate relationship for her fallen son, but she did babysit the Maximoff twins anyway. Her past further reveals that Agatha has sort’ve been the Blade of the witching world for centuries, hating her own kind and destroying them for their power.
Sharon Davis
Holy smokes! What makes this series feel most like a one-shot comic is the presence of Sharon Davis (aka Mrs. Hart), because a great thing about comic books is how minor characters will pop up randomly to be repurposed again. There’s comedy in the sense that poor dotty Davis is put through the ringer, twice – wrong place, wrong time at two witching hours. Plus, if you grew up watching That 70s Show, you just know that Debra Jo Rupp has comedic acting chops, and the wine episode especially makes for such fun watching as she struts her stuff. I got a lot of levity from this series, and it starts right here.
Ralph Bonner
What a fun cameo. This series compounds that Ralph Bonner is a hopeless loser, and not the Pietro replacement we once thought he might be. See, this is why I liked She-Hulk: Attorney at Law as an opportunity for periphery characters of the MCU, like Ralph Bonner, to live on and breathe new life again. But I know – don’t mention She-Hulk! – and I’ll refrain from now on… maybe.
Agatha All Along – New Characters
William Kaplan / Billy Maximoff
So, the psychic energy from Westview and Billy Maximoff’s created consciousness shot into William Kaplan after he died. Seems a stretch. But, I guess, we need Billy to live on. I didn’t mind Joe Locke for his performance, but the character seems to constantly flipflop between knowing what he’s doing and being completely new to this witching world. Agatha All Along keeps doubling back to reframe what we already thought we knew, and I was completely shocked to realise that the door to the Witches Road always glowed a blue light that indicated that it was made by Billy – that was a revelation! The ending has Billy set to send the Agatha’s ghost away, and then he doesn’t. It’s like, make a decision! Do you like Agatha, or don’t you? I honestly think it would’ve been better if he had sent Agatha away, and then her story is wrapped 🧙 In a highly enjoyable 9-episode series, I do believe the William Kaplan / Billy Maximoff episodes are the worst, but perhaps necessary, along the way.
The Salem Seven
The Salem Seven are described as “a coven of witches and the children of Agatha’s original coven whom she spared after killing their parents”. Did anyone get that? Did anyone think that Agatha spared children? I simply concluded that the Salem Seven were a demented remanence of some witches Agatha had slaughtered; perhaps with some dark spell cheat code to avoid the final death. They’re spooky, and serve to chase our heroes on, down the road; but that’s pretty much it.
Rio Vidal / Death
It’s never explained, the true past relationship between Agatha and Death, other than Death once gave Agatha a compassionate extension on her son’s life. No deal was made in that moment, was there? For Agatha to send through those that can’t die (witches) for a trade? That would define their relationship and initially incentivize Agatha to kill witches. But without being shown, I understand that Agatha would have a familiarity with Death since she has sent so many people into Death’s hands. It’s said they had a romantic relationship, I know, but I don’t really see how that works… And although the end kiss between Kathryn Hahn and Aubrey Plaza is titillating and eye-catching, I simply read it as Agatha relinquishing to Death, where Death is a bit taken aback, bemused that the partnership they seemed to have had is ended. I guess what I’m trying to say is that the last episode could’ve been clearer in defining Rio and Agatha’s relationship. But it’s fine. We are getting metaphysical with the embodiment of Death; or is there some sort’ve backstory in the comics whereby an ordinary mortal Rio Vidal was tapped on the shoulder to become Death, just like Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider? Something to research, or maybe the future of the MCU will inform me 🔮 Apparently, we have seen Lady Death twice before in the MCU; in paintings from Guardians of the Galaxy, and a statue in Thor: Love and Thunder.
Lilia Calderu
Agatha All Along found a delightful role for Patti LuPone, and so now she joins the MCU; ain’t that something? I enjoy how uppity she can be about how witch’s culture is maligned in the mainstream 😄 Early Lilia sees her as cracked, with constant mental outbursts, and I was somewhat disappointed when she reveals that she’s not actually convening with spirits, as a common misconception. Ah, but her personalised episode is glorious (my favourite) and Lilia’s deal is that she time-slips, viewing her life out of order, with random snippets coming in and out. She convenes with her former Maestra at the end of her life before the Tarot game takes her out. An awesome character.
Jen Kale
I did find Jen the least interesting of Agatha’s new coven, mainly due to her being plainly subjugated. But she’s competent in potions and of vital importance to the mission. She is above the notion of the road but only partakes because she is snookered by being bound. But I like how she is the only one of the hangers-on to make it out alive. Redeemed – like the Tinman getting his heart, and trust me, there’s ‘Wizard of Oz references in here for days! Actor Sasheer Zamata being bald allowed her to look so unique in many different wigs, too.
Alice Wu-Gulliver
Oh yes, the Lion in this ‘Wizard of Oz analogy. Alice’s character has interesting depth – I wish her episode was sharper, although I had my own fun filling in the missing spots of her backstory during her episode. What we do know is that her Mum recorded a song to be sung by millions to protect her from a family curse, and that’s pretty cool. I applaud the moment the curse was lifted, and Alice felt lighter; and when Death relays her fate, saying she died protecting someone as intended, too. Gone too soon, but essentially a human more than a witch, who had only heard about the craft and is discovering a lot of it for the first time, just like us.
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Overall, for today, as you probably can tell, Agatha All Along truly saved my Marvel viewing from being disastrous for 2023 & 2024. And I plan to do a proper ranking of all the Disney+ Marvel projects ahead of Avengers: Doomsday. Looking towards the future now, I have Daredevil: Born Again, Season 1 and 2 in front of me; and I feel like I have referenced that series so much in my last four posts 😍 I’m looking forward to it. Then there’s also Wonder Man and Punisher: One Last Kill, which I expect to be intriguing. And Iron Heart… 😕 VisionQuest could be anything, before the end of the year. See you back here soon x
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