(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing clips from Ms. Marvel)
Doug (vo): It's Ms. Marvel, a comic book character I know very little about, but after watching this series, I kind of want to know more. This is a show that is by no means perfect, but, man, what it got right, it got really right, and kind of got my excitement going, like, "Oh, man, yeah, there's still some steam and energy that's in Phase 4."
Premise[]
Doug (vo): The show centers around Kamala Khan, a 16-year-old Pakistani-American nerd that is a die-hard fangirl for Captain Marvel. While going to a superhero convention that...does open a lot of questions, like, would people really do cons based around tragic events, where buildings blow up and people die and so forth? And...yeah, actually, I could kind of weirdly see that, because it's superheroes and beacons of light, and, yeah, we look at celebrities as heroes, so why not look at actual heroes as heroes? The show is very clever at incorporating all that. But anyway, while looking for a costume, she comes across this magic bracelet that, as you guessed, gives her superpowers. They're not quite the stretchy powers that everyone knows the character for, but, honestly, I didn't mind. I think these look kind of original, and, yeah, now that Fantastic Four is working its way into the MCU, maybe there would be a little too much crossover with Mr. Fantastic, and people would just be like. "Oh, hey, they have the same powers." While the effects in this show aren't that great, I actually think the effects around her powers are okay. They have a unique design to them. When she uses it, I can say, "Oh, that's a Ms. Marvel power, and, again, not a Mr. Fantastic power." I actually thought it was all right. But where do these powers come from? Well, it turns out there's a long, complicated history that her mother doesn't want her knowing too much about. But her old and new pals, including one, two, three boyfriend possibilities...yeah, this kind of has a Disney Channel vibe a little bit...are all eager to find out more about the history of the powers, and, as you'd expect, some evil forces are looking to gain control of it.
Review[]
Doug (vo): So, almost immediately, this show hooked me in with its style. Now, how much do I have in common with this character? Not much. She's a 16-year-old Pakistani-Muslim from Jersey who wants to be a superhero. Not much crossover with a 40-year-old white YouTuber from Chicago. But I'll be damned if I didn't relate to how she saw the world. This show was so inspired in the way they would show her, yes, having a conversation with someone, but thinking about something else in the background. They wouldn't do, like, the little thought bubble thing or just edit in what she's thinking about, it's literally happening in the background, and it's done through her drawings or her little videos that she makes or the text conversations she's having in her mind. When she's looking at the clock and it's like you're riding the second hand around in a circle, by God, that was me in school. I was just drawing all the time and sort of half-listening to the teacher and half-doing something else, and just wondering, "When can I leave this place and do what I really want to do?" It really captures the energy and the excitement of that age. And this style so easily could've been overbearing, but they're very clever at usually having it in the background. Sometimes, in the foreground, but usually in the background. I like actually looking for it sometimes.
(Several clips focusing on Kamala's relationship with her mother are shown)
Doug (vo): I also wanted to bring up, because I have no idea how my Disneycember of Turning Red is gonna go, this is more of what I was looking for in the first two thirds. Kamala and her mother do have a lot of run-ins, and, again, neither one's the bad guy, they're just trying to figure each other out, and they're butting heads a lot. But when they say something to each other, the show knows to pace it out so that it can really leave an impact. You see the reactions to what the other is saying and they let the emotions sink in, and the style enforces that. It helps the emotional moments stand out so much more, and it does it in just the right way. It's almost too much, but it pulls back. Turning Red, a lot of the time, just went a little too fast and a little too in your face. This found, for the most part, the perfect balance. Now, like I said, for the most part.
(Several clips focusing on the show's later half are shown)
Doug (vo): There are several times where it can get a little too gimmicky and catchphrase-y, and, yeah, sometimes, it does feel like I'm watching a Disney sitcom. But the show does something that, at first, I didn't like, but it actually grew on me. As it continues, the style kind of gets less and less, and it turns into more of an average Marvel show. And I was getting really disappointed, like, "Oh, my God, that first episode was so great, and now this style really is getting pushed more and more into the background, and not in a clever way, more in a "Oh, yeah, we forgot we're doing this" way." But somewhere in the middle, a good chunk suddenly takes place in the past in Pakistani history, which, I'll be honest, I don't know much about Pakistani history, so this was really interesting to learn. And you see none of the style that the show started out with, and that's the right choice. And I feel like what's happening is that we see Kamala in this world of fantasy and wanting to be a superhero and daydreaming, and slowly, as it becomes more and more real, that fantasy disappears and reality sets in. When you see what her family had to go to in order to get her this life, that comic book fantasy world seems exactly like that, fantasy. They let the harsh reality sink in, and I think if that style rode all the way through the show until this moment, it wouldn't have worked.
(Various clips resume showing, along with several clips focusing on the show's final episode and the show's villains)
Doug (vo): On that note, the show is pretty good at bringing it back a little bit at the end. Yeah, maybe the idea is that we have fantasies for a reason, we do learn from them, and we do incorporate them into our lives so that we can deal with harsh realities easier. A good chunk of the climax is almost like a Home Alone ending, where they set up these traps in school and, "Oh, my God, are we really doing this?" But part of what makes it work is that not only are the characters really likeable who are pulling the traps, but the threat is legitimately threatening. When something happens to them, they don't just slip and make a weird sound effect, they're legit like, "Shoot them!", like, oh, yeah, these are, like, real intimidating people, and when they're defeated, you feel that sense of accomplishment. While the villains of the show are not...great, there's usually just enough mystery and intrigue around them, their past and the powers, that keeps me invested enough. Like I'm sure a lot of people have pointed out, the sudden flip of one of the villains from good to bad is a little distracting, and the other's just a racist jerk with power, and there's no backstory to why she is that way. I don't know, one got explanation, I don't know why the other doesn't.
Final thought[]
Doug (vo): But going off of that, I feel like this show could've been very preachy very easily, and again, it balances out in a really clever way. I love when these agents go to a mosque and they're saying hand over all their info, and they already have their IDs and info ready to go, and they're like, "Yeah, this isn't our first rodeo." That's a clever way of showing what these characters have to go through, but it doesn't overstay its welcome. We don't get too much of that waving finger. That should be in there, that is a part of their identity, it just doesn't have to be everything. Kamala is more than a representation checklist. She's a real, fun character, and it looks like she's gonna be part of this Marvels movie that's coming up, and I really want to see her in a team. I want to see her interact with different superheroes with different powers and different personalities. I'd be lying if I said anything ever got quite as good as that first episode with the style really helping the characters and the emotions of the storytelling. But I see why they made the choice that they did as it kept going, and I like they don't shy away from more adult elements and find a pretty organic way to work them in. I don't know 100% what's in the future for this character. All I can say is, I'm pretty excited to see it.
(A scene showing Kamala unleashing her power as Ms. Marvel is shown)