Ms. Marvel: Episode 2

2. Crushed

Kamala goes back to school with a newfound confidence, while popular girl Zoe Zimmer (Laurel Marsden) chases social media clout claiming she knows the hero, referring to her as Nightlight. She is taken in by the DDC for questioning. Kamala convinces close friend Nakia Bahadir (Yasmeen Fletcher) to run for their Mosque Board, going against other candidates who are all middle-aged men. Bruno gets admitted to a Caltech summer program but chooses to stay in Jersey to assist Kamala with the discovery of her powers, but she has her eyes on senior transfer student Kamran (Rish Shah), who offers her driving lessons. The topic of Kamala’s great grandmother Aisha, the bangle’s original owner, is also discussed, and she starts seeing visions of her. The elders of the community all have negative memories of the woman. A young boy almost falls off a mosque’s tower, but Kamala, in costume, saves him. The DDC finds her, and a chase scene ensues. Kamran arrives and she hops in his car. The woman in her visions is in the backseat, introduced as his mother.

There’s a first time for everything, and I believe this is my first time to be bored with any MCU property to date. I’ve been trying to analyze my reaction since episode one, but the only logical explanation I have for it is the genre. The MCU has not seen a lot of coming-of-age superhero origin storylines, with the clear exception of Spider-Man. Damn, this must mean I’m really old. Oh well, let’s just accept the fact that I’m probably just not the target audience. I guess this also means that the visual masterpiece that is their presentation, you know, all those animated doodles and graffiti coming to life, do not appeal to me anymore despite being visually striking. Let’s just focus on the storyline, then, shall we? According to Bruno, who we shouldn’t be talking about, the bangle just unlocked the power from Kamala herself. My next guess is that this is going to be a power passed on down the line. Maybe the mom had powers, too? Exciting. Clever plot twist on how the new senior kid is an accomplice, though. The plot thickens!

“So it looks like your power isn't coming from the bangle. It's coming from within you. Like the bangle unlocked the superhuman part of you.” –Bruno

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