Ms. Marvel: Episode 3

3. Destined

1942, British Occupied India. Kamran’s mother Najma (Nimra Bucha) along with Kamala’s great-grandmother Aisha (Mehwish Hayat) rummage through rubble to search for two bangles that will get them back home, but they only find one. At present, she explains to Kamala that they are a group of Djinn called the Clandestines who hail from another dimension and are stuck on Earth. They need the power of the bangles to go back home but the problem is that one of the bangles is missing and their kind cannot access its power on Earth the same way Kamala can. Bruno does his research and finds out that using the bangle for interdimensional travel might trigger a catastrophe based on the amount of energy it will require. Kamran warns Kamala about his mother’s group, and they cause a ruckus at Aamir’s wedding. Kamala fights them but is outnumbered. The DODC led by Sadie Deever (Alysia Reiner) and P. Cleary (Arian Moayed) arrive to arrest the Clandestines. Kamala receives a call from her grandmother asking her to come to Karachi.

All this time I thought they were going to be Kree. I was already imagining a rematch if the DODC goons turn out to be Skrulls all along. That Djinn revelation got me curious and digging for some info on the internet. Apparently, they have precedent in the comics so they are not totally alien to the Marvel universe. To explain them in layman’s terms, they are genies, which figured way back in pre-Islamic mythos. I am just confused as to what their powers are. The episode says that they are stuck here. What are their powers, then, aside from being able to fight really well? Will they be granting Kamala and friends three wishes each? Where is the other bangle? Where is Aisha and how did she betray Najma and friends? Did Aisha go back home to their own dimension? So many questions and now that they are starting to delve deeper into the mythology of this universe, I am getting more and more interested and less turned off by the teenybopper vibes. And it looks like we’ll be seeing Pakistan in the next episode. Field trip!

“Legend tells of a group of hidden Djinn exiled from their homeworld and damned to live out their days trapped in our own. They move in shadows searching for the key that will help them get home. But to unlock such an ancient barrier will require a primordial power.” –Yusuf

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