Disney's Ms. Marvel Episode 2 Impressions

I am going preface this post like I did with the first one:  I do enjoy seeing Muslims depicted with  more nuance than one dimensional villains. It's great to see Muslims as characters who have lives with decisions and struggles just like any other demographic in America. It's a great method to get non-Muslims related to Muslims without really knowing a Muslim. 

However, another word of caution is that I don't recall if I could relate to all the things 16-year old Kamala went through as a teenager. I didn't have as big of a Muslim community growing up and didn't have many Muslim friends that I went to school with. I'm over 30 years old but some things I will mention are coming from a person who isn't "cool with it" anymore. Also I never grew up into desi culture. I was an Indian-born white boy through and through. I don't know Urdu and don't know Bollywood at all. 

That being said, I didn't like episode 2. I was optimistic from the initial episode and thought the series had a good path forward despite deviating from the comic book origins. Also didn't like how the emotional scenes didn't really earn their impact. 

Note: I'll be spoiling this episode now. 

First off, think about what happens in the forty minutes of this episode:

1. Kamala makes up with her parents

2. She gets to go to another party????

3. Kamala gets really good at controlling her powers (but apparently not too good)

4. Nani (Grandmother) holds a secret about the bracelet and starts a new plot thread. 

5. She meets her crush, new plot thread.

6. Her best friend (who has a crush on her) is basically going throw his scholarship away to be with Kamala

7. Eid happens but isn't too big of a deal?

8. She does her first heroic act and it somewhat fails... basically the Uncle Ben moment (with the Spider-Man pose and all)

9. She gets chased by SHIELD...maybe? I'm not sure since I have really watched every marvel show/movie - continuing/starting new plot thread

It's a lot and no scene really gets the time it deserves. The worst part is that she just automatically makes up with her mom by...carrying the groceries. There is no action to prove trust or anything. No real conversation except that they both felt bad. It does get its point across. The problem I'm having is how ineffective this show drives those emotional moments home. I don't know if this is because of the way the show is written or if it has to do with editing/acting, but it could also be just the MCU tone. 

There is a lot of cringe in the dialogue. I don't think its because the main characters are teenagers, I think it's just this weird contrived way to show all things Muslim in a form of a checklist. They touch on everything in this episode, Eid, Hijab, Community gender issues...FBI issues. In fact, the biggest offense is when a SHIELD agent (oh wait they're called Damage Control?) determines that they need to search every church, temple, synagogue and mosque to find Kamala. The way it comes up is forced and is so obviously about the FBI tracking Muslims. It's a good message but just terrible in delivery and execution. 

Ms. Marvel introduces a new character...Kamran (Kamala and Kamran-have to laugh to be honest). He is set up as her love interest and also already spills his secret in the same episode. I'm guessing the true ending to this arc is that she will realize they are actually bad guys or that they have a different view on what justice means so Kamala will have to leave him. It really feels like this show may not get a second season. Like is this supposed to set up the next big Marvel movie? 

Let's talk about Muslim representationnnnn...Despite the ridiculously young Nakia deciding to run for the mosque board (no offense, but 16 and running for board? She can't even legally vote), I did love the conversation about hijab between her and Kamala. But once again it did feel like a checklist conversation. Side Note: Both conversations I like so far in Ramy and Ms. Marvel have taken place in a bathroom. I did like how they mention Eid but don't like how they didn't build it up. I guess it would have been cool if the show revolved around the Eid carnival. I don't believe Muslim characters have been around to have clichés, so it wouldn't be so bad to spend a whole episode on the importance of it. It's like Muslim Christmas, right? Instead, it felt like a location and didn't really focus on the actual event. Also they referred to the Eid in the episode as the one that comes after Ramadan? I only mention this because Kamala actually says it's the lesser of the two Eids. In Islam, the Eid that happens after Ramadan (Eid al Fitr) is the lesser Eid because it's not as long. Eid-ul-Adha, which celebrates the time Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) was going to sacrifice his son but it was replaced with a goat/sheep, is the bigger Eid and lasts longer. So she and the rest of the Jersey City Muslim Community completely skip Ramadan? 

Whewwwwww....okay baby steps. Clearly I am not a writer nor an actor. So maybe there is more of a challenge in pacing a story of a new character compared to characters that have already been in a ton of shows and feature films. But there is a clear difference, to me, in the quality of this show versus Loki or WandaVision. I even feel like the CGI seems to be lesser in quality as well. During her training montage, it was easy to see that they heavily edited her falling to the point where she looks like a rubber doll. Did Disney not give this mini-series a fair budget compared to the bigger, badder entries in the Marvel Disney+ Universe?

The uh, last weird and minor thing is how connected this is to another Youtube series I watched (and supported) called Unfair and Ugly (link here). And the same actors who play Aamir and Tyesha on Ms. Marvel played boyfriend and girlfriend on Unfair and Ugly. It's just weird coincidences like that. Like, it's weird because Saagar Shaikh (Aamir) isn't really all that prolific. Unfair and Ugly is also about a girl struggling to find her identity with overbearing Muslim parents. They also have an episodes about Muslim communities and very similar criticisms as well. 

Anyways, I have definitely used a exacto knife on this show. Maybe it's that I want this show to be completely perfect so non-Muslims will understand a Muslim way of life? Maybe I'm jealous? I keep thinking it's those things and I try to remove those questions when watching this stuff. But it's hard when your Muslim identity is so baked into you that you kind of take ownership of it. I did still like the first episode, so we'll see how this goes next week. And maybe I won't ramble on as much.