(series review) - Echo

Having watched the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Hawkeye on Disney Plus a few years ago and the introduction to Echo and reintroduction of Kingpin from the Marvel Netflix Universe, having a series centred around Echo was definitely a bold choice. Yes, she was cool in Hawkeye, but she is a deaf amputee who did not speak/say much. With the Hawkeye series not doing as good as I'm guessing Marvel would have liked as it gained a lot of mixed-to-negative reviews, this series was already on the back foot. Learning about the reshoots and the problems making this series, to learning of the series not testing well with audiences, not knowing how to market the show, if Daredevil was going to be in it, if Kingpin was going to be in it, to dropping the entire five-episode show in January (the dumping ground for movies), thoughts of this show being any good was basically out the window at this point. TV MA in America is basically a 15 in the UK and the trailers showed us some of the "grit" this show had, akin to the Netflix series' which looked great, so having watched the entire series (five episodes), I will say that, although not excellent or flawless, it is much better than a lot of the shows that have come before.

We start the episode with some kind of flashback, but it seems that the more we get into the flashbacks, the more we learn about the possible connection. For me, it was a little confusing with the mysticism at first but as the series goes on, it slowly bleeds in and you start to understand 'the why' later. We meet more of the side characters, Maya's family and what happened in her past. A lot of the first episode to which almost felt like half of the first episode is flashbacks with moments taken from the Hawkeye series so the episode comes across as very choppy. But when we get to the "present day" (I guess), we have a warehouse fight which leads into one of the best fight scenes in the show...and there are two of them.

From the second episode onwards, we get into more character work and we are introduced to a particular character, "Biscuits" who is involved with an action set piece which leads onto a scene afterwards that is straight-up hilarious. He is the comic-relief for the show in which I felt worked very well. Other supporting characters include Echo's grandmother and her other cousin Bonnie. We do not get a great deal from the latter, but the grandmother also plays an important part where, when we get to episode four, there is some character building with both her and Echo and the episode before, Bonnie and Echo that also help to humanise Echo, especially when she meets up with Kingpin.

By the fifth and final episode, although it was not outstanding or great, we have learnt all about Maya as her story told us who she is, where she comes from, where she has been, what she has done, how she feels and where she is going whilst also establishing, her friends (family), her ideology and where it came from, her influences and again, where she is going. Maya is a hero. I would have expected a little more from the finale, like a bigger fight with Maya showcasing more of her fighting skills because that IS what Echo is about right? Her ability to echo/copy other people's fighting moves/skills, something they have changed from the comics but something I would like them to include going forward which would show her as an underrated and deadly character. Echo is shown as skilled but I think there could be more fleshing out. I am not sure what I would have expected for the ending or how it ended especially if you want to continue to use specific characters in future shows and/or movies, so I am not sure what I would have done differently, but all in all, the show was pretty good and I think I understand as to why it was not testing well and received a lot of negativity before the release.

Overall, there are five episodes and placing the first episode aside, the episodes are fairly slow-paced, with a lot of character-work. I also believe there is a slight slower pace to some of the non-verbal scenes due to all the signing as, hearing someone talk their lines opposed to someone signing their lines seems to make the dialogue and pacing flow a touch smoother than having to read. I am not sure if the scenes with dialogue which involve signing are purposely given time to breathe or if it simply comes across that way, either way I am sure the signing scenes would be a reason as to why people will not like it. The show also forces you to pay attention because you have to read as you may miss something in the conversation, which is fine with me, but I'd imagine a lot of people may be turned off by that. Pacing aside, the show does feel like it needed to be a few more episodes to flesh out more of Echo's backstory growing up and what she did for her uncle. It would have been nice for a little more lip service to a specific character and how he has been a nuisance to his operations. More was needed for Bonnie and Biscuits, but other than that, as well as the "final fight", these are my only gripes

The supporting characters are who really carry this show. Alaqua is great and all, but being stoic and angry for someone who cannot hear, she has to do a lot of emoting with her eyes, face and body, like any other actor, so the show could have concentrated more on what Maya see's like what they did with Daredevil who concentrated on what he could hear, because he could not see. Alaqua does some great acting alongside her supporting cast, where she demonstrates conflict within herself very well without saying a thing. There was not a single weak actor. The music was great! From past to present, the music was well put together, along with the visuals, angles and imagery. You can tell with the attention to detail that the everyone involved took care with this show as there are some real elements of film-making and cleverness. Lastly, although the producers took a few liberties from the comics on Echo's powers, it would be nice to get more from the character and add her to more upcoming episodes in the MCU, whether that is Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and of course Daredevil. I think with a bit more done with her, she can be an even cooler character if we have her fighting some more. I like Daredevil because he is a blind man fighting and fighting well. He is smart and he is cunning, as well as moving somewhat like a ninja at times. I think Echo, if handed a little better could be a deaf person fighting and fighting well. She is smart (there is a Macguyver moment which was awesome) and cunning, as well as having abilities that can mimick/copy or echo others, she could be better. The studio did a decent job with this.