What To Watch – Ms Marvel Review [Spoiler Alert]

If you are here for a recommendation on what to watch, I would say highly recommend Ms Marvel if you are someone interested in the Marvel journey.

I approached Ms Marvel with a little bit of trepidation.

My Marvel Series’ Experience

I have not been really impressed with most of the marvel series’ I have seen so far. With the exception of Wanda Vision, these Marvel series’ have not really done much for me.

Loki was okay. It started feeling drawn out and painful at a point but generally, I would say it's a 5.5/10.

Hawkeye was an absolute disappointment for me. It did not feel well put together and I would give that a 3/10.

I've tried to get through Moon Knight, but I can't seem to get past episode 3. I've tried so many times, it's like a lullaby; I start watching, I sleep off, I start watching I sleep off. I'll try one more time and get back to you on that or just give up completely. The first episode was great, but it went downhill from there for me. So far, I would give it a 2/10. And that’s because the first episode was so good, raised expectations, and introduced me to some great songs for my playlist. The expectations were promptly crashed in the preceding episodes but, we’ll see.

So, you can imagine my state of mind as I started off Ms Marvel.

Ms Marvel Review

Although The Weeknd's “Blinding Lights” in the introduction grabbed my wary attention, Iman Vellani’s bubbly personality and acting kept it there the whole time.

It started slow, as all beginnings tend to do as they lay the foundation of our hero’s life for our understanding. I hear it's a comedy, I did not know I was supposed to laugh. I don't think they leaned into the comedy genre at all. It was funny-ish but I don't think it was a comedy at all.

The Pros

Kamala Khan is delightful. She is a star for sure and Iman is a very good actress.

As the first Muslim superhero, I had not seen this point of view on TV before, hero or not, and I was pleasantly surprised.

The insight into Kamala's life; from an immigrant Muslim family with different personalities, culture, religion, strict and very protective parents, and the struggle of expectations on Kamala and girls in general, gives us a real sense of what it's like to be Kamala and sets us up to delve into her roots which is a very important part of understanding who she is.

The trip to Pakistan and the closer look at history, the British occupation of India, and the Partition, gives us a sense of the people, hinting heavily at deep historic pains, borne out of colonial, religious, and personal struggles. 

The Cons

The sudden jump of Kamala's parents, her mother especially, from very (over) protective mum to "go girl" go save people, was quite farfetched to me. It felt too quick, too accepting, too contrived.

The supposed villains seemed rushed and not properly explained and left me quite confused. Although I heard "clandestine" and immediately knew they would be up to no good, still, we got rushed through their history at breakneck speed, and I got lost on the way. From memory of grave robbing for a bangle to killing kin for the bangle, it seemed like the writers really needed a bad guy without laying the groundwork.

I kept asking the tv “why do they keep trying to go back if they were exiled”? “why were they exiled”? Did I miss that explanation or none was given? Lazy writers!

I thought Bruno is a young and budding Tony Stark. Although they couldn't resist the best friend in love with his friend thingy. I'm tired of that, aren’t we all?  I guess it still works because they keep doing that. 

The Verdict

They had to introduce Kamala to us, and I guess they had to give her some struggles too. The Introduction was well done, the struggles, however… not so much.

Overall, I would say quite a stellar acting from the cast. Kamala Khan is fun, spunky, and really great TV. The supporting cast Nakia, Bruno, Kamran, and even Aamir are amazing as well.

I would love to see where the story goes with Kamran and the red daggers.

Ms Marvel gets a solid 7/10 from me.

 

So, for recommendations on what to watch, I highly recommend Ms Marvel.