Echo

Starring: Alaqua Cox (5 episodes), Chaske Spencer (5 episodes), Tantoo Cardinal (5 episodes), Graham Greene (5 episodes), Devery Jacobs (5 episodes), Cody Lightning (5 episodes), Morningstar Angeline (5 episodes), Dannie McCallum (5 episodes), Vincent D'Onofrio (4 episodes), Darnell Besaw (4 episodes), Zahn McClarnon (3 episodes), David Midthunder (3 episodes), Charlie Cox (1 episode)
Directed by: Sydney Freeland (4 episodes), Catriona McKenzie (1 episode)
Rating: TV-MA
Genre: Action, Drama, Science Fiction
2023

Seasons Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) must confront her past as she works to figure out her future and what it looks like out of the grip of the Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio).

Review:
Tim: Marvel certainly got their television series machine going, churning out series after series. It absolutely feels like Kevin Feige and company got caught up in the quantity game and forgot to focus on quality. To be fair, Echo is a pretty solid miniseries. It's not the worst Disney+ MCU output. However, it also feels too forgettable and a bit unsatisfying. You can look at this series as "not a failure", but the MCU used to have a much higher bar.

There are some things to like here, certainly. The biggest one is in terms of representation- I loved that the miniseries really dug into the character of Maya Lopez. We get to see her family, her Native American culture and her ancestry. Also, she's a deaf superhero. To see a strong woman get her own miniseries, who is unable to hear and proudly represents her Native American heritage is a wonderful thing. I loved that aspect of the miniseries and I believe it's the most compelling reason to watch this. We desperately need to see more diversity in our entertainment and Echo is a nice step in that direction. On the other side, did we really need a miniseries about Echo? I have a solid understanding of the world of Marvel, but I'd never heard of this character. Obviously, I had some familiarity with her because of the Hawkeye miniseries, but I didn't see anything there that made me think, "Wow, I wish we had five episodes just focused on this minor character!" The biggest issue I have here is that it feels like Marvel did this because they could? Is Echo important to the future of the MCU? Will she play a significant role in future Avengers movies? If so, I'll look back and feel thankful that we got this time with Maya Lopez. But, because Marvel's future plans are either nonexistent or too obtuse for viewers to understand, it feels like this was a five episode journey to nowhere.

Now, that might not be totally fair. The series does a nice of job of also pulling in Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin. His return to the proper MCU is a wonderful development and I loved seeing that character featured prominently here. I didn't quite love how they incorporated the character, but his presence was welcome. We also see Charlie Cox reprise Daredevil, which again, was delightful. So, in some ways, this series works better than others because it feels more interconnected. That was part of my complaint about Moon Knight for example- it leaned away from any level of interconnectedness. So, Echo is helped by its connections to the broader MCU and I love that we got development for Kingpin. But again, on the other hand, this series having one of its biggest strengths being two supporting characters (verses, you know, the protagonist) makes the series feel flimsy.

The overall narrative here is a bit lackluster and forgettable. I wasn't bored at any point during these five episodes, but I never felt fully engaged, either. Maya is a marginally interesting character, and while I felt like the supporting cast was stronger than she was, this still isn't a major recipe for success. I'm honestly not totally sold on Alaqua Cox as an actress. Is she great in this series? Never. Her perpetual frown and scowl didn't quite endear herself to me. Her acting felt a bit flat, which maybe isn't fair. Still, I didn't leave these five episodes desperate for more Maya. The highlight of the series is Vincent D'Onofrio getting to play Wilson Fisk more- he feels born to play that role and I loved his screen time. It was wonderful seeing Cox as Daredevil, I'll always be excited to see him. Chaske Spencer added a surprisingly strong supporting performance. I absolutely loved getting to see the great Graham Greene here, although truthfully, he doesn't have a ton to do. Tantoo Cardinal gave an emotional, memorable, and strong supporting performance- she was definitely one of the highlights. Cody Lightning added some great humor and energy to the series as well. The series has some great supporting characters, played well by the cast. That's certainly more of a strength than the story.

Echo feels like a bit of a middling success. Sure, it's a solid miniseries and it does dive deeper into a unique character. Representation is so important and I loved that aspect of the show. The series also connects to the broader MCU, so it feels mildly important in that regard. However, the story is lackluster and too forgettable. It does establish characters, but there's no telling if we'll see any of them again. For that reason, it feels like this might have been a waste of time. I felt mild enjoyment while watching this series, but it's absolutely not a slam dunk.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Series, We Recommend: Hawkeye, Daredevil