Echo

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'Echo' Takes Marvel Into New Territory In Its First TV-MA Series​

The show has its messy moments but triumphs in its representation of Indigenous, deaf and disabled people.

Kelby Vera
By Kelby Vera
Jan 11, 2024, 01:09 PM EST
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Marvel Studios trades superhero excess for quiet grit in its decidedly dark new miniseries, “Echo,” out now on Disney+ and Hulu.
Picking up where 2021′s “Hawkeye” ended, “Echo” follows Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez, an Indigenous, deaf amputee who was once the leader of the brutal Tracksuit Mafia.
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The five-part series unfolds as Maya retreats home to Oklahoma’s Choctaw Nation after shooting her surrogate uncle and New York crime boss, Wilson “Kingpin” Fisk (played by an imposing Vincent D’Onofrio).
Back home, Cox’s character must contend with her past trauma and face fraught relationships with her grandma and cousin, Chula (Tantoo Cardinal) and Bonnie (Devery Jacobs), respectively.

“Echo” is an edgy but imperfect outing for Marvel, which has been trying to find footing in its post-“Avengers” era. Last year, the studio had multiple box-office blunders; the November release of “The Marvels” ended up as its lowest-grossing movie of all time.
As Marvel’s first TV-MA release, “Echo” delivers the right dose of dark, violent action, which is a welcome break from the glossy world of the MCU films. Still, the bloody fight scenes are inconsistent when it comes to choreography, and some special effects also fall flat.
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Alaqua Cox is electric as Maya Lopez in Marvel Studios' Echo, exclusively on Disney+.


Alaqua Cox is electric as Maya Lopez in Marvel Studios' "Echo," exclusively on Disney+.
CHUCK ZLOTNICK
While the pacing of its first few episodes seems to weigh it down, “Echo’s” attention to Maya’s internal life pays off as the stakes rise in the second half of the series.
(Critics were only given the first three episodes to preview and it’s hard to imagine this choice didn’t skew some of the more middling reviews.)
Choctaw culture is ripe throughout “Echo” but the series still flirts with tropes that feel stale, especially given the vibrant state of Native American storytelling in the industry right now.
Though her superhero qualities are not immediately apparent, it’s clear that Maya wields great power from within. That force comes to light through a fairly clumsy collection of supernaturally tinged sequences, however.
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Some of the most powerful scenes play out entirely through conversations in American Sign Language. In other places, the near absence of noise draws us into Maya’s world: silent, save for the sound of heartbeats thumping.

In Echo, Maya retreats home to Oklahoma’s Choctaw Nation after shooting her surrogate uncle and New York crime kingpin, played by Vincent D’Onofrio.


In "Echo," Maya retreats home to Oklahoma’s Choctaw Nation after shooting her surrogate uncle and New York crime kingpin, played by Vincent D’Onofrio.
MARVEL STUDIOSCOURTESY OF MARVEL STUDIOS
“Echo’s” ensemble includes a host of Indigenous talent, which helps to ground the show’s messier moments.
Maya’s impressionable cousin, Biscuits (Cody Lightning), is a delightful sidekick, while her grandpa, Skully (Graham Greene), comes to her aid as an impromptu armorer. Meanwhile, she must rely on her uncle, Henry (Chaske Spencer), the owner of a local roller rink who is also caught up in Fisk’s web of crime, to help fight her enemies.
Despite its minor missteps, “Echo” proves Marvel is ready to open its world to a more diverse cast of characters and storylines.
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The series provides a satisfying finish and hopefully marks the first of many outings for Maya and Cox, who are an undeniable presence on screen.
All five episodes of “Echo” are available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu now.
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Marvel's Been Struggling — And Its New Disney+ Series Misses The Mark

The show has its messy moments but triumphs in its representation of Indigenous, deaf and disabled people.
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fris

fris

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Watching people talk really slows down the conversation. 1st episode down, hopefully the signing is less of an issue going forward. It almost pains me to say that. I used to be ok with American sign. As a waiter, I had a call table of a dead couple, and we loved that I could check in on them from across the restaurant.
 
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Conefed

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Ossoi said:
I tuned out fairly quickly, boring show and the fight scene with Daredevil didn't seem as seamless as I remember.
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I quit on the first fight scene due to choreography. Like the acting up to that point was bad even for background noise and then when that scene happened, nope chalice overfloweth
 
Ossoi

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Conefed said:
I quit on the first fight scene due to choreography. Like the acting up to that point was bad even for background noise and then when that scene happened, nope chalice overfloweth
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yeah it wasn't as bad as The Last Jedi or Dorne in GOT, but there were def moments when the actors were out of sync
 
Conefed

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Ossoi said:
yeah it wasn't as bad as The Last Jedi or Dorne in GOT, but there were def moments when the actors were out of sync
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show had too many def moments
h'yuck

but also .. the emotes of the main actress was prettymuch nonexistent. IF you can't speak, look good? or find some other way to entrance the audience with your performance?
 
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Harshaw

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Conefed said:
show had too many def moments
h'yuck

but also .. the emotes of the main actress was prettymuch nonexistent. IF you can't speak, look good? or find some other way to entrance the audience with your performance?
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She has top tier resting bitch face though.
 
Conefed

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Harshaw said:
She has top tier resting bitch face though.
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I don't think it's resting; I think that's her attempt at acting. In her head she's performing the look of a killer. to us, bland

Friend's brother was a "wrestler" in high school, "In the ring I turn into a completely different person" - nah dude, you were exactly the same. lame as hell
 
Mahes

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Boring pretty much sums up this attempt. Apparently Brie Larson was not enough for lack of emotion Super Hero. Even King Pin seemed subdued save for the one promising moment when he goes off on Ice Cream Vendor person. Why this show needed to have an adult rating is odd. You could have told the exact same boring story with it being PG.

I am kind of confused about the actual "source" of the power. I am guessing that it is similar to "What If's" story of native Americans, only now it passes down through genetic generations? The idea of Echo(And the irony that usually the word is associated with sound) is interesting if only one could understand what the hell the first one really was. Like actually explain the power source
 
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Harshaw

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That Daredevil production reboot has Foggy and Karen returning with the original actors.
 
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Animosity

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So I guess everyone in the world speaks ASL but Fisk and an ice cream vendor. This show is just dull and uninteresting. There is so many scenes in ASL that it makes for bad pacing and theres just too much silence and long pauses in conversations. She was fine in a small role in Daredevil but a full series is just too much.
 
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fris

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why does everyone else that signs but can speak have to whisper? it's like asking actors to not act and just do a script reading.
 
Harshaw

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fris said:
why does everyone else that signs but can speak have to whisper? it's like asking actors to not act and just do a script reading.
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That's a weird complaint since "simultaneous communication" is a very common practice.
 
Hoss

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Juvarisx said:
Power change from comics is fine, and I understand what her power can do I am just struggling to find an interesting / exciting street level use for it for when she shows up again.
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Then explain it to me because I couldn't figure it out beyond *hands glow* *whatever needs to be done gets done* Is she a healer? Did she heal her metal leg out of the train joint?

I thought it was OK. My only complaint is all the fucking reading. I hate shows with subtitles. Yeah yeah, pussy power wasn't great but whatevs. Like it's totally believable that some pudgy middle aged chick would have been playing baggataway back when it was a substitute for war and players would die at every match. It honestly would have been more believable if the pudgy middle aged squaw was sitting on the sidelines weaving a blanket when her team was about to lose, then she powered up and jumped into the game, took some sticks off of a dead player and scored the winning goal.

I liked seeing the same indians I see in every show with indians in the past 5 years. Glad they're getting work to supplement those casino profits. Fortunately I actually like all those injun actors so while I notice it, it's not bothering me.
 
Juvarisx

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Hoss said:
Then explain it to me because I couldn't figure it out beyond *hands glow* *whatever needs to be done gets done* Is she a healer? Did she heal her metal leg out of the train joint?

I thought it was OK. My only complaint is all the fucking reading. I hate shows with subtitles. Yeah yeah, pussy power wasn't great but whatevs. Like it's totally believable that some pudgy middle aged chick would have been playing baggataway back when it was a substitute for war and players would die at every match. It honestly would have been more believable if the pudgy middle aged squaw was sitting on the sidelines weaving a blanket when her team was about to lose, then she powered up and jumped into the game, took some sticks off of a dead player and scored the winning goal.

I liked seeing the same indians I see in every show with indians in the past 5 years. Glad they're getting work to supplement those casino profits. Fortunately I actually like all those injun actors so while I notice it, it's not bothering me.
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They made her a mutant more or less which follows Ms Marvel being one as well. She has her mothers healing ability, though presumably it cant regrow a limb, if her mother wasnt killed in the car accident she could have healed Maya's leg. The other part seems let her experience the memories of the person which causes them to relive them as well. In the comics she was a female version of taskmaster without the fancy suit, so they had to change it, so i guess she will just be a brawler that can heal (which i dont love as it can take tension out of scenes).

Apparently in one of the comics she plays host to The Phoenix, IDK I dont read em anymore.
 
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