Color me impressed: It’s hard to pull off as complete a premiere episode as Ms. Marvel did last week – one where the characters are clear, distinct, and interesting and the cast already feels at home in their skin. But to do it again with the second episode of the series – a point where most shows stumble? Now Ms. Marvel showrunner Bisha K. Ali is just showing off. Because “Crushed” kept all the high school-comic fun of the premiere episode and managed to kick the series arc into high gear in a way that only added to the complexities of the stories – and gave each of the show’s supporting characters their own interesting arcs in the process.
So, the bangle. We don’t really know what it is or where it came from (I’ll put the leading idea for it in the end notes, with some background on why that’s likely some form of the source of its power), but it’s not only connected to Kamala’s family history – I really want to know more about this mysterious Aisha – it is also somehow connected to Kamran’s family as well. The introduction of Kamran, from Kamala’s instantaneous crush on the mysterious new boy to his charm that never feels anything but genuine (until the ending reveal that there’s more going on here than any of us thought), is pitch perfect, too. It’s refreshing that the series didn’t pitch him as a villain out of the gate (although I suspect poor Bruno might feel a bit differently), and that we’re allowed the chance to see the beginnings of a real relationship between him and Kamala bloom before the rug gets pulled out from under her. Outside of the question of why his mom knows something about what’s been going on with the bangle – does she know who has been appearing to Kamala in her bangle-induced visions? – I certainly want to know a bit more about this mysterious young man who has swept onto the scene.
The other great thing we were given in this episode – outside of the new layers to Kamala’s superhero powers and potential origin story coming from her family roots – was the introduction of interesting subplots for both Bruno and Nakia. We knew Bruno was a whiz – and we saw him looking over the application to CalTech last episode – but the reveal that he managed to get into a special advanced semester program there was a nice touch. Yes, it’s mostly meant to provide him with a choice (help Kamala or go to CalTech – I suspect something will happen that will result in a fight between the duo and him opting to go to CalTech only for him to need to help out at the 11th hour), but it also fleshes out his identity. He’s not simply a sidekick to a superhero; rather, he’s a really smart kid on his own who just wants to be there for his friend (who he absolutely also has a massive crush on). Nakia also stepped into the forefront this week, establishing her role as the confident, poised friend. Kamala’s own traits seem at odds with those of her closest friends (she’s smart, but not driven like Bruno and she’s not confident until she manifests her super powers) – so this is likely a classic case of hero gets powers, gets overwhelmed with everything around her (and maybe gets too wrapped up in her new abilities that she neglects those she loves), but needs her friends to ultimately ground her and model healthy traits for her to adopt on her own. A classic situation (see the recent set of Spider-man films for the blueprint – Ned is just as necessary to Peter as his powers are), but one that is already paying dividends in fleshing out key touchstones for Kamala that she’ll need to hold onto as things get more complex for her in coming episodes.
But at its heart, “Crushed” was an episode about the calm before the storm. It was Kamala getting a chance to try out her abilities a bit before things start getting serious (family history, destiny, potential governmental interference and arrest). She was able to be a teenager and not totally destroy things in the process. She got a chance to go to a party and proved to her mom that she can be responsible (a huge win after the AvengersCon debacle). She also got to meet a cute boy and have some normal interactions – at least until the boy revealed he might be connected to her powers in a more complex manner (and the chances of him becoming an adversary of hers are now heightened – sorry, those are the superhero rules). For all the Marvel of the series – and I suspect the real MCU-ness is coming soon – this episode wouldn’t have been out of place in a typical teen series. It felt real, it felt normal, it was fun. And that’s possibly the biggest complement I can give a series: It was fun.
Marvel-isms
— So, the bangle. If the series isn’t going the Inhumans route (and it almost certainly isn’t, sorry Black Bolt), the most likely origin of that bangle would be the Kree. You remember them from Captain Marvel, right? They were the alien race that imbued Carol Danvers with her abilities – and they were fighting against the Skrull, who are set to be a HUGE part of the coming MCU films and television series. The Skrull have already replaced Nick Fury and Maria Hill at SHIELD (although those two replacements are good Skrull – most of the key Skrull we’ve met are good guys, but there are apparently some bad ones that will be the antagonists in the upcoming Secret Invasion Disney+ series), so it’s possible that someone like Kamran’s mother is also a Skrull. Who knows? But the bangle – the good money is on it being a Nega-Band, which is a Kree device that transfers mental abilities into physical ones. So, when Bruno told Kamala that the power was coming from inside her, that would make sense for a Nega-Band – she’s using her internal wants and desires and manifesting them into reality through the Band. The downside to the Band? It can get you trapped in the Negative Zone (which has links to the Fantastic Four – although they apparently don’t exist in Earth-616 yet). Perhaps that’s the area of shadows Kamala gets pulled into when she’s using the device?
— Some fun MCU shout-outs: First, Kamala and Kamran discuss Kingo, the Bollywood star Eternal (who was one of the better aspects of that film), mentioning that their moms both love him and Kamran’s even loved Kingo Senior (one of the key plot points around Kingo was that since he didn’t actually age, he just had to reinvent himself as the younger version of his previous identity as time passed). The other really fun bit was Kamala mentioning that she could have Ant-Man powers because, like Scott Lang, she looks super young – much like the ageless Paul Rudd. Oh! And Kamala already has the three-point hero pose down. Only, she needs to make sure she’s actually brought the innocent to safety before hitting it in the future.
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