On the third episode of Marvel and Disney+’s Echo, a hostage situation ensued at the skating rink owned by Maya’s uncle Henry Lopez, and Maya… found herself one of the hostages.
1. Prologue #3
As with the previous parts, we open with a flashback of Maya’s ancestor who gives the episode its name. This time it’s Tuklo (Dannie McCallum), who joined the Lighthorsemen, the 19th century Choctaw (and other “Civilized Tribes”) police force, albeit after a Mulan-esque conflict with her father. The sequence is cleverly rendered as a black-and-white silent film, reflecting the time period, and Maya’s disability. It did amuse me that Marvel have chased new creative heights by doing a homage like this though, following the black-and-white Werewolf by Night, because of how similar it is to Mel Brooks’s decision to follow Young Frankenstein with, well, Silent Movie. As Brooks himself once said, Marvel are going backwards in time!
2. The Silent World
There are several moments in the series where the sound tunes out, to help remind us of how Maya experiences the world, and to let us be in her shoes now and again. (I can’t help but wonder what the series might’ve been like if it had been muted throughout.) It’s used most effectively here when Maya is captured by Henry’s treacherous employee, Vickie (Thomas E. Sullivan), his sister Grace (Erin Ownbey), and their friend Brigitte (Lindsey Moser). The trio don’t know sign language, relying on Bonnie to interpret for them, and it was really eerie that Maya couldn’t read their intentions, especially as she lay tied up in the middle of the rink – it really reminded us of just how scary the world can be for a deaf person.
3. Maya Lopez, Improv Queen
This episode was a real showcase for how resourceful Maya is, using sign language and her prosthetic leg (complete with the Bond-esque knife her grandfather installed in it) to her advantage, to turning virtually everything in the rink into a weapon against the Kingpin’s men — led by Zane (Andrew Howard) — when they come to collect her. The way she used the arcade gun cords as whips? Damn that was cool, what a fun action sequence. It did stretch my credulity to believe she improvised a firearm out of spare parts though: I just think that’s something that would be more in-character for a tech-based hero like Moon Girl or Spider-Man.
4. The Saddest Marvel Villains Ever?
Vickie, Grace, and Brigitte are such a desperate band of losers, it was so obvious they’d never held a pistol in their lives, and I wasn’t surprised Maya held back against them (at least initially, she did take out Brigitte pretty brutally.) I think it made it all the more effective when Zane murdered Vickie for letting Maya escape their clutches: he may have been a pathetic little weasel, but he didn’t deserve to die, especially in such a bloody and disturbing fashion (in front of Bonnie no less.) There’s also something to be said about how expendable backwater criminals like him are to someone working directly under the wealthy Kingpin, who rubs salt in the wound by ordering Zane to free Maya anyway.
5. A Reunion, But Not the One You Were Expecting
It’s made clear in this episode that Maya’s grandparents Skully and Chula have separated, explaining why she has been hanging out with him, getting the new leg and bracer, while Chula’s been completely in the dark about her return. During the end montage, I fully expected Maya’s near-death experience to lead her to greet Chula and Biscuits at the church, but no, it seemed she decided to just spend the evening driving to take her mind off, an odd decision given Kingpin’s men are now in her hometown – I wouldn’t be surprised if this was one part of the show affected by reshoots. In any case, Maya returns home, and is confronted by Fisk himself, which is where I’ll leave you until next time too.
