Main cast: Iman Vellani (Kamala Khan/Ms Marvel), Matt Lintz (Bruno), Yasmeen Fletcher (Nakia), Zenobia Shroff (Muneeba), Mohan Kapur (Yusuf), Saagar Shaikh (Aamir), Rish Shah (Kamran), Laurel Marsden (Zoe), Adaku Ononogbo (Fariha), Alysia Reiner (DODC Agent Sadie Deever), Laith Nakli (Sheikh Abdullah), Nimra Bucha (Najma), and Travina Springer (Tyesha)
Director: Meera Menon
Kamala’s evolution to a truly special teen and possibly even chosen one continues as we get further confirmation in Destined that her powers may come from within, possibly amplified by the bangle she found and happened to wear.
We also see what seems like the solidification of a villain arc here in the appearance of what seems like a big bad. Well, every young adult story needs a punching bag for the special heroine to defeat using the power of awesomeness, after all.
However, what could have been a possibly solid one and a half-hour movie needs to be stretch to a minimum of 6 episodes of about 45 mins each, as it’s a Disney+ mandate, so we also need some filler moments.
Hence, we’re also off to 1942, in India, for some archaeological-themed flashbacks featuring people wearing Indian costumes that are horridly impractical for excavation activities. Maybe the costumes are needed because without these things, the audience may overlook the fact that this show is full of #diversity and #inclusiveness and forget to give the people behind their show a medal.
Furthermore, the clothes are strangely clean and dry despite what is supposed to be hours of digging and moving aside rocks and all.
Meanwhile, Kamala continues to become more and more annoying with each episode. I’m tired of Iman Vellani constantly putting on that single shocked-Pikachu facial expression that she has for at least 10 times each episode, and her character is fast becoming a walking bag of exaggerated melodramatic exclamations and flailing arms.
It’s as if the more powerful she is, the more infantile and self-absorbed she becomes. Everything is about her, and other characters are dragged into her personal melodrama, regardless of these characters’ personal wants and wishes. Everything just feels petty and vapid. I know, the target audience of this show are very likely this way too, believing that everything in this world is about them, but that doesn’t make the show interesting to watch.
If anything, our darling here is the textbook example of why the world is messed up beyond all measure if we were ever insane enough to let a teenager become the boss of everyone.
I suspect it is unintentional, as we can’t let white males overshadow strong women anymore in shows like this, but Bruno is on the other hand coming off more and more as the sane and smart one. Is it blasphemy to wish that maybe this show is about him instead? Oh wait, we already have something like that…
Anyway, this is a filler episode, through and through. Nothing about it feels consequential, as whatever is revealed here will be rehashed in exposition in later episodes anyway, if previous MCU shows on Disney+ had been anything to go by. I’m starting to feel that the first episode may just be the peak of this show, and it’s now a downward roll to the bitter end.
