Warning! Spoilers ahead for episode 5 ofMs. Marvel.
LikeMoon Knight,Ms. Marvelhas used its fifth episode to fill in the previously unseen backstory of the title character’s powers. But, whereas “Asylum” was the strongest episode ofMoon Knightby far, “Time and Again” might beMs. Marvel’s weakest installment to date. There are some pacing issues in the fifth episode ofMs. Marvel, but that would be forgivable if “Time and Again” didn’t miss out on the show’s greatest strength: Iman Vellani’s infectiously enthusiastic performance as Kamala Khan. Bizarrely, Kamala is nowhere to be seen for the first half of the episode.
On the plus side, “Time and Again” deals with some interesting themes and historical context. Like the recent action-packed gemRRR, this episode uses speculative genre antics to explore the real-world horrors of Britain’s colonization of India. It also resolves the show’s poignant, prevalent theme ofconflict between mothers and daughters. Kamala’s ongoing tensions with Muneeba are contrasted with Muneeba’s relationship with her own mother. Like Kamala, Muneeba used to rebel against her mother. Now, she has the hindsight to see that her mother was just looking out for her. Kamala is coming to that realization on her own. Unfortunately, after the Kamala-less first half of the episode, this resolution is crammed into the second half where it doesn’t have enough room to really breathe and develop.
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There’s still a chance that next week’s finale can pull it all together, but five episodes in,Ms. Marvelfeels somewhat aimless and meandering. It started off as a high school show whose teenage protagonisthappened to have superpowers, but it’s since been jumping all over the map. The last two episodes left behind the teen drama framework, but at least they focused on Kamala. Vellani must’ve gotten a week off when they shot this episode, because she’s completely absent until the midpoint.
The series’ distinctive visual style has dropped off in the last couple of weeks, possibly due to the changing directors. All the stylistic hallmarks that madeMs. Marvel’s early episodes such a breath of fresh air – swooping camera movements, fast-paced montage editing, animation transposed onto live-action – have been missing in the past couple of episodes. On top of that, the show’s most compelling villain, Najma, has been hastily killed off and swept under the rug. The final scene of the episode brings back one of the show’s least interesting story threads with the appearance of a Damage Control drone. The antagonist of the series is no longera group of sympathetic demons called the ClanDestine; it’s government bureaucracy, which is a lot less gripping.
“Time and Again” is the shortest installment ofMs. Marvelso far and it shows. The episode is strangely paced. The flashback prologue takes up the entire first half of the episode,the emotional resolution with Kamalafeels rushed in the second half, and the whole thing ends very abruptly. The final scene of the episode jumps from Karachi back to Jersey City, where Kamran visits Bruno and the “Brian” gag is paid off hilariously. It seems as though Kamran wasn’t just being a jerk and he actually thought that was Bruno’s name – bolstered by a hysterically awkward apology – but there’s something fishy going on with Kamran. This scene is cut short so suddenly that it’s as if the rest of the footage was destroyed and the editors had to salvage what they could. In the last few seconds of the episode,a Damage Control drone shows upout of nowhere to bomb the convenience store where Bruno works, then the edit cuts straight to the end credits before the audience even has a chance to comprehend the explosion.
Ms. Marvelcould’ve done with 10 or 12 episodes. From Bruno’s unrequited feelings for Kamala to Nakia’s struggles with her identity to Aamir’s role as the middleman between his younger sister and their strict, overbearing parents, this series has introduced plenty of characters and storylines that are worth exploring in more depth. With just one episode left to go,Ms. Marvelhas a lot of threads to pull together. Based on the penultimate chapter of its run,Ms. Marvelcould end up suffering from the same problem as a lot of Marvel’s Disney+ content.
The show set up a lot of story threads in the first couple of episodes, then padded out the middle episodes without much development of those threads. Now, the finale has a lot on its shoulders. It doesn’t just have to wrap up the show’s own storylines; it’s also burdened with setting upKamala’s role alongside Captain Marvel inThe Marvels. Hopefully, next week’s finale will be able to stick the landing.Ms. Marvelhas been such an enjoyable ride up to this point that there’s reason to have faith that the writers can pull it off.
