Echo TV Series: Is the New Marvel Series Worth Watching? Or Not
Echo, the new series from Marvel Studios, arrives today on Disney+ with the tough mission of returning to the MCU any trace of the overwhelming hype for superhero and villain stories. If we put it that way, it sounds like a titanic task, but in an era in which more and more people are on the verge of being fed up with this type of production, that is the harsh fate they will have to face. Echo is the story of Maya López (Alaqua Cox), the lethal former leader of Wilson Fisk’s (Vincent D’Onofrio) gang of mobsters whom we met in Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye, the last of the well-received Disney+ series.
With just five episodes, this production aims to tell the subsequent story of the character, who went from being Fisk’s ultimate weapon to a fugitive pursued by the mafia after settling scores with the villain he considered part of his family… something we saw at the end of Hawkeye, but let’s be honest, it doesn’t end up being captivating. This is a shame, considering that Maya, a woman thirsty for revenge after the death of her father trained in the criminal world from a very young age and with exceptional qualities, despite being deaf and having lost a leg when she was Just a girl, she is a brilliant character in a world of boring beings who can do anything and cosmic dilemmas that no one cares about.
Echo: Is the New Marvel Series Worth Watching?
The fact of having a deaf protagonist leads us to explore the MCU from a until now unknown point of view. It is very exciting to see the action sequences from the perspective of Maya López/Echo when the director decides to suppress the audio for a few moments so that the audience is only able to hear her heartbeat. The result feels magnificently organic and silences all those voices that keep complaining that Marvel Studios only seeks to hang on to the flag of inclusion.
The successes accumulate when we then begin to explore the native heritage of Maya, who begins to connect with her ancestors and the events that marked the Choctaw tribe from which she descends. The reminiscences of his past are interesting — but taking into account that we only saw two episodes in advance, it is difficult to know if he will be as decisive as the series projects him to be.
Cameos, Combats… And the Essence?
Extra points also for the return of Vincent D’Onofrio and Charlie Cox (as Daredevil) to action – which could not be otherwise, considering that this series is an obvious preamble for what we will see in Daredevil: Born Again. Their appearances are a treat and make clear to us the fans’ desire to see them more in the MCU. This undoubtedly leads us to think that, at least in the Echo, it will not happen, since this entire story is forced to be condensed into just five episodes of approximately 40 minutes.
And that is not the only issue that the short duration affects, since in such a compressed story it is impossible to develop an emotional bond with its characters, particularly with Maya, who runs out of time to become a memorable character despite her potential. The production seems to ignore this by spending a lot of time on scenes that don’t contribute much to the plot—the entire preamble between Maya and Fisk in the first episode could have been summarized in a few minutes. Once again, the colorful and well-choreographed combats, which make it one of Marvel’s most violent series – that’s not enough – overcame the essence.
The Echo is not a bad story, and, on the contrary, it has enough arguments to make us have a good time, it is even a shake-up to those—we repeat—cosmic dilemmas about multiple realities and quantum worlds that are as confusing as they are unstimulating. However, this is not the series that will save the MCU, much less will it be in charge of giving a bit of redemption to the format of television projects.
