Ms. Marvel, S1 finale

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about the ‘Ms. Marvel’ finale. Unfortunately, it is not an improvement over reality either; I am honestly confused if this is a season finale or a series finale, and I am admitting aloud: for the first time since involving myself with MCU, I do not care!

Can I elaborate? It is tricky to say: on its’ own, ‘Ms. Marvel’ wasn’t bad; it was just lackluster – more like the ‘InHumans’ than the AoS, if we used comparisons.

What was specifically out of what in ‘Ms. Marvel’? I would say that it tried too hard to be a superhero origin story, and a coming of age tale at the same time; the fact that it also tried to give itself an ‘ethnic’ flavor didn’t help either, as Disney/MCU is notoriously politically correct – and not always in a good way.

Where had it gone wrong in the opinion of most critics? Precisely there – in the original ‘Ms. Marvel’ comics, KK has to struggle with at least some racism, as she is a POC in the US. In the Disney+ series, this aspect was seriously downplayed, leaving quite a few viewers and fans wondering – then what is the point of making MM a POC? For Disney/MCU to put another (metaphorical) notch into their feel-good belt? FOX’s last X-Men films tried something along those lines, and it really backfired upon them; Disney/MCU seems to be going in a similar direction…

True, Disney/MCU doesn’t have to do this sort of a story – i.e. one where a POC defeats WASP opposition, but for the modern Western culture this is one of its’ basics, and when it isn’t followed, then the modern Western culture wonders as to what that POC is doing on screen and shouldn’t we be watching something else instead? It can also be argued that just as with women-based movies, (such as the ‘355’ or the ‘365’ – does anyone even remember it?), the Western audiences are no longer satisfied with watching POCs ‘merely’ succeed over their WASP opposition, but in that case people may no longer be satisfied with what Disney/MCU is offering them to begin with… yes, it can get real ugly for Disney+ and its’ universes very quickly – but we got carried away.

On a less ‘deep’ level, MM suffers from the fact that it is shallow – the lead actress may be carrying the show, but there’s little to carry as the show’s villains, the Clan Destine and the Damage Control, appear to be substitutes for the InHumans and S.H.I.E.L.D., but lacking their histories within MCU for the audiences. People just don’t perceive them as threats or care about them, and so MM falls flat once KK goes to confront them: she kicks their ass? So what?!

…And as for her love life – do not go there. Can you imagine a male lead with three female love interests? Wouldn’t go down too well, (unless the lead was James Bond, but still, it is squeaky), so why should the gender-flipped situation work? Oh, right, because these days the fanworks are full of Mary Sues, especially of the female variety, and, yes, this version of KK is a Mary Sue.

No, really, there is some justification for my proclamation: KK is a female lead, she gets the lion’s shares of the romance, and the rest of the female characters are much more peripheral. Since MM was written by professional writers rather than amateurs, MM is able to get away with it, (the brevity of the show helped too), but still there are strong elements of Mary Sue in KK too. What is left?

Ah, yes, the finale, where KK and Captain Danvers switch places in the universe: KK is elsewhere, and Captain Danvers is in KK’s bedroom. I have not cringed so hard, and not just because this situation is reminiscent of Disney’s humor at its’ worst, but because this situation was flat-out shoehorned into the show. Throughout MM, Captain Danvers was referenced quite a bit, because of the obvious reasons, but nothing else; KK was built into a superhero/vigilante who stood on her own two feet and did her own thing, getting free of Captain Danvers’ shadow – and then along comes the final scene, and everything is up-ended once more; seriously, what does Disney/MCU want with KK? She is a first Muslim superhero – fine, but there has to be more than that to her, right?

…And then there is the fact that that scene was also reminiscent of the AoS’ series finale – one that had nothing in common with the rest of the series’ S7. Rather, it was more reminiscent of where the show’s characters were at the end of S3 – the beginning of S4, save that now the cast seemed to include Kora, (whose story arc made no sense), agent Piper, (a character that seemed to have no real purpose, and was just a plug), and the LMD of agent Davis, (an act of dubious morality even by MCU’s standards for reasons that were discussed else when). Here, again, the brevity of MM works in its’ favor, as its’ disastrous epilogue is much more restrained and contained than AoS’ had been. Yay? – I do not know and I honestly do not care. Anything else?

 Sadly, no. ‘Ms. Marvel’ had been one of the most lackluster Marvel shows that I have ever seen, which is something of an anti-record. Ah well, real life sucks, remember? In any case – see you all soon!