Echo

The first episode of Echo was strong and though the internet had conflicting things to say about the overall show the first episode set forth an amazing thesis for the series. I can not wait to see where the rest of the series goes and I hope that it continues with the pace and tone that it started with. So let's dive into the next two episodes of the series.

First of all I love the native representation in this show. I think it's great and it actually seems really well thought out and researched. Also none of it seemed pandering or arbitrary, it all tied back to Echo and her story and her growth as a character.

Echo being deaf is also just a great way to tell a story. You can’t give us an obscene amount of exposition because she doesn’t talk. So we get long periods of silence, and great shots of just SHOWING which is what the best filmmakers do. This is a visual medium and I feel like in everything lately but especially in Marvel projects that fact is getting lost a little bit.

These action sequences are very well choreographed, even when she is on the train by herself. Maya gets her prosthetic leg stuck in the train and the power she gets from her ancestors lends her the strength to get her out of it. I suppose that is what people were talking about when the predictions started flying around that Maya is a mutant, but that's not exactly how that works. And also I think those people’s media literacy is non-existent. How Maya and her ancestral powers have presented themselves is very much spiritual. Any extra power that she demonstrates is very clearly based in a bloodline which is not necessarily how mutants work. It is also very much used as a storytelling device. If you think about the fact that she didn’t tell any of her loved ones that she was back in town, and now all of a sudden she is getting help from her ancestors, it's pretty clear that the story is saying that she is stronger with the power of her family. And more than that she is stronger with the power of her people, her heritage and culture are very important to her story. Also they directly tell you that in dialogue so I am not really sure where the mutant theories came from but we have established that MCU fans are not the brightest. The WandaVision theories were all entirely out of left field and completely unsupported.

Also I think we need to draw attention to the fact that Maya has been deaf ever since she was a child so literally everyone in this little town knows how to speak sign language. I think that is very sweet, they all really love her.

The face that they showed us how the tribe existed through time was really brilliant. Truly it was a great way to show us how this bloodline has settled here. I also love that they did it in the style of the time. Like when we saw the history in the 1800s it was like we were watching a silent movie, complete with dialogue cards.

I really love the moments of silence when we are experiencing the story from Maya’s perspective and all we can hear is the blood rushing in her ears. It's really fantastic storytelling.

These white trash townies are really trying to turn Maya in for the bounty. Like Maya couldn’t easily kick their asses. God criminals are so stupid.

The scenes where she is channeling her ancestors are super cool, the cuts going very quickly back and forth are so well done and it's not too much. Also the entire skating rink scene where she takes out like a whole group is incredible.

The show is incredibly well written and it actually makes me really sad that people shat on it when it was first released. And even when it was praised the positive buzz around it stopped very quickly. I know society has history’s shortest attention span right now when it comes to media but it's really disappointing. Echo is a great show and I hope that people will circle back to it eventually.