The moment we all have been waiting for has arrived- Farhan Akhtar finally made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut with the fourth episode of Ms Marvel. Although the actor’s storyline ended even before the episode could get over, the brief moments he was present in make for major highlights of the latest episode. The fourth episode starts with Kamala and her mother (Muneeba) flying to Karachi after the former got a call from her grandmother, Sana, in the last episode requesting both of them to come home.
They are received by her grandmother and her cousins at the airport in true desi fashion – with flowers showering over them. Kamala explores the streets of Karachi and comes closer to her Pakistani roots once she returns to her Nani’s place. She confirms that they are indeed Djinns but asks Kamala to focus on the right thing. The episode mostly focuses on family bonds and coming closer to one’s culture with an exception of some action scenes here and there.
While Kamala is out with her cousins, she goes to see the railway station where she is confronted by Kareem or a Red Dagger played by Aramis Knight. He introduces her to Waleed (Farhan) who tells her about her grandmother Aisha, the Red Daggers and the Clandestines. Waleed reveals that the Clandestines are from a different realm and their real co-exists with ours. However, with the bangle, they can take over our realm and whatever will be left will be theirs. He also tells her that the Red Daggers are vigilantes who protect the world from the unseen.
Kamala is able to tie some of the loose ends with this information. On the other hand, Sana and Muneeba have a heart conversation where the latter shares that the former was not there when she needed a mother.
Back in the States, the Clandestines escape the Damage Control Prison to come after Kamala. However, Najma decides to abandon her son Kamran for choosing to help Kamala. While Kamala is with Waleed and Kareem at the Red Dagger’s hideout, they are attacked by the Clandestines. The trio manages to hold them off for some time and Farhan delivers some solid punches. This is where the episode picks up and doubles up as a superhero series besides being a family drama as it has been so far.
During the fight, Waleed manages to kill one of the Clandestines but Najma is quick to stab him and throw him from the balcony, killing him. It seemingly ends Farhan Akhtar’s MCU journey if the makers don’t have any other plan to revive him or reveal later that he was not killed.
While fighting with the remaining Clandestines, Najma tries to stab Kamala but her dagger hits the bracelet which transports Kamala back in time during the partition. The episode ends with her finding herself in the railway station, probably the one from her vision and a huge crowd of people saying their final goodbyes before they part.
Compared to the other MCU mini-series, Ms Marvel is so far low on the action quotient. But it seems alright if we take into consideration that a superhero, especially a teen one, is not all about fights and outer-worldly stuff. However, the antagonists up against Kamala fail to leave a mark or excite us. With just two episodes left, there are a lot of loose ends to tie and a lot to answer. How the series packs everything up without making it seem too rushed would be an interesting thing to watch.
Ms Marvel starring Iman Vellani, MMatt Lintz, Yasmeen Fletcher, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Rish Shah, Nimra Bucha, Samina Ahmad, Fawad Khan and Aramis Knight among others is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
