Ms. Marvel Crushed Review: Imperfect hero, perfect lead performance by Iman Vellani

Kamala Khan’s life in the clouds gets a little more complicated in Crushed. An episode that maintains the creative energy from the outstanding pilot episode, but adds stakes to Kamala’s newfound powers.

Ms. Marvel is showing a side (well, several to be fair) we haven’t seen in the MCU. A teenager learning about her abilities. There’s good and bad in Kamala’s cosmic powers. When deployed correctly they can be used to save. Incorrectly, Kamala’s powers can injure herself and others. Even in a mask, you can tell what a profound impact Kamala’s failure has. Another testament to Vellani’s versatile performance.

Bruno was a source of support for Kamala in My Generation. He still has a role in Crushed, but the focus is placed more prominently on Nakia, Kamala’s other friend. Kamala keeps her in the dark about her new secret, which is a disappointing choice by showrunner Bisha K. Ali. However, I don’t expect her to stay in the dark long. Nakia’s background gets fleshed out nicely and shines a different light on being Muslim than Kumala goes through. Unfortunately, due to Nakia’s skin color, some Muslims don’t view her as Muslim enough.

Kamran’s a new transfer student at Kamala’s school. She crushes on him hard. Bruno certainly seems jealous in response, which is a disappointing coming-of-age trope. The family elements were less combative in Crushed, which is a nice change of pace from last week.

Kamran clearly knows more and his way too close connection to his mom could be leading to a villainous turn. The balance in tone between comedy and drama continues to be almost perfect. Vellani is the reason every scene feels authentic.

With the overview out of the way, let’s dive deeper into the elements that stood in Crushed. There may be some minor spoilers. Ms. Marvel is available to stream on Disney Plus.

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Cosmic Crushed

After spending most days with her head in the clouds, Kamala’s cosmic powers come with a dose of crushing reality. With Bruno along for the ride, Kamala decides to test her abilities. The ability testing isn’t necessarily too different from any other origin story. Kamala struggles with controlling her powers at points. Her powers do seem to overwhelm her at certain points as well. However, there are instances where she does exert control.

During school, her nose starts glowing instead of bleeding. She heads to the girls’ room where Nakia has a tampon at the ready. Then, later in the episode, Kamala is having a conversation with her grandmother. Her father tries to open the door. Kamala seals the door shut temporarily using her powers.

The most important scene in Crushed comes near the end. A boy is dangling off the roof of the mosque. Kamala finds a way to get on the roof. Once she’s close enough, Kamala uses her powers to create cosmic platforms the boy can land on. While the boy is on one of the platforms, Kamala gets a terrible vision, which causes her to lose focus. The platform disappears and the boy falls 15-20 feet below. He’s not dead but is seriously injured in the process.

Crushing Hard

In the high school storyline, Kamran is a new student. Kamala and Kamran hit it off almost immediately. There’s a party at Zoe’s which Kamala, Nakia and Bruno have little interest in until Kamran decides to go. You can consider Kamala’s interest piqued.

Kamran offers to help Kamala with driving, which is a smooth move on his part, maybe too smooth. She obviously says yes and has to cancel her training session. After being terrific in My Generation, Bruno spends this episode being jealous. I could understand his jealousy if Kamala had rebuffed him, but he’s never made his feelings known. The situation is entirely his own fault.

Yasmeen Fletcher is terrific as Nakia. The chemistry between Fletcher and Vellani is impressive given the limited amount of screentime. They just feel like best friends, which is tough to nail down in a show with complicated relationships. I was blown away by how the series dealt with Nakia’s faith and how others perceive her.

Kamala keeping her powers a secret from Nakia makes no sense. It’s a rare misstep for the show from a creative perspective. There is a really cool opportunity to have three different viewpoints on Kamala’s powers. There are her parents, Bruno and Nakia. How will each react? That’s a good conflict. Hopefully, Nakia finds out in the next episode.

Damage Control

The Damage Control investigation into Kamala’s actions at Avengers Con continues. Agents Cleary and Deever are able to make a connection based on Zoe’s vlogs.

Cleary interrogates Zoe using a similar method to his approach with Ned in Spider-Man: No Way Home. He claims to be a big fan of her work and even mentions a specific vlog. He uses an opening to turn the tables on her.

Deever finds out the masked individual who saved Zoe has a South Asian accent. Cleary tells Deever to search every religious building in Jersey City.

They catch up to Kamala. However, Kamala is able to escape thanks to Kamaran’s sweet driving skills. The episode ends with Kamala meeting Kamran’s mom, who is in the backseat of the car.

Crushed Final Thoughts

Crushed isn’t quite as good of an episode as My Generation. However, Vellani and Fletcher’s are terrific. The powers have consequences theme works really well. If they can curtail some of the jealousy and secret-keeping common in the teen and superhero genre, then this series should be one of the better MCU shows.