Echo Review: Pacing, narrative issues are no match for Alaqua Cox

Echo doesn’t match the lofty heights of Loki due to pacing and editing issues. However, Alaqua Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio and a talented supporting cast turn Echo into a compelling MCU series.

Echo is a follow-up to Maya Lopez’s appearances in Hawkeye. After a confrontation with her “Uncle” Wilson Fisk, she escapes New York and reluctantly reconnects with her Choctaw heritage in Oklahoma. Unable to let the closest thing he has to his daughter go, Fisk tracks Maya to Oklahoma. The push-pull centers on whether Maya will return to the fold with the life she knows, one of violence or the less violent, more painful past of her hometown.

Cox shines in showing Maya’s fury and fear. Initially, Cox comes across as a little one-note, but as the series continues and especially in episode four, begins to show the layers of Maya. D’Onofrio is once again terrifying as Fisk. There are some issues with Fisk’s decisions in Echo, but D’Onofrio’s scenes with Cox drip with tension.

The supporting cast featuring Tantoo Cardinal, Chaske Spencer and Graham Greene represent the strongest aspect of Echo. Cardinal and Greene are two of the best character actors and pairing them as exes is a brilliant casting decision. Greene provides Maya with a consistent resource. His warmth, and humor as Skully have a way of sparking the most dour of situations.

Cardinal plays Maya’s grandmother Chula. She blames Maya’s father for the accident that killed Maya’s mother. Out of grief, Chula disowned Maya, but mostly out of fear of her father’s criminal activities.

Spencer is also great as Maya’s Uncle Henry. He’s also wrapped up in the Fisk organization and is forced to choose whether to help Maya or Fisk. The Choctaw story is encapsulated by Maya’s connection to her ancestors which awakens a power passed on through her family. The only issue with The Choctaw story is Maya’s friendship with Bonnie (Devery Jacobs). They have a strong connection early in the season, Bonnie doesn’t have much of a role in the season overall.

Everything about Fisk’s actions in Oklahoma feels forced. Outside of his picnic with Maya, there’s no need for Fisk himself to be in Oklahoma. The other issue is outside of the action sequence with Daredevil, none of the action sequences are compelling.

While the action sequence in the 1st episode is good, everything else about the first episode is a mess. More than half of the episode is a recap of Maya’s scenes in Hawkeye, which isn’t great. The episode is spliced with present-day footage making it tough to connect to the serious. Echo does improve from the 2nd episode on. Although the finale’s short runtime does lead to a rushed conclusion.

While there are some missteps, Echo is a much more consistent series than Secret Invasion and a strong start to Marvel’s slate of mature content.

With the overviews of Echo completed, let’s take a deeper look at the stories that stood out in the series. Echo is streaming on Disney Plus.

Queenpin

After arriving in Oklahoma, Maya is still hellbent on revenge. Since Fisk raised her, Maya’s vengeance plan involves taking down his criminal empire so she can rise up.

Once Fisk heals up from his injuries, he arrives in Oklahoma. He wants Maya back. While he truly does seem to view Maya as his daughter, she’s also a vital tool that he’s able to use and manipulate. After all, he led Maya to believe that a masked man killed her father when it was Fisk who ordered the hit. He was able to mold her in his image.

Maya is shocked over Fisk’s survival. There’s a mixture of fear, anger over her plan failing and relief. The series tries to set up the potential for Maya to return to the fold, but the fact that Fisk killed her father doesn’t come across as a realistic possibility.

There’s a potentially more compelling story in Maya attempting to kill Fisk again. Echo does delve into this story. Maya arrives at Fisk’s room in Oklahoma, gun drawn. Fisk reveals how he killed his father leading to a sort of freedom and offers Maya the opportunity to kill him. She declines. Fisk wants Maya to return with him on a plane to New York.

The oddest omission in this storyline is Fisk never explains or apologizes for sanctioning the death of Maya’s father. However, the tension between Maya and Kingpin is compelling.

Best Episode of Echo

Episode 4, Taloa, is the best episode of Echo. Maya is forced to confront her past after conversations with Fisk and Chula.

After focusing predominantly on revenge, Cox delivers a layered performance in Taloa. While never weak, feelings of fear, betrayal, and confusion all come through Cox’s performance. Almost all of these emotions are conveyed by her body movements and facial reactions.

The first conversation is between Fisk and Maya at her childhood home. He wants them to have dinner like they used to. While Maya tries to maintain her control, she’s thrown off by Fisk’s calm demeanor. He wants her to visit his hotel room at the casino.

Later, Maya flashes back to images of her Choctaw ancestors. Unable to get her to come out of the trance-like state, Henry takes Maya to Chula. After explaining their familial bond is what’s connecting the images, Maya unleashes on Chula for abandoning her. Chula claims it was about what her father was doing, not her. She also admits that Maya’s familiar appearance to her daughter added to her grief.

Then, Maya confronts Fisk in his hotel room where he reveals how the cycle of violence connects them.

For so long, violence was the language she shared with Fisk. Now, she has the opportunity to feel something else, but if she spurns Fisk, there is a cost that must be paid, which is what happens in the finale. Rather than face either option, Maya tries to run, but after her family is kidnapped she returns to save her family.

Reluctant Choctaw Connection

The strongest narrative thread in Echo revolves around Maya reconnecting with the people she was forced to leave as a child. After her mother’s death, Maya’s father was no longer welcome by Chula, so Maya had to leave.

Maya returns to Oklahoma but initially tries to limit contact as much as possible. She reaches out to Uhcle Henry first. He is a part of Fisk’s organization so it’s more of a tactical calculation and than a personal need. Then, she sets her sights on hijacking training shipping munitions. She reaches out to her cousin Biscuits ( Cody Lightning) who serves as a getaway driver.

After her prosthetic leg is injured, she meets up with Skully. He gently recommends a grandaughter-daughter reunion. The one person Maya is desperately avoiding is Maya’s cousin, Bonnie. They were childhood best friends, but Maya cut off contact following her father’s death.

Once Fisk’s organization arrives, Maya protects her Choctaw family using the skills Fisk taught her. In addition to Fisk’s influence, Maya is also under the influence of her ancestors. Throughout the season, Maya experiences flashes from the past, which eventually help Maya in the present.

Everything about Maya’s Choctaw family is well done to such a strong degree. Unfortunately, it clashes with Fisk elements that don’t feel authentic and are shoehorned in to increase the involvement of Fisk.

Echo final thoughts

Overall, Echo ends on a positive note. Maya’s journey from a life led solely through a cycle of violence to peace sets up a positive future for the character as a hero or at least an anti-hero. The presence of D’Onofrio is always terrifying, but he’s almost in the story too much.

The first episode is a rough watch, but thankfully the series improves once Maya arrives in Oklahoma and eventually crescendos with the terrific penultimate episode. The finale is rushed. However, the story of Maya conquering her demons by accepting her Choctaw family succeeds.

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