Echo (TV Series)

 

I've reached the point in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) where I am picking and choosing which shows/movies I watch. No longer am I consuming the content simply because it is a part of the MCU. With that being said, I almost skipped this show because I don't have any attachment to the Echo character. However, once I learned that Daredevil and Wilson Fisk were going to be in the series, I decided to watch. I really like Charlie Cox as Daredevil and Vincent D'Onofrio as Fisk. Sadly, Daredevil was only in one scene in the entire series. Fisk, on the other hand, played a big role as the main villain in the series.

I found this show to be OK but generally not all that necessary. It was only 5 episodes long, which played a part in my decision to watch as well (i.e. it was a small time commitment). Echo's father is killed, a scene we previously saw in the Hawkeye series, and she learns that Fisk was behind his death. She shoots him in the face and flees New York to her homeland of Oklahoma, assuming he is dead but of course he survives the assault. Echo had been working for Fisk in New York, and her family is supporting Fisk through a shipping operation in Oklahoma. Echo seeks revenge, and gets it by planting a bomb on a train in Oklahoma that detonates once it arrives at a Fisk facility in NYC. Echo returning to Oklahoma brings all kinds of drama to her family in the small Oklahoma town because Fisk's goons are searching for her and her family doesn't want any trouble. This begs the question - Why return to Oklahoma to plant a bomb intended for a facility in NYC when you're already in NYC? It seems as if she goes way out of her way to achieve this revenge, while endangering her family. This is never fully explained and is somewhat bothersome, considering it is the main plot of the miniseries. 

Throughout the show, Echo experiences a series of flashbacks through the eyes of her ancestors. At the end of the mini-series, we learn that Echo's family is part of a mythical Native American tribe who can summon their ancestors to help them fight, possibly among other things. Summoning her ancestors allows them to collectively defeat Fisk and rid him from the Oklahoma town. This is the grand finale, but again, it isn't clear why they're there in the first place. Maybe this series is just a vehicle to explain Echo's powers which will be displayed in a later MCU project?

Echo communicates through sign language. I don't know anything about sign language, but I thought the communication with her family looked authentic. This was ruined, however, by Wilson Fisk's augmented reality sign language arms in the final episode. He communicated just fine with her earlier in the series using a translator. The addition of the augmented reality arms was just goofy. 

This is another MCU series that was just confusing to me. It wasn't bad, per se. The acting was good and I appreciated the exposure to sign language. A large portion of the plot seemed unnecessary and there was no character progression or development. I would've been fine with Fisk winning the battle as I still feel detached from Echo's character.