Marvel’s Echo is here, with all five episodes now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu. The latest Marvel Cinematic Universe entry is the first to receive a TV-MA rating and the first under Marvel’s Spotlight banner, implying that fans don’t necessarily need to be up to date on all the happenings of the MCU.
After meeting her in Marvel’s Hawkeye, we rejoin Maya Lopez to learn more about her past and see what her future holds after her falling out with the infamous Kingpin. In the fourth episode, that all comes to a head as Maya is confronted by the Kingpin himself.
The episode opens with a flashback to 2008, as a young Maya tries to order some ice cream from a cart. The vendor doesn’t understand her signing and yells at Maya to use her words. Seeing this happen, Wilson Fisk tells Maya to wait in the car and he goes and attacks the vendor, pounding him into a bloody pulp in true Kingpin fashion. Seeing he is covered in blood, he makes a call for a new jacket because he doesn’t want Maya to see. His call is interrupted though when he notices Maya watching from a few feet away. As he tries to tell her not to be scared, she runs at the vendor and kicks him herself before she and Fisk walk away hand in hand.
We then jump ahead to 2021 to see Maya and Fisk having dinner together. Fisk explains that Maya is receiving her final lesson, but they’ll still have their usual Sunday family dinners. Fisk tells Maya the lesson is that they can only trust each other before he has the interpreter who has long been translating for them killed. It’s also worth noting that, with this occurring in the year 2021, we know that neither Maya nor Fisk were affected by the blip. Of course, we know that to be true of Maya thank to her witnessing her father’s murder at the hands of the Ronin in Hawkeye.
After the title sequence, we get back to present day and pick up where episode three left off. Fisk approaches Maya and she is now surrounded by his men. Some of them grab her and force something into her eye. Fisk shows her a new piece of technology that allows them to communicate without an interpreter. It’s clear Fisk doesn’t mean Maya any harm as he reveals that he has simply come for a family dinner, revealing a bag of food and a bottle of wine.
Maya takes Fisk into her house, with his men waiting outside, but she clearly does not trust him still. Fisk eventually proposes that Maya return to New York with him and she can take over his empire. He gives her time to think about it and hopes she will join him on his jet when leaves in a couple of days.
Maya tells Henry about her meeting with Fisk and seems to be at lest a little interested in his offer. Henry tells her Fisk has taken everyone he has ever cared about from him and warns Maya not to trust him again. Maya blames him for leaving her alone in New York in the first place, for which Henry apologizes.
As setup begins for the Choctaw Nation Powwow, Chula’s work is interrupted by another vision of her ancestors. We then see that Maya, who is still with Henry, is also have a vision at the same time. Maya black out and Henry takes her to see Chula because she knows she will have answers for her. When Maya sees where Henry has brought her, she is immediately angry with him but reluctantly agrees to go inside to speak with Chula.
Chula tells Maya about the story of her mother’s birth and how she also had visions of their ancestors. She explains that it was a matter of life and death and that their ancestors show up when they need them most. She also tells Maya that her mother had a gift as a healer and that the gifts of all of her ancestors still live inside her. Maya seems to accept this lesson but still holds a grudge against her grandmother for not being there for her as a child after the death of her mother.
Distraught after the emotional conversation with Maya, Chula revisits an old project of some sort and becomes emotional. Meanwhile, Biscuits looks over a junk yard and is offered the opportunity to take whatever he needs to fix Chula’s truck.
Maya visits Fisk in his local hotel room, holding him at gunpoint. Fisk makes no effort to stop her from killing but instead offers her a gift. Maya lowers her gun and opens it to find a hammer. Those who watched Daredevil will remember the gruesome scene in which Fisk murdered his father with this same hammer, the story of which Fisk tells Maya. He says he freed himself from his father in that moment and he hands Maya the hammer, telling her to free herself from him right now. Maya refuses and drops the hammer back on the table, leaving him alive and seemingly still considering his offer.
The next day, Maya gets on her motorcycle and leaves. We don’t know exactly where she’s going but we then see Fisk waiting on his jet when he is handed a phone. A man tells him they tailed Maya but lost her as it becomes clear she has turned down his offer. Enraged, Fisk stands and lets out a terrifying scream as he pounds his fists into the wall of the jet.
This episode provides everything Marvel fans could have wanted out of this series, short of the actual physical showdown between Maya and the Kingpin. The tension is off the charts as Vincent D’Onofrio once again brings the menacing villain to life, only to be matched step for step by an incredible performance by Alaqua Cox. This is the strongest episode of the series so far and it sets up what could be an epic finale.
All five episodes of Marvel’s Echo are now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.