This review contains full spoilers for episode four of Ms. Marvel, "Seeing Red", now available to view on Disney+. To remind yourself of where we left off, check out our Ms. Marvel episode 3 review.
Home is where the heart is, or so the popular idiom goes, but Ms. Marvel proves it isn’t as straightforward. In this week’s fourth episode, Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) and her mother Muneeba (Zenobia Shroff) fly to Pakistan for a long overdue family reunion, which leads to an enlightening experience for the Khans and the audience alike. It is another eventful, entertaining episode that packs in world-building mythology alongside an exploration of historical events that caused a real-life rupture, and Ms. Marvel continues to surprise with its capacity to juggle both story threads.
Academy Award-winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy immediately captures the teenager’s overwhelmed yet excited state as she experiences Karachi, the home her parents left decades before. Jersey City is the only home Kamala has ever known, and removing her from the familiar takes the teenager further out of her comfort zone. Even though she isn’t entirely comfortable in her own skin in the United States, her friendships keep her grounded, and Kamala has some semblance of who she is. A fractured identity runs in the family, and moving Kamala away from her support group enables Ms. Marvel to continue digging into the rupture that led to this concept of the divided self.
The family reunion with Sana (Samina Ahmed) is joyous but not without tension. There is more than one elephant in the room as Kamala has questions for her nani about the bracelet, whereas Muneeba still harbors resentment. All three generations have unresolved issues that add to the emotional weight of “Seeing Red.”
Comments about Muneeba’s past rebellious streak prove how much closer she is to her daughter than either of them realizes. Her relationship with Sana is particularly revelatory as years of animosity spill out while Muneeba tidies her mother’s house from all its clutter. Shroff has stood out throughout this first season, and this MVP status is emphasized further during this emotional conversation. Ahmed is equally as powerful in a scene detailing why Muneeba wanted to move to the US — and why she now wants to reconnect.
It is refreshing that Sana isn’t depicted as an all-knowing, wise elder with all the answers. Instead, she paints a portrait (quite literally) of their family’s fractured heritage and how moving to the US further splintered this concept of home and identity. Later, she talks about the events of the Partition concerning her fractured identity and how she is still trying to figure out who she is after all this time. Borders define a country’s boundaries, but it is not as clear for the citizens on either side of the line. It continues to feel rather radical that an MCU series on Disney+ is tackling a traumatic historical event like this. “There is a border marked with blood and pain. People are claiming their identity based on an idea some old Englishman had when they were fleeing the country,” Sana tells Kamala. This description underscores the horror inflicted — and pain it is still causing.
It isn’t simply a history lesson dished out in digestible chunks; there is a link to the threats posed to the MCU version of the world. Parallels are to be expected, and in this case, the Djinn want Kamala’s bracelet so they can break the veil between dimensions. Bollywood multi-hyphenate Farhan Akhtar has the task of delivering all of this exposition in his role as Waleed. With the aid of a rather techy diorama, he sells the impending danger. Waleed is part of the Red Daggers (Kamala is right; they do sound like a Pakastani boy band), and their task is to “protect our people from threats of the unseen.”.
The introduction of another group of warriors adds to the jam-packed story but also offers some levity. Flirtatious sparring between Red Daggers member Kareem (Aramis Knight) and Kamala suggests he is another potential love interest, and this is enhanced by Vellani and Knight’s effortless, crackling chemistry. They both tease each other, and there is an element of a normal teenage hangout before the Djinn breaks up the fun. As fighting partners, they are a strong team, and at this point, I have to say, ‘Kamran, who?’ (Sorry, Kamran!)
An ambush sets in motion the episode's big set-piece, and the fight scenes capture the scale of the market location — and the city rooftops — while depicting the closed-in narrow streets and eventual dead-end in which Kamala and Kareem find themselves. Director Obaid-Chinoy cut her teeth in documentary filmmaking (for which she won two Oscars) and her eye for details during this frenetic confrontation elevates the sequence further.
This fantastic, colorful sequence is in contrast to the nighttime DODC supermax prison breakout, which is a goofy moment primarily because of how terrible the DODC are at their job. This might be the point to show how ineffectual this government agency is, but it is the one scene that doesn’t mesh with the rest of the otherwise wonderfully balanced “Seeing Red.”
Color is also mostly absent in the final sequence, aside from Kamala’s red and blue ensemble (a significant nod to her get-up in the comic). Costume designer Arjun Bhasin successfully weaves references to the source material with how clothing makes Kamala feel out of place in Karachi. The fact she wears jeans means they can’t sit inside at a restaurant and must endure the heat, and her t-shirt gives away that she is American to Kareem. Kamala also has plenty of jokes ready about the red scarf worn by her new fighting partner, and this color links the pair. “History in every thread of this fabric,” Waleed tells Kamala about her new garment that looks exceptional.
Unfortunately for Kamala, she is the only one thrust back to the chaotic scene at the train station in 1947 when families desperately tried to stay together after the British divided the country. When Kamla’s dad first referenced the train story, I had no idea it would become so integral to the overall plot. So far, showrunner Bisha K. Ali has done a terrific job of threading the mythological story with the painful (and very real) past, and Obaid-Chinoy captures the scale of this horrifying moment, which has mostly been ignored by mainstream Western cinema and television.
What Kamala’s role will turn into as she faces her family’s journey head-on is unclear, but there is a chance that she is the one who saved her nani from getting lost on the train platform when she was a toddler. It is quite the cliffhanger and one that packs a powerful image. Russian Doll recently used a train time-traveling device to address generational trauma, and Ms. Marvel is proving there is a lot more steam in this journey.
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