Episode 4 of Ms. Marvel focuses on Kamala visiting Pakistan to see her grandmother and learn more about the power that she’s holding within her. The episode is streaming on Disney+.
Recap
Kamala travels to Pakistan with her mother and is received by her cousins and Nani when they arrive. Kamala stumbles upon her Nani’s artwork and marvels over it when her Nani walks in.
She tells her about how the only way she knew how to preserve her memories of that time was to create something with them. Kamala then brings up the topic of the bangle and asks her Nani why she sent it to Kamala.
Nani says that the bangle is trying to send her a message, and that she had to come to Pakistan to come figure it out. Kamala spends the next day seeing the sights with her cousins. She tells them that she wants to visit the train station so they let her do her thing.
While she’s at the station, she’s attacked by someone around her age who covers his face with a red scarf. He realizes that she’s not a Clandestine and she realizes he knows of her great grandmother, meaning they’re probably on the same side.
He takes her to a secret base where another man introduces himself as Waleed and says that he and the boy, Kareem, are part of the Red Daggers, a group of vigilantes that protect their brethren from the unseen and specialize in throwing knives.
Waleed explains where her great-grandmother and the Clandestines arrived from and how the Noor dimension is somehow linked to their own. He also tells Kamala that the clandestines aim to open the boundary between dimensions and let their people take over.
At a DODC holding facility, the Clandestines are being transported to their cells when they manage to fight back and escape but they leave Kamran behind because he already betrayed them once.
Kamala’s mother and Nani get some time just to themselves and they have a disagreement over how things were for them in the past. Kamala spends some time with Kareem and his friends and gets to experience some peaceful moments.
Kamala is training at the Red Daggers hideout when the Clandestines attack. Waleed briefly holds them off until he can escape with Kamala and Kareem. The Clandestines chase them through the streets of Karachi.
Kareem and Kamala manage to evade the others for quite a while but are cornered after Najma kills Waleed, but not before he can take out Saleem.
Kareem and Kamala face off with Aadam, Fariha and Najma and when Aadam is killed by Kareem, Najma attacks Kamala in anger and flings her blade straight into the bangle.
A wave of energy washes over and Kamala finds herself transported back to the past, specifically to the train station at the time of partition between India and Pakistan.
Review
- Episode 4 takes the opportunity to really show off the beauty and culture of Pakistan. There is a nice fusion between traditional beauty and the modern influences weaving through.
- Exploring what Kamala’s grandmother went through because of the partition and questioning her own identity because of her roots shows people what an entire generation must have actually gone through back in that time and how it affected so many millions.
- The family dynamics are another standout of the series, seeing how Kamala gets along with her mother despite their shaky moments and then Kamala’s mother’s relationship with Nani is yet another facet that touches at the core of how some families go through in life.
- The series has been so vivid and vibrant throughout and while the initial episodes did focus on special effects from time to time, this episode focused more physical beauty of the streets of Karachi.
Rating: 3/5
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