Ms. Marvel season 1 episode 5 recap & review: Time and Again

Episode 5 of Ms. Marvel focuses on Aisha and the story of how she met Kamala’s great-grandfather leading up to the partition. The episode is streaming on Disney+.

Recap

A brief history of the partition is shown explaining the religious tension that stood thanks to the British efforts. Then the scene shifts to 1942, where Aisha is running away from British officers with the bangle in her possession.

She walks into a village where a man named Hassan is speaking against British rule before the crowd is dispersed. She watches on with intrigue.

She spends the night under a tree on his farm and is awoken by him the next day. He asks her if she requires any assistance but she refuses. He tells her that his cottage is open to her in case she needs some food and a place to stay.

She accepts the offer and the two of them grow closer to each other, eventually starting a family with one another and bringing a child into the world.

As religious tensions grow, Hassan grows more frustrated with the situation but Aisha asks him to be patient. One night, Aisha sees Najma outside and goes out to speak to her.

Najma says that they’ve been looking for her for years and they would like to go home. Aisha says that she’s hidden the bangle and will need some time to get it.

The next day she begins packing all their things and tells Hassan that their home is not safe for Muslims anymore as the riots are getting closer. The two of them head to the train station along with their daughter Sana, who is Kamala’s Nani.

As they’re headed there Hassan asks her who they’re really running from and who was the woman she was speaking to the previous night. Aisha shows him the bangle and tells him that she is in fact magic.

There’s a horde of people at the station trying to get on the trains and Aisha worries for the safety of her daughter so she gives her the bangle and tells Hassan to make sure she gets on the train and she leaves them.

She finds Najma who accuses her of betraying her real family. Najma then stabs Aisha and says that she’ll do whatever it takes to find the bangle.

Hassan and Sana get separated in the crowd while Aisha is struggling with her wound. She clutches a picture of her with Hassan and Sana and says the words, “What you seek is seeking you”, and at that moment Kamala is pulled from her battle with Najma and flung into the past.

She sees Aisha and tells her she needs to get up and save Sana like in the stories but Aisha tells her it’s going to be alright because Kamala is here now and she can save her.

Kamala finds Sana and tries to help her find Hassan but she’s not able to wade through the crowd. She forms a platform of Noor and asks Sana to get on, slowly guiding her towards her father. As she gets close, Kamala is knocked over and the step breaks but remains as fragments for a few seconds.

Hassan sees the lights from the fragments and finds Sana and gets her onto the train. Kamala is immediately sent back to the present.

An opening in the veil shows up and Fariha tries to go through but is immediately killed. Kamala and Kareem try to get the civilians out of there while Najma watches the veil in awe.

Kamala begs her to help close it and go back to Kamran, but she believes she has already lost Kamran by abandoning him, so she says his name and walks through the veil. She dies too but she also managed to close the veil. A wave of energy leaves the veil and finds Kamran, giving him powers.

Kamala’s mother and Nani arrive and Kamala’s powers are finally revealed. She shows a more understanding side and the three of them make peace with each other given all that they have been through. Kamala says goodbye to Kareem, who gives her his scarf and wishes her good luck.

Kamran finds Bruno and asks if he can stay with him for a while. He insists that his mother is going to come to find him even though Bruno is less optimistic about that happening. Kamran suddenly sees a DODC drone and knocks it away with his new powers but the drone lets out a missile that blows up Bruno’s convenience store.

Review

  • The acknowledgement of the religious tensions and the actions of British rule in the Indian subcontinent lends an air of authenticity to the series. This episode focused on a relationship that blossomed during a real time period.
  • The pace of the episode does drag a little and doesn’t have the same kind of tone as the previous episodes causing it to be a little weaker.
  • Kamala’s transformation into Ms Marvel is slowly gathering pace and it’ll be interesting to see how the series ends by wrapping up any loose ends.
  • Najma and Fariha just disintegrating by touching the veil and then it closing while Kamran gets powers is something that needs to be explained and not conveniently accepted if the series is supposed to be taken seriously.

Rating: 2.5/5


Also Read: How did Kimiko get her powers back? Why did she want to be a Supe again?

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