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Two childhoods soaked in blood. In episode 4 of Echo we dive into Maya’s (Alaqua Cox) past with Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio), some major ties to the Netflix Marvel series, her family drama and what she wants for her future. Flashback to 2008, one year after Maya and her father moved to New York City. After school young Maya is bullied by a street vendor. Fisk being the protective and short fused man he is, he beats this man senseless. Leaving his white suit covered in blood. Maya sees all of this unfold. Instead of being terrified, she kicks him. Showing Kingpin true violent potential waiting to be untapped. Cut to 2021 during the blip, Maya and Fisk have their weekly Sunday dinner. He says she is ready to move from the theoretical to the practical.
VIOLENCE WAS ALWAYS OUR LANGUAGE
Maya now stands face to face with Kingpin in the present day. He puts something in her eyes, contacts that display ASL automatically without the person having to sign. He wants to have Sunday dinner with her they used to, even though it’s a Tuesday. The tone makes you think Fisk is there to kill Maya, but he’s there to make her a deal.
Maya chats with her Uncle Henry (Chaske Spencer), he says he’s now alone because Kingpin killed everyone close to him to keep control. He will do the same with Maya if she takes the deal. Maya has another vision sending her into a trance like state. He brings her to her estranged Grandma Chula (Tantoo Cardinal) for help.
LIFTING THE PAIN OF OTHERS
Chula tells Maya that giving birth to her mother Taloa, was extremely difficult and almost fatal for both of them. Instead of trusting a traditional hospital, she went out in the woods surrounded by her sisters and put faith in their ancestors. As Maya described her visions to her, she realized what was happening. Generations of their ancestors echoing through Maya.
Chula reveals that Taloa’s dead broke their family. Taloa was a healer, and she thinks Maya can do the same now. She couldn’t bear to be around Maya because she reminded her too much of her mother. An incredibly emotional and moving scene that ends with Maya storming out. After she leaves Chula unveils an outfit she was tailoring, that likely will be for traditional armor for Maya. Reminiscent of how Kamala Khan’s mother made her suit for her in Ms. Marvel.
FORGING HER OWN PATH
Maya goes to Kingpin’s hotel to kill him once and for all. But before that can happen, he admits he failed her. He tells Maya about his childhood and shows her the infamous hammer that he used to kill his father and free himself from him. By sharing the most intimate part of himself, he is hoping that Maya will relate to her and realize he is the hero she thought he was when she was younger.
She wants an empire, he will give it to her if she goes back to New York City with him. Once again ripping her from her home and family for the sake of control and power. Waiting on his plane for Maya, she never shows. Leaving Fisk furious. Maya knows she needs to end the cycle of violence that once tore apart her family. Returning home and reconnecting with her spirituality and the ones she pushed away for so many years has given her a new lease on life. A new path for her to make her own.
