After watching the latest episode of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, I stumbled across a new series titled ‘Echo’. Based on the cover alone, I was intrigued, and then I just about lost it when I saw it was a female-led action drama. This miniseries follows Maya Lopez, a deaf-born, skilled fighter who has an impressive ability of mimicry. She can pick up on different fighting styles just by observing, which makes her quite the opponent. Interestingly enough, Maya’s skills have been put to use by no one other than, Wilson Fisk, also known as Kingpin. As a young girl, Maya saw Fisk as a family friend, given the business partnership between her father and Fisk. After losing her father, Maya was taken in by Fisk and they developed a close bond. She refers to him as ‘uncle’.
The present story unfolds years later, as Maya’s affinity for Fisk crumbles when she uncovers his true motives and retaliates. With Fisk’s network of men in pursuit, Maya flees and seeks refuge in her hometown of Tamaha, Oklahoma. Upon returning to her ancestral land, she receives visions and discovers new ways to confront the chaos that is about to unfold in her small town. Fearless as ever, Maya welcomes the danger and takes bold steps to send Fisk a message.
Kingpin had his run, it’s time for a Queen.
MAYA lopez
5-Episode Review
Honest opinion? I loved it. An afternoon was all I needed to binge the series, and I found Maya’s story to be very fresh, dark, and violent. Her combat skills were exciting to watch, I absolutely love when female characters are in action roles like this. Of course, being both deaf and an amputee presented some challenges, but Maya overcame them in interesting ways. One of the highlights for me was when we’d get her point of view, with the sound drowning out. Stepping into her shoes for those lively scenes gave a lot of perspective, and even more reason to appreciate her skills. Maya’s story is truly fascinating and rich with authentic Native culture, the Choctaw history is so captivating, I literally got chills. Seeing everything slowly tie together in the end left me amazed, I genuinely can’t wait to see what’s next for her.
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Although I loved ‘Echo’, there were a few things that bothered me during my watch. Some moments felt weirdly paced and rushed, and it’s especially noticeable in the first episode. An additional episode (or 3…) would’ve been great for better flow and more insight. Especially on the progression of Fisk and Maya’s relationship, and more backstory on her father. Witnessing her father’s relationship with Fisk, how he felt about Maya seeing him as her uncle, and what he wanted for Maya’s future, etc., would’ve been helpful to the story. 6-8 episodes couldn’t hurt, right?
Another thing that felt unclear was Maya’s motivations for wanting to become ‘Queenpin’ and take over Fisk’s operation. It didn’t make sense to me, and honestly just wasn’t plausible. YOU? Become FISK? I’m glad it was squashed, but like… what was that about? I support antagonists/villains over here but I’m glad her story went a different direction. If she continued to seek Kingpin’s position it would’ve been bad for her, I fear. Her comic books are foreign to me, but apparently, she never wanted to be Kingpin, so I wonder why they entertained it here. It was a nice one liner, I’ll give them that.
Surprisingly, this series changed my view of Fisk for the better. I hated him on Daredevil BAD, but after this series I have this sort of ‘respect’ for him? His power and command never impressed me before, I just found it annoying and felt bad for Matt, but now I admire it. Witnessing his relationship with Maya and getting a sense of his empathy and motivations made him more likeable to me. Like yeah, go ahead beat up that ice-cream man! Lol. After the ‘Echo’ finale, his storyline reminds me of Joker on the ‘Harley Quinn Animated Series’. The ‘evil villain becomes beloved town mayor and savior’ trope. (totally common) I hope they actually go through with it, it’d be hilarious and cool to see. So, I guess I have a love-hate relationship with Fisk, and right now he’s chill. I’m no longer calling him humpty dumpty, he’s alright.
ALSO, last thing I swear— Maya’s powers reminded me so much of Avatar! (Avatar: The Last Airbender) It was so awesome seeing her ancestors take over and WHOOP some ass. And I love that she healed Fisk instead of killing him; similar to how Aang took away Fire Lord Ozai’s power in order to defeat him. In a way, Fisk’s power is his trauma, and since he’s now interested in becoming Mayor and being ‘for the people’, we can assume Maya’s healing powers worked. At least partly. I think it was a super cool and amazing way to conclude the series.
Not only did ‘Echo’ provide us with great insight on the history and culture of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, but their community was largely included in the process. In an industry that rarely credits Indigenous people and their stories, this is something I can appreciate. ALSO, I’m highly impressed with Alaqua Cox. Her performance was excellent, and her interviews on the press tour warmed my heart. So lovely!
