Marvel Studios’ first ever TV-MA series is here and fans of Netflix’s Daredevil are going to eat it up. Echo follows Maya Lopez after the events of Hawkeye and in the series premiere, “Chafa,” revenge is on the table for Maya and it’s going to be brutal. Let’s go!
How it Began | The story begins in a mystical cave of some kind, where a bunch of tattooed men and women emerge from pools of water right before the ceiling of the cave collapses on them and they wake up as normal people in a field. As it turns out, this was all a story of the first Native American Chocotaw people being told by a young girl named Bonnie to her cousin, a young Maya Lopez, in Tamaha, Oklahoma circa 2007. When Maya asks for hot chocolate, her mother tells her that they’re out and takes her to the store, but en route, the brakes in her car give out leading to a car wreck that impales Maya’s leg and kills her mom. Maya loses her leg, but her father William (Zahn McClarnon) takes her in and they move to New York City together.
How it Went | Flash forward to adult Maya (Alaqua Cox) witnessing Clint Barton as Ronin murder a group of people at her auto repair shop, including William, who dies in her arms. At his tombstone, she gets a text from Bonnie saying, “I’m here if you need me.” Maya’s next stop is a motorbike showroom, where she sends the bike flying into a cop car called to the scene. She is immediately arrested, but bailed out by none other than Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio), who relates to her losing a parent, but asks her to channel her rage into a job. She accompanies his men to a warehouse, where, in a four minute long take, Maya and the men take down a group of guys threatening Fisk’s territory- until Daredevil (Charlie Cox) arrives and takes on Maya himself. She holds her own against The Man Without Fear, but he escapes.
Her efforts impress Fisk, who keeps sending her on jobs over the years, until the events of Hawkeye, which are recapped up to the moment Maya shoots the wounded Fisk in the alley. Five months later, Maya drives her bike back to Oklahoma and to her childhood home. She breaks in using the key under the porch and stitches up her wounds with dental floss. She falls asleep one the couch and dreams of the tattooed people from the opening, before waking up to a man (Cody Lightning) entering the house, but she recognizes her and introduces himself as Cousin Biscuits. He is thrilled to see her again, but she insists that he not tell anyone else that she’s here.
How it’s Going | She watches Bonnie (Devery Jacobs) playing basketball with fellow paramedics, but doesn’t engage with her. Her next stop is a roller skating rink, where a guy named Vickie (Thomas E. Sullivan) is rude to her, but directs her to Henry (Chaske Spencer). He also texts someone about the bounty on Maya’s head for killing Fisk. Henry encourages Maya to talk to Bonnie, but she has other ideas- namely taking over Kingpin’s empire, since he has a shipping business in Oklahoma, but Henry refuses. Finally, we see Kingpin recovering in a hospital with an eyepatch.
All episodes of Echo are now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.