Ms. Marvel – Crushed

By starrymag | June 21, 2022

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

It’s time for school and Kamala (Iman Vellani) is feeling confident. She corrects a teacher who has been saying her name wrong for years. She asserts herself with some jocks who’ve put her in the middle of their hallway basketball games. And she even tells the couple who block her locker every morning that their PDA can wait for her to get her books. Then, she bumps into a cute British boy she’s never met as he’s new to the school. Unfortunately, she also bumps into Bruno (Matt Lintz), a boy she is very familiar with.

 

They catch up and we learn a few things. 1) Kamala can’t fly and 2) Zoe (Laurel Marsden) has milking her Avenger’s Con near death experience for all it’s worth. Nakia (Yasmeen Fletcher) is thoroughly unimpressed. Kamala isn’t wild that not realizing it was her, Zoe has dubbed her superhero alter-ego Night Light. It’s a safe assumption that a superhero fangirl like Kamala probably wanted to pick her own name, but Bruno says he thinks a secret identity is the best route.

 

Zoe tells her classmates to celebrate not dying and getting to a million followers because she posted the video of “Night Light” saving her, she’s throwing a party. Because Zoe’s friendship with Kamala, Bruno, and Nakia is a relic of the past none of them want to go. But then Kamran (Rish Shah), the new kid Kamala bumped into, says he’s going. So now, of course, Kamala’s all for the party.

 

Later Bruno and Kamala try to gauge her powers a little better. To recap, Kamala is not super strong. She’s also not super fast. But Bruno finds that Kamala’s power isn’t from the bangle exactly. It’s coming from inside her. This raises more questions than it answers though. Bruno says the bangle just unlocked the superhuman part of her. So far all they know for sure is that she shoots light from her hands and it hardens.

 

After the training montage it’s time to go to the mosque with Nakia, but it’s a little frustrating. The mosque is divided into two sections, one for men and the other for women. The women’s side is pretty rough. Their restroom is falling apart and their carpets have mold. Nakia and Kamala lament how unfair it is that the men’s section is near perfect. There’s a mosque board election coming up and Kamala thinks Nakia should be the one who fills the vacant seat. Nakia has a lot of ideas, but she thinks that a man named Rasheed (Iyad Hajjaj) is the favorite to win. However, Kamala thinks that Nakia is the change they need. Nakia says she’ll consider it, but only if Kamala’s her campaign manager.

 

At home Kamala apologizes to her mother (Zenobia Shroff) and they sort of mend fences. Her mother still doesn’t completely understand her daughter’s interests, but tells her that she just wants her to stay safe. Kamala says she understands and even manages to get permission to go to Zoe’s party.

 

The party is pretty typical. There’s music, vodka and OJ and the expected amount of chaos. But Kamala, Nakia, Bruno and Miguel (Matthew Vasquez) are feeling a little out of their depth. Nakia’s ready to leave, but then Kamran comes out of the pool. The girls, thinking he’s dreamy, decide they’ll stay. Unfortunately, someone thought the party was too loud and called the cops. When the party goers hear the sirens they get freaked out, but Kamran offers up his car to Kamala and company.

 

In the car ride a few things become clear. 1) Kamala has a crush on Kamran. 2) Bruno doesn’t like that Kamala’s crushing on Kamran. He interrupts every time two discover they’ve got something in common. But in the end while dropping everyone off he asks Kamala for her number and says he’s free to help her practice driving anytime. Kamala is thrilled, but Bruno not so much.

 

The next day it’s time for History class. Nakia is annoyed that they spend weeks on the ancient Greeks and Romans, but by comparison they only spend minutes on ancient Persia. Kamala might be inclined to agree with Nakia’s rant about history being written by the oppressors, but then Kamala’s nose starts glowing. Not wanting anyone to see she bolts to the bathroom. Nakia assumes it’s just her period, but Kamala says she’s just wishing everything wasn’t changing so fast.

 

Kamala feels like Nakia’s better at navigating all the changes; however, Nakia reassures her it’s not as easy as it looks. She tells her that between the hijab and her lack of heterosexuality her parents barely look at her these days. Then explains she started to wear a hijab hoping to feel less othered. But now, she just feels like it’s a part of her. It makes her feel like she has a purpose. On an unrelated note she brought supplies. Meaning a change of clothes and some earrings for Kamala’s driving session with Karam.

 

Speaking of changes, Bruno learns that he got into CalTech’s early immersion program next semester. He got a scholarship to live in the dorms and take classes in sunny California. He doesn’t seem excited to leave New Jersey though. The guidance counselor (Jordan Fistman); however, tells him that this is a great opportunity for him. He says Bruno needs to take it.

 

After school Bruno wants to talk to Kamala and do some training, but she’s got driving plans with Karam. Still, she asks him if he can come to Eid with her family. She thinks it’ll be a good opportunity to learn more about the bangle since her mother doesn’t want to talk about it.

 

The driving session goes pretty well. Kamala and Karam learn that they both like a lot of the same movies. They grab lunch, but then she’s horrified when they run into Aamir (Saagar Shaikh) and his fiance Tyesha (Travina Springer). It’s about as awkward as you’d expect, although, somehow Karam is able to convince Aamir they are actually relatives and not on a date.

 

Later at dinner we learn that Aamir, who is now very devout, went through an emo phase.  Tyesha finds the idea of her future husband all decked out in clothes from Hot Topic very funny. But Yusuf (Mohan Kapoor) said that’s why they came to the states, so their kids could be anything they wanted. More on that, Yusuf’s family is from Pakistan. But Muneeba’s family only moved there after the Partition. The Partition was when the British divided India into two separate countries: India and Pakistan. This led to a major refugee crisis and a civil war. “The British left us with a big mess,” Muneeba says.

 

There are a lot of sad stories and Muneeba understandably doesn’t like talking about it. However, when she leaves the table Yusuf decides to tell one with an unusual ending. A long time ago when Sana, Muneeba’s mother’s family was leaving for the train Sana got separated from her family. She was only a toddler and they were terrified they’d lost her. But then the little girl appeared just before it left. When she was asked what happened, she said she followed a trail of stars back to her father. At first glance this might sound like playing pretend, but could the stars be connected to Kamala’s energy blasts?

 

At any rate, once the story is over her bangle stars glowing and she faints. While she’s under she sees a figure bathed in light reaching out to her. Then she comes to and is surrounded by her very worried family.  After dinner she calls her grandmother and tries to get some answers. She learns that the bracelet belonged to her mother Aisha. Aisha disappeared during the Partition. But she can’t really answer any of Kamala’s questions because Kamala’s mother would get very upset.

 

The next day Kamala tries learning more about her great-grandmother before Eid. The one that Muneeba refuses to talk about. Muneeba says “that woman” brought shame on their entire family. She says she had to move around the world just to escape it. Kamala says her mother told her to focus on herself and she argues that trying to learn more about her family counts. However, her mom makes it clear that she’s not going to tell her what her great-grandmother did that was so terrible.

 

The family plus Bruno go to an Eid celebration and they are on mission. Well, two missions. Nakia is campaigning for that board seat and Bruno and Kamala are hoping that they can find an auntie chatty enough to tell her the truth about her great-grandmother. Nakia manages to sway some people, but the board’s always been older and pretty male. It might be an uphill battle, but she’s determined. The stories about Aisha though are mostly just idle gossip about second families and affairs, nothing mystical that can explain Kamala’s new powers. Although, Kamala learns that there’s a rumor her great-grandmother killed someone during Partition.

 

In an undisclosed location Zoe is being questioned. She assumes she’s in trouble about the party, but the agents want to know about the enhanced individual she encountered. Zoe is confused when they assume the enhanced person tried to kill her yet she explains she saved her life. Then, agents Deever (Alysia Reiner) and Cleary (Arian Moayed) ask a bunch of leading questions to gauge the enhanced person’s identity. Zoe doesn’t answer the questions, but they feel they know enough to go looking for the enhanced person in temples and mosques.

 

After the lobbying things take a turn. There’s a little boy (Ishan Gandhi) who climbs to the top of a tower for selfies. This was a terrible idea because the kid loses his footing and ends up hanging off the edge. The boy’s screaming for the edge and Kamala goes up as Night Light. She tries to distract the kid by asking him about his favorite food. It’s close, but Kamala catches him using her energy blasts. Unfortunately, though, there’s a wrinkle. It seems that someone from an astral plane is trying to connect with Kamala. The appearance of a woman breaks her focus and she nearly drops the boy, but thankfully manages to break his fall with her powers. He’s still walking away with a possibly sprained ankle though.

 

Kamala panics and runs away. She comes face to face with a drone and the agents decides to keep running. Then, a car appears with Karam inside. He introduces her to his mother and she says they’ve been looking for her for a long time.