Ms. Marvel – No Normal

By starrymag | July 20, 2022

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

We open the episode with Kamala (Iman Vellani) and Muneeba (Zenobia Shroff) back home. They’ve just returned from the airport and Muneeba is showing Aamir (Saagar Shaikh), Yusuf (Mohan Kapur) and Tyesha (Travina Springer) the souvenirs she got for them. Then ,Kamala informs the family that she’s got an announcement to make…She’s the light girl. She tells them and no one’s surprised. Amir says it’s simple because Kamala told Muneeba, Muneeba told Yusuf and Yusuf never turns off his speaker phone, so the newlyweds heard him.

 

Aamir trolls her about dropping the kid at Eid, but all and all the family is taking the news that Kamala is a superhero pretty well. But her dad’s worried and says just because she has powers doesn’t mean she should go looking for trouble. Kamala responds that they didn’t exactly raise her to do nothing. Then, Nakia (Yasmeen Fletcher) calls and tells Kamala that Bruno’s house blew up and she hasn’t seen him all day.

 

In her room Kamala is calling Bruno (Matt Lintz) and preparing to go look for him herself when her mother comes in. Muneeba tells Kamala she’s not going anywhere dressed like that and gives her a costume she had made. With her new look Kamala heads out to find Bruno.

 

Speaking of that, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that Bruno and Kamran (Rish Shah) did survive the blast. The bad news is with his bruised ribs Kamran is having a lot of trouble controlling his powers. Bruno tries to reassure him that Kamala had similar issues, but this is making laying low kind of hard.  So, they head to the mosque and ask Nakia for help. At first, she says no, but then Bruno says that houses of worship are supposed to be a sanctuary. She reminds him that it’s a mosque and they’re in America, so #islamophobia, and they’re constantly being surveilled. Nakia does offer them an alternative though: they go to the High School, which’ll be empty because it’s Saturday and she’ll try to distract Damage Control.

 

However, Damage Control arrives before they can leave. Agent Deever (Alysia Reiner) comes in with a warrant and searches the mosque, but Sheikh Abdullah (Laith Nakli) points out the description, a man who’s “Arab” or “Pakistani” is a pretty broad description in a mosque.  The folks there cover for Bruno and Kamran while Deever and the other agents look around and after some skill evasion Damage Control decides to look elsewhere. Ultimately, Sheikh Abdullah gives Bruno and Kamran disguises and sends them on their way with some advice about not treating people as badly as they’ve treated them.

 

On their way to the school, they run into Kamala. They’re happy to see her and comment on her new outfit. Then, they bring her up to speed on what’s been happening. Kamran is still having a lot of trouble controlling her powers, so they decide to get off the street. In the meantime, Kamala gives Kareem a call and arranges for him to get out of the city. They get to the school and find Nakia there. Kamala apologizes for keeping secrets from her. Nakia is a little mad and explains that she tells Kamala everything and Kamala didn’t tell her anything about her powers.

 

Kamala reminds Nakia that she hates superheroes and thought The Light Girl was causing problems for their community. She just didn’t want Nakia to hate her. Nakia says she could never hate Kamala. The mending of fences is interrupted when Bruno informs the group that Damage Control is outside. Therefore, now they’ve got to talk about how they’re getting out of this mess. Kamala and Kamran are feeling noble and say since they’re the ones with the powers, so they’ll give themselves up and the rest of them will be okay.

 

However, Nakia and Bruno say they’re involved in this too. They feel invested on the account of the invaded mosque and blown-up apartment. That’s when Zoe (Laurel Marsden) comes out of the shadows and says she resents that they tried to trick her into giving Kamala up. If you’re confused about why Zoe is there so are Nakia, Kamran, Bruno and Kamala. She explains that she uses the school to film her TikToks on the weekends because the theater has good lighting.  Anyway, she appreciates that Kamala saved her at Avengers Con and would like to help.

 

They find an empty classroom and decide to make a Home Alone play. They’re going to set up a bunch of traps and distractions in the school while Kamala gets Kamran out. Aamir thinks this is a great plan. Why is he here? He climbed through the bathroom window because their mom asked him to look after Kamala. Kamala is annoyed because she doesn’t think superheroes need babysitters. He says to take it up with their mother.

 

Everyone wears red hoodies so they’re harder to tell apart. Bruno and Kamala have chemistry supplies to use. Nakia gets the fire extinguishers. Zoe is going to grab some softballs. They know they can’t really stop Damage Control, so they’re stalling. This includes mobilizing Zoe’s online following.

 

Deever calls Agent Cleary (Arian Moayed) and tells him they’re closing in on enhanced individuals. Deever says that doing this by surrounding a high school is attracting negative publicity. Cleary doesn’t like the optics, so he tells her to evacuate, but Deever ignores him and asks for additional units.

 

Before the action a few talks happen. Kamala tells Bruno about her standoff with Najma in Pakistan and the two agree to hold off on telling Kamran that his mom and the rest of his family are dead. Zoe and Nakia talk a little and it seems like Zoe worked out that Kamala was the one who saved her a while back and that she just opted not to tell. Nakia says discretion isn’t her usual style, but Zoe said she thought Kamala should get to decide when the world knew about her. And then there’s Aamir and Kamran. Aamir says he’s only helping him because he trusts Kamala’s judgment.

 

The agents storm the building, weapons and all, so it’s time for all the traps. There’s a wave of foam from the science lab. A few smoke bombs are next that get them all turned around. Zoe tells her following what’s happened and asks them to come to school to help. They use the softball machine to pelt the agents and distract them with dancing and bike riding, but the game of hide and seek can only go on for so long as Kamran is still injured.

 

Ultimately, one by one Aamir, Bruno, Zoe and Nakia are captured. Thankfully, Kamala and Kamran are on their way out. Kamran has some questions about the contact that’s going to get him out of the city and guesses that it’s the Red Daggers. He doesn’t think he’ll be safe with them because they’ve been fighting his family for decades, which raises another question, where are The Clandestines?

 

Before she can answer that the agents interrupt them. It comes via them breaking in through the windows and knocking Kamala and Kamran over. Either due to the pain or his pent-up frustration Kamran throws an energy blast at the agents, but Kamala uses her own powers to block it.  Kamala then tells him the condensed version of what happened to his mother – the fight, the veil, and the sacrifice. Kamran takes off down the hallway.

 

When they talk about it, Kamala says Najma was trying to destroy everything. But Kamran says they were trying to save their world and home. An angry Kamran confronts the agents and gets into a battle of wills and powers with Kamala who won’t let him kill them. He then heads outside and faces more armed agents. They point guns at him, and his eyes and hands start glowing.

 

The agents are ready to shoot him, but then Kamala jumps out of the window and throws up a shield to protect him. That works but then Deever orders them to use a cannon, which breaks through her shield. It’s worth noting that there’s a crowd by now, which includes Kamala’s parents and neighbors.

 

Kamala enlarges her hands and feet and gets shot some more. Kamran fights with more agents as well. He ends up throwing a car at Deever but he overshoots and it nearly hits the crowd, but Kamala uses her giant hand to catch it. The crowd is a big fan of this; however, Agent Deever picks up a gun and aims it at Kamran who then releases a wave of destructive energy.  Kamala tries to reason with Kamran again. She puts a bubble around them and tells him that his mother sacrificed herself to save him. He tells her to look around as they’ll never be accepted. They can never be normal. Kamala explains there is no normal; they just have to do their best with what they have.

 

He decides to listen, and Kamala tells him he has to run and get to the Harbor to meet the Red Daggers. This would put Kamala in Damage Control’s crosshairs, but the crowd forms a human barricade and have been recording the whole thing. Thankfully, Kamala able to make a run for it. And Deever gets an angry call from Cleary. Apparently attacking a school full of teens was a bad look and he’s not wild about the disregard for his orders, so he says she’s relieved of her duties.

 

We fast forward a few days and Kamala has been trending online in a good way. Kamran got to Pakistan and left Bruno his car. Bruno is headed off to Caltech and he’s saying his goodbyes to Nakia and Kamala, but before he goes, he leaves Kamala with a recent discovery. Aamir wanted to know if he had powers too, so Bruno did some blood work again and he found a mutation in Kamala’s blood. As he says that the 90s X-Men theme song plays in the background.

 

Later, Kamala has a nice talk on the roof with her father and she learns a few things. For starters, her parents tried for years to have a second child, but they were worried it wouldn’t happen and then there was Kamala. Her father explains that the word “Kamal” means wonder or marvel in Urdu. He gives her the idea for the superhero name Ms. Marvel.

 

Kamala goes off to watch the city from the top of a lamppost. Later, at home Kamala is on her bed and her mom is reminding her that even superheroes have to do their science homework. She’s fiddling with her bracelet and then there’s a flash of light and she disappears. In her place is a very confused Carol Danvers, the Captain Marvel (Brie Larson).