A place for Marvel/Star Wars Disney+ shows.

What a mess. And a tragic mess when you consider how charming Ms. Marvel was in its first few episodes. But last night's finale was a meaningless hodgepodge, utterly failing to capitalise on any organic buildup from within the series. It did have a couple of cool moments but mostly it felt like such an incoherent rush to the finish line it hit almost Benioff and Weiss levels.

Most of the series was written and directed by Muslim women but last night's script mysteriously came entirely from white guys with tiny imdb pages. As though someone at Disney panicked and said, "Oh no, we need white guys, any white guys will do!" Story credit goes to Will Dunn, apparently not the same Will Dunn who had a role in the Harry Potter movies, while the teleplay is by Dunn along with A.C. Bradley and Matthew Chauncey. A.C. Bradley wrote one episode of Arrow and he and Chauncey worked on an obscure cgi series called Tales of Arcadia. So in case you were worried about Disney's money, don't worry, they didn't spend very much of it on writers.

And where was series creator Bisha K. Ali? Well, one can hardly blame her for not returning to the finale for a show that by this point bears very little resemblance to the one she created. After only six episodes.

( Spoilery review behind the cut )

Ms. Marvel is available on Disney+.

I wonder if the title of last night's new Ms. Marvel, "Seeing Red", was meant as a nod to all the show's similarities to Turning Red. But the episode actually had less in common with that Pixar movie than previous episodes did. At its best, "Seeing Red" is kind of cosy. At its lowest points, it was a bit muddled and inert.

( Spoilery review behind the cut )

Ms. Marvel is available on Disney+.

Last night's Obi-Wan Kenobi was an improvement over previous episodes but still quite a few problems linger and a few more are introduced. Meanwhile, it was once again outshone by Ms. Marvel and the radiant Iman Vellani.

( Spoilery review for Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 5 behind the cut )



Meanwhile, on the second episode of Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan continues to be adorable. I want to see a team-up with her, Hawkeye 2, and Black Widow 2. I figure they could call themselves the Kitten Avengers. It's absurd Kamala is going to have to share a screen with Captain Marvel and Monica Rambo. That's like teaming Tom Cruise with D.B. Sweeney and Sam Worthington. It's like A+D+D.

( Spoilery review for Ms. Marvel episode 2 behind the cut )

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ms. Marvel are available on Disney+.