The following contains spoilers for Ms. Marvel Season 1, Episode 4, “Seeing Red,” now streaming on Disney+.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has hit a rough patch when it comes to television. Despite releasing six Disney+ series, the MCU can’t pin down the television formula. One of their most consistent issues is the franchise’s overuse of cliffhangers — a problem that is bringing Ms. Marvel down with it.
Cliffhangers aren’t new in MCU shows. WandaVision used this tactic every episode to keep viewers wondering if Wanda truly was behind the ever-changing decades in Westview. Vewers had an entire week to brew new theories… only to be disappointed when WandaVision avoided telling the truth every episode. This disappointment occurs in almost every MCU show — the series spends five episodes hinting that something worse and sinister is behind the chaos before the last episode lays the truth out in an overwhelming and stuffed hour.
Ms. Marvel is, unfortunately, suffering from this same malady. Season 1, Episode 2, “Crushed” was the first appearance of Aisha in one of Kamala’s visions, solidifying that sooner or later, Ms. Marvel would fill viewers in on Kamala’s connection to Aisha. The third episode headed towards telling her the truth, especially when the Djinn talked about Aisha “betraying them” — but it ended before giving more details. Season 1, Episode 4, “Seeing Red,” was supposed to be the tell-all installment told by Kamala’s grandmother Sana. But even Sana doesn’t know what happened… despite telling Kamala she’d learn everything when she arrived in Pakistan.
Episode 4 ended just as Kamala found herself in a vision of the train station at the Partition. At this point, it’s frustrating for Marvel to continuously dangle the carrot in front of viewers. Ms. Marvel only has two more episodes to go, and it’s moving slower than a sloth’s pace when telling Kamala’s origin story. Realistically, this entire plot can be wrapped up in just one sitting.
Ms. Marvel proves that Disney+’s Marvel ventures might work better if all the episodes release on one day. Disney+ shows can work this schedule in their favor. Most of the MCU shows, with the exception of Loki, aren’t slated to return for a second season. They’re miniseries with stories stretched far beyond their limits. To make up for the fact that these are just long movies broken up week by week, they deploy cliffhangers for shock value.
Ms. Marvel has by far a stand-out origin story within the MCU, but suffers from being an MCU story. What the series brings in heartfelt, personable content, it lacks in smooth pacing. The MCU just doesn’t know how to write television, and it never seems to learn from its past mistakes. No one was satisfied when Moon Knight constantly set up Jake Lockley’s introduction, only for him to end up being leftovers in the final post-credits scene. WandaVision‘s shtick got old and predictable. Ms. Marvel might be ending the cliffhanger curse by revealing Aisha’s past in Episode 5, but it’ll likely find another secret to cram into the final episode.
New episodes of Ms. Marvel stream Wednesdays on Disney+.