Weekend Watch: Echo, True Detective: Night Country
Native America meets both Marvel and frozen sleuthing
Image Credit: Disney+
Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, where I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, a deaf hero gets more detail and Jodie Foster turns detective. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite and Threads/Instagram: @jammerwhite
The signs and portents were not great for Echo, the latest TV series to roll off the Marvel/Disney+ production line. A spin-off from 2021’s Hawkeye, it was shot a while ago and has been through the tortuous process of re-editing, with Marvel brass trying to decide exactly what to do with it. The show arrives in one batch of episodes in the early, dark days of January and is encumbered with a new “Marvel Spotlight” branding, meaning it’s largely detached (but never completely) from the wider MCU.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that this was the superhero company, coming off a relatively disastrous 2023, looking to quietly dispose of something it no longer cares about. But while it’s far from a perfect series, Echo is actually worth watching, if only for the layers it aims to include beyond your average kicking-and-punching action series.
Just in case you weren’t aware, The show catches up with deaf amputee antihero Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox), introduced as part of Wilson Fisk’s (Vincent D’Onofrio) criminal empire in Hawkeye. Having discovered that it was Fisk who put a lethal hit out on her father, Maya shot him in the face and is now fleeing the retribution of his henchmen. When the journey brings her home to Oklahoma, she must confront her own family and legacy.
Watching the first episode of the show, you’d understandably wonder how it could be justified as siloed from the wider MCU, since it’s effectively both an origin story for Maya, a recap of what happened in Hawkeye and a chance to include a cameo from another Marvel character who has a history with Fisk/The Kingpin.
But once it actually gets down to the business of Maya’s own story, it becomes something more interesting. The creative team, which includes several indigenous writers and directors have infused the show with Choctaw history and spirituality, with Maya guided by ancestors who appear in stylised (and stylish) flashbacks dotted throughout the show. It’s a welcome way to bring a culture to the screen while also having it weaved organically into a character’s journey.
And Maya’s family –– her grandparents and various cousins –– bring plenty of drama and comedy to the series, with the likes of Graham Greene and seemingly half the cast of Reservation Dogs along for the ride.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Marvel show without set pieces, but here Echo sometimes stumbles. A train scene is hampered by dodgy effects, but a fight in a roller rink is much more effective. As the episodes go on (there are only five, which was another red flag about potential editing issues), and a certain character everyone knew would survive returns, things do get a little repetitive, as Maya confronts him more than once. It’s as if the writers were told they had to play by the Marvel rules in some way, since this is more violent than the usual PG-13 offerings from the company and has less of a quippy energy given its dour main character.
Still, Alaqua Cox proves she can handle this role, bringing a guarded charisma to screens and generating drama through sign language that is as effective as any spoken words. And when her character is called upon to be inventive, there was –– for me, at least –– a warm throwback to watching the likes of The A-Team and MacGyver.
Echo doesn’t completely work, but it’s far better than anyone expected. If you want your MCU outings without having watched 45 shows or movies previously (given the first episode’s exposition dump, you don’t even really need to have seen Hawkeye to at least get the gist), this could be one for you.
All episodes of Echo are on Disney+ now.
Image Credit: HBO
Following a successful and zeitgeisty first season way back in 2014, True Detective found itself scrambling to keep up. A benighted second and solid but unremarkable third season saw creator Nic Pizzolatto trying without success to re-invent the show in new settings.
As it turns out, the secret to making it work was to hand it over to someone else and try something really interesting in terms of locale. For the fourth season, subtitled Night Country, new showrunner Issa López (who wrote or co-wrote most of the season and directed the whole thing) has pulled off something audacious and fascinating.
In Ennis, Alaska, the sun sets on December 17 and won’t rise again until after the New Year. On the third day of night, police chief Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) is called to the scene of a strange maybe-crime: the Tsalal Arctic Research Station, home to eight scientists who spend their days investigating arctic biology, geology, and the impacts of climate change.
But when Danvers arrives, all eight are missing. They’ve left behind their access passes, their cell phones, an uneaten sandwich; it’s as if the entire group has simply vanished into thin air. To solve the case, Detectives Danvers and Navarro (Kali Reis) will have to confront the darkness themselves and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice.
Night Country proves to be a huge win for team True Detective. López brings real style, grit and authenticity to the show, and the Alaskan location, with its chilly night scenes and sparkling snow plains, is the perfect backdrop to this murky, melancholic mystery.
Jodie Foster plays the hell out of a world-weary detective just trying to cling to some semblance of family while realising that her sharp wits and full-bore refusal to suffer fools distances her from everyone around her, which cuts even more deeply in a small community such as Ennis.
Around her, the ensemble is strong, from the likes of Reis as her main partner (unwilling thanks to something that happened on an earlier case they investigated) to her frustrated boss/occasional hook-up Ted Corsaro, memorably brought to life by Christopher Eccleston.
There is not a false note among the cast, and the native elements of the show are vivid and far from just window dressing. I’m going to go ahead and say it now: Night Country will end up on my Best Of list by the end of the year. A bold claim, but one I’m confident will stick.
True Detective launches with its first episode on Sunday 14 January on HBO/Max in the US and Sky Atlantic/NOW on Monday 15 January. I’ve seen the whole season.