What if the MCU created an all new hero? Sure, that's not the title, but it should've been.
Starting off, this episode opened with What if’s traditionally bleak style: we are shown the destruction of Asgard by Surtur (previously seen in Thor: Ragnorok), that sends a fragment of the Tesseract to Earth. Some unknown time later we pick up with Kahhori, an adventurous young woman who, along with her younger brother Wáhta, ventures to visit a cursed lake. At the same time their village is attacked by Spanish conquistadors who are searching for that same lake that the invaders believe is the Fountain of Youth.
The action moves forward quickly, and Kahhori ends up being shot and falls into the lake, where she sinks to the bottom and is pulled through a familiar looking blue portal. Instead of space, she ends up in another world, that her people call Skyworld. Of course she passes out, and when wakes up she’s fully healed and safe in a community full of wonders and people thought lost. She then meets Atahraks, who is kind of her friend with slightly romantic hints, but this story has no time for real character growth or romance.
Atahraks immediately explains that the world Kahhori finds herself in has been infused with the power of the portal, allowing incredible powers and eternal youth. The catch is she can never go home, because the portal is in the sky and unreachable. We get the familiar montage of the hero doggedly trying and failing to get home, and then she is asked to join a hunt with Atahraks and some of the other villagers. This brings us to the first big hero moment in the episode, where the tribe villagers are running down a herd of absolutely massive buffalo-looking beasts with blue crystals lining their backs. These crystals serve some purpose to the villagers, and they each manage to harvest some of the crystals.
If this had been longer form, Kahhori might’ve failed in this first hunt, but instead her powers are shown to grow exponentially, and she is able to run faster and perform spectacular feats of telekinesis, flipping one of the beasts over her head and harvesting dozens of crystals to the awe of the rest of the villagers. It is some really cool eye candy, but lacks a bit of depth given how quickly our hero has progressed.
Meanwhile Rodrigo Alphonso Gonzolo, a new villain created for this episode, arrives and is immediately an almost painfully stereotypical example of a brutal Spanish Conquistador. His mad quest for the Fountain of Youth justifies his vile acts of aggression and violence. He has been sent by his Queen, which I guess is fine as motivations go, he is fueled by greed and ego and it makes for a rather one-dimensional antagonist. He ends up finding the lake, and some of his men end up traveling through the portal.
Things ramp up quickly, and Kahhori gives a rousing speech after easily defeating Rodrigo's men, even having a Neo moment where she stops bullets in mid-air. Then she forces the Portal out of the sky and returns home. We get the big hero moment as Kahhori shows up as her brother and the survivors of the village are being shipped away, where she ends up facing down an entire Spanish fleet of ships and an army of men with cannons and muskets, and only barely ends up being defeated. Until the rest of the Skypeople show up and they win the day.
Of course we’re talking about a twenty-minute self-contained story that had to work in an entirely new hero origin story, build out a new world and establish our main character’s personality. Kahhori is determined, brave, selfless and loyal. She is also a somewhat archetypical hero complete with an extreme talent for her new powers and a level of power the people who have been living in Skyworld for a very long time are unable to achieve. We’ve seen stories with these kinds of issues before, so your mileage may vary if you suspend your disbelief for this one.
Most of the time stories using these tropes are only good if executed well. And for the most part this was just okay; it really should’ve been feature length with more time to allow for the rather sharp trajectory of Kahhori’s powers to feel more natural and the emotional stakes feel more impactful. Everything feels a touch rushed and a bit hollow, the villains are one-note, and everything feels amped up to eleven. Except, for some reason it works. I’m not entirely sure how to qualify that feeling, but perhaps it is simply because I like Kahhori, and I want to see more from her. Kahhori is an interesting and powerful new addition to the MCU, and it would be a shame if she doesn’t make it into main continuity.
A few things about this episode that are unusual. First, it was originally conceived and voiced in Mohawk. Secondly, there is an English language version tucked into the extras. Thirdly, other than a brief appearance by Odin, there is almost no connective tissue to the MCU. Kahhori is also completely original to the MCU, her origin unique and her powers a bit undefined, although in theory she would be similar in both power scope and ability to Captain Marvel.
Bits:
Kahhori is voiced by Devery Jacobs who appeared as Bonnie in Echo.
The animation and general esthetic has a very Pocahontas feel, and given that this is a Disney property, Kahhori does feel like a Disney princess, with cool superpowers.
This episode ends on a cliffhanger in which Doctor Strange Supreme shows up for Kahhori.
I thought this was a somewhat good episode with a strong idea and some rushed pay off. It is a shame these are not longer, but that critique has been mentioned for pretty much every episode.
3 out of 4 Big Hero Moments.
Samantha M. Quinn spends most of her time in front of a computer typing away at one thing or another; when she has free time, she enjoys pretty much anything science fiction or fantasy-related.
I liked this episode a lot. Yes, it was rather shallow and simplistic, but it was pretty and I really liked Kahhori as our brand new MCU hero. I also really enjoyed how it was all in Mohawk.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, that also led to the one thing that bugged the heck out of me the entire episode. The Mohawk people lived in the New York/NewJersey region of the US, as well as up into Canada. The Spanish conquistadors really only made it as far north as Florida. So the fact that our Bad Guys were Spanish really annoyed me, even though I know that it's a multiverse and therefore there's no reason why the Spanish couldn't have gone up to New York. I suppose if they made the Bad Guys English, the Pocahontas vibes would have been far too strong.
I didn't research that far, good to know. Makes sense in retrospect. I think they were backed into a bit of a corner since they wanted the plot point of the "Fountain of Youth" and the Mohawk people as the primary protagonists. But yeah, that is messing with history. At the same time, due to the changes with Asgard and this being an alternate reality anyway with superheroes, I'm willing to overlook this one :)
DeleteOh, for sure. This was very much a "me being picky" issue! I still enjoyed the episode regardless.
ReplyDeleteAnother Amistad. Once again, hypocritical Americans pointing to the Spanish for killing the "Indians". Give me a break.
ReplyDeleteThe least they could have done was find Spanish dubbers. Those Mexican accents were ridiculous, and Isabel was by far the worst.
Add a canonical Mary Sue, and this was a total disaster, other than for being pretty and the Mohawk dubbing. Another blown episode by Marvel.
Aaaaaaaaaand it looks like captcha ate my comment. Just great.
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