In the penultimate episode of its first season, Marvel Studios and Disney+’s original streaming series Ms. Marvel takes a deep dive into the past to give some further exposition of its story world. After Kamala is sent back to the past during the time of the partition due to struggle over the bangle, the streaming series’ protagonist begins to wander around the surrounding area to piece together what has sent her back in time.
The beginning of the fifth episode entitled “Time and Again,” sets the series in 1942 India as the viewer follows along the story between Kamala’s great-grandmother Aisha and Najma. Providing a brief exposition of the causes of the partition, Ms. Marvel depicts the difficulties of the times as well as the origins of the Khan family. During the blast from the past, the series details the romance that emerged between Aisha and Hasan which further lead to Aisha’s pregnancy and birth of her daughter and Kamala’s grandmother Sana. Amidst the ordeals of the partition, Aisha begins her family while Najma continues with her ancient plan of the Noors before she finally tracks down Aisha and confronts her about returning home the next day much to Aisha’s dismay. Aisha begins to expedite the departure of her and Hasan’s home country along with Sana out of fear of being brought into Najma’s plan and ruining her newly formed family.
During the dramatic events of the partition, Aisha fits Sana with the bangle for safekeeping while she also gets confronted by Hasan about her heritage, as well as explain her reasoning for continuing to choose this family over the desires of Najma. Najma confronts Aisha at the train, berating her for her choice to abandon the Noor mission before fatally stabbing Aisha and pursuing after the bangle. During the chaotic struggle to board the plans, Sana becomes separated and witnesses Aisha slowly dying.
Kamala is then thrust into the mix as she navigates the crowded train platform and encounters Aisha. Kamala slowly pieces together that she is the one who ultimately guides Sana to the train and reunites her with Hasan. After providing a projection of stars with the power of the bangle, Sana is able to reconnect with her father Hasan while Kamala is brought back to the present day. After arriving back in the present, Kamala witnesses that Najma’s strike of the bangle opened the Veil of Noor – something that when touched will fatally consume anyone who interacts with the portal. Najma makes the tough decision to return to the veil, but after some convincing from Kamala, Najma transfers all her powers to her son Kamran before being taken and vaporized by the veil.
Meanwhile, Muneeba worries back at home about her daughter’s location and tracks her phone to Kamala’s location where she and Sana uncover Kamala and the bangle’s powers. Kamala gifts her grandmother with a photograph of Aisha and Hasan and Muneeba begins to express a moment of pride in her daughter mixed with confusion. Muneeba and Sana open up a series of photographs and begin some much needed connection between mother-daughter – bridging the gap of their fellow teenage angst time periods. Additionally, Kamran runs into Bruno after being gifted with his mother’s powers and acts out of confusion and fear due to the mysterious attainment of these gifts. However, Kamran is soon tracked by a government drone and fights it off with his powers while also causing an explosion at the convenience store that Bruno works at.
The penultimate episode of Ms. Marvel provides its viewers with an interesting history lesson as well as a deep dive into the familial understanding of Kamala’s family. While at times it does come across as rushed and the question does arise that maybe this story could have been further explored in a standalone episode as well as over the course of the first few episodes, the love story between Aisha and Hasan is one of the better plot points within Ms. Marvel as it mixes the confusion of emotions, family obligations, and fear of not just the British government but the past as well. While the main players of the series do not possess as much screentime in this predominantly exposition based episode, the episode still shines through with the loving moments on-screen between Muneeba and Kamala – a connection and conversations that has been overdue since the series’ premiere.
Rating: 8.5/10