Ms. Marvel

The first two episodes were such a nice surprise and then it dropped off massively - similar to Hawkeye I guess. They lean into the vibe of the Holland Spider-Man movies which is, like, one of Marvel's biggest recent successes so a very good idea, and I thought the high school and Avengercon stuff was a lot of fun. Iman Vellani has a real Hailee Steinfeld energy, the parents were both great, and I thought it was relatively refreshing how it engaged with Muslim-American culture, women's roles within it, the normalisation of anti-Muslim sentiment among bureaucrats etc. But then the superhero mythology magical backstory shit started and, as with the last few of these origin story shows, my eyes totally glazed over. I skimmed the 4th and 5th episodes, it was too much. Vellani should be at the forefront of the MCU, though, she's one of their brightest stars and I would be down to watch her, Steinfeld, Pugh and a few others team up. But, please, with better stakes and antagonists than this had.