Ms. Marvel’s 1×05 “Time and Again” is the penultimate episode of the season and takes us back to where Kamala’s story truly began. While the episode title corresponds to the material, it could also have been titled “the ClanDestine’s villain origin story” because we finally find out why Najma wages war on Kamala.
MAGIC
Aisha is magic, literally, but she’s also a little too hostile to a man who is that fine. I mean, C’MON, the man made fresh fried parathas.
Aisha and Hasan have a beautiful relationship that blooms from a fascinating meeting. With Aisha trading in her powers and pain for a simple life with an honourable village man, she and Hasan blossom into a beautiful family that we know now gives us Kamala. We see Aisha transition from a fighter to a lover.
In Ms. Marvel 1×05, Mehwish Hayat and Fawad Khan authenticate their characters by bringing their experience with Pakistani culture on-screen. I mean, how often do we say that we got to see Pakistani actors play Pakistani characters who are married and in love and emanate their culture? The answer: NEVER.
Hayat and Khan give us the representation that we are constantly craving, and they also bring about a love story not built on white saviours. They both eat, breathe, and speak the same language — and WELL, might I add. They are dressed, fed, and raised under similar pretences. Their relationship is not colonized.
Also, ALSO. THE URDU. The conversations spoken in Urdu are not anglicized. They are correctly spoken and articulated, natural and free-flowing. They are mundane conversations. Not ones that make the scene showy or make the representation unnatural. Language is communication, and communication is the nurture of culture.
Also, now is a great time to say: FAWAD KHAN. Just that’s it. Fawad. Khan. Honestly, these tweets say it better than I ever can:
Aisha isn’t the only one who’s magic. Hasan is, too. He was a man made to inspire the people and one who saved his daughter in the most significant battle his family would face. And Aisha? She put her daughter and husband’s safety above her own. Her magic becomes his strength.
STARS
Hasan fought for his freedom and his liberty. He wanted peace. Hasan wanted people to buy his roses because they were great roses or sell his wife milk because she needed it. Hasan did not want to accept charity from the two gracious neighbours who didn’t mind that he was Muslim. He wanted equality.
We see the Partition illustrated very profoundly in Ms. Marvel 1×05, as it highlights the struggles of two religions living together in India and the discrimination Muslims faced. There was no peace or freedom. The effort to get freedom was the most dangerous mission yet.
When they left to find safety, Aisha and Hasan decided that home was each other. Aisha was also running from Najma because Aisha knew that the bangle could no longer be placed in her hands. In the end, she manages to convince Hasan to get on the train with Sana to protect them from Najma and the violence of the partition.
However, while Hasan makes promises of happiness and safety, Najma has other ideas. She kills Aisha, but the stars guiding Sana back to her father was Kamala. Kamala comes to the rescue of the little girl torn away from her father in the chaotic train station only because Aisha could help one last time.
What you seek is seeking you. Kamala was seeking answers regarding her life and family, and while she may have gotten them, they also cost her a piece of herself. To hear all those talks about Aisha in such a poor light, when in reality she saved her daughter and husband, and protected the earth in one go, really hurt Kamala.
However, Kamala knowing that her lineage is home to a saviour guided her back to her family. The answers she sought were ones that were seeking her in order to shed light on history.
FAMILY
Ms. Marvel 1×05 sees families in every light imaginable. The happy and supporting, the torn and regretful, and the sacrificial. Aisha and Hasan sacrificed for their family, the one which cost Aisha. The one she spent her life trying to protect. In the end, the one that gave way to Kamala’s happy and supportive family now.
Kamala Khan has the best family. A mom who is very concerned about her daughter’s whereabouts and excited to learn about her powers. Also, mildly offended she wasn’t told earlier. She also has a Nani who would love to have her granddaughter micro-chipped like her dog.
She has a family she leans on and cares for. One that has managed to grow together and look beyond past beliefs, evolving through families for generations ahead. One that, despite the differences and the stress, is focused on each other. A family that communicates, even when it’s hard to.
Kamran isn’t so lucky. His family leaves him stranded and is then so consumed by the veil and getting home, they get killed in the process. The ClanDestine reach the Veil, but it is useless. The power is too much, and they are immediately killed. Kamala even tries to get Najma to go to her son, but it’s no use.
Kamran and Najma were torn apart, and in her final moments, Najma gave in to regret to the point of death. Despite this, Kamran believes his mom will come and get him, even though Bruno tells him that those who leave have shown their true colours.
In the end, it turns out the Veil wasn’t preventing Najma from going home; it was the power that veiled her from the home she had built.
ARGON
As it turns out, Kamran didn’t know Bruno’s name was…well… Bruno. The two share a sweet moment as Kamran asks Bruno for a place to stay. Bruno even talks to him about his parents leaving when Kamran expresses his hopes that his mom will find him.
Again, Kamran isn’t so lucky in the family department. He is a kid who tried to do the right thing and still believes that his mom, someone who left him where he should never have been, is coming back for him. Unfortunately, Kamran believes in others to a point where he shouldn’t.
Before the boys can bond too much, they get a visitor that sparks the use of Kamran’s new powers. You know, the ones he gained after his mom crumbled. Oh, and the shop gets blown up, and the screen cuts to black. Ms. Marvel 1×05 ends, leaving us wondering: What’s next?
There is so much yet to unpack, and with only one episode left in the season, we hope we get our answers. I mean, there was the foreshadowing of Kamala’s broken necklace, which now only has the one Arabic letter that looks like the lightning bolt on her suit. We are also wondering about the shop, the boys, and whether or not we will see Kareem again.
So many questions, so little time.
Ms. Marvel is streaming now on Disney+, with the season finale airing on Wednesday, July 13.
