I know I say this every time with an Assembled episode (and I'll keep saying it for as long as it's true!), but I absolutely love watching seeing so many people clearly having the time of their lives in producing this series.
Far more importantly, I'm blown by the incredible work that went behind the scenes to make everything as authentic as possible in direct, deep coordination with the Choctaw people at every level of the production from day one. From the extensive bead work on Maya's hero costume that carefully reflected her people, their culture, and their history, to how the production flew in professional stickball players and Choctaw powwow dancers in their full personal regalia to portray those particular characters instead of just regular background actors. The production team went above and beyond to represent the Choctaw culture in such a positive, truthful manner. I wasn't surprised to learn that their representatives were naturally hesitant about Marvel's intentions in making this show, but I'm glad they were convinced the producers wanted to create the best story possible with their direct guidance and approval.
Along with properly representing the Choctaw people, I was thrilled by how far the production went into making the deaf community feel seen. I had already known that the cast and crew spent several weeks learning ASL, but it was still such a joy seeing Alaqua Cox glowing with pride that Marvel honored her request when they asked her if there was anything they could do to make her feel more comfortable on set. Something I hadn't realized until this special is that Katarina Ziervogel, who played Taloa, Maya's mother, is also a deaf actress. I can only hope that future productions of shows and films that star deaf actors will also go to such great lengths in accommodating actors such as Cox and Ziervogel.
Considering the previously released deep dive about the Daredevil/Echo fight, I wasn't expecting anything here, so I was pleasantly surprised to see Charlie Cox briefly speak about his experience (and reminding us he's British). He pointed out something I didn't even think about because I was just too engrossed with the fight: Both of them were fighting with significant disabilities and an important part of their fight was them realizing that about each other and then trying use that knowledge against each other.
