Disney Plus Echo season 1, episode 4 recap “Taloa"

In Echo season 1 episode 4, Maya comes face to face with her uncle, The Kingpin, and is offered a rather generous deal. As she contemplates her decision, she learns why she's been having visions and what this could mean for her future.

Echo season 1, episode 4 recap – The Kingpin and Maya

Maya's encounter with her uncle, The Kingpin, sends her mind reeling, as the man was presumed dead. Their reunion, after her attempt to kill him, brings back memories, in particular the incident with a frozen treat vendor.

As Maya is deaf, she tries to communicate with the vendor via sign language, however, he just assumes she's an unintelligent child. The Kingpin, having witnessed the event while waiting for her in his limo, decides to take action.

He practically beats the vendor to a pulp and when he calls for a new suit, trying to prevent Maya from seeing the blood, she's already there having witnessed the entire ordeal. The Kingpin is worried she'll now fear him but surprisingly she adds a few kicks of her own, still angry and upset with the vendor.

The blood doesn't horrify her, and they leave hand in hand. As much as The Kingpin has loved Maya as a daughter, it's obvious he used her skills to his advantage.

The beginning of the episode reveals this as during one of their Sunday dinners, he announces that her lessons are over, and she can now do more in-person work. He believes they are the only ones they can trust and now he no longer needs the interpreter, who he unsurprisingly has killed in the hallway.

Returning to the present, The Kingpin is not there to kill or harm Maya. He implants a special contact lens, which through the ingenuity of technology, allows The Kingpin to speak to her while digital arms and hands use sign language.

Maya can understand him, and he can understand her. He simply wants to have a Sunday dinner with her.

Maya, however, isn't foolish and doesn't trust him, to the point she pours the entire wine bottle he brought down the drain. The Kingpin seems to understand her caution but offers a deal.

He will give her the empire she wants if she returns to New York with him. He'll be waiting for her answer.

Echo season 1, episode 4 recap – Maya finally gets some answers

Conflicted about what to do, Maya seeks Henry who tells her how any involvement with The Kingpin is a bad idea. He had lost everything, and when he tried to leave, The Kingpin threatened to kill him.

Henry fled New York to conduct business in Oklahoma. Maya, however, harbors a lot of resentment, asking why he didn't bring her back with him if he was so worried about her.

Henry admitted he was afraid and confused. When Maya has strong visions of Chafa and her ancestors, her grandmother simultaneously has a similar event while helping prepare for a Choctaw Pow Wow.

Maya passes out and awakens outside her grandmother's home in Henry's truck. Henry believes she can help her.

The reunion between grandmother and granddaughter is awkward but eventually Maya opens up about her experiences. Her grandmother is stunned to realize her granddaughter is experiencing nearly the same things.

She tells Maya about how all of it started when she was giving birth to Maya's mother and believes that Chafa and the women of their family come to their aid when they need them the most. She emphasizes the bond between a mother and child and how she never hated Maya.

She couldn't reach out to Maya or be around her as she reminded her of her daughter. Maya, unhappy with that response, leaves.

After debating what to do, she goes to see her uncle with a gun, ready to kill him. However, this is exactly what The Kingpin wants, which makes her reconsider.

As they argue, with Maya finally bringing up how The Kingpin never bothered to learn sign language, he confesses that he killed his own violent father with a hammer. He saw this as the only way to free himself and his mother.

When Maya still refuses to kill him, he tells her that he expects her to be on the plane with him tomorrow.

Echo season 1, episode 4 recap – Maya's decision

Refusing to kill The Kingpin is one thing but will Maya follow him to New York? The episode concludes with The Kingpin waiting for Maya to board his private plane.

When he receives word that she left, he becomes enraged. Maya indeed left and appears to be leaving Oklahoma altogether.

But where is she going?

Echo season 1, episode 4 review

This was by far my favorite episode of season 1. Maya has a lot of heartfelt moments with several characters (her reunion with her grandmother really brought all the emotion) and is presented with a situation where she finally has a say in the matter.

From the beginning of her relationship with The Kingpin, everything was out of her control. She didn't decide to go to New York, she didn't decide to be a niece to The Kingpin, she didn't decide to be a fighter or killer, it was laid out and practically planned for her.

Now she can call the shots, but what solution did she seem to find that doesn't have her working for The Kingpin but also free from his influence? Although neither Maya nor her grandmother mentions obtaining powers from Chafa, it leaves me with a lot of questions regarding how this all works.

Does Maya's grandmother have powers too? Are they different powers than Maya's?

Are these powers temporary? Echo season 1 has one episode left and I am on the edge of my seat with anticipation!

What did you think of Echo season 1, episode 4? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

You can watch Echo season 1 on Disney Plus.