Episode Title: Taloa
Series: Echo
Season: 1
Episode: 4
Original release date: January 9, 2024
Episode 4 of Echo, titled “Taloa,” takes Maya on a journey both inward and outward, weaving together exploration of her past, internal conflict, and action-packed confrontations. Here’s a breakdown of the key plot points:
Facing the Shadows of the Past:
• The episode opens with a flashback to 2008, showcasing a young Maya facing bullying due to her deafness. Witnessing this firsthand, a disguised Wilson Fisk brutally beats the perpetrator, planting a seed of violence in Maya’s mind.
• Back in the present, Maya grapples with this dark memory and its influence on her path. This internal conflict surfaces again when she’s forced to deal with the consequences of past decisions.
Navigating a Crossroads:
• Having learned more about Fisk’s involvement in her father’s death, Maya stands at a pivotal point. Her family, aware of the danger, urges her to abandon her quest for vengeance.
• Torn between seeking justice and protecting her loved ones, Maya must make a difficult choice, defining her future course and potentially straining relationships within her family.
Confronting Fisk’s Forces:
• Despite opposition, Maya decides to take action against Fisk. With the help of her family and allies, she plans and executes a daring attack on a key part of Fisk’s operation.
• This sequence showcases Maya’s fighting skills and resourcefulness, while also highlighting the strong bond and collaborative spirit within her family.
Visions and Revelations:
• Throughout the episode, Maya experiences recurring visions filled with symbolic imagery and figures from Cherokee mythology, particularly Taloa, a powerful water spirit.
• These visions are both unsettling and intriguing, offering glimpses into Maya’s potential future and hinting at a deeper connection to her heritage.
• The episode culminates in a significant revelation related to Maya’s past, leaving her with new questions and a renewed sense of purpose.
“Taloa” marks a turning point in Maya’s journey, pushing her to confront her inner demons, make crucial decisions, and embrace her cultural identity. It also sets the stage for further thrilling encounters and a deeper exploration of Maya’s connection to the supernatural world.
* * *
(INDISTINCT CITY AMBIENCE)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
MAN: Chocolate, strawberry, vanilla.
Got enough cash?
Thank you. Hi.
What are you havin’?
Huh?
Want.
MAN: No, we’re out of those.
(INAUDIBLE)
Want.
Which one?
Use your words.
(INAUDIBLE)
(MAN BREATHING HEAVILY)
(OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING)
(INAUDIBLE)
(FISK BREATHING HEAVILY)
(CAR DOOR OPENING AND CLOSING)
Wait here, Maya.
Uncle has something he needs to do.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
(CAR DOOR SLAMS)
FISK: (SHOUTS) Come here!
(GASPS)
(FISK SHOUTS)
(GROANING)
(FISK GRUNTS)
(FISK SHOUTS)
(LOUD CRASH)
(GROANING)
(MOANING)
(SHOUTS)
(GROANS)
(SHOUTS)
(SHOUTS)
(SHOUTS)
(GROANS)
(SHOUTING)
(BLOOD SPLATTERING)
(PANTING)
(BREATHING RASPILY)
(PANTING)
(PHONE BEEPS)
Yes, I need a new jacket. I don’t want Maya to…
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
Don’t be afraid.
(THUDS)
(MAN GROANS)
(BREATHING RASPILY)
FISK: A toast.
(CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING)
To your final lesson.
Final?
ASL INTERPRETER 3: Final?
FISK: Yes.
Well, we’ll still have our… our Sunday evening dinners, but your tutelage has come to an end.
You’re ready.
For what?
ASL INTERPRETER 3: For what?
To move from the theoretical to the practical.
You and I… we are the only ones we can trust.
That’s your final lesson.
You’re dismissed.
(CLASSICAL MUSIC RISING)
ASL INTERPRETER 3: I don’t know anything.
I won’t say anything to anyone.
Please. Please, just let me go. No!
(MUFFLED GUNSHOT)
(BODY THUDS)
(BURNING BY YEAH YEAH YEAHS PLAYING)
SINGER: ♪ Believer ♪
♪ Took me over like a fever ♪
♪ Caught you hiding in the smoke, smoke, smoke ♪
♪ Like a meteor I glow, glow, glow ♪
♪ What you gonna do when you get to the water? ♪
♪ Well, I’ll release her ♪
♪ From the bindings of her teachers ♪
♪ What they’re hiding there is broke, broke, broke ♪
♪ Like the River Styx I flow, flow, flow ♪
♪ What you gonna do when you get to the water? ♪
♪ What you gonna do when you get to the water? ♪
♪ Into the sea, out of fire ♪
♪ All that burning ♪
♪ Into the sea, out of fire ♪
♪ All that burning ♪
(BURNING FADES)
(OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING)
(SIGHS)
FISK: Easy.
(PANTING)
Can we please talk?
What the hell is this?
AUTOMATED INTERPRETER VOICE: What the hell is this?
A gift.
You can understand what I’m saying?
AUTOMATED INTERPRETER VOICE: You can understand what I’m saying?
Yes.
I commissioned a few accessories.
I thought it was important that we could communicate with no go-between.
I thought you were…
AUTOMATED INTERPRETER VOICE: I thought you were…
Dead? Yes.
Yes, you made that very clear in New York.
Why are you here?
AUTOMATED INTERPRETER VOICE: Why are you here?
I thought that we could have a Sunday family dinner like we used to.
It’s Thursday.
AUTOMATED INTERPRETER VOICE: It’s Thursday.
(DOOR OPENING AND CLOSING)
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
I’m not angry with you, Maya… despite…
(ELECTRONIC GEARS SPINNING, BEEPING)
…the little souvenir you left me with.
(TAPE PEELING)
But you did what you thought you had to, just like I taught you.
And I was impressed.
And I think there’s a part of you that’s happy that I’m still alive.
No. I can assure you I wanted you dead.
(AUTOMATED INTERPRETER VOICE CONTINUES)
But your face, it told another story just now when you saw me.
Relief.
It hurts that you were so ready to believe the worst.
You raised a hand to me in violence.
(TSKING)
Violence was always our language.
I thought you saw my actions as heroic.
I used to.
I always had your back.
Even then, I couldn’t stand when you would get hurt.
That hasn’t changed.
(CURTAINS BEING CLOSED)
I’ll open the wine.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
(WINE BEING POURED)
(SLAMS CHAIR)
(CAN OPENS)
(CAN OPENS)
What happened to the Lafite?
I poured it down the drain.
It came highly recommended.
Cookies from Levain. Are they still your favorite?
Good.
Let’s hope those don’t go the way of the wine.
It’s been a long time since we’ve had one of our dinners.
(UTENSILS CLATTERING)
(THUDS)
I told you that you and I are the only ones we can trust.
I see everything that you are.
I always have.
Why are you here?
I have a proposition.
(SINISTER MUSIC SLOWLY BUILDS)
You want an empire? You’ll have it.
You can have everything.
All you have to do is come home with me.
I’m leaving to New York this weekend.
Until then, I’m at the Choctaw Casino.
I’ll be waiting for you.
I hope you’re on that plane.
Think about it.
(DOOR CLOSES)
Wait, you had dinner?
He’s handing me “queenpin”.
Please tell me you’re not that stupid.
Just because you don’t think I can–
I know you can.
That’s what scares me.
(THAT EMPTY FEELING BY RONNIE DOVE PLAYING ON SPEAKERS)
(SHAKY EXHALE)
You know why I’m 45 and alone?
Because everyone I cared about was taken away by him.
After your father died, I tried to get out.
Fisk threatened to kill me if I did.
So…
I came back here and did his dirty work.
And I don’t want you to become me.
You say you’re concerned about me.
But you left me in New York.
Alone.
And I was not okay.
(SIGHS)
I’m sorry.
I… I was confused.
Scared.
(SING TO ME BY KALLIE JEAN PLAYING OVER LOUD SPEAKERS)
(LIVELY CHATTER)
Pass me one of those bulbs, would ya?
Sure thing.
(MYSTERIOUS MUSIC PLAYING)
(DISCORDANT SOUNDS AND MUSIC)
CAROLINE: Chula?
(SCREECHES)
Maya!
(SCREAMS)
(PANTING)
(CRACKLING)
(CHOCTAW MUSIC PLAYING)
Maya, are you okay?
(GASPING)
Maya? Maya!
Come on, Maya, stay with me. Ma–
(ENGINE REVVING)
(TIRES SCREECHING)
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
(GASPS)
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
Where the hell am I?
What are you doing?
There’s something going on…
Chula can help you.
Go on now.
(CAR DOOR SLAMS SHUT)
(EMOTIONAL MUSIC PLAYING)
(SIGHS)
(DOOR CLOSES)
(WIND CHIMES RING)
Want something to drink?
There’s pop.
Let’s stop pretending everything is normal.
Fine.
Here, sit.
You tell me… what Henry thought was so important?
(SIGHS)
There’s something going on in my head.
Sometimes, I feel like I’m losing it.
Like dreams that come whether I’m asleep or not.
The last twenty-four hours have been more… intense.
Intense?
How?
Overwhelming.
I’m seeing a bunch of people…
I don’t recognize, in a place I’ve never been to before.
How long has this been happening?
Since I got to Tamaha.
What are you seeing?
A cave collapsing…
And trees.
A woman braiding her hair.
What?
Everything… makes sense now.
What you’re describing… it’s what I saw… on the night… I gave birth… to your mother.
Doctors at the hospital found complications with my pregnancy.
(HEART MONITOR BEEPING)
Me and the baby, your mother, we were both in danger.
“It’s in God’s hands,” they said.
Against the doctor’s orders, my family took me out of the white hospital.
(GROANING, PANTING)
Brought me to a midwife… where I could be surrounded by my sisters.
(BREATHING DEEPLY)
(STRAINING)
(PANTING)
(GASPING)
(LOW RUMBLE)
(EMOTIONAL MUSIC SWELLS)
(ENERGY HUMMING)
(STEADY BREATHING)
I could hardly say they were always with me.
They had an ability to know when they were truly needed.
(WATER TRICKLING)
That night with your mother and I… it was a life or death ordeal.
(YOUNG CHULA PANTING, GRUNTING)
(BABY CRYING)
CHULA: Taloa came into this world and set about lifting the pain of others.
She had a gift… she was a healer.
There’s a unique… connection… between… a mother and her child.
An unbreakable connection.
When… your mother was killed… I…
My heart… shattered.
I wanted to die.
You… You disowned me.
No. Not you.
Your father.
I was angry.
All I ever heard growing up from my dad was how you destroyed this family.
How you wanted nothing to do with us.
I couldn’t… bear… to be around you.
You’re so much alike.
And I think… generations are echoing… reaching out… to us.
At a time when we… need them… the most.
I was a child. I needed you.
(WHIMPERS)
(SLAMS)
But you chose yourself!
(HEAVY BREATHING)
(DOOR OPENING AND SLAMMED SHUT)
How did that go?
I don’t know, exhausting.
(CAR ENGINE REVVING)
(TRUCK DRIVING AWAY)
(CHULA SIGHS)
(LIGHT SWITCH CLICKS)
(DOWN TO THE RIVER TO PRAY BY ALISON KRAUSS PLAYING)
♪ As I went down in the river to pray ♪
♪ Studying about that good old way ♪
(SOBBING SOFTLY)
♪ And who shall wear the starry crown ♪
♪ Good Lord, show me the way ♪
♪ Oh, sisters, let’s go down ♪
♪ Let’s go down Come on down ♪
♪ Oh, sisters, let’s go down ♪
♪ Down in the river to pray… ♪
BISCUITS: Yeah, I’d say there’s something here to fix Pokni’s truck.
WOODY: “Everything the light touches is yours.”
Isn’t that from Lion King?
It’s different, but it’s the same.
Do you know what you’re looking for?
I’ll know when I find it.
Chula always says, “There’s nothing too broke to fix.
If you want it bad enough, don’t throw it away.”
Don’t get lost.
♪ Oh, brothers, let’s go down ♪
♪ Let’s go down Come on down ♪
♪ Come on, brothers, let’s go down ♪
♪ Down in the river to pray ♪
♪ As I went down in the river to pray ♪
♪ Studying about that good old way ♪
♪ And who shall wear the starry crown ♪
♪ Good Lord, show me the way ♪
(MALLET TAPPING)
♪ Oh, sinners, let’s go down ♪
♪ Let’s go down Come on down ♪
♪ Oh, sinners, let’s go down ♪
♪ Down in the river to pray ♪
♪ As I went down in the river to pray ♪
♪ Studying about that good old way ♪
♪ And who shall wear the robe and crown ♪
♪ Good Lord, show me the way ♪
I suspect you’ve come to kill me.
Again.
I can’t remember a time… when I haven’t loved you like a daughter.
We only had each other.
Don’t you remember?
My memories are a lie.
(AUTOMATED INTERPRETER VOICE CONTINUES)
A child’s fantasy that turned a monster into a hero.
FISK: A monster.
You knew what you were part of at every turn.
All the people you killed for me, did you plead for their lives?
I ask you… who’s the monster?
You isolated me.
Told me you were the only one I could trust.
But it was all a lie.
Even these contacts, you got them because you didn’t care enough to learn to sign.
I was there for you!
I know now that I failed you.
The same as my father failed me.
(SINISTER MUSIC PLAYING)
I keep this with me.
It’s to remind myself of where I come from, and what I had to do to get there.
It’s something that I wanna pass on to you.
My father felt stronger when he beat my mother, until I got strong enough to stop him with that.
That’s how your father died?
You… killed him?
I killed him to be free.
To move forward in my life.
So, enough games.
Here. Free yourself.
Go ahead.
Free me!
(SINISTER MUSIC BUILDS)
(HAMMER THUDS)
You and I, Maya, we’ve come full circle.
In the morning, come home.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
(SOUND FADES)
(MUSIC RISES)
(INAUDIBLE)
(SINGLE HEART BEATING)
(INAUDIBLE)
(DISCORDANT SOUNDS SLOWLY BUILD)
I love you.
I love you.
(DETERMINED MUSIC PLAYING)
(MOTORCYCLE REVVING)
Yes.
MAN: (ON PHONE) I’m sorry, Mr. Fisk.
We tailed her, but she’s gone.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
(ELECTRONIC GEARS SPINNING, BEEPING)
(SHOUTS)
(BREAD & CHEESE FEATURING BLACK BEAR BY THE HALLUCI NATION PLAYING)
