Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Brian Richards | TV | July 29, 2023
Previously on Secret Invasion: Fury brings President Ritson to the hospital for medical attention, where he is confronted by Rhodey, and discovers that he has released the footage of Gravik-as-Fury murdering Maria Hill and that Fury is now being hunted by every law enforcement agency worldwide. G'iah meets up with Priscilla to give Talos a proper Skrull burial. The Skrulls begin to question their loyalty to Gravik, who makes it very clear that his authority will be respected. Fury retrieves what Gravik actually wants (an ampule containing the DNA of the Avengers), and agrees to give it to him in person, in exchange for Gravik calling off his war against Earth and leaving its people alone.
THE STORY SO FAR: Fury and Gravik confront each other face-to-face, and Sonya goes up against Not-Rhodey to convince President Ritson that he's really a Skrull, and to stop him from declaring war on Russia and wiping out all of New Skrullos.
WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT THIS EPISODE?: The conversation between Fury and Gravik, with Gravik going off on Fury for using him as his own personal child soldier, whose heart grew colder and harder with every mission and every hit he carried out on Fury's behalf, and reminding him that his human form actually belongs to the first person he ever killed. G'iah and Sonya agreeing to work together for their own reasons, while also making it very clear that, unlike Fury and Talos, they're not going to be each other's besties while doing so. Fury asking Priscilla/Varra for another chance to work things out, only for him to be turned down...and then approached by Varra right before he heads back to outer space, where the two of them finally agree to work things out, and where Fury answers Varra's previous question as to whether he could love her in her own skin...by kissing her passionately and holding her hand as they head to join S.A.B.E.R., and help out with the peace negotiations between the Kree and the Skrulls.
WHAT'S NOT SO GOOD ABOUT THIS EPISODE?: The final fight between Fury (who turned out to be G'iah in disguise) and Gravik after absorbing the DNA of the Avengers in the Super-Skrull machine, which wasn't nearly as compelling or impressive as one would expect.
As much as I loved that Emilia Clarke is now playing a superpowered badass who gets to do a superhero landing (and getting to do so in a series that isn't being run by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss indulging in their worst tendencies as they get closer to the finish line), there was nothing about the "G'iah, the character who we barely know or care anything about, now has Avengers DNA in her blood, and has become the most powerful character in the MCU" moment that made me go "Holy sh-t, that was awesome!" Instead, it just fell flat, and left me feeling like...
DO ANY OF THE AVENGERS APPEAR IN THIS EPISODE?: No.
MONICA RAMBEAU?: No.
SERIOUSLY?! SHE DOESN'T EVEN SHOW UP TO TEASE THE MARVELS?: No, she doesn't. If you were hoping to see Teyonah Parris show up as Monica Rambeau before you go buy a ticket to see her in The Marvels this November, it does not happen.
EVERETT ROSS?: Yes.
WAIT, REALLY? HE ACTUALLY MAKES AN APPEARANCE IN THIS EPISODE?: He does, and we see him as one of the dozens of humans that the Skrulls held in captivity, so that they could impersonate them and infiltrate their lives.
SOOOO...IF EVERETT ROSS WAS KIDNAPPED BY THE SKRULLS, THEN THE EVERETT ROSS WE SAW IN BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER WASN'T REALLY HIM, BUT WAS REALLY A SKRULL?: That seems to be the case.
BUT...THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE. IF HE WAS REALLY A SKRULL, AND HE WAS TRYING TO DO HIS PART TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD, THEN...? WHY LET HIMSELF GET ARRESTED BY VALENTINA? WHY WOULD HE NEED HELP FROM OKOYE TO ESCAPE FROM THE CIA? WHY WOULDN'T HE TELL GRAVIK AND THE OTHER SKRULLS ABOUT WAKANDA SO THEY COULD ATTEMPT TO TAKE IT FOR THEMSELVES?: My answer to all of these questions you just asked is...
I'm sure that Kevin Feige will pay someone to pull some half-assed excuses out of a baseball cap when the WGA strike is finally over.
WHAT ABOUT RHODEY? DO WE SEE HIM IN CAPTIVITY AS WELL?: We do, and it's implied that he's been in Skrull captivity for a long time. According to Ali Selim, who directed every episode of Secret Invasion, and who was recently interviewed by Variety, the last time we saw the real Rhodey onscreen was in Captain America: Civil War.
I--WAIT, WHAT?: Yup!
THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE, EITHER! THAT IS SOME STRAIGHT-UP BULLsh**!: You'll get no argument from me here.
SO NOW WHAT? DOES THIS MEAN RHODEY IS NOW GOING TO FIND OUT THAT HIS BEST FRIEND DIED TO SAVE THE WORLD FROM THANOS, AND ALL OF THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN OFFSCREEN BETWEEN NOW AND HIS NEXT APPEARANCE IN ARMOR WARS? INCLUDING HIS GRIEF OVER TONY STARK'S DEATH? WHAT IS THIS, SEASON 3 OF TED LASSO?: 1) All signs point to 'yes.' 2) (Jadakiss-laughs)
DOES DAISY JOHNSON, A.K.A. QUAKE, FROM AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. SHOW UP IN THIS EPISODE?: No, she does not show up in this episode, and I'm still confused as to why people ever thought that she was going to show up.
ANY EASTER EGGS WE SHOULD WATCH OUT FOR?: The characters whose DNA and powers were absorbed by G'iah and Gravik in the Super-Skrull machine are: Ghost (from Ant-Man and the Wasp), Ebony Maw (Avengers: Infinity War), Captain America, Bucky, Captain Marvel, Mantis, Groot, Hulk, Thanos, an Outrider (one of the beings unleashed by Thanos to attack Wakanda in Avengers: Infinity War), a Frost Giant (Thor), Proxima Midnight, a Chitauri, Gamora, Corvus Glaive, Korg, Abomination, Valkyrie, a Cull Obsidian, and Thor.
ANY FAN THEORIES SPREADING LIKE WILDFIRE ACROSS THE INTERNET BECAUSE OF THIS EPISODE?: Ritson going full President Logan by declaring war on all alien and off-world species, and having the Skrulls (and people who are suspected of being Skrulls) being hunted down and killed like Replicants in Blade Runner, instead of lending his support to them as Talos had hoped for, is going to lead to his downfall as a one-term President so that 'Thunderbolt' Ross (played by Harrison Ford) can replace him in Captain America: Brave New World. Sonya will form her own version of MI6, which will be known as MI-13, and will handle any supernatural threats in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with team members like G'iah, Black Knight, and Blade. All of this could've been avoided if Fury and Captain Marvel had told Gravik and the Skrulls about Titan, which was the home of Thanos, and is no longer the home of Thanos now that he's dead, and simply told the Skrulls that Titan can be their new home. G'iah borrowed her human form from someone else who was held captive by Skrulls, and that someone else could possibly be Susan Storm, which means that Emilia Clarke could go on to play Invisible Woman in Fantastic Four when that movie finally drops. (Again, I don't come up with these theories, I just share them in the recaps.)
ARE THERE ANY SCENES DURING THE CLOSING CREDITS?: No.
NOTHING AT ALL TO TEASE THE MARVELS OR EVEN CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD?: No. The only thing we see during the closing credits is the closing credits, and nothing more.
DID YOU SEE THE NEW POSTER FOR SEASON 2 OF LOKI?: I sure did. And judging from the mostly negative response that Secret Invasion has gotten, Marvel Studios had to do something to make their fans happy by assuring them that something new would come along to wash the bad taste of this show out of their mouths.
TO SUM IT ALL UP: Secret Invasion wasn't a completely unwatchable mess, but it failed to fully realize the potential established by its very premise, and it kept fumbling the ball with each episode, causing even the most hardcore Marvel fans to lose interest as a result. A six-episode series about Nick Fury investigating a terrorist conspiracy led by shape-shifting aliens gone rogue, and having to rely on his brains and brawn instead of calling on any of The Avengers for help, could've and should've conveyed the paranoia, suspense, intrigue, action, drama, and unglamorous spycraft of The Thing, the Bourne trilogy (don't even mention Jason Bourne to me, as it deserves the same respect and acknowledgment as Blade: Trinity or Pacific Rim: Uprising), and of course, Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Instead, we got a story that wasn't even close to being the shocking or groundbreaking event that Marvel and Disney hoped or expected it to be, it wasn't the incisive character study of Nick Fury that he (and this show's viewers) wanted or deserved, and it felt more like yet another poorly-organized homework assignment that Marvel fans are expected to watch and study familiarize themselves with what's coming next.
The cast and their performances were the very best thing about the series. Ben Mendelsohn, Emilia Clarke, Kingsley Ben-Adir (who also showed audiences this past weekend how talented he is with his performance as 'Ken' in Barbie), Don Cheadle, Charlayne Woodard, Cobie Smulders (who deserved a hell of a lot better than what Marvel and Disney did to her and Maria Hill), Dylan McDermott Dermot Mulroney, Olivia Colman, and of course, Samuel L. Jackson, all of whom carried the show on their shoulders. Fury and Priscilla/Varra's relationship, and the effect it has had on each of them, was one of the few highlights of the series (and not just because it gave me an excuse to use the term "Skrullussy" in an earlier recap), and discovering the existence of their marriage as we see them try to get it back onto a solid foundation, is one of the few developments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that is worth caring about and being interested in that doesn't involve wondering when the X-Men are finally going to show up.
One last thing: In his Variety interview, Secret Invasion director Ali Selim also discussed his approach to filming fight scenes for the series, specifically the final battle between G'iah and Gravik. And I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at his choice of words.
When you get to a heavily choreographed fight scene or bombing sequence or an ambush sequence, it's just kind of fun, right? It's actors being like, "OK, I don't have to bring it today. I just have to be a 12-year-old swinging from a rope." So, there's a lot of fun in those moments and there's a lot of danger. But it's not as emotionally significant or emotionally resonant as the quiet moment in Episode 5 where she and Nick Fury discussed Talos' death.The fight sequences become mathematical, mechanical, precise. "Did we get it?" "Yes." "Move on." It comes together later in edit, and then you congratulate your mathematics and your mechanics; you don't congratulate the emotional resonance.
On one hand, I get what he's saying in that filming action is not always as emotionally compelling or hard-hitting for a director, or the actors, as filming a dramatic scene. And there is some truth to that. But to imply that actors don't need to work when filming action scenes because they don't involve or inspire emotion outside of the visuals and pyrotechnics of it all? That just sounds like bullsh-t. It sounds like the kind of thing that actors or comedians like Chris Rock say when performing voice acting for an animated film like Madagascar, in that they can just show up in their pajamas, read the lines, and quickly be done with it all. It sounds like the kind of thing that The Powers That Be at Marvel and Disney tell directors when attempting to hire them for their films, in that they don't need to concern themselves with handling the action and visual effects, and should just focus on everything else.
There are two action scenes/fight scenes that immediately came to mind after reading Selim's comments: the Best Girlfight Ever between Sydney Bristow and Allison "Francinator" Doren in "The Telling," the Season 2 finale of Alias; and the boxing match between Kara "Starbuck" Thrace and Lee "Apollo" Adama in the Season 3 episode, "Unfinished Business" of Battlestar Galactica. The former showed Sydney slowly realizing that her best friend is not who she says she is, while also realizing that the life of her other best friend is in grave danger, and decides to confirm her suspicions by offering "Francie" a spoonful of her ice cream, which she accepts. And a minute later, when "Francie" realizes her mistake ("I just remembered. Francie doesn't like coffee ice cream."), the two of them square off in a no-holds-barred battle that nearly destroys their entire house. And it's both exciting and compelling to watch because of the drama, the tragedy, and the anticipation that has led to this very moment. It's also just a brutal and beautifully choreographed fight to watch.
The latter is centered around Starbuck and Apollo finally confronting each other, and the tension between them, after months of hostility due to their failed relationship. As we see them pummeling each other all over the ring, we see flashbacks of what happened between them, how they admitted to loving each other, and how they immediately ended up marrying other people because Starbuck decided that she couldn't be with Apollo. The fight keeps going, and the two keep getting bloodier and more exhausted, until they finally wrap their arms around each other and embrace. Starbuck tells Apollo how much she misses him, and Apollo expresses the very same to her, and the two of them finally make amends.
All of this is my long-winded way of saying "Bitch, please!" when it comes to Ali Selim describing his process of filming action scenes for Secret Invasion, a series that didn't even have that many memorable action scenes. (I could've also used any fight from the Creed trilogy, or the staircase sequence alone from John Wick: Chapter 4, to make my point, but this damn recap has gone on long enough.)
Fingers crossed that Season 2 of Loki lives up to its expectations. Because right now, when it comes to what the Marvel Cinematic Universe is offering in theaters, and on Disney Plus, the bar is slowly descending straight to Hell.
This episode of Secret Invasion has been brought to you by "Mothership Connection" by Parliament:
