Every new episode of Secret Invasion feels like the worst. “Okay, this one wasn’t the best,” I tell myself, and then: “Maybe next week will increase the thrills with more action and higher stakes.” But no, once again, this week is the same—the worst episode, again. Perhaps that’s because every single episode of Marvel’s new show has used the exact same plot structure—and, so far, it has never worked.
Last week’s death—in which Skrull revolution leader Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) shot G’iah (Emilia Clarke)—was all a fake out. The first shot of this episode shows G’iah rising from the dead, having secretly taken some of that super Skrull medicine that leads to invincibility. If the Skrulls can shapeshift and are invincible, why are we not phoning in any of the Avengers at this point? Usually, Marvel projects at least jest about the Avengers not being around, but there’s no mention of the spandex-suited team here. Are the Hulks She and He too busy to lend a furious fist?
But before we can see any more of G’iah’s resurrection, Secret Invasion is back to the same old shtick: interrupting the narrative with another flashback.
Right after the events of The Avengers (the original one, featuring Loki, from 2012), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) meets his wife, Varra (Charlayne Woodard), at a bar. Suspecting her husband is up to something Avengers-related, she forces him to read a Raymond Carver poem about power and feeling beloved on Earth. Now, knowing she’s a Skrull, I suppose this has something to do with Fury’s inability to find the Skrulls a new home after promising them somewhere to live besides Earth.
Or, who knows! There’s been little-to-no point of having Mrs. Fury around. Back in the present day (Secret Invasion does so much bobbing and weaving through time, Samuel L. Jackson’s changing face isn’t enough to keep me in the loop), Varra receives a call from the Skrull version of Rhodey (Don Cheadle). Has he been a Skrull this entire time? There’s no point in caring, as this show has seemingly become an excuse to rewrite everyone in the MCU as having been a Skrull for ages. The man sitting next to you is a Skrull. Your mailman is a Skrull. When everyone is a Skrull, the shock factor is eliminated.
Rhodey tells Varra to kill Fury. She’s hesitant. Fury, having overheard the instructions sent down from the Skrull resistance, confronts his wife about his impending death. Varra tells him not to worry, because the human she inhabited—Dr. Priscilla Davis—made her promise to always love Fury, to never kill him. Nevertheless, near the end of their conversation, both draw their weapons and shoot at their spouse. Both avoid the bullet. “I’m not sure if we should file for divorce,” Fury jokes, “or renew our vows.”
Secret Invasion wastes the dramatic potential of its two leads (Fury and Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos) and their rebellious relatives. The dynamic between Varra and Fury, while full of chemistry, has led to no actual intrigue. Even worse is the one shared by Talos and daughter G’iah, who switched sides rather vaguely near the beginning of the show and is now fully a part of the anti-Skrull revolution. G’iah is a nothing character. She has no motivation, no power, and yet, here she is, making plans with her father to take down Gravik. Why? How?
This show is at its best when it allows Fury to just be Fury: brash, unapologetic, and sassy. We get a brief moment of that in this episode when Fury meets with fake Rhodes to unpack the ongoing Skrull crisis. Understanding that Rhodey is a Skrull, Fury feeds his foe whiskey laced with a tracking agent. The joke here—and it’s a rare good one from Secret Invasion—is that Fury and Rhodey have spent the first few minutes together joking that the former has poisoned his liquor. “Oh yeah, I definitely did put a tracker in this whiskey!” Something along those lines. The good humor makes for an even better disguise.
But then Secret Invasion is back to being meh as Rhodes meets with the U.S. president (Dermot Mulroney)—is he a Skrull, too?—about the recent bombing in Russia. Knowing that the Skrulls have planned an attack on the president, Fury and Talos chase down the parade of black SUVs. When the fighting breaks out, Talos is shot in the shoulder and becomes half Skrull, losing some of his human powers.
This causes a flurry of American troops to try and shoot Talos, giving Fury little opportunity to protect his ally. Gravik steps in and shoots Talos, this time in the heart, presumably killing the Skrull. Fury retaliates, sending a few bullets into Gravik’s head. Gravik, infused with the super Skrull serum, regrows his face immediately.
So, Talos is dead. But this episode feels like a shot-for-shot recreation of the last episode, only with somewhat different plot points. Maybe Talos is alive. If that’s the case, the show will have used two fake-out deaths and a million Skrull-as-human twists when, in actuality, we just want to see Nick Fury get in some trouble and find his way out. Secret Invasion is officially over-convoluted and beyond repair. Now, was Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) alive this entire time, too?
Keep obsessing! Sign up for the Daily Beast’s Obsessed newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
