Rejoice! Olivia Colman has returned to Secret Invasion this week to bring some levity to the slumping Marvel series. Starring as MI6 agent Sonya Falsworth, Colman completely revitalizes the show in the penultimate Episode 5, killing Skrulls with snarky banter and reckless abandon. Is that enough to call the show a success to any degree, though?
Probably not, but at least we know that next week’s finale will have an increased presence of witty Skrull murderess Sonya. Skrull revolution leader Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) ups the ante in this episode—the Skrullos will no longer live in the shadows. They will come clean about being the ones who attacked the president (Dermot Mulroney) in the recent bombing, and say they were teaming up with Russia. With Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) dead—yes, he’s actually dead—and Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) on the Most Wanted list for “murdering” (remember, it was a Skrull shape-shifting as Fury) Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), Gravik believes he has the upper hand.
As he hunts down Fury’s Skrull wife Varra (Charlayne Woodard), Gravik shoots a call to the Skrull version of Rhodey, Raava (Don Cheadle). Gravik informs him of the plan to tell the president about the Skrulls, which could lead to World War III: The U.S. thinks Russia is attacking the country with the Skrulls, so the Americans call for a strike on Russian territory. But Gravik is the only one who is certain of his plan—the rest of his army is growing wary of his power.
At one point, the Skrull revolution attempts to dethrone Gravik. They fail, because he is now an all powerful Super Skrull. The Skrull revolution was a far more interesting villain than another near-god with superstrength and a massive ego; may the complex antagonist of Secret Invasion rest in peace.
Meanwhile, G’iah (Emilia Clarke) mourns the death of her father. Fury gives her a lecture about how he chose a path to suffering because it had more meaning. Sound like anyone else we know? (Hint: It’s Nick Fury.) Fury reveals that Gravik has injected himself with the Super Skrull power. In the back of our minds, we know that G’iah, too, has Super Skrull powers. If anyone’s going to take down Gravik, it’ll be his ex-sidekick, who is enraged by the death of her dad and ready for revenge. Before doing that, though, she takes Talos to the Fury home and buries her father, with Varra’s help.
But Gravik is also underestimating the power of Sonya, who has been demolishing Skrulls for the whole episode. She has a wonderful talent for manipulating information out of people—like, for instance, from a young Skrull couple who disagree on if they should give up Gravik’s information or sacrifice themselves.
When Sonya first meets this couple, she gives them the option. “I’m very good at being your bestie. I’m also devilishly good at being not your bestie,” Sonya offers. “It’s really just a matter of taste. Cake or death.” She’s so good at this. I could watch Sonya for hours. She doesn’t even have to be in a Marvel show. Just give me the spy version of Olivia Colman in a thriller about solving fantastical crimes across Britain.
Sonya is also responsible for a handful of other zingers later in the episode in a conversation with Fury about the state of the Skrullos. When she finds out Rhodey isn’t a real human, she exclaims, “Well, who in the hell isn’t a Skrull these days?” Same, Sonya; I can’t figure it out either. Sonya also blasts Fury over the fact that he hasn’t phoned in any of the Avengers yet.
“None of them have lived the life I have,” Fury retorts. “None of them can defend the world the way I can.”
But then we get the real reason Fury is slacking on the Avenger front. After the events of Avengers: Endgame, Fury sent a team of Skrulls into the battlefield to collect DNA—because nearly every Avenger shed some blood during the fight against Thanos. It’s likely that Gravik used that DNA to create the Super Skrull powers, and, if any Avengers were sent into this fight, the villain would only reap the benefits of those powers too.
G’iah may be the humans’ last hope. But Gravik has also offered Fury a deal: If Fury submits the “Harvest,” a mysterious MacGuffin, to New Skrullos, Gravik will call off the strikes that could lead to all-out international warfare. So, in the end of this episode, Fury and Sonya retrieve the Harvest from a fake “Nick Fury” gravesite. (This, along with the Harvest, baffles me—what are the gravesites for?) Fury is ready to defeat the Skrulls.
“It’s time,” Fury says. “Let’s finish this.”
