TV Review: ‘Secret Invasion’ Season 1, Episode 5
by Frank Martin
This week’s episode of Secret Invasion obviously dealt with both the aftermath from last week’s events as well as setting up the climax for next week. Although there was action, it didn’t stand out as a particular plot point. Instead, this episode dealt a lot with character and creating context for the series as a whole. All in all, it was one of the series’ best so far. As a slow burn, the previous episodes left a lot to be desired. After the intensity of the situation got amped up from last week, things remained very tense as the Skrulls are pushed to implement their own endgame. Although the series still hasn’t elevated to the top of what the Marvel Cinematic Universe can do, the show has more or less been a worthy entry and something to fill the void until more MCU content is delivered.
This week sees Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) as an internationally wanted fugitive now that the video of him killing Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) has gone public. G’iah (Emilia Clarke) is also on the run now that she’s betrayed Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir). She goes to see Fury’s wife, Varra (Charlayne Woodard), in order to give her father, Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) a proper Skrull funeral. The two are attacked by Gravik’s forcesm but are successfully able to fend him off. Preparing for a final confrontation, Fury goes to grab the Harvest, a collection of the Avengers’ DNA. Gravik wants it in order to turn himself into an all-powerful Super Skrull.
The best aspects of the episode came when the sci-fi nature of the Skrulls is on full display. An example: Gravik faced a mutiny of sorts and had to use his Super Skrull abilities in order to fight them off. This was a much more captivating scene than G’iah’s gun fight. That was nothing more than standard gun action, something audiences can get in many different venues. What most other projects can’t do is deliver a great Super Skrull scene. When the show has given brief glimpses of what that’s like, it’s excelled. Hopefully, the final episode will finally give fans the super battle that they’ve been waiting for.
Secret Invasion streams Wednesdays on Disney+.
