So, how about that shock death in last week’s episode, huh?
I didn’t make much of a point of it before because of a couple reasons, the first being that sometimes I’m a bit too spoiler happy for my own good and I figured that I’d try to play some cards close to my chest in order to keep the fatal shooting of Cobie Smulder’s Agent Maria Hill a secret for at least a little while.
However, my other reason for not bringing it up is simple – I simply cannot trust what I see when shape shifting aliens are involved and I didn’t want to be one of those hyperbolic reviewers that’s all like “OMG!!” when its revealed to be yet another Marvel fakeout in a franchise full if them (Hello? Loki?).
With that being said, imagine my suprise when Marvel didn’t immediately pull some switcheroo and Hill remained steadfastly dead for the entire duration of the episode. What can I say, Skrulls give me trust issues…
Before we have a chance to see how the death of Agent Hill impacts Fury, we get a couple of flashbacks to set the scene, with the first one based 1995 that brings us up to speed on the Skrull’s plight thanks to some nifty reediting of Captain Marvel. However, l the second, set in Brixton, London in 1997, is far more revealing and not only details that Fury saw a chance to set up an extraterrestrial spy network that would aid him in repayment while Carol Danvers continued to scout for a location of a new planet for the Skrulls to inhabit. One of these Skrulls turns out to be none other than a younger Gravik.
Jump ahead to the present day and Fury is dragged away from the wreckage of the Russian blast site by a mysterious security detail who turns out to be Talos in disguise – however, while the two escape via train out of the country on their way to England, Nick finds out some worrying details he initially wasn’t aware of. After settling on Earth, it seems that Talos sent out a galaxy-wide message informing all remaining Skrulls that our planet is a safe haven, leading to there actually being around a million of the shape shifting species living here.
Needless to say, Fury is pissed and his mood is hardly about to improve after a terse firing by Goverment liaison and part-time War Machine James Rhodes, but while Nick is enduring one awkward meeting, Gravik is attending another where he essentially informs the Skrull counsil (including the British Prime Minister) that they are now officially at war.
While all this drama is unfolding, Talos’ daughter, G’iah (who maybe regretting following Gravik) is discovering that her boss is experimenting with the genetics and after a spot of vicious torture, the unnervingly chipper Agent Farnsworth also discovers that Gravik is intending to build a machine to make Skrulls stronger.
However, the award for most suprising revelation is once again stolen by Fury, who returns home to his wife. His Skrull wife.
I don’t know about you, but I found the first episode of Secret Invasion a little too cold, which is strange considering that spy movies and shows are supposed to be somewhat frosty natured affairs. An out-of-sorts Fury desperately trying to shake off the rust squaring up against an unknowable, face changing foe led to an entry that felt quite slow and shapeless – however, episode 2 manages to bring some much needed focus to matters among the near-constant subterfuge and as a result, makes the threat far more sobering.
Hill’s death warrants a at least one moment of pause (as did Coulson’s during The Avengers) and Fury’s meeting with Maria’s grieving mother is suitably affecting, but it’s the other face-to-face (to faces) that really hit home.
The episode us basically made up of around four other verbal showdowns and between them they manage to give us a crystal clear overview of what’s what and who’s who. The first is the fracturing of the friendship of Fury and Talos in the wake of the Skrull’s admission of calling more Skrulls to Earth. Counteracting Talos’ insistence that he had to save his people with the fact that humans can’t even coexist with each other let alone a green skinned race of aliens, Fury essentially orders his buddy off the train and out of his life. We switch from this to some much needed screen time for Gravik as we finally get a feel for the rebellious Skrull as he stages a bloodless coup and maneuvers himself into being appointed General, essentially making him the big cheese of the shapeshifter threat.
Next is probably the most devastating meeting of all as Fury is effectively shit-canned by an unrepentant Rhodey who goes about his task in merciless fashion. While it could be argued that War Machine himself could been a Skrull, the politically and social charged comments the two men deal.out to each other concerning race, power and what it truly means for a black man to carry that much political heft tells me that Marvel wouldn’t let such a loaded and seismic discussion be delivered by a man who’s skin is actually green. The last meeting is techinally a far lighter one in tone, even if it does involve torture and finger-snipping and it involves Olivia Colman’s still delightful Farnsworth as she channels Imelda Staunton’s Dolores Umbridge as she cheerfully injects a Skrull agent with a concoction that literally makes his blood boil.
All these various scenes add the gravity and bedrock to proceedings that the first episode sort of rushed through and all the players are magnificent. Don Cheadle relishes getting some more serious meat to chew on after several appearances of spitting out sarcastic comments at an ensemble cast of superheroes and Coleman and Mendelsohn are just as animated and ridiculously watchable as ever – but the real treat here is both Jackson’s Fury and Kingsley Ben-Adir’s Gravik as they get a chance to stretch their legs. From the strengh of the first episode, I didn’t really think Gravik stood out much as a villain that’s apparently trying to save and entire race, but him his scene where he essentially takes control of the Skrulls with some backdoor politics and a firm belief in his goal, he’s far more of a palpable threat now than when he was blowing up a sizable section of Moscow.
It’s Jackson, ultimately, who stirs you up the most. Horribly underprepared and hemorrhaging friends and allies all over the place, we’ve never seen Fury this vunerable and even his usual tricks have failed them when he needs them most (behold his stunning fashion sense that somehow still fails to save him his job). It’s this performance as a compromised version of a guy who simply isn’t used to being on the back-foot, that’s the fuel that makes Secret Invasion go and with the double revelation that he is actually married and that she’s also a Skrull (does he know?), Jackson still will have plenty to play with.
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