As we round the corner of Secret Invasion’s six episode run and cross the halfway point, the show is certainly fulfilling its criteria as a super-mysterious spy show. Upping the ante from the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s other secret agent infested entries, this return of Nick Fury is certainly piling on the intrigue as episode 2 split more secrets and teased more surprises than a drunken Russian defector playing “Truth or Dare”.
We’ve already seen Agent Hill eat a fatal bullet, discovered that a million Skrulls are residing on Earth, seen Fury fired by former colleague,James Rhodes and find out that the MCU’s greatest keeper of secrets is not only married, but his spouse is also one of the shape shifting aliens who is bothering the stability of the planet.
Of course, despite everything we’ve witnessed so far, there’s still a whole load of stuff to unpack as the third installment continues to build on the shady dealings and triple crosses you’d expect from a spy show loaded with being who change their identity like most people change their socks.
Meet Pricilla Fury, wife to absent super spy Nick Fury and a member of the Skrull race that, with 18 other alien agents, helped him build his information network that allowed him to ascend to the head of S.H.I.E.L.D.. However, that was then and this is now and after Nick turned to ash during the blip and then subsequently pissed off to space in the aftermath five years later, their reunion is somewhat strained to say the least.
That’s not the only awkward reunion that Fury has on his agenda as he has to make amends with Talos, his Skrull right hand, if he wants to try and crack whatever world war baiting plan terrorist leader Gravik has planned.
Gravik, in case you’ve forgotten, leads a sizable contingent of immigrant Skrull who have finally had enough of waiting for Fury to keep his word and not only is his desire to incite global chaos in order to claim the planet in full swing, but his counter-goal to jack himself up with multiple powers in order to become a “Super Skrull” has already taken effect.
Stuck in the middle of all this is G’iah, Talos’ daughter, who truly wants her race to flourish, but has been feeding intel to her father about Gravik’s intentions, but after the Skrull leader’s suspicions get unhealthy tweak after a particularly sizable leak, he’s starting to cotton on to her duplicity. However, a tense parlay with Talos hardly does anything to slow his roll as he intends to have his agents mimic someone with the authority to launch nuclear missiles and have them hurtle towards a particularly juicy target.
Fury and Talos try to heal their rift in time to thwart this attempt to kick start the apocalypse and try to stem the chaos, but in doing so they may finally out G’iah to her unforgiving general.
For a show that’s about an undetectable race of extraterrestrial insurgents striving to steal our planet out from under our very noses, Secret Invasion has felt very low key, with the most stinging twists coming in the form of verbal revelations rather than the bigger, more obvious shifts in the status quo. I can’t speak for the rest of you, but I personally found the reveal that Fury was married to a Skull far more stunning than the shock death of Cobie Smulders’ Maria Hill and the various, tense one on ones far more gripping than the action-based scenes of terrorism or gunplay; the reason for this – especially the Maria Hill thing – is most likely because the involvement of Skrulls make me utterly convinced that everything I’m seeing could very well be complete and utter bullshit. As the episodes trundle on, I guess the fact the Hill really has has gone to the big, Helicarrier control room in the sky will eventually sink in, but I’m feeling that another seismic death may be more than it seems. With a sizable spoiler alert in effect, the end of the episode sees Emilia Clarke’s G’iah get shot by Gravik after finally breaking cover and coughing up vital info while her father and Fury trying abort a nuclear snafu. Simply put, the fact that Clarke hasn’t really had a chance to stand out thus far and then her charscter suddenly has to take an early shower feels about a genuine as a dollar note with a picture of Donald Trump on it. Yes, this could be merely me being overly cautious due to the Hill incident, but whether it turns out to stick or not, it just didn’t have the impact it should’ve – something that’s admittedly quite worrying for a show but luckily the unshocking shock deaths have some backup.
Truly the most rewarding moments of Secret Invasion have been the smaller, character stuff starting with Priscilla having it out with her absent hubby after his belated return. It’s truly fascinating stuff and the flashback of the beginning of their relationship tells us more about Fury in one scene than the entirety of his appearances in the MCU to date. Similarly, the revealing make up between Nick and Talos proves to be just as gripping as their break up last episode with the details that it was the Skrulls that helped make Fury the formidable force we now know being both completely obvious and yet stunningly revelatory.
While Olivia Coleman’s dizzily enjoyable Agent Farnsworth is regrettably kept to a minimum here (she still get a banger of a scene where she outfits her bugged ornate owl with an eyepatch), Kingsley Ben-Adir continues to get some solid, grandstanding, villain scenes as he faces down with Talos and considering he’s kind of operating in the same wavelength as Erin Kellyman’s Karli Morgenthau from Falcon And The Winter Soldier (disillusioned terrorist wants to gain super powers to overthrow governments), hes making much more of an impact – especially as we see him heal himself using the Extremis virus from Iron Man 3.
Hinted at in the previous episode and apparently loaded up with powers that also include abilities from Groot (Guardians Of The Galaxy), Kull Obsidian (Avengers: Infinity War) and a Frost Beast (Thor), it’s a neat way to give a Fantastic Four powers to a Fantastic Four villain without actually using the Fantastic Four and it’s the only real bit of super hero movie stuff in a show who’s strengths lie more in subterfuge than big, explodey bits.
However, while the show still grabs you, the whole mission to stop the launch feels a little filler and series director, Ali Selim, might want to step his setpiece game up a tad before the real chaos starts flying. Still, as if to prove my point, the show ends with Pricilla conspiring on the phone with a voice that sounds suspiciously like James Rhodes, something that throws a War Machine sized cat among the Skrull shaped pigeons. Is Rhodey a Skrull? If so, how long? And why?
Until the action starts carrying some weight, this is the ammo that Secret Invasion scores its biggest wounds with.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
We Have Issues 