Secret Invasion seems to be having something of an identity problem as of late. What should have been a tight, wildly unpredictable, solo adventure for Nick Fury full of twists and turns has sort of become a clunky, lumbering beast that relies too much on the same old tricks in order to wrong-foot the audience.
For example, so far three of the four episodes have ended on a shock “death”, with Cobie Smulders’ Maria Hill, Emilia Clarke’s G’iah and Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos all being taken out in order to elicit incredulous gasps from its audience, but there’s the real sense that Marvel Studios has gone to well one too many times. Obviously, reports of G’iah’s demise were greatly exaggerated, but it’s somewhat worrying that such major players are being taken out in such an unaffecting manner. Add to this the fact that Secret Invasion has also boasted some startlingly clunky action for the normally slick MCU and you have signs that the show needs to pull its Skrull socks up.
In wake of the attack on U.S. President Ritson, Fury seems to be at a big of a loss as ever. While he managed to extract a wounded POTUS before Gravik could make off with him, he did it at the expense of the live of his friend, Talos, who fell before the augmented super powers of the Skrull general. Knowing full well that the James Rhodes who currently sits high atop the governmental ladder has been replaced by an agent of alien decent, Fury discovers that Gravik’s secondary plan is to still frame the Russians for the attack, but adds the tall tale that they’re in league with the Skrulls trying to overthrow America, thus putting the Skrull’s compound in Chernobyl in peril.
Why would Gravik stick such a sizable bullseye on his own people? Well, for a start, his villainy has suddenly reached megalomaniacal levels as he’s not only slaughtering troops who question his orders, but he makes it abundantly clear that the individual lives and personalities of his Skrull operatives mean precious little him in the pursuit of his goal. Also, he’s doing it to leverage Fury in order to possess something called the Harvest, a collection of DNA taken from the slipped blood of every Avenger that participated in the Thanos vanquishing Battle Of Earth. If Gravik can get his green hands on that, he could feed himself far more impressive powers that Extremis healing and stretchy, stabby Groot vines and it’s this that is the true reason Fury is trying to clean this mess up himself – because it’s his.
Meanwhile, G’iah seeks solace after her father’s sacrifice with Fury’s Skrull spouse Priscilla (or should that be Varra), but both have to watch out for a full-squad sent by Gravik to make the latter pay for her unwillingness to follow orders and kill her husband.
If it wasn’t for Samuel L. Jackson holding things together like Peter Parker desperately trying to stop that ferry from sinking halfway through Spider-Man: Homecoming, then Secret Invasion would be in serious trouble. You see, the issue this action/spy show seems to be having is that the spy and action stuff are by far the weakest things in it and the shockingly laboured firefight that closed out the last episode proved it despite featuring crashing helicopters, shape-shifting aliens and even the aforementioned death of a major character in the form of Talos. On top of that, I’ve remain steadfastly unmoved by almost every twist the show has thrown at me which is more than worrying considering that I’ve been a devoted fan of the MCU ever since that that humvee convoy first rumbled down a dessert road in the original Iron Man; but while the show seems the be fumbling all the things the franchise usually pulls off without breaking a sweat, it still has that Jackson effect to keep its head above water.
The man’s natural charisma, added to the fact that Fury has had a near omnipresent effect on the MCU since 2008, has always been a steadying rudder, be it his commanding nature in The Avengers or his more relaxed persona in Captain Marvel and Secret Invasion has allowed us to see all sides of the guy as he struggles to get back up to speed. As The Harvest acts as a deep breath before we burrow into next week’s finale, it’s benefited by the fact that it gives the show a chance to focus on its strengths – namely that of Jackson, Olivia Coleman and Charlayne Woodard.
While Nick starts to finally gain ground on his enemies after numerous episodes of death, twists and betrayals, Jackson allows some of that old, Fury, swagger to creep back into his portrayal as Gravik’s true goal comes to light and the actual scale of our hero’s involvement becomes apparent. Leaking gravitas from every pore, Jackson’s ability to have chemistry with everything from fellow actors to a frickin’ houseplant papers over many of the show’s widening cracks (not to mention his own inability to physically do the action sequences) and the final moments of him re-donning his iconic eye patch and leather coat still manages to raise a tingle of excitement.
Elsewhere, there’s a welcome return of Olivia Coleman’s awesomely upbeat and absurdly entertaining Agent Farnsworth who annoyingly took last episode off but returns for yet more delicious banter and reveals an adorable love for rap music. Finally, the show’s biggest surprise continues to be Charlayne Woodard, who’s role of Fury’s Skrull wife proves to be a great source of warmth and strength and actually personifies the themes of trust the show is trying to put out far better than the spy stuff.
Aside from the bonus of a nice little cameo from O-T Fagbenle’s Mason whom you might remember from Black Widow, Secret Invasion’s other characters feel like their starting to suffer as the show races to its finale. Emilia Clarke’s G’iah still feels like less than a formed character and more than a confused cypher, even after given the dramatic meat of having to process the death of her father and after a strong start, Kingsley Ben-Adir’s Gravik has gone from intelligent master spy to power hungry maniac in less than an episode. In fact, the moment where his troops suddenly turn on him in a bungled assassination attempt seriously damages his villain credentials thanks to a jarringly lame set up that lacks any sort of power whatsoever.
Still, with one episode left to stream, it’s truly unclear which way the series will go, butcas it stands, despite some strong character beats, Secret Invasion so far stands as the least of all the MCU’s series to date and if the show doesn’t pull out something special in its dying episode, it’ll be one invasion that maybe would have better remained a secret.
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