Secret Invasion First Impressions: Conspiracies & Spy Work Galore

Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, Review, TV | Tagged: disney, marvel, Marvel Studios, Secret Invasion

After an initial slow burn, Secret Invasion shows some promise but it’s unclear if the Skrull tension can be maintained for the entire run.

When it comes to Marvel television shows, this many into the game, it’s hard to judge them by the first episode or two. The problems with these shows tend to start rearing their ugly heads by the middle of the season, only for most of them to crash spectacularly down by the end. Whether or not Secret Invasion will ultimately work is hard to judge by the first two episodes because the Marvel shows tend not to have self-contained stories within episodes and are instead paced out like longer movies. It’s why one of the shows that have worked the best, WandaVision, worked so well because it was leaning into being a television show and not a movie. All of that being said, the first two episodes of Secret Invasion show some promise, even if it is a slow burn, and it’s unclear if the “is this a Skrull” tension can be maintained for the entire season.

“Secret Invasion” Gives Veteran Cast Members a Chance to Shine

The show doesn’t waste too much time telling you what is going on, and by the end of the second episode, we more or less know where most of our cast falls when it comes to this fight. While there is likely more going on, the primary objective that the Skrulls have is probably one of the more clever things that Marvel has done in a while. We will get into that more once we talk spoilers, but it’s perhaps one of the best ways to integrate real-world events and tensions and comic book shenanigans since Magneto’s origin story in World War II. It’s also one of those stories that hit a little too close to home and almost makes you wish it was a bunch of aliens invading the world because that might be an easier threat than its real-life counterpart.

In terms of a cast, Secret Invasion might be one of the better ones that Marvel has put together, and that’s because they didn’t waste any money bringing in some heavy hitters. Emilia Clarke is doing the best she can with one of the show’s weaker and more cliche roles. It’s revealed that Skrulls do not age as humans do and live much longer, so G’iah is, if you think about it, maybe a teenager or a pre-teen having a tantrum. It undermines whatever journey she’s on because you know she’s young for this race, but a grown woman is playing her, so the contrast is very strange.

As for the other standouts, credit must be given to Olivia Coleman, who improves every scene she is in. Her surprisingly perky British spy, who also looks like she would pluck your eye out with a smile is fantastic. We can hope that she shows up plenty for the rest of the season. As for our villain, Kingsley Ben-Adir has screen presence and is somewhat sympathetic in his intentions, but it’s hard to tell if he will come together in the end.

The show’s true stars are the good cop/bad cop scenes between Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn as Fury and Talos. It’s clear that there is real history between these two, and Talos calling is why Fury even came back to Earth in the first place. We know these two have known each other for thirty years in the back of our minds from Captain Marvel, but Jackson and Mendelsohn really feel like two friends that have been through hell together and have known each other for half a lifetime. Jackson has been hovering in the margins of the Marvel universe since day one, and if we get nothing else out of Secret Invasion other than seeing him act his ass off for six hours? Not a bad trade-off.

In terms of how you can spend two hours, the first two episodes of Secret Invasion take a little while to get going, but once the ball gets rolling and the implications of the events in question become apparent, it is interesting. The gimmick of this whole thing, the idea of imposters and not knowing who to trust, it is worrying that it already feels like that part of the show is running out of steam two episodes in. Is this going to be a less flashy, more down to Earth show like Andor was for Star Wars last year? Secret Invasion isn’t nearly as good as Andor, but it’ll be good to take the Marvel Universe back to Earth before we shoot back off to space this fall with The Marvels or explore the multiverse with Loki season two.

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