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Yesterday Secret Invasion finished its season, and in typical Disney+ tv show fashion I’m going to stop and rank all 6 episodes of Secret Invasion. Let’s get started!
6. Home (Episode 6): This is a finale that I have all sorts of different feelings and opinions on. So my placement of this episode can change tomorrow or the day after that. And the episode does have some cool moments. I like the scene with Rhodey, Nick Fury, and the President in the hospital. I thought that was a cool scene that worked nicely in the context of the show. The episode also does have some nice moments where they set-up the future with these characters, mainly Nick Fury leading to his appearance in The Marvels. Even where they leave Rhodey I think sets up Armor Wars in some subtle ways, but ways that are interesting and makes you curious about what they could be doing in that movie and future MCU installments. And then I thought there were nice twists and turns in the episode that made sense and switched up your perspective on certain things. But I think this episode is flawed and doesn’t come together as much as I feel like it should have. The big thing with this episode is it doesn’t make any sense to me why this episode is the shortest episode of the season. Because of that, everything in here feels rushed. It doesn’t feel as fleshed out or developed as it otherwise should be. One of the things that worked about episode 1 and 2 was they were hour long episodes, so they had time to develop and flesh everything out. Everything got to cook and marinate into the episode, here it feels like the microwaved version of that. And this is like the sixth or seventh one of these shows that have had that same exact problem. Also with that, I don’t like how the episode had a full on CGI boss battle inside of it, it went way too goofy and sci-fi for a show that was more grounded and smaller in scope compared to the other shows. And the fight itself was way too goofy . It didn't work. I don’t even like the idea of how Emilia Clarke’s character got all of these powers, that plot point felt very silly and stupid. That idea I feel like would have worked better as an episode on What If…? not on a grounded and mature show like this one.
5. Betrayed (Episode 3): This is easily one of the more frustrating episodes of the show, because there’s a lot in here that I think is very cool. But also some elements that I don’t think work quite as well. On the positive it is a lot of fun to see Fury and Talos go off on their mini adventure in here, the dynamic between the two of them is a lot of fun. And through that we learn a lot about their relationship and what they’ve been up to since Captain Marvel. The final 5-10 minutes of the episode has a lot of big twists and turns that set-up episode 4 and the rest of the show really well with what happens in the episode. And I think this episode has one of the more shocking and like “wow, that’s interesting” cliffhangers of the entire show. Where I think this episode steers in the wrong direction is this very much feels like the middle chapter of the show. Where episodes 1 and 2 were all about setting up the conflict, establishing the stakes, characters, and story. And then some of the later episodes are the pay off to all of this. Episode 3 feels like the middle chapter in all of this, this feels like the episode that exists to be the bridge between the two halves of the season. I think that really does hold the episode back when you’re watching an episode that feels like the bridge from episode 1-2 to episodes 4-6. Also, I think this is the episode where a lot of the show's flaws started to come through, where they learn a lot more about the villain’s plan, and sort of feels very generic. And I think with the genre of what they’re doing here, you could do something much more interesting with the villain’s plan. So this isn’t a bad episode, I didn’t hate this episode but it’s certainly one of the weaker episodes.
4. Beloved (Episode 4): I feel like this episode is a perfect example of how I feel on the entire show. What I mean by that is this episode has some great moments and interesting twists and turns, but I still don’t really care about it. And that’s a great way to sum-up the entire show for me. When this episode has great moments, it has great moments. The scene between Nick Fury and his wife is fantastic. I love that scene and it’s too tense. The camera work on that scene was great, it shows the human side of Nick Fury…love seeing that. And it also showcases the great actor that Samuel L. Jackson is. And that’s really one of the big positives for this season for me, is exploring Nick Fury as a character. That’s something the MCU hasn’t really done prior to this, I loved that side of things. We get more twists and turns as to who really is and isn’t a Skrull, the big one in here…we all saw it coming. We all knew that this was happening, so maybe the twist itself was cool but we all kind of saw it coming. The episode all leads up to this big showdown, probably the biggest action set piece of the entire show. Where you have Fury and Talos trying to keep the president while Gravik is attacking them, obviously you get some major consequences that happen because of this. So like I said, moments of the episode I think really work and are impactful. But this is episode 4 of 6, this is where I feel like the tension should be rising and we re-establish Gravik as a threat. But episode 1 did all of that and I don’t feel like the rest of the episodes quite kept up that moment of tension and danger. So I still like this episode but I think it’s an episode that could have and should have been better.
3. Promises (Episode 2): An episode that builds off of the foundation that episode 1 laid. It picks up pretty much right where episode 1 left off. Once again the episode ends with a cliffhanger that makes you question everything you’ve seen before, it questions what we think of Nick Fury as a person. And it’s a very different cliffhanger from episode 1, it’s not the same type of cliffhanger so it keeps things fresh and different when you go into episode 3. And you get some great scenes between characters here , mainly between Fury and Rhodey, where we haven’t seen a lot of interaction between them before in the MCU. But here they get a scene that is shown in the trailers for the show and it’s great and tense. It shows how broken and how different of a character Nick Fury is then who he was when we saw him in Phase 1. Even some scenes between him and Talos have emotion and layers to it, where we see Nick Fury make choices that he then regrets later on. The scene torture scene in the episode with Olivia Coleman’s character is tense and shows that nobody is trustworthy. In episode 1 she’s presented in one light, in episode 2 she’s presented in a totally different light. What I think holds this episode back from being higher up on the list is that it’s a bit too exposition heavy. Episode 1 was very much a set-up episode and so episode 2 expands and explores that, but I feel like they didn’ find the best way to do so. This episode is still enjoyable, I still dug it but not quite as good as episode 1 was.
2. Harvest (Episode 5): After some weaker episodes with 3 and 4 I thought this was a nice return to form for the show and had a lot of solid moments and elements in it. I like how this episode gave us a lot of answers to questions we’ve been wondering. Olivia Coleman’s character asks Nick Fury why he isn’t calling The Avengers, a question I feel the audience has been asking. Nick Fury’s response is “it’s personal”, and I feel like we knew that all along, that this mission was very much personal to Nick Fury. But to hear him say it I think adds an extra layer of depth and emotion to him and the season long story. Also, I like the little back and forth dynamic between Samuel L. Jackson and Olivia Coleman. They have a fun dynamic. I really like the chemistry they have. I also appreciated that this show is willing to kill characters and let them die, I was worried they’re were going to be a lot of fake-out deaths. When characters die at the end of episode 1 or episode 4 they stick and are real, you feel the danger of Gravik and his men and it makes you feel danger for the characters and you know that nobody is safe. The episode also has some very impressive action, it seems like the last few episodes have bigger action then the first three episodes. You get two action scenes in this episode with some Skrulls attacking Grafik. And then Emilia Clarke’s character with Nick Fury’s wife in her house, it’s a cool scene, it's very dynamic…and brutal. So there are just a lot of aspects about this episode that I really dug, so it’s easily one of the stronger episodes of the season.
1. Resurrection (Episode 1): A very solid and interesting kick-off to the show that had a lot to offer. Right off the bat the episode did a great job of establishing the tone and vibe for the show. We understand that this is a very different type of show from the MCU, it’s a paranoia thriller and you feel the danger and this tension through-out the episode. It also establishes that our villains are not holding back their punches, they will kill anybody that gets in their way just for the sake of it. Some of these MCU shows don’t really establish a clear villain or threat until episode 3 or 4 of the show, so I appreciated that in episode 1 we get the threat of the show and know that they’re both dangerous and ruthless. And this all leads up to a final cliffhanger that is truly shocking and interesting to have happen. Where once again the ending establishes just how dangerous these villains are and what they do to make sure they win. And it also just establishes in the episode that nobody is safe, everybody is vulnerable at any given moment. One final positive here is that the relationships amongst the characters feel very different. The last time we saw Nick Fury and Talos together was Captain Marvel, over 20 years before this show takes place. And now they’re relationships are a lot more mature and feel deeper than most MCU relationships. And the show stands out amongst other MCU tv shows and movies. It’s not a perfect episode, some camera angles during chases are a bit odd and make it unclear what exactly is happening. But in general, I really dug this first episode and thought it started the show rather well. And this is episode is what I wished the entire show was, if episodes 2-6 were like this. Then this show as a whole would have been a top tier MCU tv show.
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