Secret Invasion Episode 2 review: Newfound momentum in the face of hopelessness

Secret Invasion's second episode is a rather different experience than the pilot. The pilot was lacklustre, even boring by the standards of a spy-invasion series. However, its painful conclusion gave a jumping-off point to the characters, to finally give into the gravity of the situation.

3 things you need to know

• Secret Invasion is the first long-form series in MCU Phase 5. 
• It is directly tied to the events shown in Captain Marvel (2019).
• Don Cheadle (Colonel James Rhodes) reprises his role as War Machine. 

Hot Take

This is only the second episode of Secret Invasion, so it might be too early to ascribe any credibility to it as a "good" Marvel series. However, Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury may be finally getting the back story he deserves. 

(A younger Nick Fury with Gravik during Secret Invasion episode 2 | Image: MarvelStudios/Twitter)

For episode 2, this is a dramatic gain in quality, since the pilot gave a sense that the makers were utterly confused about what to do with it. Succesfully adapting Secret Invasion from the Marvel comic series of the same name is one half of the battle won. The other half is a full-fledged dive into who Nick Fury is by giving him a good backstory.

Does it live up to the hype?

There wasn't much hype, to begin with when I experienced the pilot episode. There was something amiss, as Fury just randomly stroll out of a spaceship from his moon base and casually started chatting his old friends up. That is to say, the beginning of the pilot episode didnt convey the gravity of the situation at hand.

(Olivia Coleman as Sonya Falsworth in Secret Invasion | Image: MarvelStudios/Twitter)

It took an act of mass destruction for characters to be propelled into a sense of urgency in episode 2. Fury, after all, is an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D (or at least used to be). The stakes of an imminent World War III are involved, which is big for the MCU.

The involvement of politics has done wonders for Marvel. Think back to Captain America: Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, or Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, when a sense of imminent danger was present within the story.

This, in my opinion, grounds the story in the second episode so that there is room for constant momentum. It’s a different kind of momentum than what was present in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, where idealism was the driving force. I can’t speak for the entire series, but episode 2 is well worth the hype (if there was any). 

(Emilia Clarke as G'iah in the episode 2 for Secret Invasion | Image: MarvelStudios/Twitter)

Stream it or skip it?

Secret Invasion seems to be building up to another great extinction-level event, though not of the magnitude that Thanos brought. Kingsley Ben-Adir’s Gravik is destined to be a great villain in the MCU books, while Emilia Clarke’s G’iah has started to show that she might emerge as the voice of reason amid the Skrull-Human conflict. 

While the story seems to have merit, the same can’t be said about certain characters. Ben Mendelsohn (Talos) pops in and out, reveals a bunch of things that we didn’t know, maybe even humanises the Skrulls a little bit, and then leaves. What was the point if he was not going to be hands-on about the conflict?

(Kingsley Ben-Adir as Gravik in Secret Invasion | Image: MarvelStudios/Twitter)

Olivia Colman (Sonya Falsworth) had a limited appearance as well, but it was the most charming moment of Secret Invasion so far. Also, Iron Man's pal War Machine is back, so Secret Invasion reminds us of the good old days when the sun still shone and Iron Man ate pizza upon a giant doughnut. 

Bottomline

There’s a human aspect to episode 2 that was born out of tragedy. We see Fury as culpable, but also understand why he couldn’t deliver on the promise that he had made to the Skrulls. Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) leads the charge on the opposition, and he’s as menacing as they get. I suspect the potential for one of the best climaxes in any MCU series. 

Rating: 3.5/5