After Nick Fury descending from on high last episode, there was no telling where it was going to end up, seeing a beloved character die, well that was not in my wildest predictions. But that event helped set the stakes up, but did the second episode keep them going?

This review will contain spoilers, which connect directly back to the first episode. If you have not watched that one, or this episode, please stop reading.

With the explosive end of the previous episode, there was always going to be a sense of urgency added to the show. If Gravik and his Skrull companions have no compulsion in blowing up a gathering, what else might they be willing to do. What I was not expecting was a flashback to the younger days of Nick Fury. Being thrown back in time, to the events after Captain Marvel, to see that Fury was asking for the Skrulls seeking a home, to help him out as spies, was interesting and adds an entirely new layer of complexity to the whole Hyrdra in S.H.I.E.L.D thing. But while details on the exact plan were scarce, it did provide a chance for young Gravik to meet young G’iah. After the flashback we learnt that yes, Hill is dead and not a Skrull like some have theorised, but a real human. Seeing Fury deal with her mother was not something I expected, if only because I wouldn’t have though mumma Hill knew what her daughter did for a living. This event seems to have triggered something in Fury, as evident by the confrontation he has with Rhodes later on in the episode.

One aspect that I didn’t quite enjoy was the split that Talos and Fury had, given that they seemed to be so sympatico for decades. Fury finding out that there are around 1 million Skrulls on earth, it’s a big bit of news to learn and after someone he trusted died, I can understand the anger. What I don’t get is how Fury never learnt of this earlier, he was on a Skrull ship for years, he was working with Skrull for decades and at no point, did he even think to do a headcount. For ‘The Spy’ as he was called by Tony Stark, to not know the number of folks he was helping hide on the planet and recruiting into his spy organization, it seems to be a bit of a massive misstep. Of course, while Fury was learning all this, we saw G’iah start to question the events of Gravik, sneaking around their base for more information, with the computer research providing a number of interesting tidbits.

Where things felt rushed is with Gravik and his dinner scene, not because he chewed up the scene, but rather no one else did. Gravik entered a meeting that he was not invited to and it seems only one person decided that they were not truly on board with the new level of effort Gravik was willing to put forth. It felt like there was a sense we were meant to be wowed by the level of Skrull incursion and it might have had that impact, if there was any connection to the character, prior to the explosion. There was a nice juxtaposition between the two viewpoints, with Gravik sitting down with his allies and getting what he wanted, as opposed to Fury sitting down with who he thought was an ally in Rhodes and getting fired. Of course, the ending of the episode just opened an entire can of worms on Fury that it you can’t even begin to fathom what it means and how that reshapes so many decisions.

I do have to call out Olivia Coleman in this episode, when we first met her, it was one of those dangerous because we got told they were set ups. Here though, we get to see her in action and again, feels like a Delores Umbridge scenario, where she takes a bit of joy in doing her work. The difference in the characters however is that Sonya Falsworth is actually smart and knows a good deal about the situation she has found herself in. Seeing her be ruthless, while keeping a proper sense of decorum was chilling, not in a dangerous way, but as in you never know what this person might do or think. The scene with Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn in the train didn’t feel that impactful, if only because it felt to busy, with Fury having to deal with Hill’s death. It isn’t that their performances were not good, they were, but with so much going on, it felt like their argument was just slid in there.

The second episode of Secret Invasion takes its time to add more layers to newer characters like Gravik and Sonya and it works, to a degree. The main push forward seems a little slow right now and Fury and Talos splitting up just as they got the band back together, seems like a real odd choice. The backstory of Fury being responsible for basically summoning the Skrull to Earth is interesting and has bigger implications for the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe. Right now, it still feels like we are in the opening act and with that, comes a lot of placement of people and with that hopefully done, things should move forward.