Secret Invasion - Finale Episode - Review

Well here we are, the final of the first Marvel spy thriller. The only problem is that its been very low on spies and even worse with the thriller aspect, can the final episode save the show?

The short answer, no, it did not and the longer answer is just going to explain why. When we last left Nick Fury he was determined to walk towards Gravik with the Harvest and a gun and see what he could do. The opening of this episode had him calling his wife, giving the vibes of a last goodbye and then we see him take out some guard Skrulls without issue. After that, we saw Fury investigate the Skrull compound, seeing the aftermath of the battle that Gravik raged on his own people and then finally coming upon his little soldier in the enhancement chamber. Now given that Gravik only wanted one thing from Fury, seeing him run headlong into battle would not have made sense, so them having a bit of a heart to heart was welcome.

After 5 episodes of being told that Gravik is pissed off at Fury, we finally understood why and along with why he has the face he does. It is honestly the best moment Gravik has had on the show, he was willing to do anything that Fury asked, because Fury was the one asking and to then be discarded, it’s a valid reason to be pissed. Once Fury hands over the vial we saw him collection, Gravik tests it and upon finding out its legit, begins the process to absorb all the powers of Captain Marvel, Thor, Mantis, Obsidian Maw and countless others. Then Fury turns out not to be Fury, but G’iah and she gets all the same powers and the two go at it.

While all that is happening, we see Skrhody playing devils advocate to the President, though not so much whispering in his ear, but rather shouting in it. These scenes were so well played by Don Cheadle, more so because we know he is a Skrull and wants the attack to go ahead. From a story point of view though, it was utter garbage, one man basically foaming at the mouth to launch a nuclear bomb and no one is questioning his sanity. Sure he is throwing around accusations all over the place, but given the American Military is meant to have countless checks before launching most attacks, so I would imagine a nuclear bomb would require dozens more. But nope one rabid guy is all it needs according to the show.

Now the final fight between G’iah and Gravik was interesting, if only because we rarely get to see people using powers to fight, but it does of course bring up some major issues. We had seen movies, taking months to play out, where characters are learning to control their newly obtained abilities, but here, the Skrull get the same power and dozens more, and know just how to use them. The same issue popped up with Thanos and the time stone, Strange had to learn how to use the spell from a book, but Thanos just somehow knew. The other issue is that with the random assortment of powers, is that sometimes it was hard to discern which power was from which being.

How the series comes to an end is also utter shit, there is no mincing words there. There are three parts, the first is Fury just returning to space, which sure we knew he would as he is in The Marvels, but there is nothing done on Earth, just a goodbye to his wife and he is gone. Falsworth strikes a bargain with G’iah and unlike the last deal that was made between humans and Skrulls, she is keenly aware of how bad it can go. The final part of the ending is the American President declaring war on Skrulls and basically stating the American people will not stand for it and then that causes a wave of vigilantes to appear and start causing problems, killing Skrulls and humans without prompting.

The Secret Invasion comics had a big impact, as there was the question, who was a Skrull. The Secret Invasion tv series never bothered to do anything beyond 8 characters and 2 of them were killed off. There was no spy thriller level tension that ran throughout the series, the motivations for characters were basically written on the sleeve and the biggest reveal, Rhody being a Skrull was done so early and without any fanfare, that the final moments were all but confirmed in how they would play out. G’iah’s taking over Fury would have made sense, if there was some connection between the two previously, their last interaction was brief and there were no plans made. I said it in the last review and the one before, if something happens off camera, then it doesn’t happen. Why Fury, after building up his big return, dusting off the eye patch and all that, was just standing in a hospital corridor to close out his big arc was the way the creators thought it should go, I will never know, but it just undercut the tension and hype they built from the week previous.

Marvel has released quite a number of tv shows now and they all have the same problem, the stakes are never real, the characters never really grow and if there is ever any danger to a character, just fade out to black and retcon it next week. We had characters die for good, then some die and not die, we had people transport themselves across the globe in moments or have to spend ages doing so. Secret Invasion was much less an invasion and much more an invalid attempt at a spy show, there was no tension, there were no real stakes and the end just felt pointless.

The Score

4.0

The Pros

+The opening moment with the car was great

+Finally seeing a fight where people are using powers…

The Cons

-… though how they mastered them within 10 seconds is a mystery

-The lack of stakes throughout the entire series still didn’t amount to anything