Secret Invasion keeps few secrets from the audience.
I wanted more mystery, but was happy with all the Nick Fury.
The Short Take:
A little light on spy craft and very heavy on Nick Fury, the premiere of Marvel’s Secret Invasion takes dramatic shortcuts with some MCU shockers. The series shows promise and I’m keeping an open mind. Olivia Colman, unsurprisingly, was the highlight for me.
[Since this is for the premiere of the series, I’m going to have a brief spoiler-free section, followed by a more in-depth, spoiler-y discussion.]
Image Credit: Rolling Stone
The Long Take:
Expectations sometimes interfere with the enjoyment of a perfectly good thing. And that may be what’s happening with this show.
On The Big Picture podcast’s review of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Joanna Robinson, author of the soon-to-be released MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, said that she had heard from industry contacts that Disney and Marvel Studios “are hoping” Secret Invasion “is their Andor.” She didn’t elaborate on what exactly that meant, but I interpreted the parallel to be one of tone and style, and therefore correlative success. This could be the darker, more grounded spy thriller that, if done well, could, like Andor did for Star Wars, dip the franchise’s toe into the prestige TV pool.
Based on this first episode alone, I would say that Secret Invasion is not like Andor because it paints with broader brush strokes rather than with the level of precision and detail of a clock mechanism. That could largely be a function of its six-episode length, as opposed to Andor’s 12.
Most of what we got here, while still exciting to watch, didn’t set up a mystery that would gradually build and unravel to huge, thrilling climaxes. All of the plot and intrigue was just out there for all to see. Questions posed were quickly answered, with very little room for mystery and speculation. That, of course, may change as soon as next week. But something tells me this is going to be much more of a race against the clock or a spy v. spy scrimmage in which the audience is mostly if not fully aware of what’s happening and why it’s happening.
We quickly learn, for example, that the Skulls have become unhappy with their life on Earth, with many longing to live “in their own skin” rather than hiding in human form. A rebellion has formed so that a group of Skrulls can try to establish a home of their own. They have, however, resorted to violence, and Talos, played by Ben Mendelsohn, asks his old friend (see 2019’s Captain Marvel) for Nick Fury’s help in preventing a Skrull-Human war.
Image Credit: LA Times
This episode unloads this situation, and so much more exposition about it, in a way that undermines the sense of paranoia that a story about a secret invasion naturally demands. On the one hand, the episode wants us to worry about how anyone at any time can be a Skrull in disguise, and yet, it also makes no attempt to keep the audience guessing about who the major Skrull players are after the opening scene. Even Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which is arguably the closest reference in tone, style, and genre, left us in the dark and surprised us with certain reveals by the end. So I guess what I’m saying is that I was hoping for the mysterious, masterfully-orchestrated slow burn of Andor, and this premiere does not seem to be setting up that kind of show.
All that said, I think that this series premiere has a lot to offer MCU fans, because it’s entrenched in past lore. Nick Fury was so traumatized by The Snap (called The Blip here) and the events at the conclusion of The Infinity Saga that he has exiled himself to a top secret space defense project called S.A.B.E.R. So there are clear connections to Fury’s history as we have seen in the MCU.
In fact, Fury as a character appears to be the primary narrative focus of the entire series. The show seems very interested in his psychological state, ghosts from his past, and what both the years and the mileage have done to him (sorry, I’m getting excited for Dial of Destiny, another “one last adventure” for an aging hero story). I can attest that Samuel L. Jackson has still got it. His gruff sarcasm and swagger still plays, and I felt like it was worthwhile to return to his character, even after all this time.
If you haven’t seen Captain Marvel since it first came out, I would recommend rewatching it, as it is the closest we’ve gotten to a Nick Fury origin story, and this series feels like a sequel to that film more than anything else. If I zoom out to think about what casual fans might think of the show, I’m not sure hinging the plot on one of the MCU’s least successful films is necessarily a smart choice.
For those of us in the thick of it all, it actually feels like we’re being rewarded for our diligence and loyalty. As if to say, it’s okay that we made you watch a mediocre movie with tons of heavy-handed 90s references because now knowledge gleaned from that film is finally useful! (Though I do want to go on record saying that I love Goose with all my heart, and look forward to seeing her and a fleet of flerkens in The Marvels this fall.)
I did see a glimmer of the kind of show I was hoping for in the scenes with Olivia Colman, who plays Sonya Falsworth, an MI6 agent who crosses paths with Fury in the episode. Nearly every line from her felt like a bubbly, happy rainbow dagger, and she managed to establish so much personality for her character in mere seconds. Her presence in the episode anchored it in the spy thriller genre for me. I would LOVE to see her in a scene with Julia Louis Dreyfus’ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine; a protective shield of some kind would surely be necessary because sparks. would. fly.
Image Credit: We Got This Covered
At this point, I’d say that if you’re an MCU fan, you can get in on this action right now. But if you’re a more casual fan, maybe wait a bit until the rest of us give the all clear.
[SPOILER ALERT: There were two big spoiler bombs in this one. If you haven’t seen the episode, you will no longer be safe from detonation.]
Image Credit: Variety
As I mentioned a moment ago, Nick Fury seems to be this story’s primary concern, much more than whatever spy game is afoot with the Skrulls. We spend an inordinate amount of time explaining where he’s been and what has happened to him since we last saw him. And multiple characters — I want to say at least three or four — repeat the exact same skeptical sentiment: has Nick Fury gotten too old and gone too soft? Can he get back in the field after being out of the game for so long? I found the repetition of this to be tedious and patronizing; I would much rather the writers of the episode had shown me that we had reason to doubt Fury’s abilities and fortitude rather than having almost every character we meet tell it to his face. The clock on the wall when you’re done bit with Sonya worked very well figuratively, so I would keep that one in.
Some of the dialogue was similarly clunky because it relied so heavily on stating the obvious. I found this to be the most noticeable with Talos’ daughter, G’iah, played by Emilia Clarke. The actress best known for playing The Mother of Dragons tries her best and does fairly well with what she’s been given, especially in the father-daughter double agent scenes with Ben Mendelsohn. But sometimes it’s hard to sell a blunt declaration like “Welcome to New Skrullos,” no matter how good you are.
Image Credit: Forbes
When a series doesn’t have a mystery to keep viewers on the hook, but still wants to make a scene, what can it do? If said series is a part of the MCU, it can make shocking revelations that make fans buzz about how everything we knew before was a lie, or it can kill off a beloved character who has been around since the beginning. This premiere did both.
I felt pretty differently about each shocker. The first, which revealed that the Agent Everett Ross we see in the opening scene was in fact a Skull all along, was somewhat predictable a few minutes in, but thrilling just the same. Like Agent Coulson before him, Martin Freeman’s Agent Ross has become a comforting presence over time, through his appearances in Captain America: Civil War (2016), Black Panther (2018), and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). As soon as his prone body morphed back into a Skrull, one question began rattling in my brain: how long has Ross been a Skrull? Since we first saw him on screen? Only recently in Wakanda Forever? Suddenly the thought that a Skrull may have wanted to intervene on behalf of Wakanda to somehow set a particular geopolitical climate as a stage for future plans was fascinating.
As usual, I’m probably overcomplicating matters. Since Skrulls have been around since the 90s, it’s certainly possible, but I’m going to guess that the Rebel Skrulls we meet in this episode kidnapped Ross after the events of Wakanda Forever and have his body stowed in their Matrix pods somewhere. I wouldn’t be surprised if by the end of this series, Fury finds the real Ross, frees him, and recruits him to help his cause.
I was less thrilled with the death of Maria Hill, Nick Fury’s right hand woman and one of the few constants in the MCU, appearing in far more films than Ross. I completely understand that this was an easy way to establish high stakes for Fury in this series. He will have to carry the albatross of her death around him for the rest of the season, motivating him to keep going when he gets discouraged. And the idea that she would have thought that Fury shot her, dying before she could realize that he was a Skull, is absolutely devastating considering the relationship they have built over the years. But Maria didn’t need to be fridged. This was her one chance to get her moment in the sun. We could have gotten entire episodes with just her or learned more of her backstory. She could have finally transcended her bit part status.
Perhaps she still could. She may not be dead, as we only saw her bleeding out. Maybe she’s just taking a trip to Tahiti. It’s a magical place.
Imag Credit: LA Times
Being this critical is a little bit of a strange sensation for me, but, as I said when I started, I think my hopes and dreams for the show I wanted to see are interfering with my experience with the show I’m actually seeing. I’m optimistic that as I attune to the series more I’ll appreciate it for what it is. While I’m disappointed that Maria Hill is gone so soon, her death did bring us back to the idea that Skrulls can be anyone, anywhere. So there’s still hope for my spy thriller paranoia dreams.
Plus, Fury’s mid-life crisis joke alone made the episode worth watching.