Welcome back to the blog readers. Sadly, the end has arrived. Secret Invasion has become one of the best shows on television right now, and I am so bummed that it is over. The boys at Marvel have delivered quality episode after quality episode, giving us a fantastic political thriller series. But were the cats able to catch lightning in a bottle and deliver us a satisfying finale episode? Was the finale, titled "Home," directed by Ali Selim, and written by Kyle Bradstreet and Brian Tucker, able to leave us on a good note? Stick around to find out.
NOTE: I will be using spoilers for my thoughts, so DO NOT read ahead if you have not seen the episode.
While the last few weeks have brought us some gold content, I entered this week's episode with a little bit of hesitancy. For a majority of MCU series, they started strong and ended weak. So my fear would be if Secret Invasion would suffer the same fate as the rest of the series. And I think at this point it would be safe to say that the answer is...not quite. It certainly is not the worst finale of them all, but it unfortunately is not the best. That is really a letdown, especially because I have loved this series to death.
Although, enough cannot be said about the brilliant performance of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. It is really nice that he has been able to flex his acting muscles for this series. "His" interactions with Gravik are truly telling of the kind of actor he has become. He does a very convincing job of making us think that he is truly affected by the radiation, and I also loved his interactions with Varra, and it looks like they are on the same page again as they prepare for their new life together. If he decides to do more serious and legit roles like this, he could get an award at some point.
I told you all that Kingsley Ben-Adir was a great actor, and he did not fail to prove that in this finale. You could feel the pain and anger in Gravik's voice when he is talking to who he believes is Fury. You can really gain a sense of why he hated Fury as much as he did. He resented Fury for making him a killing machine, and even went as far as to wear the face of the first man he killed for Fury. Although I am bummed we are not going to be able to explore his character further, Ben-Adir definitely made the most of his character. Here's to hoping we get a prequel Disney+ series.
In the climax of the episode, we learn that the person talking to Gravik was not Fury at all, but instead G'iah who impersonated Fury to get close to Gravik. They both entered into the machine and got the powers of most of the characters in the MCU such as Thor, Valkyrie, Captain Marvel, Hulk, Abomination and Korg, just to name a few. The two had a brutal battle throughout New Skrullos, which led to G'iah killing Gravik. I will admit that it was kind of cool, but at the same time kind of cringe. Marvel kind of left their hands in their pockets with this one, because now they have an uber-powerful character that they probably will not mention again. Unless there is a plan to do something with G'iah later on. Let us hope so.
Raava finally gets exposed as a Skrull after successfully being able to convince President Ritson to strike New Skrullos. Fortunately, Falsworth and Fury are able to get to the President and get him to call it off. I did love Don Cheadle in this feminine-villainous role, and hope he can get more roles like this in the future. The one-liners are hilarious, especially the one he gave about the stupid pill in breakfast. Please do more roles like this Don, I loved you like this.
Speaking of Rhodey, we got a major reveal about him, although it was more subtle in nature. The real Rhodey (along with all of the other kidnapped) was woken up by G'iah and...needed assistance walking? Holy shit, that can only mean one thing. He had to have been taken sometime during or after the events of Captain America: Civil War (2016). It has to be guys. Why would he be wearing a hospital gown and not be able to walk? So this would mean he never patched things up with Cap and the rogue Avengers, never even knew about the Blip or Thanos, and does not know Tony Stark is dead. That would be absolutely devastating if it were true. Although I do think we will get all of these answers patched up in Armor Wars (whenever the hell that comes out). So going off of that, I really want to know when Everett Ross was taken. My theory is sometime after the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). Please tell us people.
I also want to commend the end of the episode. Ritson announces a bill that would outlaw all off-world species from being in America, so what would that mean for established people like the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Asgardians? Would Thor be allowed to visit Tony's grave in New York? Would Drax or Nebula be able to visit Peter Quill in Missouri? These are questions we absolutely need answers to. And then, Fury rekindles his marriage with Vaara and the two leave Earth to discuss peace talks with the Kree. She finally feels comfortable enough to reveal her true self to Fury, and he finally tells her he loves her. That was so heartwarming, and I really hope we see more of Varra in The Marvels. I absolutely loved Charlayne Woodard in this role, and am tempted now to watch more of her work.
A good, but not great finale was in store for us, but it was enough of a high note to leave me satisfied. Thank you all so much for reading, and I will see you all for the next one. Stay alert, because I have my reviews of the entire season of Secret Invasion and the Paramount+ exclusive film Zoey 102 on tap.
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