Welcome back to the blog readers. Secret Invasion has run its course on Disney+ and I wanted to share my thoughts on the season as a whole. This is the first Marvel series that I have covered on my blog, and I did not feel the pressure, especially being a diehard MCU fan myself (Yes, I am a fan of recent releases. No, I am not a shill. It is all solely a matter of opinion). You may have seen my posts covering individual episodes, but what were my thoughts on the series as a whole? Stick around and find out.
Secret Invasion was the first series in Phase 5 of the MCU and was created for television by Kyle Bradstreet and directed by Ali Selim. The series stars Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Killian Scott, Samuel Adewunmi, Dermot Mulroney, Richard Dormer, Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, Don Cheadle, Charlayne Woodard, Christopher McDonald, and Katie Finneran. In the series, a group of rogue Skrulls infiltrate key people on Earth intending to take it over for themselves, leading Nick Fury and Talos to join forces to stop the threat.
NOTE: I will be using spoilers for my thoughts, so DO NOT read ahead if you have not seen the entire series.
As the weeks progressed and we got closer to the premiere of the series, I got more excited because I was looking for that political espionage thriller vibe that we got with Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). And I am a real sucker for political thriller projects in general. This is a major reason why I am such a fan of the Has Fallen (2013-present) series. So how would Marvel's first political thriller series pan out? Well, actually. The first 5 episodes are peak television but the finale unfortunately falls a bit flat, maintaining the form for the series on Disney+ so far (with the exception of 2021's WandaVision and 2022's Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law).
I want to begin by praising the performance of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, through and through. The most consistent part of the show was him, and his performance as an aging man was brilliant. We got more depth to his character than anything the character has appeared in so far, and we got some nice background to his character as well. We finally learn what makes Nick Fury Nick Fury. I loved learning about his upbringings in Alabama and how he and his family were victims of the immoral segregation laws in the South and how those experiences emboldened him. I loved how we learn that the seemingly unlovable Fury was actually able to find love in a Skrull. He also gets a lot of heavy material to work with, and he absolutely makes the most of it. It makes me excited to see where we go with his character next in The Marvels later this year.
One of my favorite parts of Captain Marvel (2019) was Ben Mendelsohn as the Skrull Talos. He brought a coolness to the role that was so infectious, and that absolutely carried over here in Secret Invasion. I loved his accent in Captain Marvel and I loved it here too. Also he gets more to work with here in this series, as his daughter G'iah is all grown up. I love the dynamic between him and Emilia Clarke, who is wonderful as always. I met Clarke in Terminator Genisys (2015) and fell in love with her last year when I watched Game of Thrones (2011-19). In this series, we get to see a different, darker side of Clarke that I instantly was attracted to. When she was seemingly killed off at the end of the third episode, I got really upset because I thought we were going to have our hearts broken, but lo and behold, that did not happen.
Next I want to commend the performance of Kingsley Ben-Adir as the villain of the series. I was completely infatuated with this man in One Night in Miami... (2021), and from then on I had a feeling he was going to be something special. He defiantly proved that in Secret Invasion. I would dare say that he was the best part of the season. He played menacingly so well, and his snarkiness is so infectious. He also gets some of the best material in this series as well. His confrontation with Talos in the museum was tense and palpable. His realization of a possible mutiny made you fear for the safety of the other Skrulls. And although his character did not have the best end for a Disney+ villain, he was still incredible in the role, and I can only hope he can get more serious roles like Secret Invasion and One Night in Miami....
And the final performance I want to talk about is that of Charlayne Woodard. I did not know who she was before the series, and now I want to watch everything she has been in. Her performance was so powerful and so breathtaking that every time she was on screen I was craving more. The way she presents herself as a strong, powerful force whose allegiances shift was amazing. Her interactions with Fury were some of the most riveting television I have seen all year. Together they exuberated such chemistry and grace that it would be impossible to not root for them. Their interaction after Fury learns Rhodey is a Skrull was laced with references to a prior conversation and more tension than my gallbladder surgery. Her motherly conversation with G'iah after her father's death was touching and filled with emotion, and her final encounter with Fury where they reconcile and decide to leave Earth together almost made this stickup shed a tear. Please continue to act Charlayne.
I did say in the beginning that we were sorely missing those political thriller vibes from The Winter Soldier, but we do not have to miss them anymore. This series is solely a political thriller through and through, and I can see some elements of paranoia thriller as well. It was really fun getting to wonder about theories we had for the series, such as: is Rhodey a Skrull, does Fury know his wife is a Skrull, is President Ritson a Skrull, does Priscilla really want to kill Fury, whose side is G'iah on, and is G'iah really dead. It brought me back to the days of WandaVision (2021), where literally every episode we had questions and thoughts and theories, and I missed those days. We are being promised paranoid thriller for Captain America: Brave New World (2024), so let us keep the trend going.
I also wanted to commend the score by Kris Bowers. Bowers was a stranger to me before the series premiered, but this was a hell of a way to break out. He really knows how to match the mood of the scene with eerie yet familiar chords. The tracks that use a "choir" are just mesmerizing to me; that is some Game of Thrones-level shit right there. I highly recommend listening to all 90+ minutes of this with headphones on because it will absolutely blow your mind. I have not done so yet but I definitely will this time. Well done Kris.
The final thing I want to talk about is the finale. Yes, Marvel once again caught the "deliver-for-every-other-episode-but-falter-in-the-finale" disease, better known as blowing their proverbial load. I do apologize but the finale was as weak as the finales of other series. I really did not get why G'iah and Gravik both had to get the powers of almost every character from the Battle of Earth in Avengers: Endgame (2019). It does kind of suck because I was completely on board with this series but it was kind of ruined for me with the finale.
To conclude my thoughts, Secret Invasion does everything right for a political thriller, but falters in its finale to result in a good series with great characters and great emotion. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next review.
Yorumlar