I enjoyed the first episode of Secret Invasion. It wasn’t an amazing, blow-your-socks-off type of opening, but I don’t think the series is supposed to be one.
It’s a really exciting time for the Marvel Cinematic Universe right now, and there’s a whole lot going on. Here’s the setup. Marvel Studios’ new series is set in the present day MCU. Nick Fury learns of a clandestine invasion of Earth by a faction of shape-shifting Skrulls. Fury joins his allies, including Everett Ross, Maria Hill and the Skrull Talos, who has made a life for himself on Earth, and together they race against time to thwart an imminent Skrull invasion and hopefully save humanity.
Dude, that sounds amazing. It sounds fun. It’s old school espionage.
I’ve been a fan of a lot of what the MCU’s been doing. Some of the series have been hit or miss for some people, and I get that. I know for a fact that Moon Knight was one I loved a lot, though a lot of other people didn’t necessarily love all the parts of it. So if you enjoy spy thrillers, you’re going to enjoy this one. And I’m going to pre-warn everyone: this is a spoiler review, because that’s what I do. If you haven’t seen it, go watch the show. The first episode is on Disney Plus right now.
Anybody who knows anything about what Marvel’s been trying to do knows they’ve slowed down a little bit and started trying to pick up their quality. I heard they revisited this show, and I really feel like they’ve been doing their best to move in a better direction, especially with some of the shake-ups that have happened over there at Disney. I think this show is definitely one that has benefited from that hand.
A Safe House in Russia, and a Very Familiar Board
The series starts with Everett Ross, walking, and apparently he’s in Russia. He’s heading to a gentleman’s safe house, and this guy has the full It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia type board going on, with the pictures and everything. It feels very familiar. It’s spy fare. Nothing about this series that I’ve seen so far looks like it’s trying tremendously to go over the top.
When I watched The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, that series very much felt to me like it lived in the same universe as Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which up to that point was the espionage, Manchurian Candidate style movie Marvel hadn’t done. It felt like a different genre. This doesn’t fit into that same space. I feel like they’re still trying to maintain their Marvel-isms while dipping their foot into a different genre, which is more of an espionage thriller. An espionage thriller isn’t exactly the same thing as the Winter Soldier-esque type of thing, but it should still feel like it’s in that realm.
This felt very much to me like the first Mission: Impossible movie, which is to say a kind of mid 90s action-adventure setting.
I didn’t mind the opening. I do hear from some sources online, Robert Meyer Burnett for one, and there are several people other than him who’ve seen the original script for this episode, that it veers very much away from the hardcore storytelling that was happening there and tried to add brevity. Which is fine as far as I’m concerned. If you can tell a story with less words, rock on, man. I don’t mind what they’ve done.
But I feel like they could’ve leaned a little heavier, and probably updated it a little more. If you’re going to shoot for something, don’t shoot for 90s Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible. Shoot for the Christopher McQuarrie, Tom Cruise current ones, the bigger ones, storytelling wise, and see where you go from there.
What We Learn Before Ross Hits the Ground
We learn several pieces of information out of that meeting. First, Nick Fury’s been on S.A.B.E.R. That’s been implied in the movies, in end credits scenes and whatnot, but we didn’t really know to what extent, and now we know for a fact that’s where he is. The other thing we learn is that Nick Fury has, quote unquote, abandoned Earth, which I thought was interesting. He basically feels like he does a better job with the bird’s eye view, up in space, than he does on the planet, on the ground.
As soon as Everett leaves that safe house, he’s being followed. It takes very little time for him to get cornered, and as he’s running he gets up onto the rooftops, and he falls, and when he falls he dies.
We see the guy who chased him is Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos, who you might remember from Captain Marvel. Later on he cameoed briefly in one of the end credits scenes, the one where it turned out it wasn’t Nick Fury. I want to say it was Spider-Man, to be honest. Not No Way Home.
And I forgot to mention: Everett Ross, he’s a Skrull now. I don’t know what that means for the Everett Ross we’ve been seeing, like the one in Black Panther. That was actually the really fun part of the original comic book.
By the way, none of this has echoes of that comic book other than the title and the fact that the Skrulls are involved. It’s very much nothing like it, and that’s okay. That’s been the Marvel formula all this time, and anybody who knows anything about the comic books will tell you there’s a level of difference we’re all used to.
Olivia Colman Acts the Pants Off of It
I like the fact that we’re going to get to see more Nick Fury. Maria Hill has called him back, called him home so to speak, because unfortunately it was her and Talos who found Ross.
When Fury comes home he goes to meet with Maria Hill at a pub. She fills him in, and he tells her he needs to go for a walk, he’s got to go clear his head. And on that walk he stops by Olivia Colman’s MI6 agent.
Oh yeah. She’s good. She’s great. There’s nothing like bringing in somebody with major gravitas, with some serious chops, to come in and really give the thing weight. Don’t get me wrong, I love Samuel L. Jackson, and seeing him as Nick Fury is amazing, and he’s got the whole bearded look right now. But seeing Oscar-winning Olivia Colman come in and play in the Marvel Cinematic Universe hit me like the first time I saw Robert Redford in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It hit me that clearly that this was a higher level of acting.
She acts the pants off of that scene, and it’s because it’s very subtle. She’s wonderfully British, and of course she’s playing MI6, essentially, which is a very cool role. She begins to judge him. Clearly, since you didn’t see my people, you’re not ready for what’s coming.
So they’re all aware that something’s happening under the surface, and as you move forward in the story, you find out that’s exactly what’s going on.
Talos, His Daughter and Gravik
There’s a wonderful exchange between Talos and Nick Fury about what they’re calling the blip, or the snap, whatever you want to call it. Talos explains that Fury didn’t come back the same. He came back different. Very different.
And apparently Talos’ daughter has aged. Emilia Clarke plays her, and if you remember that character from Captain Marvel, she was all nice and young and cute. Now she’s a freedom fighter, because the Skrulls are kind of bitter. You guys haven’t helped us find a new homeworld yet. Which, I’m like, literally everything has happened since then. Come on. Perspective. But they’ve basically said they’re going to take over Earth.
There’s one named Gravik, played by a guy who’s new to me, Kingsley Ben-Adir. He’s a wonderful actor. He’s really spooky and very creepy, and he’s doing a good job.
You get this whole moment where a new guy shows up at their camp, and apparently Skrulls can handle radiation, so they’re camping out in former Russian nuclear plant sites and nuclear test sites. So everyone’s worried about a big nuclear bomb. And they’ve got about 100 operatives out and about, according to Emilia Clarke’s character.
Setting Up the Chess Pieces
I can see the chess pieces being set up, and I think that’s the important part. There are some really good set pieces and a couple of good action scenes, but this is essentially a setup episode, and I’m okay with that. This is the beginning of act one, so to speak, and hopefully episode two will be the beginning of the end of act one, moving us into act two.
There are some interesting story beats. Come to find out Emilia Clarke’s character has not turned on her father. There’s an encounter, and ultimately she gives them some information. Clearly Gravik knows she’s playing dirty, so he sets them up. They’re running around trying to chase these book bags she’s supposed to have marked, and come to find out the book bags are empty.
Maria Hill Deserved Better
Eventually Gravik faces them, and this is when Cobie Smulders dies. Yeah, man. She gets shot, and I’m like, bro. She’s shot by Gravik wearing Nick Fury’s face, which is really crappy.
Dude, really? She goes out like this? I don’t know, man. I felt like Maria Hill’s character should’ve always been destined for better things.
Of course, as we all know with Marvel movies, no one ever stays dead for long, especially not when you’re dealing with Skrulls. But we don’t know that she was a Skrull, because she didn’t revert back. So I’m pretty sure it was her, which is just sad.
The episode ends on a downer note. They have to figure out what’s going on, it’s going to get bad, and you really don’t know who’s who at this point.
The Verdict
Secret Invasion Episode 1, “Resurrection,” is a solid 7 out of 10 on the Know-It-All Index.
I think this is a good start. It’s not going to knock your socks off, but if you’re into this kind of espionage stuff, it’s good. It just feels pedestrian. Marvel needs to start having more faith in their audiences, and just let us follow the stories along, and tell us really good stories. Don’t dumb it down. I don’t need you to dumb things down for me.
Let me know what you thought of the premiere. I’d love to find out more. The conversation lives in the comments on the video above.
