“Promises”
What They Say:
Fury grapples with past and present.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The opening episode of Secret Invasion filled in some of the blanks for viewers with what’s been going on with Fury for the last few years since we last saw him up in space killing time. It also brought about a bit of what’s been going on with Talos and the Skrulls and it’s just disappointing that they ended up being treated just as horribly as you’d expect, resulting in this new generation of younger Skrulls not willing to just keep accepting things. Particularly after Fury basically disappeared for a few years and hasn’t been in communication. We don’t know what Danvers has been up to when it comes to fulfilling the promise that the two made to the Skrulls and that just makes watching the cold open harder. We see some of the Captain Marvel film utilized here and then seeing how Fury made his promise to the Skrulls if they have his back, he has theirs.
The reality is that Fury was pretty broken after the events of Thanos, the blip, and all that surrounds it and it’s no surprise that he basically got off-planet in order to cope with it. He said it followed him there but the guilt wasn’t enough to get him to interact with Talos – nor for Talos to reach out to him because Fury’s actions made it clear he wanted no contact. So these two men, who have a lengthy relationship with each other, are coming at everything from very different places now. And different secrets as well, as we see Talos revealing that there are now a million Skrulls on Earth as he worked to protect his people after Fury abandoned communication. And Fury, for his part, is riding his anger over the loss of Maria Hill and the truths he’s had to take in and accept from her mother over it. That was a particularly good scene, especially as she simply made it clear to Fury to not make her death in vain. That’s something that you know makes an impact on him.
This second episode is largely about moving the pieces into place a bit more and drawing out some of the setting elements so we know where things stand. The MCU is always going to be much looser than the comics side because it’s not getting constantly tweaked and exposed and kind of plays in a semi-real time mode as well. Fury’s trying to manage things after the attack in Moscow and both he and Hill are being blamed, which has the US government basically casting him out. The comes through a great sequence with Rhodey as he definitely leans hard into the “American exceptionalism” in dealing with the other countries demanding answers. Knowing now that Rhodey has known about Skrulls since probably 2010 or so is interesting and builds on his military side nicely, leaving me hopeful we see a nod or two to that in some sort of flashback.
Where the show spends its time wisely is on its new characters. We get a good chunk of Fury and Talos to be sure, they’re the leads, but you need another side that you can understand. Kingsley Ben-Adir is definitely settling well into his role as Gravik for this as we see how he handles things after the attack and the consolidation of power that’s happening. With so many more Skrulls here and other things happening that Talos was likely unaware of, we see how the Council that exists within the Skrulls on Earth have managed to take over leadership positions in a few countries and in the media in order to secure their agenda. And while they’re not happy with Gravik, they also realize that he’s tightened his grip on power that they were unaware of and we see how almost all of them accede to his being elevated the Skrull General with unchecked powers. Between that and the secret thing he’s running in the abandoned nuclear facility in Russia, well, the danger levels are rising.
What proved to be a lot of fun is a little side sequence here with one of the other Americans captured by the Russians after the attack is being interrogated. It’s pretty brutal and we know the guy is a Skrull but we see that the Russians are unaware. What shakes up the interrogation is Sonya Falsworth showing up, all properly British, and taking it over after excusing the others. It’s a polite buy brutal interrogation – using a form of extremis perhaps? – that gets her some of the information she wants. It’s clear she’s more than meets the eye and while I think the Skrull angle is certainly possible, I’m rather hoping that if she’s more than human that she’s really a Kree and doing some reconnaissance and keeping an eye on things on Earth. She gets to chew some good scenery here and it blends in well to Gravik and his team coming to rescue their captured soldier after the fact and figuring out just how compromised he was. Small moments of brutality to reinforce that they’re serious players and not just talking a good game.
In Summary:
Secret Invasion covers a lot of good ground here but I can appreciate why some may find it boring. It’s not as dense or complex as something like Andor but it’s taking a measured and mature approach to telling its story and trying to avoid a lot of the usual stupid things that happen in order to get from one set piece to another. It also helps that it at least feels like most of it was shot on location somewhere, feels grounded, and isn’t trying to punch above its weight in a way. There’s an unfolding story with new secrets coming to light – particularly a stinger sequence I’m glad to see even if it felt like it came out of Killing Eve in how it felt to me – and each new things is intriguing. The hard part is trying to fit the Skrulls into thirty years of background on the cheap without numerous interstitial moments. The reference to HYDRA at least provides a natural shortcut to explaining it.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Disney+
