Main cast: Samuel L Jackson (Nick Fury), Ben Mendelsohn (Talos), Kingsley Ben-Adir (Gravik), Killian Scott (Pagon), Samuel Adewunmi (Beto), Dermot Mulroney (US President Ritson), Richard Dormer (Agent Prescod), Emilia Clarke (G’iah), Olivia Colman (Sonya Falsworth), and Don Cheadle (James Rhodes/War Machine)
Director: Ali Selim
Wait, so the Skrulls are the enemies now? Does that mean Captain Marvel is wrong all along and that the MCU dares to admit that a woman may be infallible in the present day? Hmm, then again, Disney did fire their Diversity and Inclusion Chief recently, so maybe she wasn’t around to do anything about this horrible display of misogyny.
Anyway, I hope people aren’t holding any hope that Secret Invasion has anything to do with the famous comic book arc. Showrunner Kyle Bradstreet proudly admitted that he had no clue whatsoever about that one, and this particular show has a story that is crafted anew by committee to ensure that the whole thing is as formulaic yet bland as possible. After all, this one is also an advertisement for the upcoming The Marvels, which I am certain would make 30 billion dollars in global box office during its opening day.
This episode opens with one Agent Prescod telling Bilbo Baggins that he believes that there is a common link among the recent acts of terrorism all over the world, supposedly committed by different groups. In reality, they are masterminded by the Skrulls posing as human beings! So, Captain Marvel and Nick Fury are wrong! Then he tries to kill Bilbo, there is a chase, and then Talos—wait, let me check IMDB to see who that is again… eeuw, someone from Captain Marvel—shows up, and then Maria Hill shows up, and then, oh look at that, it’s not Bilbo, it’s one of the meanie Skrulls posing as him!
Here comes the credits, and oh my, I hear it’s all AI-generated, something that makes all the special effects and visuals people mad because they now realized that maybe it wouldn’t be a good idea to go on strike anytime soon.
Anyway, Nick Fury came back from his vacation in outer space to learn from Talos that some younger Skrulls feel that they have been abandoned by their people as well as humans. Wait, didn’t and Captain Marvel said last time that they would find new homes for these Skrulls? What happened? Is there some Disney+ MCU series that I overlooked?
At any rate, these disenfranchised Skrulls, led by Gravik, now want to create some kind of nuclear holocaust on Earth, so that when all the humans are dead, they will take over and live on the planet. I’m not sure how a nuclear-shattered dead planet would be a great place to live in, but what do I know? Maybe the Skrulls photosynthesize using radioactive rays or something.
Among these meanie Skrulls is G’iah, Talos’s daughter, because my god, if Disney couldn’t make Solo: A Star Wars Story happen for Emilia Clarke, they are going to try again and again until they succeed. G’iah, Qi’ra, maybe if this one flopped too, Ms Clarke can be She’ra next in whatever IP Disney hadn’t destroyed yet.
Oh no, it looks like the Skrulls want to start a war between US and Russia next, and that’s bad. Wait, I thought that was a good thing according to the progressives on social media? Hmm, does this mean all of them are Skrulls?
Of course, these people sneaking around in Moscow won’t start a US-Russia war should they be discovered, because… that’s different, I guess.
The whole “illegal immigrants are coming to destroy us” thing has been done before in the MCU, and indeed, I am very much reminded of that show while I’m watching this one, especially since this one also has another alumnus from Solo: A Star Wars Story. With this one being part of present day MCU, a part of me is cringing in advance on how the people behind this story will butcher the inevitable woke preaching of theirs.
Still, this episode is pretty alright. It keeps beating on my head that Nick Fury has changed since he came back from getting Thanos-ed, but aside from gaining a limp and doing his best cosplay of the Bowery King, he still sounds and acts the same. This is no doubt the heavy handed ways of the screenwriters to tell me in advance that there is going to be some incoming arc in which Nick will demonstrate to all the doubters that he still got it.
At the same time, it’s hard to give a definite rating because this episode is mostly exposition. It does end with someone finally getting an exit from the MCU, although that character is so poorly developed even over the course of several movies that I am completely unmoved. Not to mention, since everything is a multiverse now, death is meaningless as they can always pull a replacement from another dimension when the need arises so the whole thing is a big whatever.
Three oogies it is, then, along with a slice of lowered expectations as it’s not like the current clowns running the MCU have covered themselves with glory thus far.
