So here it is, kids. The finale of Secret Invasion is upon us. Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) has lost his protege, his best friend, and his wife in the series so far. It’s bleak for our grumpy protagonist as he gears up to face off with a superpowered alien freak with a penchant for brutality. I don’t fancy his chances.
In the last episode, Fury retrieved The Harvest, a cocktail of Avengers’ DNA and some supervillains’ too! Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) has offered to leave Earth and abandon his genocidal goals against humans if The Harvest is handed over, allowing him to become the most powerful being in the galaxy.
But do we trust this maniac? HELL NO! And how will a puny, aging human combat such a powerful psycho? Let’s find out.
Cilla (Charlayne Woodard) receives a phone call from a melancholy Fury. It’s one of those classic “goodbye without saying goodbye” phone calls that heroes sometimes make before embarking on a dangerous mission. It’ll be fiiiiiiiiiiiine. Right?
At the entrance to New Skrullos, Red Shirt number 1 and Red Shirt number 2 open fire on an approaching vehicle. Of course, the vehicle is empty, and the Red Shirts do exactly what they do. They die. Fury flanks the pair, killing them with cold precision.
Meanwhile, the Skrull using the appearance of Rhodey (Don Cheadle), is being extremely pushy. He implores President Ritson (Dermot Mulroney) to bomb the crap out of New Skrullos, instigating World War III. Rhodey clashes with another advisor, who is vehemently in favor of waiting to confirm the threat before pursuing this course of action. But Rhodey is that guy with the loudest voice in the room, ensuring his views are heard.
An aide enters Ritson’s hospital room, showing them intel on Russian military mobilization. According to Rhodey, this proves that it was the Skrulls and Russians working in tandem, and El Presidente needs to make a statement! Ritson’s face is full-on think-face emoji.
Inside New Skrullos, Fury finds dozens of Skrull bodies strewn across the facility. Disconcerting. Fury starts to feel the effects of radioactivity and pops some iodine pills. Cue a creepy public service announcement from Gravik. You feeling sick, Fury? Blah, blah, blah.
Sonya Falsworth (Olivia Colman) calls Rhodey. It’s distraction o’clock. She tells him that Fury is in the building, and he’ll do anything to stop the missile strike on New Skrullos! Rhodey is incredulous, but he can’t keep his Skrull cover if he doesn’t order Ritson’s evacuation.
It’s time. Fury vs. Gravik, one on one. Except Fury is not feeling so good, worse for wear due to the high radiation levels. He accidentally drops all of his iodine pills down an inconveniently placed grate, and then he falls to a seated position. A nice swig of whiskey is welcome but not exactly helpful with his predicament.
Gravik explains that his human appearance is taken from the first man that he killed. For Fury. Fury caused all of this. It’s all his fault! Gravik loses his cool once more, screaming at Fury.
The former commander of S.H.I.E.L.D. fesses up. He knew no other known world could house the Skrulls, and it was even more difficult to ask humans to accept their presence on Earth. When he was blipped, it was a relief not to deal with his failure anymore. When Fury returned to Earth, it was to atone for his mistakes with Gravik.
He offers The Harvest to Gravik in return for leaving the planet and never returning. The Skrull General takes the vial from Fury’s trembling hand with ease and fires up the Super Skrull machine. Gravik had no intention of leaving without wiping out the human race. The machine turns on with Fury still inside.
Meanwhile, Sonya is cleaning house, systematically tranquilising the Secret Service guarding the President and Rhodey. Only the personal guards of Ritson and Rhodey are standing as we see nuclear codes being readied for launch.
Sonya gets the jump on Rhodey, holding him at gunpoint. She asks Ritson to call off the launch. It’s getting tense, and time is running out!
Ok, so Harvest-enhanced Gravik is freaking jacked. He picks up Fury with one arm and swings a punch to end him.
But Fury catches it. Wait, WHAT? No. Wait, WHAT?!
It’s G’IAH (Emilia Clarke)! Here. We. Gooooooo! So starts the epic final battle between the TWO Super Skrulls, G’iah and Gravik. Fueled by anger and vengeance, G’iah uses all of her new abilities against the Skrull General. Awkward-looking Drax arms, Mantis emotional powers, Captain Marvel proton beams, teleportation from… I don’t remember. The amalgamation of all the players in the Battle of Earth (Avengers Endgame) is on show.
It’s not plain sailing because Gravik has the exact same set of powers. He seems more inclined towards power moves from the likes of Hulk or Groot instead of using his tactical prowess. And it’s this that proves Gravik’s undoing. G’iah fires a Captain Marvel-esque proton beam through his chest. Goodbah Gravik. Even extremis can’t heal THAT wound.
Fury reveals himself to Ritson and Skrull Rhodey, having been with Sonya all along! He implores the President to at least delay the missile strike on New Skrullos, knowing hundreds of imprisoned civilians currently being impersonated will be killed as collateral damage, including the real Rhodey.
Rhodey appeals to Ritson to stay the course, saying he needs to appear strong after his hospitalization. Sonya, Fury, and Rhodey argue their cases while Ritson remains indecisive. Eventually, Rhodey frees himself from Sonya and steals a gun, only for Fury to shoot him in the forehead. Dead. BUH BYE, RHODEY! YOU SUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCKED! His body transforms back into its native Skrull form for Ritson’s confirmation.
Prez calls off the strike.
Back in New Skrullos, G’iah shuts down the human storage facility, and the imprisoned awaken. Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), the UK Prime Minister, and others we’ve seen across the season shake off their grogginess. Rhodey, dressed in a hospital gown, wakes up from his slumber and almost collapses. Could he have been here since the end of Captain America: Civil War when he was injured by Vision?? That’s a massive revelation!
President Ritson, rage-filled for being manipulated into almost starting a third World War, declares all off-world-born personnel as enemy combatants. All aliens will be hunted and neutralized by any means possible. OH, HELL NO! This guy is worse than Skrull Rhodey! OK, OK, OK. Say it with me: RITSON SUCKS!
Fury visits Cilla, telling her that he loves her no matter what. It doesn’t matter what face she wears; he just loves her. He leaves his ring in the bowl on the sideboard and says that he is leaving, but he leaves a sneaky invitation for her to join him.
Montage (even Rocky had a montage). Hit squads eliminate known Skrulls, including the former members of the Skrull council. The UK Prime Minister, who was actually human after being released by G’iah, was not even immune to the death squad treatment. It’s become a much, much more dangerous world.
G’iah, now hunted, tries to stay incognito. Unsuccessfully. Sonya tracks her down and offers a proposition. Not friendship, but an alliance. They use each other for their own personal gain. Sonya takes G’iah to another human storage facility. And it’s HUGE! The scale of the invasion was worse than we thought.
Fury phones Ritson and calls him out on his BULLSH*T hate speech. The President doubles down on his policy. Not ideal. Not ideal at all.
In the field where he first arrived from space, Fury calls for his extraction to the big space station in the sky. Before he boards the transport, Cilla arrives. Actually, Varra arrives, her given Skrull name. Fury, true to his word, loves Varra no matter what, and he smooches her Skrull face off. Varra joins our eye-patched hero on his journey to broker peace between the Kree and Skrulls.
Sort of a happy ending? Ish? Love endures.
Grimace. This was not the finale I was hoping for. The first half of this series relied on tension and dialogue to convey a sense of dread. Episodes 5 and 6 seemed to be a “F*ck it!” moment for the writers, pulling from the same old MCU bag of tricks. Yes, Secret Invasion is a series about a covert alien occupation, but it was mostly a human story, emotional and contained.
And now we have created the most powerful being in the galaxy. G’iah has ALL of The Avengers’ and ALL of Thanos’s brigade’s powers now. This is antithetical to the rest of the show! What the hell! The standoff with Rhodey was excellent, but, for however much I might like G’iah as a character, the Super Skrull-off was wayyyyyyy out of place.
Overall, the series was a disappointment. The pacing and tone were excellent to begin with, but it morphed into the same old throwaway MCU fare. If you compare the first four and the last two episodes, the atmosphere is completely different. Hell, I called this series Andor-lite earlier this season! That statement is almost embarrassing in hindsight.
Now let’s think about the future of the MCU. G’iah is OP. There are plenty of powerful beings in the Marvel Universe, but G’iah has the DNA of almost every single one we’ve encountered. AND she can shapeshift, taking on the appearance of anyone she desires. She’s a cheat code. But she’s also a liability. As we know from Master Yoda, anger leads to the dark side, and it encompasses her entire being. There are so many different directions they can go.
Secret Invasion, unfortunately, was a mix-and-match series that had elements to please everyone, but the complete package leaves a lot to be desired. It’s not an action spectacular. It’s not a spy thriller. It’s not a show with shameless cameos to give fans memberberries. It’s all of those.
And also none.
