‘Secret Invasion’ Episode 2 “Promises” Review – Improves on Premiere But Retains Its Flaws
Secret Invasion‘s second episode was a much improved outing after its average premiere, providing many scenes crackling with chemistry between its talented cast as it explores the aftermath of the premiere’s tragic cliffhanger.
Samuel L. Jackson is on fire throughout this episode as he deals with Maria Hill’s death and the Unity Day bombing, putting in spectacular performances opposite Ben Mendelson’s Talos and Don Cheadle’s Colonel Rhodes, who gets more screen time this week. Olivia Colman also gets a chance to shine as a devil behind a smiling mask in a truly menacing portrayal of an MI6 agent willing to use any means necessary to get her way.
The episode is still a slow burn with only a single action scene in the second half of the episode — a violent but not especially memorable sequence — but the story is more engaging as we explore more about Gravik and his plans for world domination. Emilia Clarke’s G’iah is tasked with uncovering exactly what is going on behind closed doors and though it’s still early days, the plotline is teasing some intriguing developments that could turn Gravik into an Avengers-level threat.
The writing and dialogue is vastly improved in Promises, with only one scene that fell flat for me and a “badass” one-liner that made me snigger. Otherwise, the dialogue flowed naturally. Some of it was even memorable for the right reasons and felt of the standard I’d normally expect for a Marvel Studios production.
The episode ends on a much softer note than the premiere, but a no less important one as Fury gets an interesting personal revelation. We had been promised a more vulnerable side of Nick Fury and it looks like we’re starting to get it. Hopefully Secret Invasion can start to build on this stronger foundation and start wowing us with some great spy-versus-spy stories in the next few weeks.
Spoilers ahead…
The episode kicks off with an intriguing flashback set two years after the events of Captain Marvel in 1997. A de-aged Samuel L. Jackson greets Skrull refugees at a SHIELD safehouse in Brixton, London (we’ll ignore the fact that The Shard is present in the London skyline here even though it wasn’t built for another 12 years). It’s a key scene as Fury gets to meet a young Gravik, whose parents died in the Skrull-Kree war. The young Skrull is slow to trust, but like everyone else in the room is won over by Fury’s promises that he and Carol Danvers would find a new planet for them to live on.
I’m a bit confused as to why Fury felt this was his promise to make but perhaps he thought Carol would be able to help out more over the next few years. We also get to see Soren in this flashback, which makes me doubt whether or not she’s actually dead in the present day if they’ve brought the actress back for a flashback already. The scene then skips forward to the present day in Moscow, as Fury is dragged away from Maria Hill’s body by Talos and into a van.
After the opening credits, we’re treated to one of the highlights of the episode as Fury demands Talos answer some questions. His story about taking the train to Detroit with his mom in the “colored car” was fantastic with little details to paint a vivid picture. He explains that they used to play a game called “Tell me what I don’t know”, a wonderful piece of writing that adds a bit of flavor to a scene that could have been just a straight exposition dump.
Talos, visibly squirming as he knows he’s deceived his friend, reveals that nearly all of the “million” Skrulls who fled the Kree have settled on Earth, bar a few who stayed in the Emperor’s colony somewhere out in space. This is substantially more than the few hundred Fury thought were on Earth and he is rightly furious. As a man who prides himself on knowing more than everyone else, this is a worrying blindspot. The problem is far worse than he imagined because his friend kept secrets from him. Talos gets angry and accuses Fury of abandoning them by heading off to space right after he was blipped out of existence for five years.
Fury kicks Talos out of the train car and makes his way to London, where he meets Maria Hill’s mother as her daughter’s body is repatriated. This exchange with Hill’s mother was a bit painful to watch, as she angrily accuses Fury of failing to protect her daughter. The dialogue is stilted and wooden, and I didn’t buy it for a second. To make matters worse, it pours more guilt on Fury for something that wasn’t his fault.
This scene was an inferior version of Tony Stark’s conversation with the civilian mother in Civil War, and the only nod we got to Maria Hill for the rest of the episode. Hopefully the show will take more opportunities to explore the impact of her death with Fury but I’m not confident that it will.
Meanwhile, we check back in with G’iah and Gravik as they head to the Skrull Council. It turns out his Skrull rebels have infiltrated the higher echelons of power across the world, including the UK Prime Minister, NATO’s Secretary General and a prominent influential US journalist on the MCU’s equivalent of FOX news. The council isn’t happy with Gravik’s actions, believing them far too rash and risking exposure to the wider world.
The NATO-Skrull and another female politician take particular exception to his actions and the group seem ready to throw him out, only for them all to turn on a dime once he intimidates NATO-Skrull. The woman stands by her beliefs though and is allowed to leave unharmed, immediately contacting Talos once she’s outside.
The rest of the council all get to work bringing Gravik’s plan to fruition, accusing the US government of deliberately bombing Moscow by using pictures taken of Nick Fury at the scene. It’s a remarkably quick U-turn from them, one that feels like it was done because the plot necessitated it rather than any specific character beats. It requires a suspension of disbelief to get on board.
Later, G’iah decides to look into the Skrull rebels’ computer system to see what exactly he’s hiding, after we saw Gravik ominously reassure the other council members that he has a plan if the Avengers get involved. G’iah finds some kind of DNA records on their system for Groot, Cull Obsidian and the Frost Beast from Thor: The Dark World (somewhat tying up that particular loose strand). It would seem Gravik is trying to give himself regenerative powers, which will probably culminate in that one shot we saw in the trailers where he appears to have tendrils extending from his arm. Is he trying to make himself… a Super Skrull??
When G’iah and Gravik rescue their Skrull agent from Sonya and he arranges for the poor man to be executed in the forest, you can see in Emilia Clarke’s face that G’iah is starting to have some serious doubts about her fearless leader. It would seem the most important battle in Secret Invasion will be for G’iah’s soul.
As Gravik’s plans are set in motion, Rhodey is summoned to London to talk with NATO’s member nations. He is stonefaced and defensive, remarking that if Slovakia’s leader keeps rolling her eyes at him, in one of the episode’s few moments of levity.
He isn’t pleased when Fury gets in contact but agrees to meet him. While he’s unaware of the Skrull’s involvement here, he reveals that he was briefed about their existence back in 2010. While Fury explains to him the gravity of the situation, he seems less concerned with the shape-shifting aliens and more about how much hassle Fury has caused him in his political sphere. It seems strange that Rhodey is so hostile to Nick, gleefully revealing that he volunteered to fire him from his role in the US government.
However, once you get over the shock that Rhodey doesn’t like Fury, it kind of makes sense. Tony Stark never liked Fury all that much so it stands to reason that Rhodes might share his fallen friend’s opinion on the elusive spy. Plus, we know that Rhodey is a stickler for rules and military protocol, so it’s not hard to imagine that Fury’s penchant for doing what he wants and breaking said protocol might irk the Colonel a fair bit. This is their first on-screen conversation in the MCU so it’s not like anything is being retconned here.
This was a fascinating interaction and it was fun watching Fury dislocate the bodyguard’s arm as he easily resisted arrest. But then the dramatic tension is completely wasted as he leans into Rhodey and whispers “Even when I’m out… I’m in!” What a cringe-inducing line! I involuntarily chuckled; presumably not what the writers were hoping for.
The episode ends on a quiet note. Fury recovers a car from a safehouse in Brixton and drives out to the English countryside, where we discover that he has a Skrull wife! It’s nice to get a payoff to his line in the premiere about having met some attractive Skrulls; I certainly wasn’t expecting it here. It’s not as dramatic as Maria Hill’s death, but it’s nice to learn more about Nick Fury all the same.
I hope Secret Invasion can continue to improve as it has done this week, the odd sub-par scene aside; the series has huge potential. I just hope the writing staff are up to it.
Josh is a huge a fan of Star Wars, superheroes and video games. He spends most of his time wondering who would win in a fight between Boba Fett and Star Lord.
