I’ve been struggling to figure out how to write this review. Up until this point, I’ve never even written an episode by episode review of a series so this was already more than I’ve managed to do so far… but that’s not why I was struggling to write this review. Anybody who’s read this blog before knows that I have a strong belief that any reviewer should talk about positives as well as any negatives in any creative product, and that there is always good in everything even if there’s not much. I believe you have to acknowledge the hard work that’s gone into any creative work, despite how you may feel about it yourself. But even though I strongly believe this, I’m still not perfect. When a piece of creative work annoys me, or angers me, I can struggle to see positives as much as anybody else… and partly why I was struggling to write this review is that, not only was I struggling to think of positives through my annoyance, but I know that a lot of people are enjoying this series and I would never want them to feel like they couldn’t just because I don’t like it. Liking this series isn’t going to hurt anybody and I have no problems with anybody liking it.
That said, I want to write this review because I do have some strong opinions on it and, for once, I want to stop feeling like I have to hide them away. Now, before we start with the negatives, I’m still going to try and mention the positives.
- The acting continues to be brilliant. Everybody plays their parts excellently and reads the lines well.
- The lines, unlike one other Marvel show that I have yet to mention by title, actually read like lines that real human beings would say. The speech is realistic in the way people talk… I know, it might not seem like a compliment, but coming from me it actually is. I’ve edited many pieces from other people, and watched many programs/read many books, were people struggle with how to write speech like a real person. One of the hardest lessons and most consistent thing I’ve had to help people with in my Writing Classes was how to write speech. For a lot of people and writers, speech is the hardest part of writing. The writers of Secret Invasion know how to make speech sound natural, as you can tell by how well the actors are acting them.
- The team in charge of the locations for filming are really working overtime this series with so many places to film at, and all the producers/scene setters/props team are working overtime to decorate locations to make them look like other places. Considering they did a lot of this in Pandemic times when travel was hard and you had to, I imagine, be really creative with how you filmed I think they did a great job with a script that really jumps to many places worldwide. And yes, my Mum and I have been playing a game of, does this place look like Yorkshire? Because a lot of this was filmed, supposedly, in our old neck of the woods and yes, we can say so far, this seems to be true. I swear I’ve been in a lot of the places shown.
- The camera work has, for the most part, been excellent and dynamic. The angles have never been jarring and always run smoothly. If you’re not noticing the camera angles properly, that means they’re doing a good job because you would really notice if it didn’t run smoothly. Bonus points for the fact you couldn’t see the camera in the train window despite how small the cabin looked. Whether that was angles or doing in post-production, it was impressive and I didn’t spy one fraction of a camera or person behind the scenes (and yes still saw Nick Fury’s face and hand perfectly).
- The make-up and costume team had a real challenge on their hands with how many Skrull faces they had to construct, including some in shots with many people in Skrull masks. I can only imagine how long the faces and costumes took to put on and how much work went on behind the scenes to make it as efficient and easy as possible for everyone involved. Bonus points to the poor actors who had to wear them for long periods of time (although it may have helped in the Yorkshire weather sometimes, depending on which season they filmed).
Now, as much as I wish I could think of some more positives (and maybe I will eventually) I have to move onto my problems with this episode—and currently the show as a whole, though I hope it will improve in subsequent episodes—and that’s in the writing. Yes, I know I’ve just said they’re writing the speech right, and I still stick by that. However, my issue isn’t with the people speaking unnaturally, my issue is with the characters and the plotting. People are not acting sensibly, they’re not being thoughtful, some people are acting out of character (cough Rhodey cough) and overall it’s like the Stupid Brigade from Multiverse of Madness is spreading a curse over all the other characters in the MCU. Let me write this out in list form to help you understand what I mean:
- The Russians are looking for Fury because, as a black man in Russia in a public square that has just been bombed, he stands out. Whether this is actually true in reality or not, Talos all but confirms this opinion on the train by telling the guards something along the lines of: ‘A Black Man in Russia. It’s more likely that I’ll see aliens fall from the sky.’ So they confirmed that, in this MCU Russia, a black man is a rare sight and is regarded with suspicion (we also, I think are implied to believe this, in the first episode when Fury goes for a walk). Except Gravick is also disguising himself as a black man. He was also in the square. He had a gun in his hand, just like Fury, and he held a clearly visible explosive device/ignition in air around lots of people before setting off the explosions—before casually walking out of a guarded area (we see the guards/police try to help Maria in Episode 1) whilst, again, many people run around him. So why is the suspicion jumping to Fury, a secret agent? Who got the picture of him? If it was a Skrull working for Gravick, how did he get that angle without being noticed by Fury? And more to the point, why is no person there able to recollect another black man that supposedly ‘stands out’, who clearly had a gun, shot a person, and was holding something he pressed in full sight of people that then corresponded with the explosions? He didn’t even try to hide it or pretend it wasn’t him. With that concentrated a crowd, there’s not a chance somebody wouldn’t have seen him, especially with how lazy he was being at hiding it and getting away. Terrorists would be a lot easier to catch in reality if they acted the way Gravick did in this scene. He should’ve been on the Number 1 suspect list for the Russian police/agents—more so than Nick Fury, even if you ignore this ‘black man sticking out’ thing.
- This goes back to the scene in 1997 and when we learn apparently Fury is not a good guy—at all. So we learn that in 1997 he agreed with Talos that the Skrulls could come to Earth, live their lives there until Carol and he find them another planet to inhabit (which I still maintain they should’ve found long before now)—except they would have to work for him… So essentially, I provide lodging and you do my work for me? Does he pay them for this work? Does he help them in finding actual food and lodging? He’s not being empathetic in this situation. It seems he’s exploiting a race of people, including a clearly mentally traumatised young Gravick. And what? I’m supposed to believe that Fury’s the good guy still? I’m supposed to believe that the man who is supposedly close with a Skrull (Talos), is even married to another Skrull, is a good guy when he apparently wasn’t willing to help them just because he wanted to help them? Even if we say he didn’t bring all of them into his employment, or that they weren’t forced, the fact is that by saying it the way he does makes it seem like they have to do it to prove how thankful they are. I don’t know. I’m finding this version of Secret Invasion to be very unlikable and out-of-character. I assume what they’re trying to do here is create a parallel between Fury and his bringing Skrulls into his cause, and Gravick bringing his Skrulls into fight his cause—but it falls down when one person is meant to be someone we route for and he shows no remorse for any of his past actions (not to mention, being in complete opposition to the things he learned in Captain Marvel and how he’s acted through most films and Marvel series).
- The dumbest excuse not to bring in the Avengers in a film or series may have to go to: ‘If we bring in the Avengers, the Skrulls will just turn into them and make them look bad’. Except the Skrulls can already do that. Talos turns into his human version without him being anywhere near. They can turn into people they see on TV etc., right? So, an Avenger could already be copied, right? And even if we argue it’s because they have to be close to them to take their ‘memories’, they don’t need their memories to pretend to be them and it’s really Fury undervaluing and underestimating the strength of the current Avengers. It reads as an excuse, quickly added to explain why they can’t bring any more cameos in, when the actual fact is that they don’t want to pay any more actors. If you’re going to put an excuse in at least make it make sense—or, if it does make sense to you as a writer, make sure it makes sense to your audience by explaining the rules behind the powers of your characters.
- Everybody in the leader group of Skrulls is stupid, aside from the one woman who left (and even she has hints of it). They invited a terrorist to their meeting—yes, a terrorist into their meeting—had no bodyguards themselves except one outside of the door and didn’t simply bring their own guards in to instantly arrest Gravick as soon as he arrived. Gravick had no valid argument about why they should join a war with humankind that they wanted no part in when he opened the door. In fact, they chastised him instantly for murdering 2000 innocent people, but didn’t arrest him and turn him into the authorities. Then suddenly they changed their mind, out of nowhere. Gravick is not a captivating enough character, with no actual argument that could persuade a sane, rational person (who have just escaped a war with another planet, I might add) to join him. He offers nothing and yet gains everything. That’s not a logical decision. At least two members of the meeting don’t say anything, the British Prime Minister is a quick turn-coat, and the NATO guy takes one fist to the chest and then agrees to it unquestioningly (yet the other member of the meeting that disagrees walks out unscathed). And, as head of NATO and a British Prime Minister, they will have seen plenty of terrorist activity. They will have dealt with this on at least a few occasions and would easily recognize one in their sights. It doesn’t matter if he’s part of your species or not. The most damaging thing to your race or species is somebody who thinks that another species doing no harm to you is a problem to be wiped out. Everybody in that room was stupid for not immediately arresting him, for not bringing any bodyguards of their own into that room and for going along with a really untrustworthy and uncharismatic character. Stupidity in politics and politicians, of course, is not a foreign concept but to claim it’s all it is, is cynical as a writer and unrealistic in objective fact.
- Another thing worth mentioning in the scene above is the poor conversation written about comparing a dog verses a human. I may find talking to dogs easier than talking to humans but even I know that a dog, or any animal left unchecked, would not care about protecting the environment or defending other species’ on this Earth. Humans may cause climate change, they may make many mistakes, but they’re also historically proven the main creatures who actually try to fix those mistakes. We have scientists working round the clock to find solutions to both problems we’ve caused and ones we haven’t caused and to say that we’re just monsters is a disservice to the amount of work they do. I know, Gravick is supposed to be a bad Skrull, he’s not supposed to think rationally even if he pretends he is—and I’m not denying that people who think like him would and do exist—however, my argument is that the argument he makes should not affect the supposedly intelligent Skrulls in that room to the extent that they don’t notice how unhinged that belief is. Also, he says it so ‘matter of fact’ but he’s clearly only focused on one part of human history. It’s time he noticed all the other stuff that’s been done throughout time. Whether he does or not, he should not have as many followers as he does and certainly not as many willing followers in that chamber.
- Another issue, I’m afraid, with Gravick as a character is they try to build him as a leader that people will follow easily and willingly—and frankly, he’s not. I have no problem with the actor, he’s playing the character exactly as he’s written, but the way he is written is not charismatic, he’s not somebody a majority of people would follow. He’s sulky, makes stupid choices and seems to try to rule by fear. He allows other people to do his dirty work but doesn’t explain it enough so that there’s a lot of doubt going around his ranks. He has Skrulls killed in the woods in front of new recruits and people who are already (as they should) doubting him. Realistically, all those people are leaving. They’re telling other Skrulls about it and they’re leaving too. Leading by fear doesn’t work for long enough. It’s not sustainable. In order to get people to do things for you they have to believe that what you want is what’s best for them. They have to doubt their own judgement. A good example of this is shown in Moon Knight or in Ms Marvel, which has two villains with actual points to make, with things to fight for and homes to get to. Harrow in Moon Knight is a true leader that people will follow because everything he’s saying is true. Everything he promises comes true and so you really question whether you would follow him. I know with certainty that I wouldn’t follow Gravick. He doesn’t explain anything, he doesn’t actively do much to show what he’s fighting for or why and mostly just comes off as an unhinged and broken person/terrorist. It’s realistic that some people would follow him for a certain amount of time, but not for forever and not a majority. He’s not a smart and competent villain—even though we’re being told that he is. (This is just an aside but Irish Skrull needs to realise that his leader’s an idiot by now. He’s clearly upset that Gravick steered him wrong about the harvests—and the science Skrulls, as I’m calling them, clearly have ulterior motives for telling him to stop questioning Gravick).
- The scene between Talos and Fury on the train. I like the setting. I like the idea. I even like the disguise Talos uses to talk to the Russian guards as it is actually a decent disguise compared to what a lot of Skrulls seem to use. But the scene on the train doesn’t make much sense and doesn’t flow with everything going on around it. Why does Fury decide, out of nowhere, to tell a story about his Mum only to try and get information out of Talos? Why does Talos not ask when it’s his turn to ask Fury the questions, since it’s meant to be a game? Why is Talos not more in shock or upset by Nick’s suddenly very leading question? Why do two people who apparently count each other as family talk to each other like they’ve only known each other a week? This is the one time where the speech is off because, and this is part of the problem, you can tell the writers are trying to shoe-horn in a bit of exposition. And that’s how it read to me—it was another excuse to tell the audience something. Exposition is normal. We have to tell our readers/audience things that they need to know. But if a scene just reads as an excuse to say that exposition, if it doesn’t read as natural and goes too quickly, it’s not been written well. And does it make sense for Fury to be angry about 1 Million Skrulls being on Earth, or being surprised by it? How did he think the Skrulls were finding their way to Earth in 1997? What did he think Talos was going to do about the other Skrulls waiting in the Universe? Why did Fury suggest Earth in the first place? He admits himself that Earthlings have issues with trusting one another, let alone another species, and yet he still thought it was the right idea. Why? Just to exploit their services? Up until this show Fury always came off as sort-of intelligent but this show is really knocking his leadership skills and intelligence. Which is just sad for such a great character. Also, how did 1 Million Skrulls arrive on Earth with a giant S.W.O.R.D. space-station in the air, a whole division watching for alien life, the sky constantly being monitored around the world etc.? Something’s not adding up.
- Again, kind of relating to my last question—I was finally happy to see a show referencing the Blip again, as it was such a huge moment in the MCU Universe. It affected every country on Earth and every planet in the galaxy and beyond. It should’ve left some after-effects. And yet, so far in the show, it’s only been used to talk about Nick Fury. What about the Skrull population? 50 percent of them must have also disappeared as well, right? If the Skrulls needed a planet, there were plenty of planets with half of their population gone and plenty of homes spare to live in—planets that may have welcomed their help. Gamora’s home planet had half it’s population wiped and never got them back. Would they not welcome the Skrulls if they were asked to help by Captain Marvel or the Guardians? Did not one other Skrull that was ‘scattered around the universe’ find a good planet to live on and not bother coming to Earth? Did half of Russia not also disappear during the Blip? And half of all the other countries as well? In which case, we all went through a shared trauma that was fixed by a group of international superheroes (including a Sokovian, an American, an African etc.). Why are we suddenly now at war with each other again? Why are no Avengers dealing with any of this? Yes, it’s true, a war started after a shared trauma in reality (Covid) but certainly not to the extent where led to believe in this show—what this show is presenting is a cynical, warped version of reality.
- Why do people keep speaking English in Russia, to Russians? It’s common decency to learn some of the language and at least say hello in their language. An official like Oliva Coleman would definitely know at least a bit of Russian if she’s living there. The first episode also saw Maria Hill asking people to move in English, among many other weird situations of this.
- This is more of a me thing with films and TV… but why do they always stick a needle in without looking for a vein first? Twice recently I’ve seen the same scene of an interrogator/attacker stabbing a needle through clothes. If getting a jab was that easy and quick…
- Two quick inaccuracies—1. Fury went through a small garage door (human sized), it was dark and then suddenly light, then he got into a car and turned on the engine and then it cut. He never opened the big garage door and it was definitely not an electric-door-opener situation. It was a pull open from the bottom situation. And how does it have petrol in it? Who pays for the storage unit? I have many questions, but the garage door is the main one. 2. They say that the 27 EU Countries and the UK met to persuade the Americans to admit their part in the Moscow attacks (which in itself, doesn’t make sense as a situation)—but Pakistan is there? I’ve lived in Europe for a long time, and though my Geography skills aren’t great, I’m fairly sure Pakistan is in Asia. And if this was a World sort of meeting I feel like there’d be plenty of other countries represented, mainly by their Foreign Secretaries, in a much bigger room than the one they were in? (I’m still confused why they were in such a small room as it was—my fake Environmental Summit thing I did at school was in a bigger room than that).
- Why is that new recruit/kid, who apparently hasn’t been given his own body yet (which, then why is he not in his Skrull form like all the rest that didn’t have a body yet?), always in the car with them? What is he doing there if he’s not part of the team yet?
- And lastly onto one of the main things that’s been a lingering annoyance since watching it. If Rhodey is not a Skrull, which he has to be because it’s obvious, then he is not the man I thought he was and is joining fury in the ‘bad guy’ area. I don’t understand what he was doing in a meeting with the allied nations as it is as that would be treated as a matter of high importance and a high-ranking official (Foreign Secretary, Ambassador, Vice-President, President—take your pick) would be here and not just a random guy who works with the White House, maybe? But, the attitude that he took was childish, nationalistic and would cause a lot of problems—and not even just for America, but he would also get in a lot of trouble just by himself. He went to a meeting of genuinely concerned leaders of other nations (except the UK Prime Minister who is part of the stupid Skrulls from earlier) and A. Told them first it was Nick Fury but couldn’t be held accountable by him and then turned around and said, ‘well, we can’t trust Russian pictures, can we? It could not be him’—which… is such a teen girl bully moment in a teen film, it’s ridiculous and B. Says the President of the United States couldn’t be at a meeting pertaining to the problems with Russian-USA relations because he was ‘busy leading the biggest, most powerful nation in the world and it’s military’—which is such a slap in the face and so derogatory to the other leaders sat in that room who all run their own nations and it’s military as well as being part of the EU and having their own issues to sort out. I know in reality every country doesn’t just get along but I expect each leader to have the common decency to respect each other as a leader of their own nation. The way Rhodey spoke in that moment, not only would make him look bad to all the other nations but also make them contact his bosses to complain about him. If the idea is for a Skrull Rhodey to create dissent by annoying the EU members (plus UK and Pakistan, for some reason) then yes, it would work but it wouldn’t be as simple as that. They would have to have Skrulls at every level of the US Government because one way or another they would contact people and complain about his attitude. Is the President dead? Is he a Skrull himself? In which case why wouldn’t the Skrull President come himself to annoy the other leaders? It would definitely mean more if the President said it rather than this random guy everyone may vaguely know worked with the Avengers. I just think that if they are going the Skrull path with Rhodey (which again, would not expect that they’re not) then there are subtler, more cunning and less heavy handed ways to do it.
I’m hoping that next week will put me in a better mood and the writing will improve as they do have some plotlines that are interesting: Is Gaia going to be a triple-crosser? Is she working with somebody else outside of her Dad and Gravick? Maybe with the other Skrull leader who left the room (my Mum’s suggestion)? Why did Fury leave his wife to go stay on a Space Station? How did Fury know it was Gravick when he saw him in the square (still a lingering question from last week)? Do you think they got the point that ‘he’s an American. He’s an American’? What is Oliva Coleman up to? Is she a secret bad guy? If they need to get rid of the human race and they can survive nuclear winter why can’t they just access every nuclear factory and weapon and set them all off at the same time?
I’m sorry for this, everyone. I really don’t enjoy feeling so negative about a show. You may ask, why am I so forgiving to shows like She-Hulk and Ms Marvel, despite the mistakes they make? It’s often to do with tone. If you set up your show as serious you have less leeway with mistakes as you’re relying on the seriousness of the story to carry it. When mistakes are so heavily there, not making any sense, the seriousness starts to crash into confusion and the feeling is lost. In a comedy based show you have some leeway because they’re not trying to tell a perfect story. They’re trying to be a comedy, character based show and as long as those work there’s leeway over things like plot.
It doesn’t help that inconsistency in character, or characters that aren’t understandable or are unexplained, is my expertise as I am more of a character-based writer than a plot one (although plot also doesn’t make much sense on this one as the characters aren’t driving it, the plot is driving the characters, which is unnatural). This story idea, of fake versions of you/humans hiding in society and making humans attack each other, is also not a new one and I’ve seen it be written better in other shows, films and books. Again, hopefully, it finds it’s footing and these problems don’t stick at the forefront of my mind.
I want to like it. I really do. And if you like it, take what I say with a grain of salt. I’m not here to tell you what to like. If you like it, great. I hope you enjoy it. It may just be the case that it’s not for me.
Thank you for reading. I hope I didn’t come across as too harsh. I was fighting hard to be fair with my review on this one, despite my feelings towards it.
Signed,
The Literary Onion
P.S. I’m sorry that I keep apologising… I still feel icky about being so negative about something that people are enjoying and that people put a lot of hard work into making. I understand myself how hard it is to be a writer and understand that as a writer we all make mistakes and have things that don’t quite work. I know I have plenty of my own work that’s not as good as I wish it was. I respect the writers of Secret Invasion just for the act of writing alone, regardless of anything else (which again, there is positives as well). Sometimes just writing can be hard—look at me and how long it took me to write this review. Or how often I forget to upload on the blog. Or how rambly this is now becoming. What did you think? Do you have any positives or negatives about Secret Invasion in the last two episodes? What do you think is going to happen?
The Literary Onion 