TL;DR – This was a series that felt like it could be something spectacular, but it never came together, leaving a frustrating mess.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this film.

Secret Invasion Review –

I know many people that have struggled with the MCU post-Endgame, and I can see where they are coming from. I have pretty much liked or at least found fine everything bar the miss that was Ant-Man, but as I sat down to watch Secret Invasion, I had concerns, which turned out to be justified. In today’s review, we will first look at the series finale and then a broader look at the season as a whole.

So to set the scene, Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) continues to push the world’s nations into all-out war, wanting it as a prelude to the extermination of the Human Race. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is on the run with very few pieces he can play, but one of them is the one thing Gravik wants, the Harvest. Here is the DNA of all the superhuman/alien/Norse gods etc., in one place, the thing needed for the Super-Skrull technology. But can Nick Fury stop Gravik before he starts his war with a replaced Rhodes (Don Cheadle) whispering in the president’s (Dermot Mulroney) ear. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode and season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

Of all the episodes this season, I think this final episode shows hints of the promise of what the show could have begun. While I never once thought that was actually Nick Fury at the Skrull base, watching him and Gravik go at it with all the rage and despair was a moment the show needed more of. Kingsley Ben-Adir has been mostly wasted in the show, but to see him come alive and show you how good he is as a performer was a delight. To add to this, Olivia Colman was a delight, and her character felt like it was the only competent player in this entire series. The final battle between G’iah (Emilia Clarke) and Gravik was fine, but I think the visualisation of the superskrull might be one thing that does not translate well from the comics. Finally, while it was a bit of a mess this season, I did like the progression between Nick and his wife, Varra / Priscilla (Charlayne Woodard), in this episode.

While there were things in the season finale that I could at least latch on to, when I look back at the series, I can’t help but feel like this was a completely missed opportunity. It is clear that the show struggled in many places and never came together in the way that I think even the creatives behind the show wanted. Part of this might also be my level of excitement for the show going into it because it was leaning into a cinematic territory that I adore. When the MCU has dabbled in this [Captain America Winter Solider], you get some of my favourite entries into the franchise. I am not what happened here.

The show suffered in two main areas, and the first was pacing. I do not know how the show came together, and if six episodes were always the plan, but the pacing problems were on full display from almost the opening frames. Some parts of the series felt so rushed that they were trying to create a marathon without doing any leg work. Yet other aspects of the show dragged into frustration. I am unsure if they needed more or fewer episodes, but six was clearly not the sweet spot.

Finally, the next way the show suffered was how it wanted to be a narrative that dived into political topics. Still, it didn’t have the strength actually to make any stand on any political issue. Back in my review of the first episode, Resurrection I wrote, “This is playing on many concepts around refuges, failure of government, and radicalisation that are not simple terms. They are deeply complex. I hope that this series has the narrative strength to do them justice.” And I am sorry, but the answer was no, no, they didn’t. There was a lot they could have drawn on. Historically, America has promised the world to allies on the ground and not delivered. See translators in Afghanistan or the Kurds in Syria. There was a space for an honest conversation here, but the show could never commit. At best, we had these lukewarm moments when Ben Mendelsohn or Olivia Colman tried to scrape something together, but you can only do so much.

In the end, do we recommend Secret Invasion: Home and its Full Season? I don’t know, probably not. It is so frustrating to comment on that, but there is just so little to grab onto. There were these moments where you could see the show’s potential, but it never came together. Maybe watch the final episode because it will have ramifications, but if the previous TV-to-MCU works have shown, they will probably just rehash it again like Doctor Strange.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Secret Invasion yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    
Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Secret Invasion
Directed by – Ali Selim
Written by – Kyle Bradstreet, Brian Tucker, Roxanne Paredes, Brant Englestein & Michael Bhim
Created by – Kyle Bradstreet
Based On – Secret Invasion by Brian Michael Bendis & Leinil Francis Yu
Production/Distribution Companies – Marvel Studios & Disney+
Starring – Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Charlayne Woodard, Killian Scott, Samuel Adewunmi, Christopher McDonald, Richard Dormer, Katie Finneran, Dermot Mulroney, Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman & Don Cheadle with Cobie Smulders, Martin Freeman, O-T Fagbenle, Uriel Emil, Tony Curran, Mark Lewis, Irmena Chichikova, Saverio Buono, Seeta Indrani, Christopher Goh, Giampiero Judica, Vladimir Kolishkin, Ben Peel, Anna Madeley, Michael Epp, Mark Bazeley, David Bark-Jones, Alasdair Noble, Nisha Aaliya, Jack Gouldbourne & Mark Lewis  
Episodes Covered – Resurrection, Promises, Betrayed, Beloved, Harvest & Home