Last week’s episode of Invincible concluded with a number of plotlines converging on each other:
- Mark finally began separating how he sees himself from his monstrous father. Unfortunately, both he and his mother are still grieving after Nolan’s betrayal.
- Cecil still doesn’t trust Mark, which is somewhat ironic since he can’t be trusted at all. You could maybe forgive him for having the Global Defense Agency develop Viltrumite countermeasures, but whatever he did to bring Donald Ferguson back to life (and without any knowledge of his own death) seems shady at best.
- Shapesmith (aka the Martian posing as astronaut Rus Livingston) is attempting to join the Guardians of the Globe. Meanwhile, the real Rus Livingston has been taken over by Sequids. After successfully leading them in a conquest of Mars, he and his parasitic army are now headed toward Earth.
- Atom Eve‘s family is kind of terrible — especially her dad. Unfortunatley, his bigotry against superheroes got a boost when Eve’s act of kindness almost killed a ton of innocent people.
- Angstrom Levy is currently hopping through dimensions in an effort to learn the best way to take down Invincible and Omni-Man.
This week, we circle back on a plot from the early episodes of last season while Mark gets ready for his first day of college.
As always, the recap portion of this review will contain plenty of spoilers. The sequence of events has also been streamlined a bit for the sake of clarity.
Not a Flashback
Invincible (Amazon Studios)
The episode opens with Deborah dropping Mark off at Upstate University. After an emotional goodbye, she gets back in her car and decides to call the number on the card Olga gave her.
Meanwhile, Mark already begins to feel isolated when his best friend Will gives him a hard time about his affinity for collectibles. The point is driven home further when Will appears to have found someone to have sex with on the first day of college. That evening, however, Amber and Mark decide to have sex for the first time, as well.
As the two consummate their relationship, the episode gives the young lovers some privacy by pulling away to the cosmos, where we get to catch up with Allen the Alien. Through a long stretch of exposition, we learn a great deal about Allen’s backstory before he met Mark last season:
- Allen is from the planet Unopia, which was taken over by the Viltrumites.
- After a failed rebellion, a group of Unopians fled the planet and started breeding camps to create warriors who could defeat their Viltrumite oppressors. Word of their efforts reached the Coalition of Planets, resulting in them getting an invite from its leader, Thaedus.
- Unfortunately, the breeding camp results were not good except for Allen, who was everything they hoped for in a warrior to defeat the Viltrumites. When Allen tried to take one of them on, however, he got his ass handed to him.
- Despite not being able to defeat a Viltrumite, Allen became a planetary evaluation officer for the Coalition. His task was to seek out other planets that may join them in their effort to turn back the Viltrumite Empire.
- His accidental recon of Earth led to him meeting Mark Grayson — a half-human Viltrumite who was sympathetic to the Coalition’s cause.
Invincible (Amazon Studios)
The Coalition council is skeptical about Mark, but Thaedus appears more than willing to give this newfound hope a chance. Later, Thaedus reveals to Allen in a private conversation that he believes the Viltrumites have someone secretly working for them on the council.
After Allen agrees to root out the traitor, he returns home to his girlfriend Telia. As the pair are attempting to enjoy a dinner out together, their restaurant is attacked by a trio of Viltrumites. Allen steadfastly refuses to answer their questions about Nolan and Mark, which results in him being maimed and beaten within an inch of his life. Later, while Allen is recovering, we see Thaedus turn off his medical equipment and mournfully request forgiveness.
Roll credits.
Confronting the Past
Invincible (Amazon Studios)
The world’s longest post-credits scene begins with Dupli-Kate confronting Rex Splode over his jealousy over her and the Immortal. She eventually reveals that the Immortal is the only other person she’s met who’s died as many times as her. Before Rex Splode has time to finally show some empathy, Shapesmith comes in and makes things all types of awkward.
Meanwhile, Robot‘s attempts to clinically control his fear result in him asking Monster Girl out on a date. The pair end up going to a movie followed by Robot/Rudy enjoying his first real burger and fries.
Elsewhere, Deborah discovers that the card Olga gave her was for a support group for people with deceased superhero spouses. She makes a connection with someone, but it’s shaken when she discovers that the man she’s speaking to is the spouse of Green Ghost…who was murdered by Nolan.
After being caught off-guard by this revelation, Deborah admits to her new friend who her husband was, causing him to immediately turn on her and leave.
Invincible (Amazon Studios)
Back at Upstate University, Mark arrives at his dorm to find his extremely perceptive best friend awaiting the details on his night with Amber. Will also reveals that he didn’t have sex with anyone on the first day of school — he simply forgot to remove the sock from the door after showing Mark what to do if one of them needed some privacy.
Will then admits that his head and heart still aren’t in a good place after what happened to Rick Sheridan. Mark replies that Cecil told him Rick is supposed to be getting released soon, but that still doesn’t make what happened any easier to deal with.
Before their conversation can get any more heartbreaking, the pair are interrupted by a knock on the door. When it turns out to be a living embodiment of Seance Dog (Mark’s favorite comicbook character), Mark immediately assumes it’s someone trying to mess with his head. After a brief and very one-sided fight, “Seance Dog” finally drops his disguise (which was meant to disarm Mark) and reveals himself to be an alien named Nuolzot from the planet Thraxa. After hearing about Mark’s heroic exploits, Nuolzot was sent by his people to see if Invincible could save them from an impending meteor shower that will wipe out nearly their entire race.
Mark is hesitant to bail on school before classes start, but Will convinces him it’s the right thing to do — hinting that not helping those in need is why Rick isn’t with them now. Cecil tries to tell Mark not to go, but he insists on following his heart and doing the right thing.
Before departing for the stars, Mark says goodbye to Amber, who assures him she understands that unexpected absences like are part of being with a superhero. Mark tries to tell Amber he loves her, but the call drops before she hears it.
When Mark arrives on Thraxa, he’s shocked to discover that his father is now the planet’s beloved ruler.
The Verdict
Invincible (Amazon Studios)
Until that gut punch of a cliffhanger, this was a pretty mediocre episode by the series’ extremely high standards. It certainly wasn’t bad, but there was a ton of exposition that brought the second season’s furious momentum to a grinding halt. The episode also didn’t do as good of a job balancing multiple narratives. As interesting as Allen’s story was, it still felt pretty disjointed from everything else going on.
All that being said, the human drama in “This Missive, This Machination!” was superb — including when it didn’t necessarily involve humans. Allen went from a goofy distraction to a layered and heroic character. Deborah’s heartbreak became even more devastating. Both Will and Amber proved that they have Mark’s back 100% even if that means not getting to have him in their lives as much as they want.
It was also nice to see Rudy deal with his newfound humanity in a way that didn’t revolve around fragility and failure. Monster Girl still doesn’t feel like a great match for him, but this episode made their chemistry a bit more believable. Heck, even Rex Splode and Dupli-Kate got some good moments of pathos.
If you’ve read the comics, then you know just how emotional the story is about to get. After how well this episode handled the interpersonal moments, it’s a safe bet they’ll knock this next one completely out of the park.
Next Episode: ‘It’s Been A While’
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