Last week’s episode of Invincible gave us a good look at Allen the Alien before rocketing toward a massive revelation: Nolan/Omni-Man is currently the beloved leader of a planet called Thraxa and he wants to reunite with Mark. Back on Earth, Debbie Grayson continues to struggle with the devastating fallout of her husband’s betrayal.
This week, the emotional turmoil we’ve witnessed during these last three episodes gets cranked to eleven.
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.
Toxic Therapy
Invincible (Amazon Studios)
The episode opens with a flashback to the last time we saw Omni-Man (from this reality) as he flew away from Earth — unable to kill his son or fulfill his duties to the Viltrumite Empire. After drifting aimlessly through the galaxy, he finally decides to throw himself into a star. Before that can happen, though, he notices a Thraxan ship in distress and decides to save it. Upon returning to the planet, the grateful Thraxans beg Omni-Man to stay.
We then flash forward to the present, where Mark angrily stares down his father before wrapping him in an embrace. After telling his son he’s missed him, Nolan reveals that he was the one who put the Thraxans up to bringing Mark to the planet. While the pretense of a giant meteor hitting the planet was a lie, they truly do need his help.
Being lied to again by his father opens a valve back to Mark’s anger, washing away any familial bond that was starting to be repaired. After reminding Nolan of the awful things he did (and has yet to apologize for), Mark dismisses his father and flies away. Nolan gives chase, telling Mark that he has no chance of making it back on his own. He finally convinces his son to stay for five minutes and hear why the Thraxans need his help.
Invincible (Amazon Studios)
Things get off to a rocky start when Mark discovers that his dad is in a relationship with a Thraxan female named Andressa and that he now has a half-brother. Nolan then explains that he’s come to realize how horrific and unforgivable his actions on Earth were — hence why he can never return. Since then, however, the Thraxans have given him a new purpose.
Their number also includes Mark’s brother, who will be deemed inferior by the Viltrumites due to the Thraxans being genetically different from them. Since the Viltrumites have no doubt learned of Nolan leaving his post, it will only be a matter of time before they find the boy, kill him, and wipe out the entire planet.
Nolan pleads with his son to stay and help, pledging to help him train so he’ll be ready. Mark is understandably furious at being put in such a position, but struggles to turn his back on so many lives and his baby brother. Before he can make a decision, the Viltrumites begin to arrive.
*Side Note: The timing of their arrival is a bit too convenient, but the emotional impact of everything that came before makes it mostly forgivable.
Invincible (Amazon Studios)
Back on Earth, Debbie visits Nolan’s fake grave and asks why her life and heart had to be destroyed as a precursor to Earth’s conquest. While she grieves the end of her fabricated life, Donald Ferguson visits Debbie’s house to ask why she seemed so freaked out to see him a few days ago. When no one answers, he walks across the street to the crater where the Global Defense Agency mobile headquarters were during Omni-Man’s attack. After approximately thirty seconds of inspection, he finds the mangled remains of his signature glasses.
*Side Note: Oh c’mon…
Back at GDA headquarters, Donald heads to a secluded control room and pulls up Cecil’s surveillance footage from before the Omni-Man attack, allowing him to watch his own death. Later, he slices into his own arm and discovers that it’s made of metal.
Invincible (Amazon Studios)
That evening when Debbie returns home, she is visited by Art Rosenbaum (superhero costume designer), who admits that he’s pretty broken up about Nolan’s betrayal, as well. He also reminds her that she raised their son to be a good person — mostly by herself and without the aid of superpowers.
Her strength may not look the same as Omni-Man’s, but it shouldn’t be discounted.
Meanwhile, at a secret lab/warehouse, the surviving Mauler Twin (from Angstrom Levy‘s mishap) creates a new clone of himself. This time, however, the first twin’s scars denote him as the original — thus giving him dominion over the other.
Invincible (Amazon Studios)
Over at Upstate University, Samantha/Atom Eve learns from Amber and William that Mark is off planet on a mission. She attempts to talk to the pair about her recent struggles, but decides to stall until the next day. Samantha then goes back to GDA headquarters, where she’s been secretly living/sleeping.
That evening, she catches Killcannon stealing one of Robot‘s energy cells and proceeds to take out her frustrations with a brutal ass whipping. Unfortunately, their battle ends up moving to a large bridge, where the collateral damage sends an old couple in the car careening into the river.
After putting Killcannon down, Atom Eve dives in and retrieves the couple from their vehicle. We don’t see if they survived, but we do see that the event severely affected Atom Eve — so much so that she blows off meeting her friends the next day to return to her parents’ home.
Impossible Choices
Invincible (Amazon Studios)
Nolan tells Mark to get Andressa and his brother to safety while he attempts to take on the three Viltrumite invaders. Mark takes them in his arms as she guides him to a hidden cave. During their time there, Andressa explains that she fell in love with Nolan long before she knew he had a family back on Earth. She also reveals that he loves and misses him very much.
Just as the two are beginning to have a breakthrough, one of the Viltrumites (Lucan) finds them and challenges Mark to prove himself worthy of his heritage. He then sees Nolan’s part Thraxan son and expresses complete disgust. Before Lucan can kill the child and Andressa, Invincible engages him, giving them time to run. Lucan is about to kill Invincible when Omni-Man shows up and starts throwing hands.
While Invincible protects Andressa and his brother from falling debris, Omni-Man manages to slice open Lucan’s stomach and impale him with a stalagmite. He then instructs his Thraxan wife and son to go further into the caves while he and Invincible take on the remaining two Viltrumites.
Invincible (Amazon Studios)
The pair return to find the planet’s capital city razed and most of its inhabitants slaughtered. Nolan initially turns on Mark, angrily asking why he finds himself caring about lifeforms that his people should consider beneath them. As he grapples with the pain of his unfamiliar empathy, the other Viltrumites appear and engage the father/son duo in a brutal fight.
Omni-Man is distracted by concern for his son, but is able to throw his opponent into the Viltrumite fighting Invincible (Thula) and buy them some time. He pleads with Mark to stop holding back and fight without mercy like a Viltrumute — otherwise, he and every surviving Thraxan (including his brother) will be killed.
Invincible digs in and finds the strength to take on Thula. After hesitating to deliver the killing blow, however, she impales him with her ponytail knife. Omni-Man is about to kill his opponent when he rushes over to save his son, killing Thula in the process. As he goes to check on Mark, Lucan flies in (holding his guts) and puts all he has into one final blow against Omni-Man before collapsing on the ground beside him.
Later, Mark awakens to see Lucan and Omni-Man being taken aboard a Viltrumite ship. As he’s being hauled away, Omni-Man implores his son to remember the good he did and to read the science fiction books he wrote as Nolan Grayson. Mark is then visited by Viltrumite General Kregg, who informs him that his father will be executed. He follows up that awful revelation by instructing Mark to take over his father’s mission of preparing Earth for Viltrumite rule.
If he does not, then they’ll slaughter millions of humans when they arrive to check on his progress.
Invincible (Amazon Studios)
Back on Earth, Debbie decides to cut all financial ties with Cecil and the GDA. Cecil tries to convince her that she still needs their assistance, but Debbie counters that the people of Chicago need it more. She also doesn’t want him or the GDA to have another thing they can hold over her and Mark. After Cecil leaves, she boxes up Nolan’s books and leaves the home they shared together for two decades.
In a post-credits scene, the cloned Mauler Twin poisons his creator, thus returning the Mauler Twin dynamic back to how it was always supposed to be.
The Verdict
Invincible (Amazon Studios)
Normally when I say “I wish I liked this episode more than I did,” it’s because the episode in question wasn’t very good. In the case of “It’s Benn A While,” however, I enjoyed it immensely. So much so, in fact, that the poorly executed parts stuck out even more compared to all the masterful work surrounding them.
For starters, let’s talk about Donald Ferguson finding his nearly intact glasses at the scene of a major incident — which was presumably examined and cleared by the GDA’s inept forensics team. I get that we’re dealing with a reality where superheroes and monsters exist, but part of what makes Invincible so good is that it goes to great lengths to keep the grounded parts grounded. There are a million other more inventive ways Donald could’ve been led to his terrifying discovery than something so lazy/absurd.
Then there’s the too perfect timing of the Viltrumites showing up. As I said before, it’s forgivable considering what a brilliant job the show did packing in so much contradictory and painful emotion into the preceding reunion. But still…it really shouldn’t have played out like that. As awesome as the episode’s cliffhanger was, how cool would it have been to see Mark and Nolan have to train with each other just for one day — all while Mark has to navigate his feelings about Andrissa and his brother?
Those complaints aside, Invincible‘s midseason finale was outstanding. While the stuff with Mark and Nolan was obviously the highlight (both with regard to emotion and action), the other plotlines didn’t disappoint, either. Debbie once again gave us a tour de force on the less obvious fallout from Nolan’s betrayal while Atom Eve plunged her character into an even worse pit of despair — one that was well-earned and will be all types of interesting to see her climb out from.
Part of me wants to say that the stuff with the Mauler twins should’ve been let out, but that ending was too good not to keep it in.
As much as I hate midseason finales, Invincible did this one right. Some of season two’s biggest storylines were brought to the forefront with as much impact as you could ask for. It also left us with a new direction for the narrative that will be impossible not to think about as we begin the long wait for season two’s second half.
Next Episode: ‘This Must Come As a Shock’
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