Secret Invasion Betrayed Review: Momentum deferred

Betrayed is a fine episode of Secret Invasion that rides on the chemistry between Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn.

Gravik is moving forward with multiple facets of his plan. He’s setting up counties to attack each other and continues to work towards his Super Skrull serum for Avengers-level threats. Kingsley Ben-Adir continues to shine as the leader of the Skrulls.

G’iah is walking the line between both sides. Meanwhile, Nick Fury and Talos rekindle their relationship with plenty of bickering while trying to stop a submarine from blowing a UN plane out of the sky.

For the first time in the series, Betrayed takes some narrative shortcuts that allow Fury to stop Gravik’s plan easier than necessary. Also, Fury needs to start explaining at some point. Every character, even Fury’s wife, has called Fury out for abandoning them. He still hasn’t offered up an explanation for his absence.

Betrayed does succeed in creating tension between Talos and Gravik. The interrogation of a Skrull father by Gravik and Fury is full of suspense.

Secret Invasion continues to shine due to its tone and strong performances but needs to move the story along going forward. Outside of killing off a major character in the final moment, which is probably a misdirect, there simply isn’t anything new presented in Betrayed that we didn’t know in Promises.

With the overview out of the way, let’s take a deeper look at Betrayed. There may be some spoilers. Secret Invasion is streaming on Disney Plus.

Who Betrayed Whom

Secret Invasion is doing an excellent job of showing how betrayal cuts deeps. Once someone is betrayed or feels like they have been betrayed it’s tough for that relationship to return to a place of trust.

In Secret Invasion, Fury betrays Talos by leaving Earth. Talos feels like Fury has profited nicely by using the Skrulls as his clandestine spy network. Before the Skrulls arrived, Fury was stuck as a humble agent in S.H.I.E.L.D. After the Skrulls arrived, Fury was able to climb the ladder thanks to secrets uncovered by undercover Skrulls.

Betrayal begins with another flashback showing how Fury met his wife, Varra, and confirms he knew she was a Skrull from the beginning of their relationship. Fast forward to the present and Varra is also hurt by Fury’s disappearance. She wasn’t sure when he would return and went back to the type of work she was doing before her relationship with Fury. The scene is vague regarding what that work entails. She receives a mysterious phone call, which Fury surprisingly doesn’t press her about.

Everything about the relationship between Fury and Talos is terrific. The way Talos is able to garner some sort of acknowledgment from Fury is amazing. He knows Fury’s pride won’t allow him to apologize for his role. However, Talos does push for Fury to acknowledge he does need Talos’ help. After some resistance, Fury gives Talos the respect he deserves.

Gravik’s plans of attack

Gravik is playing three different angles in Betrayed. There’s a prime objective, a contingency plan and a personal attack.

Gravik’s prime focus is to force the major powers into a worldwide conflict that will dwindle the human population to near extinction. Skrulls are impervious to radiation so nuclear warfare is fine with them. In order to move forward with this plan, he has infiltrated a submarine and plans to launch a strike on a plane carrying UN leadership.

If The Avengers intervene, Gravik has a plan in place for them as well. His scientists are working on a super-soldier formula that will turn them into Super Skrulls. The formula was revealed in the last episode. However, he unveils his plans to the council of Skrulls in Betrayed.

Finally, there’s the parlay between Gravik and Talos. Ben-Adir and Mendelsohn are tremendous. Gravik continuously insults Talos for losing his daughter and station. Talos shows incredible restraint at Gravik’s insults until Gravik brings up G’iah. Once Talos rises out of his chair to attack Gravik, the Skrull leader shows he still has all of the power. The struggle between these two powerful generals bleeds into G’iah’s mission.

Fury responds

After Talos meets with Gravik, Fury and Talos find out about the attack from G’iah. They call Sonya Falsworth who reveals the name of the general who is planning the attack on Gravik’s sayso.

Fury and Talos question the Skrull impersonating the commander. He’s a zealot for Gravik’s mission and doesn’t relent even when Fury threatens his son. Eventually, Fury kills him, then Talos calls G’iah to extract the abort code from the real general’s mind.

After preventing the attack on the UN plane, Talos tell G’iah to run. Gravik catches G’iah in the forest and shoots her. G’iah transforms into her Skrull form. The episode ends with Varra walking into a bank and talking to James Rhodes on a burner phone.

Betrayed final thoughts

The scenes featuring Talos and Fury as well as Talos and Gravik are the highlights of an episode that doesn’t move the story forward much until the end of the episode. Even the end of the episode can’t be judged without the context of the next episode.

Despite the lack of momentum, performances, tone and dialogue continue to make Secret Invasion one of the better MCU Disney Plus shows.

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