Secret Invasion Finale Review: A well acted waste of potential

The Secret Invasion finale once again saves its biggest story development in the episode and series for the last few minutes.

Secret Invasion‘s finale features great performances by Samuel L. Jackson and Kingsley Ben-Adir. Unfortunately, those performances are undermined by a story focused on shock value at the expense of genuine character reveals. For instance, the first and only shared screentime between Jackson and Ben-Adir is hurt by G’iah disguised as Nick Fury.

Meanwhile, the real Fury is trying to convince President Ritson (Dermot Mulroney) to call off bombing the Skrull’s Russian compound. This chilling setup loses its tension with a cartoonishly, over-the-top Rhodey. It’s remarkable how little Fury’s impact has had on the series. Sonya Fallsworth is the one character who has moved the chess pieces forward and forced Gravik to move.

The Secret Invasion finale continues the MCU trend of delivering a CGI-heavy fight. In Secret Invasion, G’iah faces off against Gravik in a fight where each Skrull cycles through various Avengers and villain powers. There’s no justification or explanation as to how they’re able to handle these powers in a seamless fashion.

In spite of the many problems in Secret Invasion, there are plenty of powerful scenes featuring terrific actors and the final few minutes sets up a dangerous future for the MCU. Although these positives have caveats as well. For example, Fury once again leaves for space while the Earth is plunged into chaos.

Overall, Secret Invasion began on such a high note. Unfortunately, it couldn’t maintain a suspenseful beginning and will wind up being near the bottom of MCU shows on Disney Plus.

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

Gravik vs Fake Fury in Secret Invasion Finale

The main focus in the finale is the long-awaited face-to-face between Fury and Gravik. As far as the scene itself, the performances by Jackson and Ben-Adir hit the mark with two great monologues.

A remorseful Fury reveals he felt relief after he was blipped. He didn’t have to bare the responsibility of caring for humanity and finding the Skrulls a new home. When he returned from the blip, he couldn’t face the magnitude of responsibility. A much more aggressive Gravik reveals he chose the face of the first human Fury sent him to kill. His goal was to be a constant reminder of Fury’s error.

An agitated Gravik triggers the Super Skrull machine in an attempt to destroy Fury and give himself all of the powers of a Super Skrull. Fury surprises Gravik by turning into G’iah before his eyes. The entire conversation between Fury and Gravik, which featured painful revelations from Fury is counteracted by G’iah’s impersonation. There’s no way G’iah could have all of Fury’s knowledge. While it’s possible, G’iah was blipped and was simply sharing her own feelings about being unburdened, the season finale doesn’t provide an answer.

The storyline devolves into a fight between G’iah and Gravik. They both cycle through an array of superhuman powers. G’iah pretty easily defeats Gravik and kills the faction leader.

Emilia Clarke is great, but if the series’ direction was so set on G’iah and Gravik fighting to the death, then G’iah should have been a central figure throughout the series.

Hospital standoff

The hospital sequence involving Fury, Sonya, President Ritson and fake Rhodes surrounded by the secret service should be full of tension. Unfortunately, Rhodey’s puppet master approach with the president verges into cartoonish territory.

Plus, there are only so many times Fury can ask the president to trust him when there’s a very easy way to confirm Rhodes is a Skrull. Eventually, a fight breaks out and Rhodes is killed revealing Rhodes Skrull form. Ritson calls off the attack.

This sequence really drags the quality of the finale down. There’s absolutely no tension in the sequence.

Fallout

The best part of the finale takes place after the demise of Gravik and fake Rhodey.

Fury visits his wife Varra and then calls the Ritson. President Ritson issues a new bill declaring all off-world species as hostile forces. The new bill leads to chaos. Citizens around the world are taking up arms and rampantly killing. Some of the dead are peaceful Skrulls and others are human beings who were impersonated by Skrulls. Fury doesn’t seem too bothered by these events. He warns the president about his dangerous bill, but doesn’t stay to fight back. Fury is heading back to space, but this time his wife is going with them as the Kree have reached out to arrange peace talks with the Skrulls.

After killing Gravik, G’iah frees the human prisoners from the pods. The real Rhodes and Everett Ross are among the captives. There’s no confirmation as to when Rhodes was captured. Although the state of Rhodes seems to indicate he’s been imprisoned for a long time. He might have even been imprisoned shortly after Captain America: Civil War. Again, Secret Invasion‘s surprises don’t reveal anything of significance.

The finale ends with G’iah meeting Sonya. They agree to work together on behalf of their two races. The possibility of Clarke and Olivia Coleman working together is an intriguing possibility.

The aftermath is easily the highlight of the episode and maybe the series. There’s a sense of urgency and chaos that makes each scene thrilling to watch. Too bad the rest of the episode couldn’t maintain the tension.

Secret Invasion Finale final thoughts

Despite terrific performance and strong surface-level dialogue throughout the series, Secret Invasion doesn’t leave a lasting impression. Sadly, Secret Invasion will fall toward the bottom of the MCU series on Disney Plus alongside The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Moon Knight and She-Hulk.

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