Secret Invasion is back with the Worst Spies in the world! A reminder that Rhodes is very likely a Skrull, Skrulls are doing Super Skrullification, and G’iah has been shot but if she’s dead I’ll eat my backpack. Priscilla has a gun, is likely on Gravik’s side, and Talos is still an idealistic dumbass. Also Fury? Is just content to let everyone else direct the action while he plays catch up. Let’s get started with episode four of Secret Invasion, “Beloved,” written by Brian Tucker and directed by Ali Selim.
We start with G’iah (Emilia Clarke); it’s revealed that before she attempted to escape the compound, she stole the memories of a scientist and became a Super Skrull herself! Finally! A reveal that, while incredibly obviously choreographed, shows a bit of ingenuity in that it actually makes the flashbacks slightly interesting. So, G’iah heals, gets up, goes on her way. Nobody is going to come looking for her body, surely.
We have another flashback scene, this time Paris in 2012. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is in his classic eyepatch and long coat as he meets with Priscilla (Charlayne Woodard). This is, of course, right after the Avengers saved Manhattan. Priscilla asks if Fury had anything to do with “getting them together,” which… doesn’t lead to any exciting dialogue, really. But somehow they turn a Raymond Carver poem—“Late Fragment”—into an alien love confession. Sure, you know what, let’s buy into it.
In the present day, Priscilla meets Colonel Rhodes (Don Cheadle) in church–another hint that the War Machine is a Skrull. And then… just like that… the reveal that he’s a Skrull sinks like a stone in a deep river, and Rhodey tells Priscilla that she doesn’t need to worry about Gravik; she’s supposed to kill Fury.
(I dunno man, for a guy that’s supposedly washed up and out of options, people are really keen to assassinate Fury. Seems like the easy way out. With all this happening I’d be willing to bet that Talos gets killed while trying to save Fury. At least, that’s where these plot beats are leading me. Presumptive RIP.)
AND THEN! Another spy reveal! Fury is listening in on the conversation between Rhodes and Priscilla. Priscilla says what I’ve been thinking this whole time: Fury’s not a threat, and Rhodey makes it clear he wants the man dead. It’s a little unclear if Priscilla is saying this because she knows Fury is listening in or because she’s on Fury’s side. Either way, that’s spy shit, baby!
Next, Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) and Pagon (Killian Scott) board a plane as they discuss their next terrorist attack, which is going to look like the Russians did it. How they think they’re going to do that without flying a Russian flag or announcing that the Kremlin gave them money is beyond me, because “big and loud” is kind of how most terrorist attacks go down. Maybe they’ll just yell really loudly in Russian.
Next, Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) and G’iah meet up. Talos apologizes for turning his daughter into a spy and a soldier. There’s some mawkish dialogue and she tells Talos, again, that they need a home. He offers the worst possible plan, which is to beg a sitting U.S. president for amnesty. Talos continues to defend this patently terrible idea by trying to imagine that by being a model minority they will be accepted. G’iah rightly tells her dad that he’s delusional and walks off in a field towards… I’m really not sure, a forest? Whatever, regardless, she’s right.
Priscilla comes home, sees Nick’s wedding ring in the foyer, and goes to the kitchen. There’s a few hints here that Fury could be a Skrull, but truly who knows. We’re finally getting into the kind of spycraft that this series promised us—every scene could have a Skrull in a human skin. Of course this is a theory disabused quickly, and Nick and Priscilla engage in a flirty assassination tete-a-tete, which is kind of fun, actually, as both actors are having a great time.
And then Fury RETURNS with a quote from Carver and the two are clearly in love, and this is horrific, now I care. I’m invested. And of course as soon as we get somewhere—BANG! Both of them shoot at each other, just barely missing. God, the moment is absolutely ruined by a ridiculously stupid shootout. Good Feelings Gone! I was tricked by this show for the last time, I will never care again.
Fury breaks into Rhodey’s hotel suite somehow, despite being… literally nobody. And now we have Fury acting the fool in front of Rhodey in an attempt to disarm him. Fury offers him some exceptionally good liquor and they drink together. Fury, again playing into the worst ideas of what Rhodey thinks of him, asks to be reinstated, stating there are Skrulls in the government. Rhodey then shows him a video of Gravik-as-Fury shooting Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders). Next, another reveal: liquid tracker!
Honestly, we are finally getting somewhere. The series is coming together like an abbreviated thriller that sort of forgot all its plot beats until just now, actually. It is not an elegant execution, but it is happening with an alacrity that is surprisingly tight. Everything is also happening without any commentary on contemporary politics, which is an incredible feat for a politically-motivated plot that centers on refugees, immigrants, and genocide. What’s left of the plot feels like a paint by numbers sort of story, where every move is choreographed three episodes ahead of time in order to avoid confusing or challenging the audience, or worse, offending any conservative who might take “immigrants are people too” a little personally.
The president lands in London to chat with the Russians, Rhodey gives him some weird advice about steel and flesh which is a Lenin quote about how the Bolsheviks enacted guerrilla warfare. It does not go over whell. Rhodey then tells Gravik exactly where the president is in the convoy order and the attack is on. Fury and Talos are on their tail, tracking Rhodey. More and more agents from the U.S. and the Skrulls show up. The Skrulls yell in Russian, which obviously means they’re Russian. Gravik shows off some Groot-moves and strangles a man with roots. So if anyone caught that on camera, it might be a sign that aliens walk among us.
Fury and Talos arrive on the scene, have some fun little quips, and go after the president on a rescue mission amid the gunfire. Ten bucks says Talos dies. Everyone seems able to recognize Fury instantly, and Gravik gives the order to take out Talos. Talos is shot, begins to transform, and I have to mention that while the speed of this action is finally getting somewhere, it’s all so fucking predictable.
We do finally get some great makeup here where Talos is half-transformed. Truly very good stuff, especially considering that all the de-aging makeup we’re subjected to is deeply weird. Fury gets President Ritson in the car, the soldier holding Talos transforms into Gravik, and he stabs Talos. Gravik gets on the back of Pagon’s motorbike and they zoom off, despite… everything happening.
AND THEN FURY ABANDONS HIS ONLY FRIEND IN THE ENTIRE WORLD, leaving him possibly dead on the street. What a wanker. And he does it to protect a president who, for all intents and purposes, is just… there? He’s the glowy thing we need to keep away from this season, I guess. It’s also deeply annoying that we don’t know where Skrull Rhodey ended up or where G’iah went. I’m invested, but in a way where I will throw my hands up at the end of the next two episodes and say “I guess!” in increasingly annoyed tones.
How many times are we going to end on a death or a faked death before it becomes boring? Surely we’ve gotten to the point that character death can happen mid-episode rather than at the end? It just all feels so maddeningly easy! Something about Secret Invasion is just off-putting, but I can’t quite describe it yet; the weird anti-politics political thriller might be a big part of it, but the pacing is also so strange! We’ll see what the penultimate episode has in store for us next week.
Secret Invasion episodes 1-4 are now streaming; new episodes are released every Wednesday on Disney +.
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