Marvel’s Secret Invasion Season 1 Episode 3 Review

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Marvel’s Secret Invasion

We’ve reached the halfway point in Marvel’s Secret Invasion. This outing has some good surprises, notably the Super Skrulls nod and the Rhodey reveal at the end. G’iah’s death will undoubtedly fuel Talos’ rage and his quest to eradicate Gravik. Now, there’s always the possibility she might survive. Perhaps she became a Super Skrull before getting shot, and we’ll see her alive and well in the coming episodes.

On another note, the show underutilizes the talented Olivia Colman, whose Sonya Falsworth is so damn fun. We seldom get more than a few minutes of her at a time, so I hope she plays a larger role in the last three episodes. Fury has barely processed Maria Hill’s death, which seems strange given how much time they spent together. We need at least one flashback sequence (well, more like I need). 

Secret Invasion does shake up the standard Marvel formula with less of a quippy approach and more of a darker, adult tone. I’d love to have more shows that experiment with genre-bending in this manner. 

We only have three episodes left, and I’m unsure how we’ll resolve this narrative. I’m ready to be pleasantly surprised.

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Super Skrulls 

We open with Pagon in New Skrullos as he sends a few Skrulls to infiltrate the British Navy. Gravik has something significant brewing for his next move. He meets with the Skrull Council near what’s ostensibly a device that’ll transform the Skrulls into Super Skrulls.

Gravik tells the council about Dr. Dalton’s work in strengthening Skrulls by injecting them with the DNA of various superpowered beings. It seems we’ll see Gravik use his Groot arm soon. He even drops the term “Super Skrull” to describe what he hopes they’ll become — a race that can change faces and abilities. 

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New York City, 1998 

Then, we’re in Flashback Territory, with Nick Fury entering an NYC diner in 1998. He meets with Varra, who’s taken on a familiar face: that of Priscilla, Fury’s wife. So, Fury knows his wife is a Skrull. Varra procures an envelope from a folder and discreetly hands it to Fury. She believes it’ll put Dreykov’s men “on their heels.” If you recall, Dreykov is the architect of the Black Widow Program and the Red Room, plus Taskmaster.

In 1995, Natasha Romanoff was separated from her sister Yelena and her fake parents, Alexei and Melina, then shipped back to the Red Room. Since Natasha confronted Dreykov around 2016, whatever Varra retrieved for Fury won’t pan out. 

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Love and Marriage

Later, in the present, Priscilla (AKA Varra) and Fury whip up some breakfast in the kitchen. She wants to know why he returned to Earth after several years of radio silence. He claims he’s ready to retire, but instead of perfecting his golf swing, he’s considering taking on “revenge” as a hobby. She mentions something we’ve heard every other character say for the past two episodes: Fury changed after the Blip. We know. Then, Priscilla receives a phone call. She tells the mysterious person on the other end that she lacks the information they seek. 

Meanwhile, G’iah wakes up to find Gravik standing before her. He knows there’s a mole in his camp. She tries to pass it off as Brogan, who Pagon killed in last week’s episode after the group rescued him. G’iah believes Brogan disclosed sensitive information because he was under duress while Sonya tortured him. She insists she’d never lie to him. Oh, this was the tipping point — you know G’iah isn’t long for this world. Gravik orders her to prepare for another mission. 

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Meeting Talos

G’iah drives Gravik to a meeting in London with her father, Talos. On the way there, Gravik mentions his latest planned attack on the United Nations plane bound for the UK. The Neptune, a British submarine, will shoot down said plane. After Gravik heads inside a museum to meet with Talos, G’iah quickly texts her dad on a burner phone about the impending attack. 

Then, Gravik and Talos admire some paintings before eating in the museum’s café. Gravik explains why the Skrull Council chose him to be general, not Talos. The pair bring their differences and drastically opposing moral compasses to the table. Gravik wants to make Earth the new home of the Skrulls and will stop at nothing to achieve his goal. He hopes to implement his plans via war and bloodshed. The humans will annihilate themselves.

However, Talos believes humanity won’t take this lying down. Humans will retaliate if they feel threatened. He knows the other Skrulls will see through Gravik and take the right side. When Gravik takes things too far by mentioning G’iah, Talos jumps to attack. We see the café patrons behind Gravik rise to their feet simultaneously while shape-shifting into Gravik. It appears our homeboy already has Super Skrull powers. 

Talos stabs Gravik in the hand and starts choking him. He orders Gravik to keep G’iah’s name out of his mouth before storming out. Gotta love Talos. 

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A Pub Apology

Later, Fury runs into Talos in a local pub. Of course, Talos is still angry with Fury, so they trade a few insults before Fury reveals he has intel on a high-ranking Skrull in the British Navy. Talos orders Fury to spell out what he wants from him before he’ll accept his role (again) as Fury’s helper. Fury reluctantly admits he needs Talos’ help and can’t do this mission without his Skrull bestie. I love these two and their friendship. It’s the best thing about Secret Invasion. Hands down. 

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Bob Fairbanks

Fury calls Sonya, who’s now named her owl camera Nicholas Fury (complete with an adorable eye patch), for dirt on the Navy Skrull. Sonya drops the name Commodore Robert Fairbanks. She also reveals she’s in hot water because someone tipped off her boss about her activities in the butcher’s shop. Uh-oh.

After Talos rants about Fury always taking credit for all the work the Skrulls did for him over the decades (and one nonsequitur about dogs and humans picking up their poop), the duo arrives at their location. Talos tries to infiltrate Fairbanks’ home but is found out quickly. He spots Fairbanks’ son and alerts Fury to his presence. Fury and Talos kick some asses (a few of them are Skrulls, too) before taking Bob and his son hostage. They order Bob to send the code word that puts the kibosh on the UN attack. A move of that magnitude will ignite World War III. 

Good ol’ Bobby refuses. Meanwhile, we see a captain in the Neptune submarine questioning their orders to shoot down the UN plane. Talos tries to play “good cop” by reassuring Bob that he’ll protect him from Gravik after all this. However, Bob refuses to play ball, so Fury takes a page out of Pulp Fiction‘s book by shooting the Skrull in the leg. That’s a nice nod to another Samuel L. Jackson role. When Talos realizes they won’t get anywhere with Bob, he shoots him in the head.

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Zachary 

Talos calls G’iah and asks her to fish for the codeword to stop the plane attack. After that, he orders her to run from New Skrullos. G’iah sneaks into where the Skrulls keep the human bodies whose identities they steal. She finds the real Bob Fairbanks and searches his memories. G’iah sees images of his son, and a lightbulb flicks on. She tells Talos the code word is “Zachary.” Talos impersonates Bob and makes the call, effectively preventing the attack and another world war from starting. Huzzah!

G’iah does as her father says and flees New Skrullos on a motorbike. Unfortunately, Gravik blocks her path. He emerges from a car, brandishing his gun at G’iah. She claims she’s leaving because the mission failed, but Gravik wasn’t concerned about shooting a United Nations aircraft out of the sky. He wanted to find the mole, which was a success. He orders her to turn around; however, G’iah wants Gravik to look her in the eyes when he kills her. Her last words are about how Gravik will wonder if he’s actually a good leader or a Skrull murderer.

Unfortunately, Gravik doesn’t let her finish her sentence before shooting her in the chest. In death, she morphs into her original Skrull form.

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“Well, you’re talking to me.”

Meanwhile, Priscilla leaves her home in a hurry. She hops on a train and arrives at what looks like a bank vault. She withdraws a gun from a drawer. Then, she tells someone over the phone that she wants to talk to Gravik (she clearly lied to Fury earlier in the episode about that). However, the voice on the other end claims she’s speaking to him instead and must head to St. James Church in one hour. 

That voice seems to be none other than Rhodey. 

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One thing Secret Invasion is nailing is having us constantly question who’s a Skrull and who’s a human. Is there a possibility that some Skrulls were involved in the Red Room business in the ’90s? They may have had more significant involvement in the Marvel proceedings than we’ve realized. That, in itself, is quite intriguing. Despite Secret Invasion‘s flaws, these questions are interesting enough to keep me tuning in to see how it all plays out. That, and Kingsley Ben-Adir is such a fabulous, nuanced villain. His performance is a highlight. Gravik feels like a legitimate threat. 

Has Rhodey been a Skrull this whole time? Is G’iah actually alive? Is Priscilla a goodie or a baddie? Join the conversation alongside other Marvel fans over at Sideshow Social Network or in the Let Your Spoiler Sideshow: MCU Phase Five Facebook Group, and don’t forget to Let Your Geek Sideshow!