This article contains spoilers for Secret Invasion on Disney+. Do not read unless you have seen episodes one to five …
Aftermath
We began moments after the end of episode four, as Fury (Samuel L Jackson) arrived at hospital with an injured President Ritson (Dermot Mulroney). “Do you have clearance?” asked a member of the medical team as Fury tried to follow the trolley into the emergency room. And for probably the first time in his life, jobless Fury had to concede that he didn’t. But he did have a gun and a chair, and put both to good use guarding the door, only for the colonel formerly known as Rhodey (Don Cheadle) to arrive with his security detail and send him packing.
Over at New Skrullos, things heated up between Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) and Pagon (Killian Scott), with the Skrull general Grooting his former right-hand man to death. Neat trick. He then ordered Fury’s wife Priscilla/Skrull agent Varra to be killed.
By the time the credits had rolled, Rhodey had made good on his promise to release the footage of “Fury” (Gravik disguised as Fury) shooting Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) in Moscow. With that, Sonya Falsworth (Olivia Colman) arrived in the office of Wetherby (Tony Curran), the director of the SIS, jaunty as ever, but armed with the knowledge he’s a Skrull – and a pistol. “Look at that!” she said, watching the skin around Wetherby’s wound turn green. Talos on TV, Rhodey close to being outed and now the head of MI6 revealed as a Skrull impostor … this invasion just became a lot less secret (that line was almost cliched enough to be a line of dialogue in the show).
Break time
There was more unrest in the New Skrullos canteen when some plucky Skrulls dared to question Gravik, just as Pagon had done. And despite managing to get a carrier bag over his head and pin him down, Gravik soon got the better of his attackers, demonstrating some of that Super-Skrull strength. A note to future mutineers: Gravik is not a man to interrupt while he’s enjoying a cup of sugary tea.
Over in Brixton, G’iah (Emilia Clarke) waited for Fury to show up. He gave her a bit of local history then they got to talking about G’iah’s dead dad, Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), and which DNA samples Gravik had stolen. Only a few, G’iah assured him: Cull Obsidian, Flora colossus (Groot’s species) among them, but he was really looking for something called the harvest. “The harvest?” replied Fury. looking worried, before getting up and saying he was off to Finland. G’iah, meanwhile, was on her way to see Priscilla (Charlayne Woodard) who could help organise a Skrull funeral for Talos.
Falsworth tracked down Dr Rosa Dalton (Katie Finneran), the scientist we saw briefly earlier in the series working on the Super-Skrull machine in New Skrullos. Falsworth was one step ahead, as usual, and after having her man Nigel torch Dalton’s lab, delivered the line of the episode as Dalton’s Skrull husband, Victor (Mark Bazeley), held a gun to his wife’s head, saying he’d rather kill her than betray Gravik. “Oh I don’t doubt you for a moment. The males of my species are very similar. If they’re not busy gaslighting you they’re threatening you with murder. It’s what all the podcasts are about.” Falsworth then calmly drew her pistol and shot Victor in the head.
G’iah arrived at Fury’s house to meet Priscilla and I couldn’t help but think they trusted each other’s identity a bit too quickly. “You’re the one they sent to kill me?” Scilla asked. The next time we saw them, they were building a funeral pyre with Talos’s body on the top and talking about how he didn’t like pageantry.
That snake Rhodey, meanwhile, was doing his best to talk President Ritson into blowing up New Skrullos which, of course, lies on Russian soil. “England is 100% behind us,” he said (which I assume meant Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales were dead against it? Come on, Marvel, England and the UK are not synonymous), while Ritson mumbled something derivative about a strike on Russian soil meaning world war three. “Better a war than an extinction,” said Rhodey.
It was nice to see O-T Fagbenle return as “The Agent” Rick Mason, the character we first saw on screen in Black Widow, providing Natasha with all the things a super-stealthy assassin type might need. He was on hand again here with a private jet to take Fury to his scheduled meeting with Gravik, who said he’d call the whole thing off if Fury brought him the harvest. We still didn’t know at this point what the harvest was.
Back in the Furys’ beautiful home, Scilla explained why she loves her house so much and revealed a lot more about her seemingly blissful life with Fury than she previously had done. A bit more of this might have helped explain how she had lived a lie for all those years. But just as she was getting to the point, a bullet ripped through her tea tray and we were off, into the episode’s most exciting scene as G’iah and Scilla took care of a wave of armed bad guys sent to kill them. I was hoping for a good few minutes more of that.
294km from the Russian border
Fury made his way through passport control in Finland and was picked up by a waiting Sonya Falsworth. They swapped a bit of intel, and the bombshell that every Avenger dropped a bit of blood in the battle at the end of Endgame – “even Carol Danvers” – and that people were sent to the battleground in the aftermath to collect that DNA. People … with abilities. People like … Gravik.
And so the harvest isn’t a super rare pressing of the Neil Young masterpiece, but a collection of DNA samples from the most powerful beings in the universe. Standing by his fake graveside, Falsworth asked a valid question: “Fury, why haven’t you called any of your special friends down?” to which he replied: “This is personal. We can’t keep depending on these superheroes to swoop in and save our asses,” which I think is code for: “The reasons are budgetary, Sonya, do you know how much it costs to get Hemsworth or Larson these days?”
The Bible inscription on his tombstone, about there being no greater love than laying down your life for your friends from John 15:13, makes me think we might be about to witness the last stand of Nick Fury.
Overall
It was fine … a little like the series as a whole. Decent performances, solid-enough plot but there’s just something missing. The plot moves between locations too quickly, the character interaction is on the weak side and the action scenes, while consummate and exciting, are far too short. This episode felt like treading water until next week’s finale. Running out of storyline before the end is unforgivable. I feel total redemption is impossible, but please, episode six, give us something.
Notes and observations
I’m still a big fan of Gravik’s Welsh accent. He’s thoroughly evil, yet I still want him to record an audiobook. I’d say he’s about half a pint of Brains away from calling someone “butty”.
This isn’t Tony Curran’s first appearance in the MCU. He appeared as Bor, Odin’s father, in Thor: The Dark World, and was the person who hid the aether from Dark Elf Malekith. He also starred as Irish mobster Finn Cooley in the second series of Daredevil, where he crossed paths with The Punisher.
The name on Fury’s fake passport in Finland was Johannes Kerhonen. The only Kerhonen I can find related to Marvel was a stunt performer in The Incredible Hulk called Henry Kerhonen.
We saw Fury’s fake grave in Finland, but the first fake grave of his was seen at the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. He says he has them all over the place, but will his next grave be real?
The song playing in Falsworth’s car when she picked Fury up from the airport was Audacity by Stormzy feat Headie One.
What did you think? Are you looking forward to next week’s finale? Do you think Nick Fury is going to meet his end? Have your say below …
