This article contains spoilers for Secret Invasion on Disney+. Do not read ahead unless you have seen episodes one to four …
That’s settled, then
Well done all those who said G’iah (Emilia Clarke) wasn’t dead after being shot by Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) at the end of episode three. Have a Smartie – or confection of your choice.
Before the credits rolled, we saw in a brief flashback how she’d given herself the Super-Skrull treatment, then watched her sit up in the road where she’d been shot while the wound glowed and healed. Nice trick. And it makes sense, really – would Marvel get Emilia Clarke involved for a three-episode stint in a non-starring role, then bump her off before her story gets more exciting? Clearly not. A word of advice, G’iah, if you’re reading – if the enemy thinks you’re dead but you’re not, and you have the ability to shapeshift, perhaps change appearance so you can’t be spotted.
We’ll always have Paris
We then landed in the French capital in 2012. If you hadn’t seen the date in big letters, you know it’s a flashback because Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) is wearing his eyepatch. As we learned from the newspaper Priscilla (Charlayne Woodard) was reading, the Avengers have just levelled New York in the name of saving the Earth from Loki and the Chitauri. She wants to pay her husband a compliment for getting Earth’s mightiest heroes together.
After a little light poetry, we were back in the present day, and Priscilla (sporting a different haircut, so we know it’s a flashback) meets James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Don Cheadle).
There in the church, we heard that Priscilla has always been working against Fury, that her mission is to kill him – and if she doesn’t, Rhodey will have her killed. I definitely preferred him when he was sidekick to Iron Man rather than Gravik. All the while, Fury was listening to their conversation. I wonder which bit hurt the most; learning that his marriage had been a sham, or realising that everyone has noticed how old and creaky he looks.
Over at the runway, Gravik informs Pagon (Killian Scott) that G’iah was the mole, but doesn’t appear to know that she’s still around.
And, very much alive, we then see her talking to her dad, Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), who is full of remorse for putting her in such a terrible situation. “The only thing I need from you is a plan. Once and for all, what is your plan for finding our people a home?” she asked him. He then reeled off his vague scheme – take down the baddies, then go to the US president with a bargaining chip and barter for a new land. There are 1 million Skrulls, and Talos seems to think the president is going to hand over a state for them to live in. I’m not an expert on international relations, but I can’t help think that’s, at best, overly optimistic. “You’re delusional,” G’iah told her old man. Quite.
Fury v Fury
This week’s excellent two-hander was the scene in which Fury confronted his wife about her betrayal. He said he wouldn’t have done anything differently, even if he had known she was a Skrull spy, then she regaled him with the story of how she chose Priscilla’s appearance.
Fury then breaks in to Rhodey’s hotel room to confront his old pal about being a Skrull, offer him some lovely whiskey and slip some liquid tracker in his drink.
Endgame
We soon understood what Gravik’s main plan was – to blow up the motorcade as it was on its way to the meeting with the Russians and assume the identity of President Ritson (Dermot Mulroney). Gravik got to show off his Groot-like powers (a nod back to that computer screen G’iah was looking at).
Thankfully, Fury and Talos arrived to offer a bit of support, break a window and rescue Ritson, although that will be Talos’s last act. He was wounded by Pagon and fatally stabbed by Gravik, then left on the runway by Fury as he fled with Ritson.
He was adamant that the Skrulls just needed to show the humans who they are to be accepted, and despite having green skin, all the sceptical soldier needed was Fury to yell that he was “with me” and all was OK. Perhaps Talos was right all along?
What next?
Talos is gone, G’iah is back, the president is saved, Rhodey’s cover is blown and Gravik has unveiled his devastating powers. I wonder why, if he’s now basically bulletproof, stronger than ever and can extend his limbs like a big tree, why he didn’t make easier work of the soldiers in that final battle instead of cowering behind a car and ordering his men to do the shooting.
Notes and observations
Priscilla used the word righteousness when describing Fury. Surely a Pulp Fiction nod?
The episode’s title, Beloved, relates to the Raymond Carver poem Priscilla was reading. Late Fragment was his final poem, from A New Path to the Waterfall, completed shortly before his death in 1988.
Rhodey, don’t mix up your wrestlers and their moves. I’d say the DDT was more closely associated with Jake “The Snake” Roberts, not The Undertaker.
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That Pappy Van Winkle 23 Fury is drinking in Rhodey’s hotel room is some fancy, rare bourbon. A bottle of it, if you can find it, could be yours for about £6,000. No wonder Fury was so keen for Rhodey to savour every drop.
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