Marvel brings workmanlike adequacy to spy drama Secret Invasion

Secret Invasion is a serious Marvel show. You can tell because a character says “goddamn” in the opening scene. You can tell because there aren’t any toned men in spandex fighting purple alien giants. You can tell because people — both named and otherwise — die. Secret Invasion plays for keeps.

And I don’t want to completely dismiss that; the first episode of the new Disney+ series, “Resurrection,” does go farther than your average Marvel show when it comes to lasting consequences. Then again, this is Marvel, which has a habit of pulling its punches unless Robert Downey Jr. walks into Kevin Feige’s office and literally begs to be killed off, so I’m hesitant to buy in completely. Let’s give it a couple episodes.

Secret Invasion is fine

Most of “Resurrection” plays out like a standard MCU movie with some spy thriller window dressing. The show may not involve purple alien giants, but it does feature green aliens of ordinary size. These are the Skrulls, shape-shifters introduced into the MCU in Captain Marvel. That movie was set in the 1990s. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) has been trying to help the Skrulls find a new home planet ever since, but it’s been slow going, and some are getting restless. One particularly disgruntled Skrull named Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) has decided that Skrull-kind would be better off just taking over Earth. To that end, he and his followers are going about baiting various countries into bombing each other, hoping to set off a world war that kills the human population. Then they’ll rule over the rubble.

It’s a cool plan that I expect will produce some fun twists; these are shape-shifters, so if the president doesn’t end up being an alien in disguise, I will be disappointed. That said, Secret Invasion doesn’t do a great job of selling just how creepy and sinister this all is. Super-spy Nick Fury returns to Earth (he was in space, a detail I’d forgotten but doesn’t really matter) and is simply told, “Aliens are trying to infiltrate corridors of power and take over the planet. It’s bad.” The show could use more mood, more build.

But this is a Marvel series, so instead we get scenes of Nick Fury trading sarcastic quips with British spymaster Sonya Falsworth (a very game Olivia Colman), an action scene where Fury and kindly Skrull leader Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) probe into the conspiracy, and cameos from the likes of Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman) and James Rhodes (Don Cheadle). It all pulls the episode along, but after this many Marvel movies and TV shows, it needs more. Even the rebel Skrulls recall the Flag-Smashers from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and that didn’t air too long ago.

Emilia Clarke shines in Secret Invasion

There are signs of life, though. Emilia Clarke is likable as Talos’ daughter G’iah, who’s defected to become one of Gravik’s dissidents. She’s believably warm when showing a new Skrull malcontent around their compound and vulnerable when she confronts her father late in the episode. I think her character becomes “one of the good guys” too quickly, but Clarke is as compulsively watchable here as she was on Game of Thrones.

Then there’s the ending, where Fury and his group fail to stop a Skrull attack that actually does look like it does some real damage. Again, this is the company that killed off half of all life in the universe and then brought everyone back, so I’m cautious, but I was surprised by how bold the ending was.

So who knows? Maybe Marvel can go the distance with this one.

Secret Bullet Points

• I didn’t mention Jackson’s performance, perhaps because he’s been playing the character for so long you probably know what you’re getting without any help from me. He is solid and dependable as ever.
• I liked the opening where a Skrull is trying to outrun an enemy, fails to make a leap between buildings, and just falls splat onto the ground below. It’s explicit for a Marvel show, almost funny.
• “He plays on the collective rage of young displaced Skrulls.” So says Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) of Gravik. One thing I do expect is for Secret Invasion to treat the rebel Skrulls as if they have legitimate grievances only to pull back at the last second and paint them as more-or-less two-dimensional baddies, like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier did with the Flag-Smashers.

Episode Grade: C+

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