The Winter King and 4 other disappointing sci-fi/fantasy shows from 2023
By Dan Selcke
Secret Invasion
There’s been a lot of ink spilled lately about how the Marvel Cinematic Universe isn’t what it used to be. Stuff like Secret Invasion is a big part of the reason why. There were a few things about this six-episode miniseries that were good — e.g. the chemistry between Samuel L. Jackson and Charlayne Woodard, who played Nick Fury’s wife Varra — but none that were great, and several that were pretty rough.
Secret Invasion purports to tell a story about what happens when Nick Fury must fight a group of shape-shifting aliens who are secretly replacing powerful human leaders. And it is just Nick Fury, more or less. Despite this threat having global implications, the scale feels vanishingly small. The show has a very hard time selling us on why we should care about any of this, or why everyone is taking it so seriously.
Secret Invasion has a muddy, dim look to it. It’s definitely not the prettiest Marvel TV series on the block. Performers like Emilia Clarke and Kingsley Ben-Adir are mostly wasted in thankless roles as alien operatives. The only cast member who seems to be having a good time is Olivia Colman as the casually brutal British spy Sonya Falsworth.
It should tell you a lot about the cache of Marvel that they could attract an actor as decorated as Colman in the first place, but if they keep making shows as soggy and middling as Secret Invasion, they’re going to run out of goodwill fast.