Every episode of Invincible season 2 (so far), ranked worst to best

2. Episode 203: “This Missive, This Machination”

This one kicks off with Mark finally starting college at Upstate University with William and Amber. As Mark’s roommate, William urges him to throw out all the toys he brought with him, but Mark decides to keep one action figure of a character named Science Dog. Mark then goes over to Amber’s dorm room and they have sex for the first time, so this is already a pretty formative episode for our titular character.

While Mark and Amber get it on, we get a hilarious interjection from a narrator and the entire story pivots over to Allen the Alien, the friendly one-eyed Unopan voiced by Seth Rogan. The narrator exposition dumps the entire backstory of the Unopan society, explaining how they were taken over by the Viltrumites. A few survivors fled the planet and began to genetically breed new Unopans in an effort to save their species and develop a super soldier capable of fighting Viltrumites. Allen was the only successful super soldier to emerge from that program. The Unopans soon joined the Coalition of Planets, a group opposed to the Viltrum empire.

Allen works as the Coalition’s point man on finding other beings capable of fighting Viltrumites. He explains to the council that he finally found such a person on Earth named Mark Grayson. The council is hesitant to trust someone like Mark, who is half-Viltrumite, but their leader Thaedus agrees that it is a lead worth pursuing, especially because they also know that Omni-Man abandoned his post, which is unheard of behavior from a Viltrumite.

While Allen is getting dinner with his girlfriend Telia, three Viltrumites attack and beat Allen nearly to death. In the hospital, Thaedus comforts Telia and tells her to leave the room before he disables Allen’s life support systems. This massive cliffhanger calls into question Thaedus’ true intentions and leaves Allen’s fate unknown.

Back on Earth, Mark gets a visit from a real-life Science Dog, which freaks him out because he is supposed to be a fictional character. Mark takes him outside and beats him up, demanding to know who he really is. Under the disguise is a praying mantis-like being called a Thraxan who begs Mark to help him stop a meteor shower on his planet. William convinces Mark to go help the Thraxans. Mark says his goodbyes to Cecil and Amber; the former is unhappy with Mark’s decision and the latter supportive.

After the six-day journey to the Thraxan planet, Mark finds there are no meteors and he is immediately introduced to the monarch of the planet. The big reveal is that the monarch is none other that Mark’s dad Omni-Man.

This episode is loaded with good stuff. We finally get an idea of how the galaxy is laid out as a conflict between the Viltrumites and the Coalition brews. But Allen’s backstory, Peter Cullen’s (Optimus Prime) elegant portrayal of Thaedus and Omni-Man’s shocking return still don’t make this the best episode of season 2 so far.