Mark, Eve, and the GDA need to deal with too many evil Invincibles in Invincible season 3, episode 7, "What Have I Done?" Will this lead to the world thinking about our Invincible the same way Powerplex did in the previous episode?
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for Invincible season 3, episode 7
The world has an Invincible problem. At the end of the previous episode, we learned that Angstrom Levy was still alive. It doesn’t take long in the new episode to find out how he survived. It wasn’t pretty and it took work, but he managed to get to people who could put him back together after Invincible beat him to a pulp and left him for dead at the end of season 2. After that, he gathered other versions of Invincible from across the multi-verse to help him in his revenge mission against our Mark Grayson.
This creates a problem that seems to suggest Powerplex was right: Invincible is evil. At least, all the Invincibles who attack Earth are definitely evil. Mark tries his hardest to tackle them all, but there’s only so much that he can do, and it doesn’t help that people close to him get hurt.
The GDA offer help in Invincible season 3, episode 7, "What Have I Done?"
Despite setting up Cecil as a villain earlier in the season, Invincible reminds us that Cecil is just trying to protect Earth. If that means he has to take Mark out because he’s dangerous, then so be it. However, Cecil also knows that this world’s Invincible isn’t the problem.
We see Cecil deploy various superheroes within the GDA to take down the different Invincibles. It’s not easy, though. Even the Immortal doesn’t stand a chance against these guys.
Nobody is willing to believe that this world’s Invincible has done any bad. This shows everything the world knows about their version of Invincible. It’s the reason nobody was willing to listen to Powerplex when he said that Invincible was the villain. This world’s Mark is a good man and wants to save as many people as possible.
I do like that there is a moment at the prison where people start to think that their Invincible is a bad guy, but then they listen to reason. It’s believable, but it also adds a little bit of drama. We have a moment where we worry about Invincible, but that worry is put at ease quickly.
Rex’s sacrifice comes far too soon
It was clear that some characters would have to sacrifice themselves. Rex, who blows himself up to take out one of the Invincibles, hits the hardest, because he dies far too soon. He has only just figured out who he is and how to really love, and that’s all done.
He does make the ultimate sacrifice, though. There’s no way for him to survive the grasp that a version of Invincible has on him, so he decides to explode himself and take them both out. It’s a powerful moment, as he does it without anyone else around. He isn’t looking for recognition, which shows that he has come a long way since the first-ever episode.
I find it even more disappointing that the GDA is able to bring the Immortal back but not Rex. Rex deserved better.
Mark refuses to fight for the world
When Eve is seriously injured, Mark gets her back to the GDA for medical treatment. He decides to stay with her. He is done fighting for Earth, showing that no matter what he does, it’s no use. There will always be aliens attacking, and there will always be a bad guy to fight. This doesn’t stop, and it means more and more innocent people have to die. It’s such a human response to the situation. How often do we think that something is no use because more and more bad piles up?
Yet, Mark does get back into the fight when he finds out who is behind all the different versions of himself. He learns that Angstrom Levy is still alive and attacking Earth. In another human moment, Mark wants revenge, and he goes off to get it. We get to see how Mark has learned from past mistakes. At the end of season 2, he would fall through Angstrom's portals in a fight, but that doesn't happen in this episode. Seeing a character grow and learn from mistakes is one of the best things a TV show can do. Invincible continues not to disappoint in this aspect.
However, despite the need for revenge, Mark still doesn’t want to kill Angstrom. It’s this weakness that gives Angstrom a chance to escape, although not without the loss of one of his arms.
What happens when you don’t live up to promises
Angstrom finds himself trapped between a rock and a hard place. His unwillingness to give the Technicians — the surgeons who fixed him the last time Mark beat him — whatever it was he promised them results in them turning the tables on him and withholding treatment until he pledges fealty to them.
It’s a reminder of the price of life as a tyrant. You can get away with it only for so long. Eventually, people realize what you are. Once people realize that and start to walk away, you’re left with nothing. In Angstrom’s case, he’s left as a slave to the Technicians.
This isn’t the end of Angstrom, though, and Cecil knows it. However, it’s all about the cleanup first. This doesn’t change anything between Cecil and Invincible; there's still bad blood, but they will work together on the cleanup for now.
We end the episode with some introspective moments for Mark. Powerplex gets another chance to remind Mark and others that Invincible caused all of this. It’s something that Mark has to live with. What’s next? Well, there is only one option right now with all the loss: Cecil asks Mark to lead the Guardians of the Globe. Sadly for the world, he declines.
After the way this season started, I adore that Cecil recognizes that Mark is the good guy in all of this. After everything, it would have been easy for Cecil to trap Mark again and have him killed, but Cecil was never the bad guy. He was just finding the best way to handle a difficult situation.
In the end, Earth is in more danger than ever before. The world is open to the Viltrimite takeover, and we end with someone called Conquest turning up. Mark is so angry about the entire situation recently that he just wants to his something hard, and Conques is that “thing.” This certainly pushes us into what is sure to be an epic season finale.
Invincible airs Thursdays on Prime Video.
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