Invincible review, Episode 207: "I'm Not Going Anywhere"

If we cast our minds back to the fourth episode of Invincible season 2, "It's Been a While," you'll remember than Nolan Grayson, aka Omni-Man, was taken prisoner by the Viltrumites, punishment for betraying the Empire. His mission to prepare Earth for Viltrumite takeover passed to his son Mark, aka Invincible. Now, a representative from Viltrum arrives to check on Mark's progress, and it goes about as well as you'd expect.

Before the visit from the Viltrumites, "I'm Not Going Anywhere" starts off by tackling some of its many side stories. My favorite of these, by quite some distance, is how Rick deals with the aftermath of being turned into a ReAniman by mad scientist D.A. Sinclair, an event you may remember from back in season 1 episode 6, "You Look Kinda Dead."

Now, time has passed, and Donald has welcomed Rick back to his normal life, reunited with his boyfriend Will... however, something is different. In this life, he's part-android, part-human, and he struggles to deal with the fact that his existence is inherently different from everyone else's.

This storyline is brave in that it dives into complex dilemmas in philosophical thinking and what this transformation would mean for mental health. Rick tries to end his own life at one point. He's only talked out of it by Donald, who's also part android. As Cecil's right-hand man, we learn that Donald has died over 30 times on duty, and has been rebuilt following each death, losing a bit of himself every time.

Also, this storyline teases that Cecil has made an employee of D.A. Sinclair, who now appears to be creating ReAnimen for the government.

Additionally, in outer space, a buffed up Allen the Alien comes across a Viltrumite spaceship on his journey back to Talescria, where he realizes that he's now powerful enough to take on a Viltrumite and survive to tell the tale. Even so, he allows himself to be captured. Might this be a ploy to try and make contact with Omni-Man? Only time will tell.

The Guardians of the Globe

Among the Guardians of the Globe, the Immortal struggles to continue in his leadership role. After Dupli-Kate lost her life, the Immortal is losing morale. He even goes as far as asking Cecil for retirement, a request Cecil instantly rejects.

Meanwhile, Rudy is trying to figure out alternative ways for Monster Girl to use her powers without the need to de-age every time she transforms into the monster. And Rex is trying to prove himself a formidable fighter agains following his death-defying struggle against the Lizard League.

Invincible, Amber, and the arrival of Viltrumite Anissa!

Now we bite into the meat of the episode. In his bid to live a more 'normal' life, Mark makes Cecil agree to let him take some time off superhero duties each week. And in this much-needed down time, he takes Amber out on dates, such as comic cons, where he meets his idol Filip Schaff, the creator of Seance Dog. There's a good little bit where he asks Flip why the animated Seance Dog TV show takes so long to make, a reference to the long waits between new seasons of Invincible. I'm glad they kept this joke in; the Invincible comic had some very self-aware criticism of comic books.

Seeing Mark and Amber fly around, carefree and dating, is really wholesome, very much like those scenes in Superman when Clark flies Lois around Metropolis. However, when they sit at a dinner table about to tuck into food, a Viltrumite soldier, Anissa, takes Amber hostage and won't let go until Mark agrees to talk. What starts off beautiful quickly turns to dread.

Of course, Anissa has come to Earth to assess Mark's progress (of lack thereof) in preparing the planet for Viltrumite takeover. When she learns that Mark is reluctant to carry out the plan, Anissa tries to change his mind. She reminds him that the planet won't survive without Viltrumite input. She brings up some objectively valid points, like how humans are ruining the environment, but many of them are fundamentally flawed: Didn't Omni-Man murder literally thousands of innocent humans before abandoning the planet? Clearly the Viltrumites can hurt at least as much as they can help.

Anyway, when Invincible objects to the Viltrumite's plan, things get really ugly. Anissa, a pure-bred and fully trained Viltrumite in the peak of her power, quite literally beats Invincible within in inch of his life. The brawl is hardly a fight; it's a humbling. But to Mark's credit, he keeps getting back up. He won't give Anissa the pleasure of taking his life, and as a result, she leaves him on Earth to fulfill his task. No doubt that next time the Viltrumites come to check on his lack of progress, things will be much, much worse.

As if Invincible doesn't have enough on his plate, his biggest threat is still to come. Turns out, Angstrom Levy is in Mark's home, holding Debbie and Oliver captive. Yes, the season finale is set up to be an all-out war against multiverse-hopping Angstrom Levy... and the battle will be against himself. Stay tuned. You don't want to miss this; the comic counterpart is one of my favorite battles in comic book history.

Verdict

Interesting character dynamics, a few fun moments, a couple of emotional scenes, and one bloodbath of a fight for Invincible. This was a pretty epic episode that leaves you desperate for more. These episodes never seem to wrap up a storyline. Next week's installment can't come quickly enough!

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