As a non-comic book reader, I wonder if the magic of the first season of Invincible can ever be replicated. It was a most powerful exploration of the modern family dynamic - Debbie, Nolan and Mark - and the big secret that Nolan was hiding from the family. The slow lead-up towards the reveal made the show special and the last two episodes among the most iconic in TV culture of the recent past.
That's where my gripe with this episode starts - despite the emotional investment in the Amber/Mark relationship (over the last two episodes and this season overall), I was not nearly as invested as I was for the relationship Mark had with Nolan (or Debbie for that matter). In fact, the way Amber reconciled with Mark after his harrowing and unbelievably traumatizing fight with his father in the first season was so off putting that I never shipped Mark & Amber. (Apparently, this was unintentional in the writers' vision for her character - she was not conceived to be as tone-deaf as fans saw her to be on that scene.)
Granted, season 2 gives her character more time - we get to know abt how she views her relationship to Invincible and how she truly cares about him. She is a more likable and three-dimensional - we get bits and pieces of her worldly struggles as a college student trying to balance things as Mark is doing, and failing at it similarly. The relationship is well explored in the previous episode and I was impressed.
However, far too much screen time is dedicated to the inevitable Mark-Amber breakup this episode and the writing felt uncharacteristically weak. Amber's monologue near the end was where that came to the fore and combined with some puzzling animation choices, it might be the weakest scene of the season for me. (Zooming in on Amber's mouth - perhaps in a call back to the self-effacing jokes on animation being hard near the beginning of the episode - was tonally inappropriate for a scene that should evoke the sadness of a breakup.)
Moving on, the best part of the episode was imposing and terrifying introduction to the Viltrumite Annisa. The scene where she had her hand on the neck of Amber, as Mark & Amber were blissfully ready to have a meal, is where the slow pace of the episode pays off. The subsequent fight scenes between Invincible & Annisa and Allen & Annisa were wonderfully choreographed/animated to show the awesome power of a single Viltumite and our resurrected Unopan who can now stand toe-to-toe with one.
The episode ends with the villain established in episode 1 of season 2, Angstrom Levy, holding Debbie and Oliver hostage. It is difficult to feel the emotional stakes of the coming fight between Levy and Invincible given how little we have seen of Levy, but I want to be optimistic. I can't imagine it nearing the heights of the Nolan Vs Mark showdown for season 1 - but can anything in subsequent seasons come close to that? I highly doubt it. I still hope to enjoy future seasons of Invincible as a ground breaking show in animation and comic book storytelling even if I am no longer as moved as I was during season 1.
Rating this an 8 out of 10 for the better parts.
That's where my gripe with this episode starts - despite the emotional investment in the Amber/Mark relationship (over the last two episodes and this season overall), I was not nearly as invested as I was for the relationship Mark had with Nolan (or Debbie for that matter). In fact, the way Amber reconciled with Mark after his harrowing and unbelievably traumatizing fight with his father in the first season was so off putting that I never shipped Mark & Amber. (Apparently, this was unintentional in the writers' vision for her character - she was not conceived to be as tone-deaf as fans saw her to be on that scene.)
Granted, season 2 gives her character more time - we get to know abt how she views her relationship to Invincible and how she truly cares about him. She is a more likable and three-dimensional - we get bits and pieces of her worldly struggles as a college student trying to balance things as Mark is doing, and failing at it similarly. The relationship is well explored in the previous episode and I was impressed.
However, far too much screen time is dedicated to the inevitable Mark-Amber breakup this episode and the writing felt uncharacteristically weak. Amber's monologue near the end was where that came to the fore and combined with some puzzling animation choices, it might be the weakest scene of the season for me. (Zooming in on Amber's mouth - perhaps in a call back to the self-effacing jokes on animation being hard near the beginning of the episode - was tonally inappropriate for a scene that should evoke the sadness of a breakup.)
Moving on, the best part of the episode was imposing and terrifying introduction to the Viltrumite Annisa. The scene where she had her hand on the neck of Amber, as Mark & Amber were blissfully ready to have a meal, is where the slow pace of the episode pays off. The subsequent fight scenes between Invincible & Annisa and Allen & Annisa were wonderfully choreographed/animated to show the awesome power of a single Viltumite and our resurrected Unopan who can now stand toe-to-toe with one.
The episode ends with the villain established in episode 1 of season 2, Angstrom Levy, holding Debbie and Oliver hostage. It is difficult to feel the emotional stakes of the coming fight between Levy and Invincible given how little we have seen of Levy, but I want to be optimistic. I can't imagine it nearing the heights of the Nolan Vs Mark showdown for season 1 - but can anything in subsequent seasons come close to that? I highly doubt it. I still hope to enjoy future seasons of Invincible as a ground breaking show in animation and comic book storytelling even if I am no longer as moved as I was during season 1.
Rating this an 8 out of 10 for the better parts.