For a franchise that spans over 32 movies and shows, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU, has never been more disappointing than it has been over the past few years. With 17 projects already in for the new “Multiverse Saga,” it is depressing to see that only two of them are actually even good, those being “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3.” The Disney+ shows have ranged from middling to downright unwatchable, and sadly “Secret Invasion,” the newest addition into phase five, leans towards the middling.
When reviews came out and said that this show would be Marvel’s “Andor,” a Star Wars show that surprisingly was extremely well made for something out of Disney+ of all things, there were high hopes that “Secret Invasion” could actually be one bright light in a sea of disappointing releases. Sadly the show starring Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Ben Mendelsohn as Talos has not lived up to those expectations.
Before this show gets ripped to shreds, there are actually some good things that are worth highlighting in this show. For one, the music and cinematography have been surprisingly good for a Marvel show, standing out with many wide shots and long takes. On top of that, the acting is always really good, but as usual the problem is with the scripts of these shows, and that has not changed with this one.
“Secret Invasion” has terrible, lazy writing, and genuinely feels like parts of the show were cut together poorly or something important was cut from the show. In the first scene between Talos and Fury, Talos literally says, "Let’s talk about you Fury," and then proceeds to recap Fury’s entire life for zero reason while adding parts where the script expects us to know things that either didn’t happen in previous movies or shows, or are completely forgettable. There are a lot of references to the “Captain Marvel” movie in the show, and they believe no one remembers that movie, because I didn’t either, which made it all the more confusing.
Additionally, the dialogue falls into the problem of telling a character who they are. Throughout the first two episodes, random characters will recap Nick Fury’s life to Fury himself and keep saying "the snap changed you." In a good show, they would show the change, why he changed and how it all affected him. In the past, Nick Fury was described as a man who, knowing he had no superpowers and couldn’t do anything to stop evil, assembled the group that could in “The Avengers.” He was described as a fearless man, and someone who would always "finish the fight" until his death, something which was laid out clearly in “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”
Overall, “Secret Invasion” is a very middling show. The writing at some points can be interesting, but when it gets expository and makes no sense it stands out like a sore thumb. It’s almost as if the two writers who write the show have one guy who writes the good dialogue, and then the studio executive writer comes in and says, "This is too serious, we need more jokes." When you think about that when paying attention to the show, it’s clear that one writer is better than the other. If you are a big Marvel fan you will most likely enjoy this show, but time will tell on how it all pans out.
Rating: 2/5
