Secret Invasion

Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury and Don Cheadle’s Col. James Rhodes meet at Berners Tavern in London, with Rhodes’ security man and a bartender the only others in the room. The two men have had minimal contact recently, and their tension is intense. Let’s not get into details, but let’s just say the talk turns tough and deep.

“We owe each other,” says Fury. “Men who look like us don’t get promoted because of who are daddies know. Every ounce of power we wrestle from the vise grasp of the mediocre (people) who run this world was earned in blood…”

Rhodes’ reply, partly: “You should know better than most, the reason we wrestled this power from mediocre men who don’t look like us was not simply to turn around and hand it to mediocre men who do. The point of this power is to be uncompromising, to be unsparing…”

Richard Roeper said in his review, “The verbal confrontation goes on for some six minutes — just these two powerful, scarred, world-weary men laying it all on the table. It’s a brilliantly written and acted scene, and a reminder there are times when the Marvel Universe is about a lot more than great-looking people flying through the skies and bantering while taking on the latest megalomaniacal villain.”

The six-part 2023 “Secret Invasion” is set in the current time MCU, and while the main story does indeed involve an observed threat to Earth and there is plenty of expensive-looking, big-picture action sequences, it’s also about damaged friendships, family ties, divided loyalties and betrayals that dig deep. Based on the first two episodes, the ninth TV series in the MCU has the potential to be a standout.

Roeper credited, “Show creator Kyle Bradstreet (“Mr. Robot”) and director Ali Selim do a splendid job — this is a great-looking show with a cinematic vibe — and they’re blessed with a first-rate cast that includes not only Jackson and Cheadle but Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill, Martin Freeman as Everett K. Ross and Ben Mendelsohn as the Skrull leader Talo.”

There’s also Oscar winner Olivia Colman giving a completely evil performance as a veteran MI6 operative. Emilia Clarke is Talo’s daughter, G’iah, who has conflicted loyalties. Kingsley Ben-Adir as Gravik, the revenge-seeking leader of the Skrull resistance, and Charlayne Woodard (Elijah Price’s mother in “Unbreakable” and “Glass”) as someone with a very close connection to Fury. This is a great cast.

In flashback scenes set in 1995, a computer-de-aged Jackson as Fury promises the shapeshifting Skrulls, “While you work to keep my home safe, Carol Danvers and I will find you a new one...You keep your word, I’ll keep mine.”

Roeper said, “Flash forward to present day, with Fury returning to Earth after a long, self-imposed off-world stay on the S.A.B.E.R. space station.” Fury has returned home because his old friends Maria Hill (Smulders) and Talos (Mendelsohn) need him – but things have changed. Fury has changed. “After the blip,” says Talos, “You were different, and you disappeared. Carl Danvers disappeared.”

We’re more than three decades since Fury made that pledge to the Skrulls to find them a new home, but they’re still here (in surprising groups and some powerful government positions), blending in with the humans because they can shapeshift – and some of them are done waiting. Roeper said, “Led by the clever and ruthless and power-hungry Gravik, who has no qualms about resorting to terrorism to achieve his goals, the Skrull rebellion believes they HAVE found a home, and it’s right here on Earth, and the humans will have to be disposed of or at the very least put in their place.”

Roeper continued, “This sounds like a job for the Avengers, but their absence is explained in a throwaway line that sorta-kinda makes sense, making it clear this is going to be a grounded, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” type sci-fi slice of the Marvel Universe.”

“Secret Invasion” has some impressive production design, like the “Skullquarters” camp location “312 KM West of Moscow,” as the title card informs, where members of the Skrull rebellion are free to be themselves and can even eat Skrull food and drink Skrull wine, rather than the bland stuff humans have.

Kinglsey Ben-Adir makes for a charismatic lead villain, and Emilia Clarke is terrific as Talos’ daughter, who is split between her loyalties to her father, who wants nothing to do with the rebellion, and her feelings of resentment and anger over the death of her mother and the fact she’s never had a real home. Roeper credited, “Olivia Colman is a marvel as Sonya Falsworth, who has the chipper demeanor of a nanny or your favorite aunt but will literally cut your finger off if she needs answers.” Mendelsohn and Fury are great together as two friends from different worlds who wonder if time has passed them by. “Secret Invasion” is one of the good series we had this year.

I think this is a fine show. I don’t think this is a good show, as there are pacing problems, but I don’t think it is in any way bad. You can check it out and judge it based on yourself, but if you don’t like it, I understand.

Tomorrow we will go back to Star Wars with the next show in “Disney Month 2023.”