Invincible This Missive, This Machination review S2 E3
This Missive, This Machination! was a great indicator of why Invincible is so special.
It’s the creativity in assembling the stories Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley crafted and trusting the source material is more than enough. That formula keeps working largely because Invincible is such a refreshing, cleverly told story.
Mark moves into his college dorm and reaches a special milestone with Amber. Their relationship hadn’t been treated like an obstacle to the fun of a superhero. Instead it’s a vital reason why Mark is grounded and healing from Nolan’s betrayal.
But since they’re…otherwise occupied, This Missive, This Machination shifts to Allen the Allien.
It starts off looking at Allen’s origin. How he was genetically engineered to be his planet’s hope for taking down the Viltrumites. While he’s largely indestructible and powerful, Allen can’t handle the raw force and strength of a Viltrumite. Failing at his purpose for creation, Allen now searches the galaxy for beings capable of defeating the galaxy conquerors.
He’s updating the Coalition of Planets on Mark holding off his Viltrumite father. Coalition leader Thadeus (Peter Cullen) warns him there’s a traitor in the coalition — one who is alerting the Viltrumites if potential threats start to develop.
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Turns out Thadeus was right. While Allen is enjoying some quality time with Telia (Tatiana Masley), a trio of Viltrumites ambush Allen — smartly done with minimal sound to account for the vacuum of space — seeking information on Mark.
Allen won’t snitch and is left for dead with a dismembered arm, a hole through his stomach and a detached eye. The mature, emotional character development scenes help make these incredibly violent more impactful and meaningful.
Clinging to life thanks to respirators, a comatose Allen has no way of stopping Thadeus, the actual mole, from turning off his life support. And things are not looking great for Allen or the Coalition since Thadeus is actively working against them.
In a fun way of playing against expectations, the post credit scene makes up the second half of the episode.
Rudy is trying to figure out a way to conquer his fear — spoiler move to Hell’s Kitchen or get a Green Lantern ring. He fends off one of his inhibitors by asking Monster Girl on a movie date. Rudy’s challenges in discovering his humanity has made for some nice moments especially with Monster Girl as his guide.
Dupli-Kate confronts Rex to end their tension. Rex feels like the victim for being cheated on despite him cheating on Eve with Kate. Rex is such a great jerk character and his scenes are always amusing.
Debbie does decide to attend a superhero spouse support group. Yes, it’s a much slower subplot since there’s no action in watching a hurt wife deal with her unspeakable grief, but it’s making for some of the season’s strongest scenes.
While reluctant to open up, she does connect with another spouse, Theo (Daveed Diggs nailing the grief of a widower). Theo isn’t nearly as supportive when Debbie blurts out that her husband was Omni-Man. Since Nolan killed Theo’s wife, Green Ghost, during his massacre of the Guardians of the Globe. Yeah, that was probably understandable.
Mark is back from his fun with Amber when he’s greeted at his dorm room by an unusual guest — Seance Dog. He’s not falling for it for a second and casually beats him down until he drops the disguise. It’s an alien, Nuolzot, in desperate need of Mark’s help. His planet’s on the verge of being destroyed and the only one who can help is Mark.
After some encouragement from Will, Mark heads off to aid Nuolzot’s planet. But first, Mark wants to tell Amber he’s leaving for a bit. This is the kind of sensible boyfriend behavior that superheroes don’t typically show resulting in their girlfriends becoming frustrated at being so shut out. Amber and Mark might not go the distance, but it won’t be because of the usual tropes.
Mark finds Nuolzot’s planet surprisingly peaceful for one on the verge of destruction. And there’s a good reason for that — it was all a ruse so Mark could chat with their leader — Omni Man. Uh-oh.
This Missive, This Machination keeps delivering quality character development moments that give Invincible more substance than its peers. With some quality twists and a strong cliffhanger this was another very entertaining episode.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Photo Credit: Amazon