Invincible – You Were My Hero review S3 E4

You Were My Hero neatly wrapped up one subplot while making significant headway on another one that will likely have major ramifications going forward in the series.

Rex and Rae go grocery shopping — she wants to do regular things like making dinner — while Rex thinks it’d be a lot easier to just use Robot’s credit card to get pizza. You Were My Hero doesn’t spend a ton of time on these two, but the Rae and Rex scenes have been some of the highlights of this season. They’re so enjoyable together it doesn’t matter if they end up as a couple or just stay platonic buddies. It just works.

Their grocery run gets interrupted by a minor menace. Not that the rest of the not-Teen Team had a lot going on. Robot was multi-tasking trying to analyze the surveillance drone Mark snagged while Bulletproof and Monster Girl tried to calm him down.

Since Robot couldn’t detect its origin, Invincible headed to Cecil for answers after trashing another dozen ReAnimen. Cecil is rightfully worried about Invincible bursting through the GDA whenever he feels like it. Donald is more worried what will happen if Mark learns they are monitoring him even if he didn’t spot their drone.

After that brief bit of fluid-spilling and dismemberment of the ReAnimen, You Were My Hero  teases a calmer episode as Mark and Eve meet up for a date. That gets crashed by Dropkick and Fightmaster who insist that they need Invincible’s help to save their future. Mark isn’t interested and simply wants to enjoy his date. Before Eve can talk some sense into him, Dropkick and Fightmaster speed Mark through their portal to their timeline.

After Mark sees the desolate state of their timeline, he agrees to help just as another Invincible ports in to take his civilian clothes.

Dropkick and Fightmaster explain that their planet has undergone four centuries of war with the king. He was the one ruler of earth who slowly went mad creating war camps, prisoners for dissenters and wiping out power and technology. The mad king wiped out 10 cities off the map for resisting.

You Were My Hero takes some savvy storytelling shortcuts with this backstory using silhouettes and less fluid animation to save some of the budget costs. After hearing a rumor that the ink from the Declaration of Independence could kill the king, they stole it from Mark’s timeline only to find it didn’t work.

Agreeing to their plan, Invincible surrenders to the king’s robot guard so he can be brought before the king who’s apparently been waiting for him.

Since they haven’t had this rich history the reveal that Immortal is the king wasn’t this big shocking moment in You Were My Hero. That comes when Immortal reveals he’s only been this cruel king so he could get Invincible’s attention. In this timeline, the Viltrumite loyalist Invincible made Immortal his emissary to run Earth, but the decades of losing loved ones broke him along the way. He wants Mark to kill him so he can have some peace.

You Were My Hero shows the distinct difference between Mark and Oliver, who would quickly assess that the best solution to this conflict would be to kill Immortal. Despite getting beaten and battered, Mark won’t harm Immortal until he threatens to kill Dropkick and Fightmaster. After ripping his head off(!) Mark warns them to keep Immortal’s head away from the rest of his body so he doesn’t resurrect. Despite their immense gratitude, Mark just wants to get back to his time. The portal opens so Mark can take his clothes from his previous self and he reunites with Eve as if no time passed for her. And he’s got the Declaration of Independence back too.

You Were My Hero makes good on the earlier teaser with Mark and Eve having a terrific date culminating in them both saying they love each other. After that, there’s nothing else that need be said and they head to his room to get it on. The end credits start at 28 minutes meaning You Were My Hero has a much longer “post-credits” scene than usual.

Allen the Alien is in the Viltrumite prison trying to get through to Nolan. After a very lengthy recap done like a clip show, You Were My Hero moves onto the present day events.

The Viltrumite executioners have arrived, but Nolan is resigned to his fate. As the executioners beat down  restrained Nolan, Allen has broken out of his cell and frees some of his fellow prisoners to take on the prison guard. He stumbles into Battle Beast’s cell and finds an ally capable of surviving the guards and not getting immediately killed by the Viltrumites.

You Were My Hero features a bloody clash with the four combatants while Nolan finally chooses a side. The Nolan/Allen/Battle Beast team is majorly overpowered, but the Viltrumites make it a good fight. Eventually, Allen opens up the airlock so the fight can play out in space. Battle Beast can’t fly, but he takes one of the executioners with him as he floats away.

A double punch from Allen and Nolan splatters the other executioner’s head. Allen realizes they probably need to rush to avoid more Viltrumites arriving when Nolan drops the big bombshell — there are fewer than 50 pure blood Viltrumites left. It’s their greatest secret and that’s how Nolan and Allen can beat them.

Back to Earth, Mark and Eve nearly get busted by Debbie and realize they need to get their own place. Oh sure, after Eve finally made peace with her folks so she could move back in with them!

You Were My Hero had some wild action moments including the intergalactic tag team extravaganza as well as a big breakthrough for Mark and Eve. Things are picking up nicely as this season continues to play out as we hit the halfway point of Season 4.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Photo Credit: Amazon

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