Secret Invasion Season 1 (2023) Review
Main Character
Samuel L Jackson makes his return as Nick Fury and he is fantastic in the role. The is easily the most development this character has ever gotten and Jackson has been playing it for 15 years. Fury is clearly older and weaker but he still has his tactics and plans, Fury has always been a slightly morally grey character and that does continue here. It is nice to see him open up a bit more and you can tell that Samuel L Jackson is really enjoying the performance.
Supporting Characters
Ben Mendelsohn reprises his role as Talos from Captain Marvel and he is brilliant. The chemistry between himself and Jackson is superb and easily one of the highlights of the show. He has been clearly affected by working for Fury all of these years and he is really split by his loyalty.
Emilia Clarke plays his on screen daughter Gi'ah who we met in Captain Marvel. Clarke is really good, especially in the first few episodes of the show. Clarke clearly cares about the role and there is depth with the relationship between herself and her father Talos.
Don Cheadle has played Rhodey for over 10 years now and I just feel like he has never really been given a time to really shine, but here this is his best performance as the character. He is actually given depth to his performance instead of just cracking jokes and seeing his performances alongside Samuel L Jackson is great to see.
Kingsley Ben-Adir plays the villain Gravik and I think he is great. You really see this interesting character develop over the show and Ben-Adir is very captivating in this role. His character has gone through some traumatic things and he is using that to aid his plans and it is interesting to see how he leads the Skrulls.
For me the real start was Olivia Coleman as Sonya Falsworth. She is clearly having a blast here and her character is pretty mysterious and intriguing here. The show really needed her energy because this is a pretty serious show and she manages to make these serious scenes more entertaining.
Story
The story starts really strong, it is this more espionage thriller more in line with Captain America Winter Soldier and it really had me invested into where we are going with the show. Seeing these great performances with these good characters makes it worthwhile and I cared about all of them and their fates. The problem is that the show's plot comes across as quite predictable and rushed, it needed more episodes and the 2nd half of the season kind of falls back into Marvel habits. Also, Secret Invasion was one of the biggest comic arcs of all time, this could have been an Avengers film threat but it doesn't feel like there are huge stakes here.
Script
Again, the first few episodes are written really well with the intrigue and espionage. Gone are the jokes at awkward times that the Marvel Cinematic Universe can beheld by and replaced with interesting character work. But the show starts to fall, the longer the show goes and some things just doesn't make too much sense. Things become more generic and typical MCU which lets this interesting show down.
Style
The show has some pretty big action sequences which are pretty fun to watch. It is filmed to make everything seem to be sceptical and untrustworthy with a good use of action. But it does end up becoming very generic to other Marvel films which again is a shame. Also this show just needed a few more episodes to tell its story in a really effective way, it just feels a bit rushed at times.
Overall
Overall, Secret Invasion is a good show that feels like wasted potential. The acting is great and the set up for the show is really done well. But the show becomes too slow and generic as it goes on, focusing on setting up future MCU projects and not so much itself. But I did enjoy it, so would say if you love this franchise then it is worth a watch.
Rating - 7/10
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