Invincible Season 2 Episode 1 Review: Still Brutal and Fascinating as Usual | Prime Video
Cast: Steve Yeun, Sandra Oh, JK Simmons, Walton Goggins, Gillian Jacobs, Zazie Beets, Jason Mantzoukas, Kevin Michael Richardson, Zachary Quinto, Gray Griffin, Chris Diamantopoulos, Sterling K. Brown.
Director: Sol Choi
Streaming Platform: Prime Video
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Invincible Season 2 arrives after two years of waiting with its first 4 episodes, available starting November 3, 2023, on Prime Video. The second part of the season of the animated series will be released, one episode at a time, during the first months of 2024: having seen the first part, it will be complicated to hold on for so long! Because if Invincible in Season 1 surprised, shocked, and presented its protagonists with a thrilling final episode, its second season has not the slightest intention of slowing down the pace. Indeed, the subversiveness of the first episodes is exacerbated here with a truly unmanageable amount of violence, subplots, and underlying dangers. But unmanageability is not a limit for this show, on the contrary: it is the right opportunity to convey to the public the – mainly dark – emotions of its main characters.
Invincible, the Prime Video animated series based on the comic by Robert Kirkman which two years ago surprised practically everyone. And consequently, after a long wait, the decision to divide this second season into two sections of 4 episodes each was probably not the most popular, even though Kirkman himself has exposed himself in this regard, declaring that it will be essential to take a break. Well, normally we would doubt such statements given the weekly distribution of the series. Still, if there is a product in the current market that is so powerful in its themes as well as in its imagery and capable of submerging the viewer with events and storylines, it is Invincible. Indeed, perhaps he also did it in a slightly exaggerated manner. But on the other hand, it is the comic itself that has precisely these characteristics and so an adaptation still had to partially restore similar sensations. The question now is another: will the second season, which debuted on Prime Video last November 3, manage not to rest on its laurels and continue to grow and improve? Because there was a little something to correct, in terms of structure and rhythm.
Invincible Season 2 Episode 1 Review: The Story Plot
Eaten by the incompatibility between his task and the love of his family, Omni-Man left Earth after almost razing Chicago and revealing his true nature to the world. Mark, having recovered from the physical fight with his father, wants to make himself useful, but Cecil Stedman believes it is premature to integrate him into the supergroup given what has happened. Elsewhere, in another dimension, Mark has instead agreed to help Omni-Man by subjugating Earth, which prompts Angstrom Levy, who has the power to travel around the Multiverse, to try to recruit some sort of army to prevent that this from occurring elsewhere. An idea that is not entirely well thought out, since it hires the Mauler twins, two supervillains, as henchmen, thus inciting Invincible to misunderstand the whole situation…
But let’s proceed in order: the second season starts again about a month after the devastating clash between Mark/Invincible and his father Nolan/Omni-Man, an incredibly bloody and unfortunately very one-sided battle that not only sent our protagonist but at the same time revealed to the world the true nature and terrifying purposes of one of its greatest heroes. These are wounds, anything but physical, which still weigh on the daily life of young Grayson, divided between anger, a sense of abandonment, and the terror of one day being able to transform exactly into his father. Meanwhile, the new Guardians of the Globe continue to run into huge leadership problems, and the Maulers are once again broken out of prison, this time by a mysterious individual linked to the Multiverse.
Now, as already mentioned at the beginning, the first season of Invincible had found a few too many defects in the management of the rhythm and some of its storylines, mainly because it had attempted to adapt Kirkman’s comic with excessive fidelity and his mad – and wanted – proceed without any pauses whatsoever. A series based on Invincible cannot ignore even an extremely high pace and yet we must remember that we cannot write a television series like a comic. In essence, beyond the undeniable and high general quality, there was the need to find a more sustainable meeting point and the premiere of the second season seems to be going precisely in this direction, that is, trying to delve deeper into the characters with calm while giving up offering a fair number of events.
Invincible Season 2 Episode 1 Review and Analysis
Invincible, at least in its serial form, thus gains an unprecedented layer of drama: the portrait of the destroyed life of Mark and his mother Debbie is wonderful and at times heartbreaking, for a tragedy that also extends to acquaintances such as his girlfriend Amber or Eve, who in contrast seems to have found a vocation more suited to her. Fine work on the characters which will inevitably have repercussions on the rest, making every plot twist and every decisive clash even more compelling and heartfelt. On the other hand, the first season of Invincible, at least from this point of view, had an easy life, since preparing a clash of radically different ideals between father and son is a sensational and almost immediate victory for emotional involvement. But for the moment Omni-Man and the threat of Viltrum are far away, any new entry that will take his place must be built, contextualized, and explored in depth.
An arduous challenge that for now the series is winning in a big way, we will have to see how it will be managed in the long term – many storylines need continuation. And don’t worry, as mentioned the pace remains high and the exquisitely excessive violence has remained the same, we can’t wait to see how it will continue. Invincible Season 2 arrives in streaming and convinces everyone: fans and critics are in raptures at the intelligent crudeness of this superhero story that goes beyond any pattern. The profound question that punctuates the new episodes, between a victory and a failed fight, is one and it is biting: will the young Mark Grayson manage not to become like his father? Do parents’ faults necessarily fall on their children, or can an example of parental violence be healed through contact with the world? The answers will come in the highly anticipated final 4 episodes of the series: for now, it has already hit us straight in the heart!
After all, for those who know the comics well or have carefully followed season 1, what is promised as a story of superheroes destined to save the Earth and protect humanity is soon transformed into the descending parable of a brutal murderer masquerading as an omnipotent savior. Nolan Grayson alias Omni-Man, like his “cousin” Patriot from The Boys, is seen by public opinion as a great unbeatable hero, protector of the planet as well as the universe, but above all the perfect family man. Nolan, with his son Mark and his beloved wife, seems to be able to find that perfect balance between galactic combat and family life. The idea that his son is as powerful as him but half-human scares him but not too much, he appears happy to teach him to be a hero without imposing on him the harshness of violent training.
But the facade crumbled in the tragic – and bloody – final moments of season 1, when Omni-Man’s true colors became clear to the world but especially to his 18-year-old son Mark, the budding hero who sees him as a role model. absolute perfection. And it is precisely with trauma, anger, and pain that these first four episodes make the audience and the protagonist collide. The Super-Man myth is turned on its head and left like this, instead, without explanation or redemption. Mark must face the trauma of not being loved, nor having ever truly known, the nature of his hero, the blood of his blood. But the world certainly doesn’t stop for the pain of a single boy, normal though omnipotent, and threats continue to rain in various forms. Invincible and the heroes left after Omni-Man’s violent massacres will find themselves dealing with a danger much greater than themselves: the breakdown of reality as they know it, the coexistence of parallel realities capable of breaking apart and flowing into each other for the destruction of space-time as we know it. The trend of the Multiverse also affects this TV series after the first hints in the DCU and the MCU, but in Invincible it shows itself to be more intelligent in approaching such a vast well of possibilities.
Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley’s screenplays continue to be searing, brilliant, and painful in their brutal realism; the animations are always of a good standard without ever reaching excellence but the character design by Nate Belleguarde and Dou Hong is striking and convincing. The direction, again entrusted to Jeff Allen, works in favor of the whole, offering the best of the art to each member of the creative staff. The real jewel of this animated TV series, however, are the voice actors, stars of the big screen who offered their voices and their impeccable interpretations, allowing for a product of the highest caliber. Among the most recognizable names, we see Steven Yeun, JK Simmons, Sandra Oh, Mark Hamill, Seth Rogen, Zazie Beetz, Walton Goggins, Ezra Miller, Mahershala Ali, Jon Hamm, and Clancy Brown. The next episodes of season 2 can’t come soon enough!
By chance – since the comic series was born in 2003 and Levy debuted in 2004 – the second season, focused on the Multiverse, debuts precisely at the moment in which that idea has been used ad nauseam in other films and serial products, mainly (but not only) superheroes. In this case, however, with abundant additional doses of blood, and in a potentially more interesting context since the show, as already exhibited in the first year, does not hesitate to go against expectations and knows how to make good use of the choral element. We already saw it a few months ago, when Prime Video made a special episode available, a prequel on the origins of Atom Eve (where Mark, invoked in an almost mocking manner anticipating any complaints from viewers, only appeared at the end). For those unfamiliar with the paper material this approach may seem alienating (the first minutes of the episode are deliberately ambiguous on the nature of Angstrom’s entrance on the scene), on the other hand, what makes the show, despite being based on a comic released twenty years ago, manages to juggle the various clichés that he joyfully punches in the face.
Invincible Season 2 Episode 1 Review: The Last Words
Invincible, now more than two years ago, took the world by surprise and surprised everyone with its quality and exquisite violence. But perhaps adapting Kirkman’s comic too faithfully and his deliberately frenetic pace, it failed in its management of the rhythms and of some secondary storylines, which were unsatisfactory in terms of how they were inserted. The second season starts from here, from a much more sustainable meeting point between heart-pounding plot points and dutiful attention to the psychological study of the protagonists through the sensational portrait of the destroyed life of Mark and his mother. If it remained at such levels, Invincible would have already reached artistic maturity on the second attempt. Which would be no small achievement at all.
Invincible Season 2 Episode 1 Review: Still Brutal and Fascinating as Usual | Prime Video - Filmyhype
Director: Sol Choi
Date Created: 2023-11-03 13:55
4
Pros
- Excellent animation and voice acting
- Smart and subversive storytelling
- Well-developed characters and complex themes
- Willingness to take risks and explore difficult topics
- Action-packed and brutal fight scenes
Cons
- Pacing can be uneven at times
- Some supporting storylines are underdeveloped
- The show's violence may not be for everyone
