Secret Invasion Episode 2 Review: Promises

Secret Invasion episode 2 takes its first victims in Maria Hill, the firing of Nick Fury and the civil war within Skrull ranks.

Secret Invasion episode 2 picks up where it left off amidst explosions and the untimely death of Maria Hill, we see the backstory of Talos, Nick Fury’s promise, and Gavik’s rise to power.

Nick Fury’s promise to the Skrulls

Secret Invasion episode 2 takes us back to the events that occurred after Captain Marvel, Nick Fury, and his team decided that the Skrulls need a refuge where they can gather their strengths and integrate on Earth while Captain Marvel and Nick find an inhabitable planet for the Skrulls to rebuild their society.

That was a promise but as years go by, Fury still hasn’t found a planet for the Skrulls to live and unrest is growing among some of the Skrulls.

We see a young Gavik who is traumatized by the events that have occurred in his life. He fled an exploding planet when he saw his parents get killed by the Kree. It is events like these that shape a young man and without proper guidance, he could become the leader of the new rebellion. This is what Gavik eventually became: the leader of the rogue faction of Skrulls who has no interest in peaceful co-existence with humans.

And thus we follow Gavik as an adult and the events that occurred early in his life and the failure, in Gavik’s opinion, of Nick Fury to keep his promise, has radicalized the man. And he is not beyond using violence as a means to an end.

Talos confronts Fury about his promise

In Secret Invasion episode 2 Fury is apprehended by an unknown assailant after the events of Moscow. It turns out to be Talos.

While the two flee the scene by taking a train, they start talking. Talos confronts Fury about his promise and tells Fury that there are about 1 million Skrulls inhabiting Earth and he did so on his own because Fury was absent.

Fury in turn tells him that he is furious and tells Talos that he was only a phone call away for a talk if Talos ever needed him. He sends off the train after their conversation.

After Talos leaves Fury is stressed out because 1 million Skrulls and a civil war brewing within Skrull ranks can only mean big trouble for Earth.

What stood by me during the conversation was the fact that after Talos tells Fury that he wants to live in peaceful co-existence with humans, Fury kindly reminds him that humans can’t even live in peaceful co-existence with each other let alone a whole other species. And Fury is right, there have been conflicts, fights, and wars since the beginning of mankind.

Episode 2 highlights unethical humans

Last week we met Sonya, a top secret agent who kidnapped Fury for a small chat. After the events of Moscow, they apprehend a Skrull agent, the same one we saw take over the identity of a random stranger.

The Skrull agent is taken for questioning, to put it diplomatically but to no avail. In Secret Invasion episode 2 Sonya walks in and sends away the team, she cuts off the finger of the Skrull agent to see if he’s a Skrull.

When the finger turns green, she has her confirmation and takes out an injection needle. Apparently, the needle has a substance that will make a Skrull’s blood boil up to 160 degrees. I am going to assume it’s Fahrenheit and not Celsius. So that’s roughly 71 degrees Celsius.

The point of the scene is to show that the Earthlings are not above it all. They use the same methods as the Skrulls we saw last week. Whether or not Sonya kills the Skrull agent is beside the point, because he was already dead the moment Gavik makes the plan to free him.

Secret Invasion episode 2 is brewing up a storm

Meanwhile, G’iah is slowly finding out about genetic experiments and by the looks on her face and body language, it’s something she can’t support. So there is unrest brewing within the ranks of the rogue faction of Skrulls.

Also, the unethical handling of the questioning by Sonya is a loss. Saying she did it because it is war is no excuse.

On top of that, Nick Fury is fired by James Rhodey and will now have to find his own resources to fight the Secret Invasion without the financial backing of the government and its many agencies.

Another loss is Gavik, a traumatized boy who turned out to be a tyrant later in life. The scene where Gavik takes the rank of General after a vote with other Skrulls was interesting. The Skrulls admit that their bloodlust has cost them the war against the Kree, which are the Skrulls that are closely akin to the ones in the comics.

There are good Skrulls and this all-out civil war is taking a turn for the worst, especially since Gavik appeals to the worst in mankind and it resonates with the other leaders of the Skrulls.

AI controversy

The opening credits of Secret Invasion are made by Artificial Intelligence. It was supposed to add to the paranoia of the show that there are aliens among us.

Instead, it caused controversy because there is a writer’s strike going on at the moment who is fighting against AI taking over their jobs.

However, Method, the company that produced the intro, has stated that they used a lot of artists in order to create the intro and insists that the custom AI is just one of many tools in order to create it.

Also do note that this article was written by me and I have no AI tools at my disposal!