Invasion Review: Hope (Season 1 Episode 7)

After the most recent format-shattering hour, Invasion Season 1 Episode 7, “Hope,” is a sadly disappointing return to the status quo, squandering almost all of the tension and energy from “Home Invasion”.

Instead, we’re back juggling four competing storylines at once, and things are once again proceeding at a snail’s pace. Even the Malik family are back to what feels like square one — though his mother (thankfully!) thinks to ask Luke where he got the weird black rock that allowed her to stab an alien that’s pretty much the only time it’s mentioned. 

Otherwise, we’re back to domestic drama as Aneesha saves Ahmed’s life and then he tries to make nice with her in an abandoned diner, a move that feels so awkward and weird that I’ve half a mind to take it as further evidence he has been body snatched. 

I mean, how long have they been married? They have two kids together, and it’s only now striking Ahmed that the woman he’s raising a family with is smart and resilient? (But, since he hasn’t mentioned the woman and unborn child that he was willing to escape with the neighbors to get to in the season’s first episode since, maybe his attention span really is that small.)

Because now he’s out here wondering why they never had fun family adventures like this before.(!!!!) Truly he is the real monster of Invasion! Please let an alien eat this man. 

Elsewhere, Tremante is….still wandering in the desert. Look, I have a lot of problems with several of Invasion’s other storylines, but this is the one that I just cannot figure out the point of.

Seven episodes! He has been wandering! Now he is driving in a new direction! With an Afghan family he is begrudgingly helping! 

And, truly, there are not enough sly references to some dark event in his past — God doesn’t care about him, it’s that bad! Yawn — that in the world to make me care about this. (Or the clunky metaphors about hope.)

I guess since he’s at least leaving Afghanistan there’s some hope that maybe he’ll, I don’t know, do literally anything other than point his gun at people and yell at them. But I’m not holding my breath. 

Strangely enough, it’s Casper and company who have the most interesting subplot this week. (And I can’t believe I typed that either.)

Watching the slowly dawning horror as these kids learn that aliens are real, aliens have attacked our planet, and aliens may or may not have wiped out a big chunk of London, was properly creepy, as was their naive insistence that everything would be alright if they could just get home. Because isn’t that what we all believe as children?

Admittedly, I’m also intrigued by Casper’s admission that he’s been hearing voices. His struggle to explain how his epilepsy has been changing is an obvious tell that it’s somehow making him capable of either hearing or communicating with the aliens, and perhaps that means others with similar conditions might be able to to do so as well. 

I am desperate for anything that might help move this slog along just a little bit. And I don’t mean Casper and Jamila almost kissing. Why does this show think we have the time for this!?!?

As appears to be the case most weeks, it’s the Japan plot that’s the only part of this episode that’s really worth watching.

Mitsuki, Hinata’s dad, and her coworker whose name I have completely forgotten or never bothered to learn basically fake their way into a space observation center. The goal is to use a radio telescope and the pattern they’ve decoded to communicate with the aliens. This is, very obviously, a stupid idea, but hey, at least someone is being proactive! 

Because we are seven episodes into this season at this point, the Space Scooby Gang somehow manages to get past the aliens firewall with remarkable ease (and don’t even need Jeff Goldblum to give it a virus or anything). They also deduce that the alien consciousness is connected, like the Borg or dozens of other alien species in science fiction. 

What that means in this instance, we’ll have to wait until next week to find out, because of course that’s when the authorities show up and drag Mitsuki screaming from the room.

Stray Thoughts and Observations: 

• I don’t know how you can possibly make a literal alien invasion this boring but Invasion is out here doing it!! 
• Wondering if the aliens just eating half the main cast would make this less dull.
• Truly, truly cannot believe that they sold this show as a Sam Neill vehicle. It just gets funnier and funnier every week that his character is completely absent.
• I am sad to report that the aliens still look really lame, even when seen in the daylight.
• The mean bully kid apologizing to Casper actually got to me? I am weak, obviously. 
• I need someone to explain to me how Mitsuki can still possibly be believing that Hinata is maybe alive, though. I mean, optimism, I guess, but…

What did you think of this episode of Invasion? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Critic Rating:

User Rating:

 

New episodes of Invasion stream Fridays on AppleTV+. 

 Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!

Gift Ideas for TV Lovers