Invasion Review: First Day (Season 1 Episode 10)

Invasion Season 1 Episode 10, “First Day,” isn’t a season finale so much as an hour-long epilogue, and a vague bit of table-setting in an attempt to justify the existence of a second season for this series, which we are sadly apparently getting. (Talk about putting coal in my stocking, Santa!!) 

Whereas last week’s penultimate episode at least made some bold choices, this finale basically sees Invasion revert to the status quo: A plodding, confusing plot where almost nothing actually happens and the little that does, doesn’t make any sense.

Everyone is kind of sad. Except for most of the world, which is happy mankind appears to have defeated the aliens. Which naturally they actually haven’t, because again, unfortunately, we’re going to be subjected to an Invasion Season 2. Truly, I am already tired. 

It’s a real battle to name which part of this finale is actually the most bizarre and pointless. Is it Casper, who is taken off life support and declared dead, but whose clearly resurrected consciousness is meeting up with an obviously alien replicant of Hinata’s dad, who is still alive, in some sort of astral plane situation?

Is it Mitsuki’s adventure with a Buddhist monk who drinks and smokes a lot of weed? Is it Aneesha’s insistence that something is still wrong despite the fact that she has no evidence for her feelings? Is it Trevante realizing one of Casper’s predictive draws contains the Japanese word “Hoshi” or “star”?

Perhaps this would have all been more interesting if it wasn’t blindingly obvious that the story isn’t over, that the aliens haven’t fully been defeated, and this was just some sort of opening salvo in a much longer conflict. Or perhaps not, since I’m not sure why I would expect a second alien invasion to be any more interesting than this first one was. 

Look, I don’t expect a ton from my alien invasion fiction. Give me some dumb explosions, a plucky group of heroes, and maybe a few aliens getting punched in the face, and I am there. Independence Day is probably technically a bad movie, but no one cares if it is silly or stupid or doesn’t make a ton of sense, because, at the end of the day, it is fun. 

There is absolutely nothing fun about Invasion, and the show is pretty clear about that from the start. But the thing is, without the fun, without the sheer entertainment factor to make up for the paper-thin characters and painfully dumb plots about a kid who is somehow magically connected to an alien hivemind because he’s epileptic, then all you’re left with is a pile of nothing. 

If Invasion were a different show, one that had a defined message and a clear point of view, I could perhaps forgive it for being overly serious, but instead, there is this, which feels like the plots of five other shows fighting under a blanket. (The aliens can apparently regenerate after death and are now trying to steal all the earth’s resources, surprise!)

To what I am sure is the surprise of no one at this point, Sam Neill Watch has come to an ignominious conclusion: He literally only appears in Invasion’s first episode. Which, I guess, fine, if you want to assume that he’s the Ned Stark of Invasion, the big-name actor hired to drum up interest and then killed off in the early going. 

Yet, the show also never returns to the Oklahoma story it set in motion in the pilot — what was up with the crop circles, or the missing people the sheriff was searching for? Who discovered his body, and what did they think killed him? Crickets.

(Truthfully, I have not abandoned my body snatched theory, but since I also don’t want Neill bogged down in the mess of this show, I’m okay if I turn out to be wrong..)

Invasion Season 1 leaves us with a ton of unanswered questions like this — Is Casper somehow still alive or has he been absorbed by the alien hivemind? How did he make all those drawings that predicted the invasion in the first place? Why did those random militiamen attack the Maliks transport to the Pentagon? What was the weird structure that killed most of Trevante’s unit? 

Admittedly, at least the revelation of the large alien craft in the Amazon rainforest looks extremely cool, I have little hope that the actual explanation for this (assumed?) second-level alien craft will be satisfying. 

I’m also unclear…is Aneesha’s son finally getting possessed by the black alien rock he’s been carrying around all season? If that’s the case why was it the only thing that could harm the aliens? 

Stray Thoughts and Observations:

• Invasion is, hands-down, one of the most frustrating shows I have ever watched. Nothing about it makes any sense, despite the fact that the bones of a decent idea are in here somewhere. 
• I truly laughed out loud at the closing montage of a variety of people staring into space with wide eyes. Like, where any of them outside of Trevante and his wife even outside/in daylight/somewhere they would have been able to see the (admittedly, cool) new spaceship in the sky? So unintentionally hilarious. 
• Oh, no, the David Bowie Man Who Fell to Earth poster got destroyed! It’s probably bad that I’m as upset about that as I am anything that happened to the actual characters of this show.
• This episode sort of cemented Trevante as my favorite character, even though I think he maybe is just the least bad? Shamier Anderson is very good, though, even if he hasn’t had a ton to work with.
• Seriously what is the deal with the compass??? 

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

Critic Rating:

User Rating:

 

Invasion Season 1 is now streaming on Apple TV+.

 Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram!

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

20 Best Characters from TV Dramas in 2021