Secret Invasion Season 1 Episode 2 Review: Promises

Secret Invasion Season 1 Episode 2, “Promises,” is committed to keeping the potential of this series hidden from view.

There’s little change from the first hour to the second. It is still championing a sluggish pace and introducing very few developments into the mix to hook viewers on the slow-burn mystery.

But it is devoted to delivering great character performances and contemplating who a man like Nick Fury is behind closed doors.

A Spy’s Goodbye

The glaring issue with Secret Invasion Season 1 Episode 1, “Ressurrection,” was the choice to murder Maria Hill instead of exploring her relationship with Nick Fury.

Well, Episode 2 is here, and good news! Secret Invasion is doubling down on its choice.

That’s right. Marvel Studios rarely gives characters on-screen funerals (Black Widow, Captain America, Iron Man, to name a few minor heroes) but has gone out of its way to ensure Hill is dead in the ground.

But why is it imperative that we know Hill is dead? This premise is built for healthy fan speculation, and theories surrounding Hill’s death would only serve to engage more viewers.

Leaving Hill’s fate a mystery would benefit the “no one is who they say they are” element of this series. Instead, the show opts to give her an abrupt exit.

Worst of all, Maria’s mother, whom we have never met, nearly gets more dialogue than her daughter.

Thankfully we don’t have to speculate whether Maria’s death is to serve a man because Fury confirms the Skrulls hurt her to get to him. Ultimately, Maria’s service furthers this sentiment because it isn’t present to pay homage to her character; it’s there to serve Fury.

This show had to go as far as killing a legacy character to invoke a reaction and couldn’t even make the goodbye mean something.

Whereas the “spy’s goodbye” in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was one of the most emotional scenes in the MCU and didn’t have to kill the characters to make us understand that ache of loss.

This is another example of Secret Invasion choosing the direction that best serves the trajectory of its lead rather than the story as a whole. Yet, that tunnel vision has only hurt Fury’s development.

Bad Guys Have More Fun

The antagonists of this series are certainly having fun.

This episode may not see much action, but it ups the violence. That includes letting Olivia Colman’s Sonya interrogate a Skrull in a heart-pounding, violent demonstration of her cruelty. The subdued brutality of her chemical warfare is incredibly effective.

Secret Invasion wants its fights to be darker and more intense than in other projects. Still, the CGI blood and quick cutaways are nowhere near Daredevil‘s gritty physicality. These sequences cheapen Gravik’s intensity, and with an empty villain agenda, underwhelming violence doesn’t help his cause.

Gravik will have to step up his game if he’s going to be as terrifying as Sonya. Still, killing his soldiers without remorse proves promising in establishing this thriller alongside The Punisher.

War Machine is on a war path, and damn, this power trip looks good on Rhodey.

His switch-up on Fury is enough to give us whiplash. Don Cheadle’s performance is a splash of cold water as he lulls viewers in with the calm tone he famously used on Tony. But when he threatens Fury, gloating over the director’s demise, it isn’t very comforting.

This is the Secret Invasion we need to see more of; the shocking out-of-character moments take us by surprise and make us question whether this is Rhodey or if we never knew the man standing in Stark’s shadow.

Pair that with Fury’s interrogation of Talos expertly using the director’s flare for storytelling, and this show is on to something.

By establishing that connection with the audience through stellar character-driven dialogue, we feel the gravity of the Skrull situation for the first time.

Surprise, It’s a Secret Family (Again)

Fury would be the guy to have a secret family, so this reveal is both on-brand for him and startling because it upends what little we know about him. That is the power move you hope to see from Secret Invasion — a decision that alters how we see its heroes.

However, this twist isn’t entirely original. Hawkeye pulled the same reveal in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and when you’re borrowing moves from that hot trash movie, you have to know you can do better.

Like most of the show’s issues, this decision traces back to Maria. It is weak to kill off a close confidant so that you can introduce a new character to serve the same purpose.

Tying Fury’s mission to save the Skrulls to this new motive also suggests he was doing this for his secret Skrull wife and not the larger community.

That said, with a shift in focus from the Skrull faction to Fury’s personal life, Secret Invasion could turn this series around.

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New episodes of Secret Invasion stream Wednesdays on Disney+.

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