Secret Invasion Season 1 Episode 3 Review: Betrayed

Secret Invasion Season 1 Episode 3, “Betrayed,” is an improvement on the first two installments of this top-secret mission.

However, as the show gears up for an enticing mystery at last, several clues point to this being a suicide mission as familiar and extremely ineffective pacing tactics begin to rear their ugly heads once again.

It doesn’t matter how good the dialogue is or how shocking the reveals are. If this show continues to throw viewers a bone at the end of every episode with the intent to toss the rest in at the very end, you are not making sustainable television.

Collateral Damage

Look, I did not want to be the woman reviewing this show every week, shouting, “Treat your female characters better!” but how could I predict Secret Invasion would need to use the death of two female leads this early on to function as a basic story?

We gripe about The Idol‘s misogynistic storytelling, but this show’s choice to kill off Emilia Clarke is so much worse. Removing a high-profile actress for a few fleeting beats of shock is no better simply because it has Marvel’s stamp of approval.

It hardly matters if G’iah survives. Maria Hill’s body isn’t even fresh in the ground, and Secret Invasion has already circled back to the same gimmick.

We have lived the same series of events twice in three episodes: the woman establishes herself as an ally of the male lead, the woman is killed helping him, and then the woman is used as emotional leverage for the lead male.

Fury and Maria, Talos and G’iah — their dynamics are being treated as interchangeable plot tools, not valuable exploration points.

It’s one thing to keep targeting the women in this show as collateral. It is another thing to recycle the same tired plotline a few episodes later and assume no one notices.

I don’t get this show’s aversion to exploring the pre-established relationships handed to it on a silver platter.

With Nick and Maria’s partnership out of the picture, G’iah and Talos are the most fascinating relationship. This father-and-daughter duo offers us the only pre-established connection and an emotional family arc that could drive this series forward in ways Gravik’s goons could never.

When Talos confirms G’iah is on his side, the trajectory of this series comes into sharp focus. This is something interesting, a double-agent storyline that could unite two sides. But as briefly as we see the family team up, their reunion is cut off at the knees.

Secret Invasion killing off the Mother of Dragons is not clever use of shock value. It is a sad waste of talent and a horrifying implication that a woman’s greatest contribution to these stories is death.

Friends in High Places

The best dialogue exchanges continue to center around Talos and Fury.

The exchange between Gravik and Talos is meant to be a chilling demonstration of power, but the villainy has no weight. However, when Fury and Talos go at it, their established relationship comes with built-in power dynamics to dismantle and dissect.

By establishing how the relationship between Fury and the Skrulls has developed offscreen, Secret Invasion feeds effectively into its suspicious tone by prodding at Fury’s legacy from the perspective of someone who knows all his secrets.

When Talos reminds Fury that the Skrulls are the reason he moved up the ranks so quickly, he also reveals that to us for the first time. We have always assumed Fury was a self-made icon, so this simple correction does an excellent job of forcing a change in perspective.

To rethink every mission Fury was championed for (like the hostage situation mentioned in Winter Soldier) and to unpack the fact that he benefited from the Skrulls staying in hiding — that’s what we need more of because it is a fascinating thread to unravel.

An Imposter in Our Midst

The Rhodey storyline is a great example of what works for Secret Invasion.

It’s not necessarily shocking that Don Cheadle’s veteran soldier is the latest to be impersonated. He has been acting increasingly out of character, but never too much that we skip past the part where we second-guess every theory.

But the point isn’t to be shocking; it’s to tell a cohesive story, and we can track this enticing revelation back to the start of the series.

His fight with Fury is the obvious tip of the hat, followed by a quick pan to the real Rhodey strapped to one of those creepy chairs. Those puzzle pieces allow the final scene with Fury’s wife to pay off so well when Rhodey’s voice echoes through the speaker, confirming our suspicions with a clever reveal that earns that gasp.

It is a reveal that elevates Gravik’s evil “Super Skrulls” plan by anchoring these faceless villains to a legacy player. Rhodey has established a partnership with Mulroney’s President, so you know there’s deceit to unpack there too.

Ultimately Secret Invasion is shaping up to be the weakest link in this Marvel Studios/Disney+ series venture. It isn’t exploring Fury in-depth enough as our leading man, and after three episodes, we still have no clue what direction this series is heading in (if there is one.)

I hope the surges of sinister dialogue and truth bombs can turn this series around when it reveals its hand. But, so far, it has picked surprise over long-term success, and that’s a shortsighted way to attack this story.

Secret Invasion thought it could swap out Fury and Nick for Talos and G’iah, and we wouldn’t notice. Viewers were preparing for a mystery thriller ten steps ahead of them, and so far, the collateral damage-driven show is struggling to keep up.

It needs to do better, so much better. But it must also start treating its female characters like players in this chess game, not pawns.

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New episodes of Secret Invasion stream Wednesdays on Disney+.

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