Invincible Season 3 Episode 5 Review: This Was Supposed to be Easy

Invincible Season 3 Episode 5, “This Was Supposed to be Easy,” revisits Titan’s storyline while Mark and Eve reexamine their relationship. It’s not as strong as last week’s fare, and, truth be told, the series is now juggling one too many storylines. That said, Mark and Eve’s frank examination of their relationship is a breath of fresh air and shows maturity. 

Keep the Narrative Balls in the Air 

There’s nothing wrong with circling back to a specific storyline. In fact, it’s often much-needed, whether to breathe life into an overarching narrative, provide context, or ensure a plot thread isn’t left perpetually flapping in the breeze. Mark and Titan’s paths cross once more in “This Was Supposed to be Easy,” but the outcome leaves much to be desired. 

For starters, Mark inadvertently helps Titan take Mr. Liu off the board, which presents an intriguing moral dilemma for our titular hero. However, after Machine Head kills Liu, the latter is brought back to life in the episode’s final minutes. Why? It feels pointless from a storytelling standpoint, especially with several narrative conflicts to contend with. 

There’s still Angstrom Levy, or at least an alternate version of him, who was spying on Mark and his family. The Viltrumites. Even Cecil’s conflict with Mark. Invincible boasts no dearth of contentious characters for Mark to go up against. 

This Was Supposed to be Easy 

This outing poses more questions of morality for us to ponder, from Dupli-Kate and Multi-Paul’s conversation at the beginning (love getting backstory for them) about being “murderers” to Mark and Eve addressing whether Titan is “less bad” than the other villains. For the former, Kate remarks that she’s a hero. Paul, on the other hand, works for The Order and kills out of malice. Paul reminds Kate that she murders bad guys. 

That said, murder is murder, right? And while Titan has done a lot of good for his neighborhood, even driving out crime (save for him), does that make up for his misdeeds? Are we the sum of our choices in life? There’s room for nuance, to be sure. The episode deftly presents this as food for thought. 

Relationships Are Hard

Beyond that, “This Was Supposed to be Easy” tackles Mark and Eve’s still fledgling relationship. At the start, Mark asks Debbie about apartment hunting. Eve and Mark even start a business to generate income for rent — Invincible Inc. — in which Mark offers his superhero services to provide security for the local prison. That gambit surprisingly pays off. 

However, by the episode’s end, Eve and Mark address the elephant in the room: Neither of them is ready to move in together. Mark believes he should help his mom take care of Oliver while Eve has school. Their conversation doesn’t end in a breakup, thankfully.

Mark talks about feeling like an adult, but this is the most “adult” thing he does without even realizing it — he and Eve maturely discuss their feelings without throwing away their relationship because of turbulence. 

Family Ties 

One welcome development in “This Was Supposed to be Easy” is Oliver’s growth. At the beginning of Invincible Season 3, it looked like Oliver might become more Viltrumite than Thraxan. He certainly leaned into the Viltrumites’ penchant for unabashed violence.

However, this outing shows Debbie and Mark’s influence on him. He could’ve killed those bullies without blinking, but instead, he pranks them. It’s remarkable growth for one so young, and here’s hoping it sticks. 

Of course, Omni-Man is presumably making a beeline for Earth with Allen the Alien by his side. Who knows how Oliver will act once he reunites with his father, who’s slowly lumbering down the path of redemption? Only time will tell. 

Stray Observations: 

• I love the prison warden for calling out the fact that Eve looks too young to be running a security firm. 
• Did you notice that prison guard was reading Seance Dog? 
• Rex and Rae as a couple isn’t unexpected, but cute nonetheless. 
• Before I recalled Machine Head’s name, I kept calling him “Autotune Guy” to myself. I prefer my moniker. 
• If I had a nickel for every time Titan’s office was destroyed on this show, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice. 
• That opening scene with Multi-Paul attempting to break out of prison is the most fear-inducing, gory, and, let’s face it, the worst way to stage an escape. No, thank you. 

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

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Invincible drops new episodes every Thursday on Prime Video. 

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