Secret Invasion Episode 1 review: Riveting, tense opener

Secret Invasion Episode 1 is a strong proof-of-concept premiere; some may have doubted the dramatic weight of its premise, but this is a riveting vision for the MCU.

“Who do you trust?” This tagline, echoed by the Secret Invasion series, was originally used for the comic book crossover series, an event that flirted with breaking your brain: what if your favorite Marvel character was actually a shapeshifting alien this whole time? What if Earth’s mightiest heroes were working towards a nefarious, otherworldly agenda?

Obviously, the show doesn’t have the same stakes; if that were the case, it’d be a blockbuster event. This, in itself, is a bit of a vibe killer; why should we care if people and leaders we’ve never met or heard of turn out to be Skrulls, especially when international diplomacy has been nothing but a mere speed bump (Civil War and Black Panther engaged with politics more formally, but it was never the meat of the story).

What’s particularly impressive about Secret Invasion Episode 1, then, is that it sells you on just that: don’t seek out some canon-redefining rug pull, just enjoy the suspense.

Spoilers to follow…

Secret Invasion sells itself in the first scene

The pilot opens in present-day Moscow. Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), sporting a beanie hat and armed with a handgun in a damp tunnel, meets with Agent Prescod (Richard Dormer). “Imagine a world where information can’t be trusted… not very hard, is it?” he says. When society starts to fray, “all we can do is turn to the people we care about… but what if they were someone else entirely?”

Prescod has a theory: all the wars across the world – the bloody conflicts, the political disorder, the unrest on the streets – are all the same breed of chaos, and “it’s only the beginning” of a “violent chain reaction consuming the world.” He believes the Skrulls are orchestrating all of it, but Ross isn’t convinced. Prescod thinks it could be retribution for Nick Fury and Carol Danvers failing to find them a new home, but Ross says he needs to take the information away to look deeper.

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Already, the show is off to a gripping start; punchy dialogue and a real sense of paranoia make it feel more considered than other recent MCU entries. And then it indulges your need for action, with a more brutal streak; the rooftop running is a bit Obi-Wan Kenobi-y, but it culminates in the blood splatter of a gunshot. Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) arrives and is surprised to see that Everett was actually being chased by Talos (Ben Mendelsohn). “He’s one of you,” she says. “Nah, he’s one of them,” he replies.

Nick Fury returns to Earth

Once you get past the opening credits – terrific music with bizarre-looking, Midjourney-esque visuals – we see Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) returning to Earth in a blinding beam of light, where he reunites with Maria and Talos. A lot has changed: Talos’ wife Soren has died; Fury has been working on S.A.B.E.R., the most “complex aerospace defence system in the history of mankind”; and Rhodey (Don Cheadle) is now the righthand man of President Ritson (Dermot Mulroney).

Other dangerous parties are floating around: there’s Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir), the leader of a rebel Skrull cell in New Skrullos, based on an abandoned nuclear plant in Russia (they’re immune to radioactivity); G’iah (Emilia Clarke, who feels miscast for this), Talos’ daughter who’s working under Gravik; and Sonya (Olivia Colman), a British MI6 agent and longtime ally of Fury who “celebrates a scorched-Earth policy.”

Suspense and a shocking ending

The episode doesn’t take long before it kicks into gear, with Fury and co. heading off to find a former Chechen rebel who may have connections to Gravik’s people. There’s a bit of scrappy violence – “You’re gonna have to hurt some people,” Fury tells Talos, who clearly doesn’t enjoy hurting his own kind – and some fabulous Fury scenes, but what’s most striking is the persistence of the atmosphere. Everywhere Fury goes, he notices someone, somewhere, looking at him; where did the invasion start, and where does it end?

It also directly confronts Fury for leaving the planet and offering his stewardship to a space station. He admits to having a “crisis of faith” after Thanos, and despite escaping into outer space, his past followed him up there, and he felt like he owed it to Talos to come home and fix things. For the first time, though, Fury isn’t holding all the cards.

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We also see Talos’ failed attempt to reconcile with his daughter. There’s a lot he’s not told her, just as she’s keeping her whole life without him close to the chest, but she does discover one thing: her mother is dead, and she’s been working for her killer this whole time, apparently.

Simply put, Fury fails in the end. Badly. Gravik and his Skrull cronies plan to detonate three separate bombs in Moscow on Unity Day, and despite tailing the packages and seeming to have it all under control, nothing goes to plan. There’s decoys everywhere, G’iah betrays them after seemingly agreeing to help her dad, and the bombs go off. As people try to flee the scene, Maria sees Fury in the crowd – and he shoots her, because it’s actually Gravik impersonating him. As he fades away into the bustling heads, Maria dies. She’s been in the MCU for more than a decade, so Secret Invasion isn’t pulling its punches.

Secret Invasion Episode 1 review score: 4/5

Beyond all else, Secret Invasion Episode 1 is a success for one reason: it made me believe in the show.

Secret Invasion Episode 2 hits Disney+ on June 28. Check out our other coverage below:

• Secret Invasion cast and characters
• Secret Invasion episodes and release schedule
• How to watch Secret Invasion
• When is Secret Invasion set in the MCU timeline?