Secret Invasion Episode 3 review: The best episode yet

❘ Published: 2023-07-05T10:13:04

Disney+

Secret Invasion Episode 3 is the tightest episode yet; the stakes are palpable, and the MCU isn’t pulling its punches – nobody is safe.

While not necessarily hitting the highs of WandaVision and Loki, Secret Invasion is fast becoming one of the stronger shows in the franchise. Its politics are undoubtedly messy – are we really turning the Skrulls, ie refugees, into villains again? – but those missteps in subtext don’t even feel ignorant: this is a simple story of vengeance about a man and his people.

Some doubted the show’s ability to connect any dramatic haymakers – if the Avengers aren’t in the mix, is the shapeshifting mystery really worth it? – but with Episode 3, it proves itself capable of pulling off genuine shocks and possibly even changing the hierarchy of power in the MCU.

Last week’s installment ended with a surprising reveal: not only is Nick Fury married, but his wife Priscilla is a Skrull. Well, that’s the least of his concerns now. Spoilers to follow…

Secret Invasion Episode 3 prepares the world for “chaos”

The episode opens with Gravik’s men arming themselves, preparing for whatever infiltration lies ahead; they’re in possession of official service records, so it must be a major operation. “Do you think it’ll work… bringing chaos?” Beto asks. “All faith is built on risk, so that’s what we have to take,” Pagon tells him.

Meanwhile, Gravik stands before Dr. Dalton’s DNA-altering machine (it looks a bit like Doc Ock’s fusion reactor in Spider-Man 2). As members of the council enter the room, he explains his updated plan: his men are sneaking into the Royal Navy to execute a strike on a key United Nations target. “The heroes of Earth will react, and the only way we can counter that and claim this planet as our home, is to become super ourselves,” he says. In other words, they’ll become Super-Skrulls, “uniquely programmed weapons of mass destruction… I invite you to join me in the extinction of the human race.”

Gravik and the Super-Skrull machine in Secret Invasion Episode 3

We then flashback to New York City in 1998, where a young Nick Fury rendezvous with Priscilla. They have some flirty dialogue: “What does she look like?” she asks, and he playfully responds: “That depends on what day of the week it is.” First of all, this confirms that Fury knows she’s a Skrull; he even compliments “this new face of hers.” When he cites rules that stop them from dating, she says: “Our unit doesn’t exist Fury, which means I don’t work for you.”

In the present day, Fury is cooking breakfast for his wife while Chris Stearns’ Ben Shapiro-esque ramblings give her an earache. The love between them is strong, but she’s clearly holding some resentment over his disappearance and wants answers. “I retired,” he says. “I never cared much for golf, so I’m thinking I may take up revenge.”

Fury asks her if she’s been talking to Gravik; the extent of her past as a Skrull operator isn’t clear, but his suspicions are fairly placed. “I became a widow,” she tells him, saying how she thought they’d “go through all of the pain together” after he returned from the Blip, only for him to shoot off into the stars. “I became me, the me I was before you,” she says.

Talos and Gravik face off

Meanwhile, G’iah drives G’iah to parle with her dad. They meet in a London gallery, where Gravik opines about the statesmen of the First World War “posing for pictures” while soldiers laid down their lives. As they sit for a coffee – Gravik has an espresso that’d make Clarence Worley’s teeth hurt – Talos asks him to reconsider his plan. “All these miscreants know is murder,” Gravik argues, but Talos says humans are at “their most formidable when they’re threatened by a common foe.”

Talos and Gravik in Secret Invasion Episode 3

Gravik starts teasing him about G’iah, but when Talos tries to grab him, the surrounding people in the cafe transform into Gravik; they’re all Skrulls under his command, and the authority with which they’re controlled is a frightening indicator of how wide his reach could be. But Talos’ temper gets the better of him again, and he sticks a knife into Gravik’s hand and tells him to keep his daughter’s name out of his mouth. As Talos leaves, Gravik simply pulls his hand away from the knife, and it pulses with orangey energy: one of his powers is evidently the Extremis virus from Iron Man 3.

Talos tucks into a full English breakfast in a local pub, which Fury sacrilegiously describes as “dog food” before telling him about a lead on a rebel Skrull that’s high in the US government. His old pal isn’t interested after their rather tense chat on the train, unless he says a specific combination of words: “Help me, Talos, because I am useless without you.” After taking the hit to his pride, Fury obliges.

Fury phones Sonya to ask what she knows about a submarine launching a missile on the UN delegation. While she’s unhappy about him bugging the owl in her apartment and dealing with her own problem (we get a glimpse of Tony Curran’s Derrik), she gives Fury the captain’s name: Commodore Robert Fairbanks.

Talos and Fury save the world

They drive to Portsmouth, and their car chat veers from Talos struggling to understand why humans love dogs so much to Fury claiming to have cleaned up Talos’ mess for 30 years. “When I came here in 1995, you were just a benchwarming nobody in a dumpy field office in SHIELD,” he says, outlining how Fury’s ascension and successes came off the back of his Skrull spy network. “I don’t even need to hear a bloody thank you from you, it was my pleasure mate. The least you can do is not rewrite history when the guy who helped write it with you the first time is sitting right next to you,” he says.

Fury cuts him off as they arrive at “Bob’s”, where their stealthy attempt to sneak past security quickly results in bullets. Bob ends up holding a gun to Talos’ head, so Fury grabs his son. “Nobody calls me Nick, Bob,” he says (this is an important line), and the captain eventually submits. We cut to the submarine, where one of the Skrulls is ready to launch the missile alongside a rather nervous human.

Talos, Nick Fury, and Bob in Secret Invasion Episode 3

Fury tries to convince Bob to call off the airstrike, to no avail. Talos says he can protect him from Gravik, but Bob says he’s a “shell of the general he used to be… you created this vacuum, all Gravik did was fill it.” Fury asks Talos to impersonate him and call off the strike, but he can’t do that without a termination code. Growing increasingly impatient, Fury shoots Bob in the knee and threatens to go for his nuts next (seeing Fury so angry is such a treat).

“You can’t even keep your daughter’s loyalty, or is she the spineless traitor feeding you information?” Bob tells Talos, an insult that earns him a swift bullet and death. Talos then calls G’iah and asks her to find the code, and she succeeds by digging through the memories of the real Bob in the fracking pod. It’s a nail-biting scene, but in saving the world, G’iah dooms herself: Talos tells her to escape, but Gravik stops her as she tries to flee. He tells her to turn around, but she refuses. “Are you a leader of Skrulls or our worst enemy?” she asks, but she’s abruptly shot and killed. We see her return to her Skrull form with a bullet wound in her chest.

In the closing moments of the episode, Priscilla receives a text that sees her leave the house and head into the city, where she unlocks a safety deposit box with a gun inside. Her phone rings. “St. James Church, one hour,” the voice says. “I need to speak to Gravik,” she responds, and he says: “Yeah, well, you’re talking to me.”

That voice belongs to Rhodey – so, is he a Skrull, and if so, how long has been in disguise?

Secret Invasion Episode 3 review score: 4/5

The third episode of Secret Invasion tugs at the rug beneath our feet; something big is coming, and if the show’s early episodes are anything to go by, more death lies ahead.

Secret Invasion Episode 4 hits Disney+ on July 12. Check out our other coverage below: