Secret Invasion continues to upend the status quo in the MCU as the limited series reaches its halfway point on Disney+.

This is the shortest episode so far with a running time of 44 minutes. Regardless, there is still a lot of show and things to unpack as the plot plays its course. The episode deals with yet another Skull plot to take out human leadership. It ends with a very big reveal that will have some serious repercussions going forward in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. What will this mean? I’ll offer my thoughts about this episode underneath the below photo. Spoilers will follow.

In this episode, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) uncovers a rebel Skull plot involving the United Nations. Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) certainly does his best to reason with Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir). Unfortunately, the two clearly do not see eye to eye but we knew this going into their meeting. Where the first two episodes give audiences an idea of where G’iah (Emilia Clarke) stands, this episode develops her character further on that part. Meanwhile, Sonya Falsworth (Olivia Colman) is dealing with her own infiltration so she sends Fury and Talos the information for Bob Fairbanks (David Bark-Jones) in hopes of stopping a terrorist attack.

Listen, I could recap the entire plot or I could discuss a few of the key moments that will have an impact on Secret Invasion. We already know that Skrull scientists are working on ways to give Skrulls powers other than shapeshifting. This episode shows that Gravik has the Extremis powers from Iron Man 3. It was among a few that were hinted at earlier when G’iah was snooping around on the computers.

Let’s talk about the final moments of the episode. One, G’iah is shot and presumably killed after turning on Gravik. He figured out that she helping both Talos and Fury in preventing the attack. Is it possible that she is still alive? I’m not sure but Marvel brought in a big name here so it would not make any sense in killing her off halfway through the series. The stakes are already high enough–if she is truly dead, how will it impact Talos going forward?

The other thing in the episode is that we get some more background on Fury and Priscilla/Varra’s (Charlayne Woodard) relationship. The two are dining together during a 1998 flashback. Later on, we have an idea of what the Blip did for their relationship. At the end of the episode, she takes a gun out of safety deposit box. She picks up her phone in hopes of talking to Gravik but the voice she hears on the other end is none other than Rhodey (Don Cheadle). Cheadle’s name is in the opening credits but we don’t see or hear him anywhere else in the episode except for this moment. It begs the question: how long has Rhodey been a Skrull? Where is the real Rhodey? Did any of the Avengers know about this? Does it pre-date Iron Man 2 or not? I have so many questions!

Three episodes remain in Secret Invasion and just about anything can happen.

DIRECTOR: Ali Selim
HEAD WRITER: Kyle Bradstreet
EPISODE WRITERS: Roxanne Paredes and Brian Tucker
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Kevin Feige, Jonathan Schwartz, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Samuel L. Jackson, Ali Selim, Kyle Bradstreet, Brian Tucker
CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Jennifer L. Booth, Allana Williams, Brant Englestein
CAST: Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Charlayne Woodard, Killian Scott, Samuel Adewunmi, Christopher McDonald, Katie Finneran, with Emilia Clarke, with Olivia Colman, and Don Cheadle

New episodes of Marvel’s Secret Invasion premiere weekly on Wednesdays. Grade: 3.5/5

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