The action starts to take hold in Secret Invasion as the six-episode limited series begins the back half of its run on Disney+.

If you thought episode 3 was short, episode 4 has got the number beat by six minutes. Factoring in the recap and end credits, “Beloved” runs 38 minutes long. They pack a lot of show into just over a half hour. What this means is that some scenes end up getting the short end of the stick. The series continues diving into the relationship between Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Priscilla (Charlayne Woodard). We also get some answers about James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) after last week’s episode revealed that the longtime Avenger is probably a Skrull. We still have some questions but they were never going to answer everything in one episode.

One pressing question was answered in the beginning moments of the fourth episode. It turns out that G’iah (Emilia Clarke) survived the shooting because of Extremis. It’s funny how Iron Man 3, of all the films is the one they call back. While G’iah is probably not going to turn out to be a Super Skrull, Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) most definitely is. We especially see this during the climactic battle that leaves Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) for dead in the final minutes. Anyway, G’iah made her decisions for herself. There’s no going back now but we’ll see what happens during the final episodes of the season. She’s not anywhere close to the climactic battle.

On the Fury and Priscilla front, there’s another flashback to Paris 2012. It’s right after the Avengers came to the rescue during the Battle of New York. No major cameos here but there is a newspaper headline. Later on, Fury and Priscilla confront each other. I’m not sure when he figured out that she’s a Skrull but Priscilla/Varra gets into the why she chose Priscilla of all people. It turns out that she was dying of a congenital heart defect. She had to promise three things to the original woman: bury her at see, stay a daughter to her parents, and be someone’s beloved. Priscilla/Varra did everything although the status of the latter is as good as done.

Fury meets with Rhodes. The audience sees what he doesn’t: a female Skrull in the shower. But because he was listening in on Priscilla and Rhodes, he knew going in that Rhodes is a Skrull. We still have no idea when the switch took place but it’s unlikely that the president (Dermot Mulroney) has any idea. Interestingly, Rhodes isn’t buying any of what Fury is saying and pulls out the video of Gravik/Not Fury murdering Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) in cold blood.

This takes us into the final minutes of the episode. Fury and Talos tracking not-Rhodes by liquid. As such, they follow him and the president. However, Gravik has his own agenda, which is to take out the president. On one hand, it’s a battle between Americans and Russians. But on other hand, it’s Fury and Talos against the terrorist cell of Skrulls. While Fury is able to rescue the president and hopefully get him into medical care, Gravik stabs Talos and he’s left for dead.

Secret Invasion has only two episodes left but “Beloved” features a small dose of the trademark MCU action.

DIRECTOR: Ali Selim
HEAD WRITER: Kyle Bradstreet
EPISODE WRITERS: 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, Dermot Mulroney, Katie Finneran, with Emilia Clarke and Don Cheadle
SPECIAL GUEST STAR: Cobie Smulders

New episodes of Marvel’s Secret Invasion premiere weekly on Wednesdays. Grade: 4/5

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