REVIEW: ‘Invasion’ Season 2 Episode 9 — “Breakthrough”

Invasion Season 2 is nearing its end, and every single character is converging, either in one place or from across the world. The penultimate episode, Invasion Season 2 Episode 9, “Breakthrough,” attempts to pull everyone in, but at the same time, it leaves so much left on the storytelling table. Last episode, Mitsuki Yamato (Shioli Kutsuna) and the research team learned more about the connections between people and how the entity is interfering with humanity or connecting it.

The core of the episode is about Mitsuki trying her hardest to force a breakthrough and correct what she sees as a mistake in closing the entity’s portal to those who have been lost. But instead of feeding her obsession, Maya Castillo (Naian González Norvind) tells her, “Sometimes a breakdown can feel like a breakthrough.” At the same time, Trevante Cole (Shamier Anderson) and Rose are united with The Movement and Aneesha Malik (Golshifteh Farahani) as they search for her daughter in the military base. At the same time, Jamila Huston (India Brown) and Caspar Morrow (Billy Barratt) are trying to figure out how and why Caspar lost his connection to the alien hive mind in Paris.

Everyone, and I do mean everyone, meets someone else in the main story this season as the storylines bring them all into central locations, yes, even Mitsuki in Latin America and Caspar in France. As the bridges between the characters begin to close, glaring gaps, the series is nearly complete in feeling whole. Ultimately, Mitsuki’s discovery that they are all connected is what lays the groundwork for the final episode of Season 2.

Finding Caspar in the connected space that they all share when tethered to the aliens helps answer the questions asked at the beginning of Season 2, which were asked when Jamila was able to see Caspar in her dreams. By entering that space, Mitsuki’s theory becomes real, and she becomes one step closer to mapping the space between everyone.

While Mitsuki has held vital importance in Invasion Season 2, Episode 9 solidifies her as the singular most important piece of the puzzle, which is different than how Caspar was put into focus in Season 1. That said, there are some answers, but the groundwork laid still leaves too much to be desired so close to the end of the season.

A penultimate episode should set the stage, yes, but it should leave audiences gasping for more while still providing substantial narrative development. However, in Invasion Season 2 Episode 9, that’s not the case. The absolute shortest episode of the season at just 39 minutes. I’m amazed by the choice. With each episode clocking in at between 49 and 60 minutes, the choice to cut your penultimate episode, especially as you converge the story points and drop large narrative developments, cuts the legs out from under the story. It’s hard to become completely engrossed in the episode which just, well, ends.

Just when Invasion Season 2 is becoming something to marvel at, thanks to Shioli Kutsuna’s phenomenal performance as Mitsuki, it just keeps holding itself back. In this case, it stops the story before it even has time to capture you for the finale next week. Invasion Season 2 Episode 9 isn’t bad, but it does feel slightly empty despite the mysteries that have been solved. It’s hard to want to see the pieces fall into place when you question if the story will be allowed to expand as much as it needs to.

Invasion Season 2 Episode 9 is streaming now on AppleTV+, with the Season 2 finale airing next Wednesday, October 25, 2023.