REVIEW: ‘Invincible’ Season 2 Episode 5 — “This Must Come As A Shock”

With his recent reunion with his dad still fresh, Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun) now picks up the pieces as Nolan (J.K. Simmons) is taken away by the Viltrimites. But there is little time to process all that has happened. Mark soon finds himself headed home with his little brother in tow. And there is much waiting for him and little of it is good in Invincible Season 2 Episode 5, “This Must Come As A Shock.”

Invincible Season 2 Episode 5 opens with an emotional gut punch early and never stops swinging. The first comes while Mark is still in space, helping the alien people recover from the Viltrimite attack. While he is willing to labor to help the people rebuild, Empress Andressa (Rhea Seehorn) informs Mark that it is time for him to go home. His world needs him. And she asks that he take his little brother with him. This obviously comes as a shock to Mark.

While Andressa’s desire for her child to leave is initially perplexing, it quickly makes sense. The child is aging fast for a human but slowly by her people’s standards. She will be dead before he can speak. Generations will come and go before he reaches adulthood. How painful will that be for him? It will be like he has lived for hundreds of years, watching lives blink by. So she entrusts him with the only one that can be there for him throughout his life, Mark. While Mark agrees to take the child, he knows it will cause problems for more people than just him.

Invincible Season 2 Episode 5 jumps ahead to Mark’s arrival at the home of his mother, Debbie (Sandra Oh). Skipping the long explanation of what we already know, we see Debbie’s reaction to everything that’s transpired in the last two episodes. Nolan’s life after leaving clearly creates a profoundly confusing emotional space for her to navigate. While she is still angry over all the lies and violence Nolan caused, she is also upset that he could presumably move on from her so quickly. Both the animation and voice acting do a great job of presenting Debbie’s emotional confusion to the audience. There are a lot of warring feelings in her. It’s reasonable that she doesn’t understand what to do with them. And then there is Mark’s little brother.

While we can see Debbie’s maternal instincts kick in pretty quickly upon seeing the little purple toddler, she still has struggles. She’d have to have a superpower of her own to look at the little guy and not be reminded of what Nolan did. This clash only creates more struggles for her. The emotional weight only increases when the ramifications of caring for the kid become clearer.

Jumping away from the central family of our narrative, Invincible Season 2 Episode 5 catches up with Donald Ferguson (Chris Diamantopoulos) as he confronts Cecil Stedman (Walton Goggins). This sequence brings the truth behind Donald’s amnesia about his near death to light. Donald tells Cecil that he knows he did something to him. Donald shows a rectangular area on his arm he has cut the flesh away from, revealing some form of robotics. Cecil leads Donald to the White Room, where he shows him that he is actually a cyborg. Thanks to Omni-Man, Donald’s brain survived the blast, even though his body did not. So, Cecil moved him into a better one.

This leads to a familiar clash with Cecil. While Donald claims his boss hid this from him for his own benefit, Cecil claims he did it for Donald’s. Not wanting him to go through the trauma of knowing he had died, he figured it would be best to just not know.

While there is logic to Cecil’s argument, experience with the character makes it hard to believe. The right thing to do always manages to be what the director decides to do, no matter how shady. This casts serious doubts on Cecil’s real motivations for hiding the truth. However, if there were someone that he might genuinely worry about, it would probably be Donald.

Returning to Mark, Invincible Season 2 Episode 5 follows him as he makes the rounds catching up with the other people in his life. His roommate William (Andrew Rannells), his girlfriend Amber (Zazie Beets), and a not-so-fond reunion with Cecil all come during the middle stretch of the episode. While Mark’s confrontation with Cecil is the only meeting here that is truly bad, none go well. While both Amber and William are sympathetic to Mark’s situation, his prolonged absence has caused strain for both of them. This only adds to the troubles weighing on Mark’s mind.

From here, the story visits the Guardians of the Globe. After a brief training sequence that highlights some growing friction between Rudy (Ross Marquand) and Monster Girl (Grey Griffin). Rudy gets a bit too protective for Monster Girl’s taste. Before the situation can escalate too far, Cecil appears with some incredibly bad news.

The sequids have commandeered a Martian ship and are heading for Earth. With the potential for millions of aliens to be aboard the ship, the entirety of the planet is in grave danger. To learn more about the threat they are facing, Cecil forces Shapesmith to come clean about who he is. When the rest of the team finds out he got to Earth by leaving one of the astronauts behind, the team is understandably angry with the alien. But, however justified their anger is, they have to put it on the backburner. Shapesmith has the intel they need. So they’ll work with him.

Like so much of this series, even Invincible Season 2 Episode 5, this scene skillfully delivers the conflicting emotions of those involved. Having to trust someone they feel they can’t is a tough situation, but what choice do they have?

All the Guardians who can protect themselves from the aliens prepare to head to space, leaving Rexsplode, Dupli-Kate, and Shrinking Ray behind to hold the fort. But before they go, there are a couple more people they need to recruit.

Invincible Season 2 Episode 5 then takes us to the home of Atom Eve (Gillian Jacobs). Living in an uncomfortable silence back with her parents as she continues to grapple with her own recent mistakes, she gets an unwelcome visit from Rex. Rex initially claims that he has visited her after learning that she has returned to her parents. Knowing that she would only do that as a last resort, he has come to check in on her. While he listens and dispenses some genuinely sound advice, the viewer knows this isn’t why he’s here.

What truly makes the moment a great one for Eve is the fact that she’s also well aware. Knowing Rex as she does, she knows he didn’t just come to check in. Eve may be battling depression, but she’s still sharp as a tack. A nice aside about this scene: a picture of Eve with her “family” is brought up during their conversation. Calling back to her origin in Invincible: Atom Eve, this easter egg is a smoothly implemented reminder of how much Eve has been through.

We then return to the Graysons’ home, where Mark’s little brother is turning out to be just as difficult as most young children are. A fussy eater, he is already proving to be a struggle for Debbie. Given all the stress and emotional trauma she is coping with, it’s not surprising she is finding it difficult to summon up the patience to care for a child.

The problem of how to get the little one to eat is interrupted by Cecil. He arrives looking to recruit Mark for the space mission. While he is loathe to return to space so soon, he knows the supreme danger the sequids pose and grudgingly agrees to go.

One of the few genuinely happy moments of the episode comes as Invincible Season 2 Episode 5 prepares to launch its heroes into space. When Mark sees that Eve is coming along on the mission, he reacts by instinctively embracing his dear friend. While momentarily surprised by this greeting, Eve soon leans into it, giving him a tight hug.

The warmth of the departure soon goes out of the airlock as the situation in space quickly goes bad. The Martian ship’s defenses speedily dispatch their shuttle, leaving Eve’s powers as the only thing holding back the deadly vacuum of space. Once aboard, the sequids quickly learn of the team’s presence.

The battle that concludes Invincible Season 2 Episode 5 is terrifying. With millions of sequids moving together like a living tsunami, the heroes soon struggle not to be crushed by the sheer volume of foes they face. The animation expertly presents the claustrophobia of the moment. As Eve holds back the tidal waves, the imminent danger feels overwhelming.

While the battle in space is bad, things aren’t going any better on Earth. The remaining Guardians are called in to thwart an attempt by the Lizard League to seize control of a nuclear arsenal. While Shrink Rey, Dupli-Kate, and Rexsplode initially have the situation in hand, their battle begins to spiral out of control quickly. Having discounted the Lizard League as a threat, they soon learn their mistake with dreadful consequences.

This scene is another brutal battle sequence for the series. We see multiple Kates ripped to pieces and the gory aftermath of what happens when a miniaturized person grows inside someone. The shocking turn of events reminds the viewer after its absence that Invincible is a superhero story that doesn’t pull its punches when the violence starts.

As Invincible Season 2 Episode 5 draws to a close, we see Eve’s defense bubble shatter and our heroes left defenseless. This creates a fantastic cliffhanger for this emotionally tense episode. With so much tension of so many types building up, the narrative feels like it could pop at any moment.

Invincible Season 2 Episode 5 is streaming now on Amazon Prime.