Welcome back to an ever slightly more poignant episode of Invincinble in which the fisticuffs are curiously restrained. Spoilers for our gateway to the second season finale, “I’m Not Going Anywhere”.
1. Behind the comic-con curtain
We come into “I’m Not Going Anywhere” on the softest edge this show has shown in a while, an adventure at a comic-con. While I can personally be a bit cynical about comic media that sets itself in comic conventions and the lives of people also obsessed with comic media, it’s pretty undeniable that this sequence is the first in Invincible to really get major attention since the end of the hiatus.
The adaptation of the ‘lazy artist’ bit from the comic really snapped up the internet straight away. I generally never seek out other people’s thoughts on this show, but it was hard to miss, people were all over this. I was quite tickled too, due in no small part to the appearance of the internet’s favourite man Tim Robinson. It was nice to see him reunite with Steven Yeun now that they’ve buried the hatchet re mudpies.
I also thought this week’s title card was great. The intro gimmick has lost a bit of sparkle over time, so having a bunch of Invincible cosplayers lead us in was a great touch. Maybe it was secretly a metaphor for an identity crisis, or maybe it was just a lark. I had fun regardless.
2. Birds eye viewing
I thought this was a relatively strong episode over all, it had an intention and a lot of emotion that played cohesively across the disparate plotlines. The problem however, is that you just need to think about where this show was on episode seven last season, and “I’m Not Going Anywhere” suddenly seems blown out of the water.
Season 2 has been largely kneecapped by its lack of a central premise. In season 1 everything hinged on whether or not the heroes could expose and stop Omni-Man before it was too late, a lot of different things were going on but it had enough of an inevitable landing point. That north star is lacking across this season. We arrived at a point where characters were reconstructing after the season 1 finale, but they had no real vision in mind of what they were building back up to, and we now have a case of largely passive protagonists without a shared goal beyond responding to the monster of the week.
I know we have Angstrom as the ‘final boss’ but he’s essentially been relegated to the last three minutes of every episode to progressively get angrier and more prepared for a fight. There’s no ticking time bomb factor like there was with Omni-Man.
3. Redemption is a sliding scale
Like I said in the last point, there’s a good emotional line that tugs the viewer from the start to the end of episode seven, due in no small part to just how many of them are dealing with the fact they have weird robot bodies.
We return again to the Rex-splode-emption arc. I like seeing him admitting he needs the self esteem boost of winning the fight to Mark, and also passing the reverse bechdel test of just relying on and hanging out with another guy and not saying anything sexist the whole time.
Mark’s lack of luck in love looms large again. This time he mopes with the support of the inimitable Reginald VelJohnson. He CANNOT BE KEPT DOWN. It was great to see him back, even if he is just another wise father figure to fill in and give Mark sage advice. Mark and Amber’s trouble comes to a head, and assumedly a break-up by the episode’s end in a nuanced fashion. While I think it’s slightly unfair writing to use the language of review in a character’s dialogue, Amber’s assertion of “I have no agency” really drives her point home. She carries the frustration of embodying this tropal archetype and it allows her to scream that point home to the viewer while keeping the tactfulness of the scene alive. It’s all brought home poigntantly with that lovely little moment where “I don’t know” becomes a conclusive answer to a couple’s future. It’s not done to score points, just to show them both powerless by circumstance.
Continued below4. Parking in rear
It’s interesting how much play the GDA are getting in this series, it’s like spending as long with SHIELD as with the Avengers in an event comic. There are points where it works, and points where it’s predominantly baffling.
The perks: I think Cecil is a great character. Obviously he has an air of mystery that keeps him punching at the level of a Nick Fury type, but he so deftly jumps between the melodramatic personas that superheroics are entrenched in (“Is there something in the water today?”) at the same time. I love that little moment where he gives Mark a hand up, it’s a summary of their relationship in a split second. The power dynamics of a regular joe helping up a superhero, but with the tacit agreement there that providing the aid makes him an equal, if not a superior.
Where does it fall down? It falls down by Donald. Why? Why would they let this plot drag for so SO long. We have an interesting resolution here, and a great bit of heart to make it worth it, but christ did it take a while to reach it. I don’t know why the writers feel they have to drag a piece of development over a whole season, we could have squished this into an episode or two rather than seeing what’s happening with Donald as a weekly segment.
I quite like that Rex just gets over the robot stuff straight away. He’s desensitised, when you see your child clone walking around every day I feel like you have different thresholds for weirdness.
5. Rogues that belong in a gallery
Where I had the most fun with this episode was definitely in meeting its various villains. I mean who couldn’t love OCTOBOSS!! Robert Kirkman deserves all the praise heaped on his writing just for the sheer innovation he approaches every character name with. Each one more campy and unique than the last. Octoboss is a trundling force of larceny aided by the most endearing henchman that money (presumably) can buy. It was also just great seeing a fight between him and Rex where neither of the characters could fly, there’s a lot of zipping through the air in this show.
Eve is once again going up against Killcannon, I like how effectively they arrange their shared calendar.
Anissa’s introduction is also great. Obviously it’s meant to be quite traumatic but there is some gallows humour in the timing of the transition from date night montage to a random Viltrumite barging in and ruining the single evening of freedom. She’s a fun character, with her snap movements (through the skulls of others), and I like that she talks like a Ben Shapiro parody, more supervillains should sound like the most annoying utilitarian you know.
It’s great seeing how the GDA jump into the depleted preparations for what they see as an Omni-Man encore. Knowing how that fight went last time, how unprepared they are, and how much they know they have no chance just makes the stakes so much more tangible. Plus it’s been yonks since we saw Mark get properly trounced, a Mauler twin punch-on had to tide us over for far too long.
Tune in next week for the season finale, wow yes it’s here already, gee they grow up fast.