Invincible part 5 carves a deeper nuance into the show with “That Actually Hurt,” another episode centered on its deftly juggled cast. Spoilers Ahead
1. Make Way for the King
Mahershala Ali’s Titan is the obvious knock-out drag-out show stealer of this episode. From that genre-skewing intro built on the back of Ohana Bam’s “Make Way For the King,” we know we’re seeing a future cornerstone of the show. This man is going to kill it as Blade, he’s so perfectly nonchalant. I would genuinely pay money to hear Mahershala Ali just say ‘butterscotch ripple’ over and over.
It’s almost funny how carefully yet overtly he is being written as a tough guy with a soft interior when he is literally… exactly that. He’s the kind of villain who goes out of his way to avoid damaging the lives of those suffering the same social strife he endures, while still feeling entirely ruthless regardless. There’s no conflict in his charity, just an effortless self-confidence in the nuance of his own morality. Plus that power play in the final moments feels properly unprecedented almost because of how affirmatively the show said we could trust this guys humble desire for escape from that life of violence. Still, who wouldn’t betray their friends for a style change that nice? Black suit with a charcoal tie, mans has been planning this fit for a LONG while.
2. Size-ups and side-steps
“That Actually Hurt” feels like, out of every episode we’ve seen so far, it has the most directly identifiable structure to showcase. The first ‘act’ of the episode can be segmented into very identifiable alternating scenes between Invincible and Titan, sizing up two would-be rivals in a really engaging fashion. For one it shows the moral compasses and methodologies of the two creatively, but also works to contrast the kinds of crime they navigate. This is probably most clear in the divide between the unflinching homicide of Titan’s intro scene with Mark’s fairly sanitised rematch against Killcannon. They’re both messy, violent scenes, but the former leaves pain as the logical conclusion while the latter simply frames it as the harmless proxy for a more consequential battle of egos. Titan doesn’t fight with a brand on his side, and that gradual arc into a synthesised identity is probably his most important progression through the episode, one that is achieved entirely structurally.
This is just one example of how great this show, and especially this fifth episode, has been at effortless signposting. It carries far more intrigue than it projects to audiences, which is especially impressive when you remember the number of super spies and private eyes rattling around in its cast. Most of the important callbacks the show makes are to things I either never thought twice about. That’s largely due to the writers, editor and directors of the series refusing to hold those moments in front of your face. In the rare moments where they do just that, like with Invincible’s blood sample, they use the structure and framing of the moment to make you think they’re trying to tell you something different entirely, twists on top of red-herring theories, this show knows how to sidestep.
3. Mark as a self advocate
This episode does a really good job of giving Mark a more subtle shift in moral and methodology than the more direct allegorical stories of the past few episodes. Even from the first ‘slice of life’ scenes we get, we’re seeing that whenever Mark is in his groove as a superhero that involves nonchalant collateral damage and excess violence, a problem the Guardians reckon with even more directly. It sets a precedent that in the world of Invincible, there is no such thing as a hero non-culpable in the cycle of violence they supposedly work to quell. The difference between heroes like Invincible and heroes like Omni-Man then isn’t the degree of consequential destruction, it’s whether that fallout is a consequence of ignorance or apathy.
That said, it is way too funny when Omni-Man just nonchalantly drops a guy out of the sky and we cut away before ever seeing him saved. It’s hilarious how transparently the scene is telling us ‘yeah he’s pretending not to be too fucked up.’
Continued belowSeeing Mark also deciding what ‘level’ of superhero he wants to be is far more engaging than I expected the plotline to be. It’s one of the first times we’ve seen the conditions of his upbringing before his powers kicked in come into question. Even before he was physically powered he lived in suburban luxury, and that informs his views on crime, heroics and its applicability. What isn’t as compelling are all his ‘why are you so late’ scenes. I understand their validity, but in a show that steers away, or outright critiques, cliched superhero tropes, this feels very apparently canned.
4. Space, place and pulverization
In an episode full of more cramped, confined and grounded fights, the crew of Invincible illustrated just how creatively they can use their digital space for animation. It makes me wonder how much they design their ‘sets’ before choreographing each animated fight. Just the way the weight and dimensions of different objects within the opening fight were utilised made the whole fight feel more tangible. I also like that this show is at the point where they can cut to shots of people already eviscerated, we’re practically at the point in this show where incredible carnage and violence is assumed.
In an episode all about teamwork and cooperation, I can’t help but love the sheer poetic genius of Invincible pulling off a fastball special with his own signature baseball spin on it. He could probably have used that creativity when his ribcage was being entirely flattened by Battle Beast, but hindsight’s a bitch like that. It seems like the synchronised Guardians of the Globe fight at the end of the episode succeeds where so many ‘power of teamwork’ scenes failed because of its tempo and variety of action it produced. This show has always put in the effort to differentiate its portrayal of superpowers, and the increased dedication to that here makes it surely the best episode since the debut.
5. These charming men
Once again Invincible has shot a grab-bag of great new characters at its audience, and it’s hard not to instantly gravitate to these larger than life personas. Even completely silent characters carry so much personality in their designs, ranging from the stony-faced to slapstick.
Loved Jeffrey Donovan as the slickest of business-casual career criminals. Even though I miss Fargo Season 2 a little more every time I hear his voice. Machine Head was such an instantly fun antagonist. The fact that he can makes quotes like ‘this is what happens when your head’s a fuckin rock’, highlights of the script shows that the best way to keep a line from sounding on the nose is to make it sound like a voicegrab from the debut single of Daft Punk’s secret evil triplet.
Battle Beast though is the obvious new cult favorite, what a champ. How do you even hire a giant homicidal space tiger with no need for human money? Who knows! I guess he just has some great customer outreach.
Food for thought:
-Damien Darkblood really chose his aesthetic the moment he got a human-face-leather detective’s log made
-Robot and the Mauler Twins continue to be the most frustratingly boring part of this show
-I wish we could see more of Nolan’s day job from the comic in the show
-‘Paint cost money and you got a long-ass name’
-Alive by Battle Tapes is another great triumphant but grungy anthem for Mark
Next week Mark gets a taste of campus life in episode 6.
