Secret Invasion season 1 episode 2 recap & review: Promises

In episode 2 of Marvel’s Secret Invasion, Nick Fury deals with the fallout of the attack in Moscow while the Skrull’s plan comes into focus. The episode is streaming on Disney+.

Recap

A flashback to 1995 shows the events that transpired when Nick Fury first encountered Skrulls along with Carol Danvers. Two years later, he met a young Gravik who escaped on his own after his parents died defending themselves.

Fury made a promise to the Skrulls that if they helped him defend his planet, he would help them find one of their own.

Back in the present, one of the Skrull warriors is captured by the authorities as he loudly exclaims that he’s American. Fury and Talos manage to escape and take a train from Moscow to Warsaw.

To pass the time, Fury asks Talos if there is anything he doesn’t know about the destruction of Skrullos and the ones who escaped. Talos admits that there are over a million Skrulls on Earth and Fury is livid after finding out.

Maria Hill’s body is shifted onto a plane back to the US as her mother and a small group of people pay their respects. She walks up to Fury and asks him how her daughter died.

He says that someone targeted him by killing her so he’s the one to blame for Hill’s death. The media is rife with news of the attack and how there is alleged American involvement. Various European leaders have their say on the issue.

Gravik and G’iah stop somewhere and Gravik attends a meeting of the high council of the Skrulls. It is revealed that they have occupied integrated themselves into high positions around the world.

These include the British Prime Minister, the NATO General Secretary, and a prominent American newscaster among others. They are not happy with Gravik’s actions but he insists that their best course of action is war because Fury didn’t honor his word.

Gravik organizes a coup and is elected General of the Skrulls, although one of the members of the council doesn’t accept this appointment. She leaves and immediately informs Talos of this development.

Gravik returns to their base and is cheered by the others. He says something to Pagon, who then heads off deeper into the facility with G’iah following him.

She finds a lab where a scientist named Rosa Dalton is running some kind of experiment and talking about “harvests” of some kind. Colonel Rhodes arrives for an emergency meeting held by the major EU leaders as a representative of President Ritson.

He denies American involvement in the Moscow attack unless they provide credible proof and is then contacted by Fury who says that he wants to meet.

Rhodes and Fury meet at a bar where Fury tells the Colonel that they’ve been infiltrated by the Skrulls and it is his job to stop them. Rhodes says that he is vaguely aware of the Skrulls but fires Fury because he cannot act on his own without accountability.

Sonya goes to the location where they are questioning the Skrull that was captured and says that she’s taking over the interrogation. She uses a chemical to torture him for answers.

G’iah checks the computers for Rosa’s name and finds out what kind of experiments she’s conducting before Gravik shows up and says that they have learned where their brother is being held.

The prisoner tells Sonya the name of the scientists and that they’re making a machine that might make them stronger and she escapes right as Gravik and Pagon arrive to free him.

G’iah calls the police and informs them of the safehouse while she’s alone so they have to keep driving along on their return. They stop in the middle of the forest where Pagon kills the prisoner for revealing their secrets.

Fury travels to a house where a Skrull woman is just cooking and minding her business. As he walks into the kitchen, she observes her human form and tells him that he’s forgetting something.

Fury heads back to a side table and picks up a wedding ring and puts it on before embracing and kissing her.

Review

• Secret Invasion is a significant change of pace from some of the other MCU shows and is focusing on the political machinations that happen in the shadows. This certainly gives it a fresh vibe that may or may not be appreciated by many.
• The series has portrayed Skrulls quite differently from their original comic depictions and this rounded version of a race that is just looking for a home and has some more radicalized members is really well written.
• Samuel L. Jackson is truly excelling as Nick Fury and he has some cheesy dialogues that only work because he’s the one delivering them. Such is the aura of the character that has been established up till now.

---

Also Read: Secret Invasion season 1 episode 1 recap & review: Resurrection