With Invincible’s final episode of the season about to air, we wanted to share our thoughts about the season beforehand to catch any stragglers who may not have started the season yet.
As always, we break down our review into the categories of story, acting, and overall. So let’s jump on into this.
Story 8/10
This season starts off with the aftermath of the prior season still hanging heavy over all of the people affected by the interdimensional Invincible War. Not only do the people of the world have trust issues with Mark, but his face was literally the same as the planet’s last attackers. Still bandaged from his battle with Conquest, Invincible does not take a break. He continues to fight non-stop battles against any monster or force that would try to harm humanity, because that’s the only way he knows how to process this situation.
But this season will not give him a chance to breathe, with introduction of Dinosaurus, Ecoterrorist dinosaur, and the return of Nolan who seeks to drag Mark into the Viltrumite war.
This season really touches down on the notes of not only redemption and second chances, but also into the effects of trauma and PTSD as well. Unresolved trauma is a massive story and plot point of almost every season of the series, it finally comes to a head in the final episode of the series of the season, with Mark finally having been pushed too far.
That being said, the show does an amazing job focusing on the issue of trauma and PTSD, by shining a light at it, and not choosing to back down from a hard story or finding a magic solution to their problem.
Acting 10/10
Newcomer this season, from just a minor appearance in the prior season, Tech Jacket. Voiced by Zoey Deutch, and her father, voiced by Bobby Moynihan, is a fun addition to the series. She gives Oliver an age-appropriate friend interact, and understands a lot of his mental place in the world, frankly, it also adds a lot of grounding within the season, as it brings the series a more… human perspective.
J.K. Simmons, who voices Nolan Grayson, AKA Omni-Man, really does a lot of heavy lifting with his redemption arc. He spends a lot of this season trying to prove that he’s not the same monster who left Earth before. Confronted by Debbie, his ex-wife, Art, his ex tailor, and Cecil, his ex-handler, Nolan has a lot to answer for. However, his most defining story, in my opinion, this season is the amazing amount of voice work done between him and Oliver, voiced by Christian Convery, as they find their way back to a healthy father-son relationship.
Invincible/Mark is once again voiced by Steven Yeun, who really showcases to us Yeun’s acting with the amount of stress and world shattering events occurring to and around him. Additionally the emotional journey that Atom Eve, voiced by Gillian Jacobs, takes this season is also incredibly well produced and acted by their respective players.
Overall 9/10
So much has happens this season, specifically, that the back half of this year’s episodes feels like it could have been its own season. That’s also due to the fact of how disconnected it is from the first half. I am a little saddened to say that Mark’s journey and understanding that he might have to kill to save lives is kind of forgotten and pushed to the side once the Viltrum war occurs. He has no qualms or hesitation after killing Conquest. But nonetheless, I still think this is one of the best seasons of the show.
Conner’s Final Thoughts
The series is doing a great job of respecting the comic book, the art style, as well as story beats from it. While there are still several changes and adjustments to the written work, this series has given Robert Kirkman the chance to adjust his story, and even add new stories that he had planned to do during the run of the comic book series, but was not able to do, due to time and other constraints. Specifically, the story when Mark journeys to Hell is a nice addition to the world that Kirkman wishes he had added to the comic book series originally.
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