Review: Invincible “Hurm”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Still unsure how to proceed after the Sequid invasion, Mark is suddenly dragged to Hell to help Damien Darkblood overthrow a usurper to the throne, while Eve struggles to tell Mark that she is pregnant.

OUR TAKE

We’re once again on the second week of an Invincible season release and already halfway through the season, but to take a break from the drama of the main plot, let’s have a fun little filler episode! I say filler, but really it’s just another show exclusive plot, apparently reworked from some threads that author/showrunner Robert Kirkman wanted in the original comic run but couldn’t make work at the time, so he’s fitting it into this updated adaptation. And in true Invincible fashion, a breather episode takes place entirely in hell! To be specific, the Under Realm, where the demon detective Damien Darkblood makes his first appearance since Season 1! I mean, he was also in the mid-credits scene of the last season, but this is following up from that. Plus, it turns out that a trip to hell is actually just what Mark needed, especially as he is contemplating his moral compass following being forced to kill someone during the Sequid attack. As his costume designer Art points out, the fact that he feels bad about it is a sign he’s not nearly as terrible as he thinks he is, but that doesn’t do much to quell his worries about things happening like that again if the situation gets dire.

So, it’s probably a bit of a relief to hear that while hell is real, there isn’t any cosmic system of morality that would punish him if he did turn out as bad as his dad. While that may mean to some that nothing they do matters, it can also mean that when they choose to do something good, they do it because they are genuinely a good person. Mark has saved countless people and helped others out so much that one hard decision is not going to suddenly negate all of that. That doesn’t mean he can just kill as many people as he’s saved to stay in the black or anything like that, but it does at least seem to pick his spirits up and give him reason to try on his old/new costume, as he goes on to almost find out he’s going to be a father…right before his own father returns. As for all the hell stuff and extra worldbuilding stuff, it was pretty neat, but I find myself kinda underwhelmed by it, though I do like they added Star Trek’s Kate Mulgrew to the cast, and it looks like we’ll be seeing Damien Darkblood again before too long. But now, we get back to preparing for the big Viltrumite battle that is to come! And luckily a weekly release schedule for the remaining four episodes of this half of the season, because I get the feeling we’re really going to need to pace this all out.