Review: Invincible “Neil Armstrong, Eat Your Heart Out”

 

 

Overview:

Mark enjoys his first official date with Amber. Though their relationship is tested when Mark takes on his latest mission: A two-week endeavour escorting the first manned mission to Mars. And getting the astronauts home safely is going to take some of Invincible’s signature dumb luck.

Nolan successfully eases Debbie’s growing concerns about him with a romantic date. And as the eyes that have been watching him close in on his secrets, they start to take care of themselves. But with the Grayson’s temporarily off the board, bigger pieces begin to fall in place around them.

 

Our Take:

There is no denying that Amazon’s Invincible is giving it their all. Within the first three episodes, the series has already introduced a slab of characters, taken us to the moon, fended off an alien invasion, and had its own contest of champions. This latest episode follows suit with a trip to an alien world, Mars.

The choice to involve this side-adventure to the Martian world is telling of how close to the source material this show wants to be. The series is already fully loaded with developing plots and ongoing threats. 

This early side-quest from the comic books adds another storyline that could have easily ended up on the cutting room floor when trying to fit everything into a television series. But the Robert Kirkman production follows true to itself by not missing any of these beats.

Truthfully, the addition is a bold move, resulting in what will most likely be the slowest episode of the season. Though Kirkman seems to have learned from mistakes made on The Walking Dead when many of the early storylines did not make it into the show. This time around, there is no holding back as he is giving fans everything that they want to see.

This ambitious attitude is appreciated and puts this series leagues ahead of other new programs. 

These creators are not developing a season and hoping to be picked up for more. Instead, they are establishing a universe and all the plots necessary to fill an entire series, however many seasons they have intended. And there should be no other way of doing it when it comes to adapting a solidified comic title like Invincible.  

It is just one of the many ways that Amazon’s Invincible is changing the game.  

Much like the comic book did, the show is cracking open the superhero genre in profound ways. But this time around you can add adult animation to the list of entertainment streams being challenged at the core.  Invincible is putting it all on the table in ways that other animated programs would never dare. The ambitious storytelling is revealing the infinite possibilities of animation that has yet to become mainstream in North America.

As this episode takes us to the halfway mark of the season, it does slow things down a bit. There is much more relationship development than action. But it does so in the name of establishing much larger things ahead including mind-controlling aliens and an all-powerful ancient mummy. Still, the episode still includes a trip to Mount Everest, space travel, and plenty of gruesome death.

With only four episodes remaining in the season, things are only going to get more explosive from here. We have passed the threshold from interested to being absolutely captivated. If this episode accomplished anything it built the anticipation of watching all the pieces fall. Even with that, the show once again managed to give us something unlike anything else on television.