Ryan Shoots First: Invincible (S2 Ep4) “It’s Been a While”

Well, the most controversial thing to come out of the Invincible mid-season finale this week was just that. That it was a mid-season finale!

Yes after only 3 weeks and 4 episodes, we say goodbye to the show we had waited two years for till early next year. This of course riled up some on the internet and honestly, I see both sides. On one end you have the idea that crunch work in the animation industry is a big problem. Animators work insane hours in tight conditions for little pay. These artists should be able to take the time to artfully craft their show and be paid honestly for it. But at the same time… guys… you had 2 years and you could only give us 4 episodes? Entire feature-length films are animated in half that time. Plus, don’t get me wrong the animation in the show is good but it isn’t really on par with what many of the film studios are putting out. This means you can see when character and background models are held for multiple frames or reused to save on animation. Which again is fine for an animated series releasing episodes every year but 2 years? And if the rest of the season will be ready in a few months would it have been better to just wait and release them all at once? I don’t know the details and I guess Amazon runs the world so they know what they are doing but still. Seems like a slap in the face to the audience. 

But what about the episode? “It’s Been a While” sees Nolan and Mark meet face to face for the first time since their fight that almost leveled Chicago in last year’s season finale and spawned the “Think” meme. Mark understandably makes valid point after valid point and Nolan really seems to want to make things better but just has blinders on on how to relate to his son or even really be human. This is when it hit me that Nolan is the stand-in for how a lot of young millennials see their dads. We idolized them growing up, they were superheroes who could save the world and do no harm. But always at a distance, they raised us tough and showed little emotion. Then as we reached adulthood we started to learn maybe they were not so super. Maybe they were not always right and maybe they were not perfect. Then we have no idea how to talk to them about it and they don’t know how to talk to us about it so it becomes this awkward lack of understanding and we become distant. Seemingly worlds apart. Then when it all blows up and they try to fix it they have no idea how to deal with their emotions. 

Now make that space apart literal space, make the dad a literal God-level hero and you pretty much have the dynamic between Mark and Nolan. I don’t doubt that Nolan loves Mark but he never understood what it meant to be human and now he can’t relate to him on the most fundamental levels. He asks A LOT of Mark in this episode and even plays on Mark’s sense of morality and doing what’s right to get what he wants which is manipulative and frankly a Dick move but again Nolan is doing it all from a place of genuine good faith, he just sucks at it. To the point, he even lashes out again at Mark when he can’t reconcile with his own emotions and feelings. A lot to unpack in therapy for these two. 

Beyond my psycho analyzing the greater narrative going on the episode does a good job again checking in with our various side stories and leaving us on another cliffhanger to get us through the holidays. We did kinda drop the Multiverse guy story, I’m sure it will come back after this Omni-Man reunion stuff is over but seems odd when it got a pretty big focus early in the season. Again, you can see the seams where a comic that needed to have self-contained stories has leaked into the show. I’ve enjoyed the season but it has felt a bit erratic and rudderless and to have this mid-season break right when we finally seem to get something we can sink our teeth into is frustrating for the audience. I would advise next time just wait and do the whole season at once. We waited two years we can wait a bit more. 

Observations 

• Alright, can a sad song make me sympathize with a psycho path? 
• Haha how many fathers have wanted to say that. 
• Haha maybe not the best angle there Dad
• Nice parallel of Debbie walking like how Nolan was flying 
• Hey were back to these guys
• Hey we now know who the clone is!
• Nolan, really sucks at trying to be a human 
• Yea Mark makes so really good points when he just lays out the timeline of events
• Welp too late
• Mark kinda has bug eyes on his mask I see how he fits in so well
• Man Eve, just can’t stop with that collateral damage
• Oh I get it he’s like Agent Colson!
• Omni Man really is like most dads, most kids version of their dad. Dang I just cracked it. 
• She got that Bianca Belair braid
• Man Omni Man is brutal
• Yea I aint reading dad
• Uh oh, Super Donald!
• Haha a whole season and Mark in the same spot
• We totally just bailed on the multiverse guy
• Lol they don’t work when they know who the clone is