Ryan Shoots First: Invincible (S3 Ep8) “I Thought You’d Never Shut Up”
The Man has come around. You will be hard-pressed to find a better three-episode close to a season than what Invincible gave us in its Season 3. Any one of them on their own would be a pretty stellar finale but all three string together to depict the man Mark has become and the man he has now decided to be. All season his inner turmoil of when taking a life may be necessary and now in the wake of Conquest, he has cemented his resolve.
Holy crap was Conquest amazing. Last week fans online were freaking out at the prospect of the Conquest fight, and in true Invincible fashion, they nailed the casting with Jeffrey Dean Morgan. That biting voice, the taunting and intense delivery bring Conquest to life. What happens when even the Viltrumites won’t talk to you because they think you are too crazy and unhinged? That is Conquest. The manifestation of the word, and what a fight. The kind of superhero fight I can remember having with my one figures growing up as a kid, the knockdown drag-out fight soaked in drama and banter as the two battle not just physically but ideologically. In the final moments when Conquest shares a vulnerable moment with Mark because he thinks the battle is over in his favor you really believe him, because why else would he lie? He has no one to fear and no one who cares. Top-tier fight in a top-tier season of TV. Spare a thought for the people trying to live in this show though, man do they go through it. I know they have spent time on how the world reacts to Mark but after the last month of story time in the show, you wouldn’t be remiss to sympathize with those who might want him to just leave if it means these atrocities stop happening.
Scrolling back through the episode list on Prime I was blown away by how complete and solid this season was. Comic books have this unique challenge of telling a story over issues and issues but still needing to put something in the issue to make you buy it. Something has to always be happening. Invincible does a fantastic job bringing that to the TV. Almost every episode on its own is a great watch but strung together you can see how the fights and challenges shape the characters over the course of the season. Eve, Oliver, Rex, so many characters by the end are completely different and they all have legitimate reasons for being that way. We fully understand how and why they made the decisions they did, even the most fringe side heroes. It will be hard for them to match what they did in Season 3 as I feel it will go down as an all-timer but they still have plenty of very interesting threads left to tug and I cannot wait to see who beats the crap out of Mark next.
