Editor’s Note: The following contains full spoilers for Invincible Season 2, Episode 5.

The Big Picture

The Guardians fight the Lizard League in a gruesome battle, marking a violent high for the series.
Debbie’s character arc shines, standing out as one of the strongest aspects of this season.
Mark’s complex relationship with Amber is confronted with maturity in the new episode.

After a three-month wait, Invincible Season 2 has finally returned with an episode that is literally out-of-this-world. When we last saw Mark (Steven Yeun), he was left in critical condition on the planet Thraxa. After a brief reunion, his father Nolan (J.K. Simmons) has been taken away by Viltrumite soldiers and is set to be executed on his home planet of Viltrum, after failing to fulfill his mission on Earth. Back on Earth, Donald (Chris Diamantopoulos) has discovered that he may no longer be human, after stabbing himself in the forearm to see if he still bleeds. In the meantime, Debbie (Sandra Oh) has accepted that her marriage to Nolan was just a facade, and has thrown away his old books.

Invincible Invincible is an adult animated superhero series that revolves around 17-year-old Mark Grayson, who’s just like every other guy his age — except his father is the most powerful superhero on the planet, Omni-Man. But as Mark develops powers of his own, he discovers his father’s legacy may not be as heroic as it seems.Release Date March 25, 2021 Creator Robert Kirkman Seasons 2 Developer Simon Racioppa Number of Episodes 9 Network amazon prime video Streaming Service(s) Prime Video

Mark Returns to Debbie With Shocking News in ‘Invincible’ Season 2

Invincible Season 2, Episode 5, titled “This Must Come as a Shock,” opens mere moments after Episode 4, as a group of Thraxans examines a wounded Mark, with Mark meekly pleading for them to take him to Andressa (Rhea Seehorn), Nolan’s new wife. He informs her that Nolan has been taken away by the Viltrumite soldiers, and apologizes for the destruction that he blames on himself. Andressa is quick to forgive him, claiming that Thraxan culture never assigns blame, especially since the lifespan of their species is far shorter than his.

Two months pass by as Mark helps the Thraxans rebuild their city, and is told by Nuolzot (Rob Delaney) that it is time for him to return to Earth and assist his fellow heroes in their time of need. In response, Mark tries to explain that, as much as he wants to return home to see his mother and his girlfriend Amber (Zazie Beetz), he feels as if there is still a lot more for him to do on Thraxa. Andressa assures Mark that he has done more than enough and that the Thraxans will be more than OK rebuilding on their own. However, she does ask Mark to take his half-Thraxan half-brother back down to Earth, as he will age much faster than a human or Viltrumite, but far slower than a Thraxan, and she’ll be dead before her child can even talk. Mark obliges and begins his journey back down to Earth.

Mark arrives at Debbie’s home, introducing her to Nolan’s new son. Debbie is in shock since she believed Nolan to be dead. She is initially reluctant to help raise the child, as she is sick of constantly having to clean up all of her ex-husband’s messes, but Mark tries to bargain with her, claiming that he can take a year off from college, having already missed his first two months of classes, to assist her in raising the child. Debbie reluctantly agrees, but lets Mark know that he doesn’t have to drop out of college, having finally made her peace with being an empty-nest single mother.

It feels like the perfect next step for Debbie’s character arc this season, whose storyline feels much deeper and more human than the rest of the ensemble. Even if the new child she’s raising has purple skin and ages at an accelerated rate. It’s not like she wants to take care of a child that her ex-husband had with another woman, it’s that much like Mark, she feels that it is her sense of duty to protect her family.

Cecil Continues to Make Everybody Mad in ‘Invincible’ Season 2
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Donald angrily confronts Cecil (Walton Goggins) after discovering wiring inside his arm, demanding answers about what has truly happened to him, and why Debbie has seemed visibly confused by him being alive. Cecil leads Donald to the “White Room,” where he shows him a robotic exoskeleton, informing him that his brain was still intact after Omni-Man’s attack in the Season 1 finale, allowing him to implant his memories into the new body. Donald, unsurprisingly, feels violated, but Cecil merely dismisses Donald’s anger as “existential angst.”

Mark returns to his college dorm room, where he reunites with his best friend William (Andrew Rannells), who attempted to cover for him in his classes during his absence but was unable to, leaving Mark on academic probation. Mark rushes to find Amber to explain everything that has happened to him in the past two months, but before he can do that, he gets an unwelcome visit from Cecil, who seems to be ticking everyone off in this episode. Cecil reprimands Mark for not letting him know of his return to Earth while revealing that he is already well aware that Mark has placed his half-brother in the care of Debbie, and that he has already sent his agents to take the half-Thraxan away, to be raised in a government-run facility. Mark demands that he call off the protocol, which he reluctantly does.

Once Mark finally arrives at Amber’s dorm room, he tries to explain everything that has happened to him. While Amber has become much more accepting of Mark’s superhero antics since Season 1, she’s also gone through her own struggles at college, after losing her grandfather and struggling in her classes.

The Guardians of the Globe Are Assigned a Dangerous New Mission
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In Mark’s absence, the Guardians of the Globe have been dealing with a majority of the threats facing Earth, and Rudy/Robot’s (Ross Marquand/Zachary Quinto) relationship with Monster Girl (Grey Griffin/Kevin Michael Richardson) has increasingly become strained. Cecil speaks to the Guardians about an issue on the US’s evacuated Mars station that still has readings of bio-matter, much to the discomfort of the team’s newest member, The Shapesmith (Ben Schwartz). Shapesmith finally comes clean about his true Martian identity, which Cecil was already well aware of, and explains to the team that the Martians have used a species of parasitic aliens known as Sequids as their servants for centuries. After the Sequids began to rebel in Season 1, leading to Mark having to evacuate a team of astronauts on Mars, Shapesmith tells the team that he took the place of American astronaut Rus Livingston, leaving him unconscious and unclothed, completely vulnerable to the Sequids, leading to him becoming a possessed host for the alien parasites.

The Immortal (Marquand) recruits himself, Bulletproof (Jay Pharoah), Black Samson (Khary Payton), Monster Girl, Robot, and Shapesmith, to travel to Mars to rescue Rus and stop the Sequids from invading Earth, while Rex Splode (Jason Mantzoukas), Shrinking Rae (Griffin), and Dupli-Kate (Malese Jow) will stay back on Earth. In a self-described “out-of-character” moment, Rex also decides to try to recruit Atom Eve (Gillian Jacobs). The ex-lovers have a heartfelt talk, with Rex apologizing for cheating on her and consoling her over the trouble she caused while attempting to help rebuild Chicago.

Mark checks in on Debbie, in search of Nolan’s old belongings, particularly his old books, but she confesses that she donated all of them to charity. However, their conversation is disrupted when Cecil arrives, asking Mark to travel to Mars with the Guardians of the Globe to stop the Sequids.

Mark Leaves Earth Once Again in ‘Invincible’ Season 2
Image via Prime Video

Mark meets up with the Guardians on the space shuttle, where he reunites with Eve. It doesn’t take long for the superhero team to find a Martian ship on its way to Earth, which quickly shoots down their shuttle. With the help of Eve’s force fields, the band of heroes can successfully board the ship, where Shapesmith has an awkward reunion with his people, who are still furious with him for his abandonment. Shapesmith begins attacking the Sequids, unaware the parasites are part of a hive mind and are now aware of the team’s arrival, leading to a deadly confrontation with the possessed Rus that leaves Eve knocked unconscious.

Back on Earth, the Lizard League, now led by King Lizard (Scoot McNairy), has become their invasion of the Global Defense Agency’s Headquarters inside the Pentagon, which puts a damper on Rex and the team’s plans to lie low. What ensues is possibly one of the most gruesome fight scenes in a series already filled with blood and gore. While the heroes are able to kill both Salamander (Phil LaMarr) and Iguana, the bruting Komodo Dragon murders Dupli-Kate, by smashing her and one of her clones together, leaving her as nothing more than a pile of flesh. The hulking villain also seemingly eats Shrinking Rae alive, after she travels into his mouth, hoping to explode his body from within. Rex is left seriously bloodied from his fight with Iguana and confronts Komodo Dragon, and while he can make his head explode using his powers, it’s not without getting his right hand bitten off. The episode concludes with King Lizard aiming a gun at the head of Rex, leaving his fate uncertain.

After that chilling cliffhanger, the post-credits scene gives us a bit of hope as it is revealed that Allen the Alien (Seth Rogen) is alive after Thaedus (Peter Cullen) seemingly sabotaged his recovery in Episode 3. Allen discovers that he has now become far stronger and more muscular, with Thaedus revealing the reason why he took him off life-support was that there was a 50-50 chance that he would recover even stronger than before. Thaedus proceeds to confess to Allen that he is rebelling against the Viltrumites and needs him to return to Earth to recruit Mark.

Invincible REVIEWInvincible Season 2 returns in an episode that has an equal share of gruesome violence and heartwarming moments.ProsThe Guardian’s fight against the Lizard League is one of the series’ most violent action sequences yet.Debbie’s character arc continues to be one of this season’s strongest assets.The episode confronts Mark’s complicated relationship with Amber with more maturity.

Invincible Season 2, Episode 5 is now available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.

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