The first season of Invincible soared into the tv landscape to deliver an exciting take on animated superhero fare. Well written, impressively voiced and ultra violent - it was a breath of fresh air in an overcrowded genre. After a very long hiatus, the much anticipated second season has landed. In many ways, it’s a worthy follow up, but fails to reach the heights of season one.
The first episode picks up in the devastating aftermath of season one’s finale, and as many premiers do, takes a necessary breather while setting up things to come. We follow Mark in his first year of college, as he struggles to balance school, his relationship with Amber, and his role as a hero. We also get to see the Guardians, as they adapt to Mark and Eve’s departure, while preparing new members. This lower stakes cool-down is welcome, as it would be almost impossible to continue the momentum the first season built by the time it concludes. Unfortunately, the second season isn’t able to build much momentum of its own.
I had a lot of fun with individual episodes and the handful of “villain of the week” stories this season gave us, but the overarching narrative lacks urgency and direction. There are a lot of great ideas and some interesting plot lines setup throughout these eight episodes, but few of them are actually followed through to fruition. This causes the season as a whole to feel like a bridge between the main events of season one, and whatever season three may bring.
But like I said, the show still gives us a lot of what we loved in the first place. The combination of that Saturday morning cartoon look and over the top violence continues to shock and impress. There are some absolutely brutal moments here that don’t hold back in how graphic they are. The cheeky sense of humour is also on point with some clever meta references and jabs at other superhero properties. The impressive voice cast returns with excellent performances once again. The standouts here are Steven Yeun and Sandra Oh, who breathe so much life and emotion into their characters. I also really enjoyed Gillian Jacob’s performance, as Eve’s story takes a detour, as we find her trying to find her place outside of the Guardians (Be sure to check out her bonus episode) Once again, the season is stacked with tons of awesome guest stars (I’ve never used Prime Video’s X-ray feature so much).
The dreaded sophomore slump hits Invincible in its second year, but it’s not enough to keep the show down. Though it’s overcrowded with subplots and doesn’t have a proper central arc of its own, this season still delivers plenty of exciting action, great characters and insane violence we love. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait another two and a half years for season three.
3.5/5
Review by: Benjamin Garrett
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