In Review: Invincible (S1 – Ep4) Neil Armstrong, Eat Your Heart Out

Synopsis: In ‘Neil Armstrong, Eat Your Heart Out’. It’s two firsts for Mark: A first date and a first trip to another planet. At the same time, Nolan and Debbie revisit their own first vacation together.

The Story

Cecil asks Nolan to escort a mission to mars as Omni-Man, but Nolan refuses the mission. Nolan’s refusal to help scuppers Cecil’s hopes of investigating him for the murders of the Guardians of the Globe. So he asks Nolan’s son Mark aka Invincible to do the mission because he wants to see what the young lad is made of. Mark is totally thrilled at the idea of visiting another planet and following in the footsteps of people like Neil Armstrong. But when he realizes it means two weeks away from his new girlfriend. He ain’t so thrilled.

While Mark is away. Nolan and his wife Debbie go on a trip down memory lane. However, Debbie is a bit worried that something is not right. And Nolan does very little to dissuade her when he flat refuses to battle a dragon and save a bunch of people. His reply being, “I’m on vacation.”

Back on Mars. Mark sees the astronauts he is supposed to be protecting disappear. When he finds them he learns that Martians have taken them. And plan to kill them. They are concerned that the humans may have been infected by an alien parasite, which when joined up with other beings can destroy and take over planets. Of course, Mark is left with little choice but to take the humans from the Martians.

Back on Earth. Robot Man walks into a mysterious chamber and activates some sort of chamber in which seems to be growing a weird twisted life form. What on earth is he up to?

The Voice Acting

Steven Yeun continues to imbue a youthful enthusiasm into the role of Mark Grayson. He is still very much learning to be a superhero but seems to be doing better on his own than he is with any guidance from his father.

We also get a solid performance from Walton Goggins as Cecil. The government agent who assigns missions to the Guardians of the Globe and occasionally gives Nolan some work. Cecil is sort of the Nick Fury of this series.

Finally, Sandra Oh shines in the role of Debbie. She is really getting very suspicious about her husband’s behavior. Oh, does a brilliant job of selling us on Debbie’s concerns.

Overall

‘Neil Armstrong, Eat Your Heart Out’ does a solid job of building on the foundations of what the first three episodes set up.

I’m loving the complexities of Cecil as he tries to have Nolan aka Omni-Man investigated, but also has to take steps to kill another investigation. The sequence of Invincible’s trip to Mars were wonderfully executed and I loved the jokey way that Mark dealt with the Martians. Although I can’t help but feel that mark admitting that he was half Viltrum was a mistake. Especially given the response it got from the Martian leader.

Overall. A solid fourth episode for this new show, which leaves us with a mighty big cliffhanger, which further shows that Robot is up to no good. But what is his big plan? Just how much cover will his new position as leader of the Guardians of the Globe provide him.