In Review: Secret Invasion (S1 – EP1) – Resurrection

Synopsis: In Resurrection, Nick Fury learns of a clandestine invasion of Earth by Skrulls.

The Story

When Nick Fury is called back to Earth by his friend Talos, a Skrull who has been living among humans. He learns of a Skrull terrorist plot led by  a Skrull called Gravik. It turns out that Gravik is trying to reignite hostilities between the USA and Russia by stirring up trouble via a series of false flag bombings in the city of Moscow. Fury who used to call Gravik a friend is keen to find out what is happening and leans on his old friends Talos and Maria Hill to help him get to the bottom of things. However, given that the Skrulls can take on human form and also take on the memories of those people that they are impersonating. It will take a special kind of agent to figure out all the nuances of Gravik’s plans. However, there are some concerns about whether or not Fury is up to the job given that he has not been the same man since the events of Avengers: Endgame. Can Nick Fury stop the Bombs?

The Acting

Samuel L. Jackson reprises the role of Nick Fury and gives us somewhat of a different take on the character who seems a little more tired and jaded when compared to the version we met in the first Avengers movie. Jackson does a great job of portraying this aspect of the character, which gets commented on by various other characters throughout the episode. But he also manages to retain the keen intelligence and strategic aspects of the character. I particularly enjoyed the scenes between Fury and Olivia Colman who plays high-up British Intelligence agent Sonya Falsworth that has Fury brought to her the dialogue between her and Fury is interesting and provides a bit of fun backstory that I hope we get to learn more about in future episodes.

Ben Mendelsohn is brilliantly cast as Talos and the banter between him and Fury provide a few chuckles. However, it is Talos’s relationship with his daughter G’iah (Emilia Clarke) that looks like it could be a pretty major plot point. Particularly due to the fact that G’iah has been working with Gravik and his terrorist group. 

Overall

Resurrection does a fairly good job of setting up the world in which Fury and his team operate. It’s a world very much in shadow where the lines between good and bad can become rather fuzzy. The threat posed by Gravik is pretty major, but we do not really see a great deal of the villain in this episode to get a feel for how much of a fanatic he is. Indeed his plot to wipe the earth clean of human beings is Nazi-level stuff from Gravik and his terrorist group.

Pacing wise it takes Ressurection a little while to get up and running as we get a little exposition about where Fury has been and what he has been doing. But when the action picks up. Things happen fairly quickly.

It’s going to be interesting to see how all of this plays out in the weeks ahead.