Invasion was a curious addition to the sci-fi TV panorama when it debuted in 2021. For a lot of its runtime, it barely felt like science fiction in any respect. All of us knew one thing alien was occurring — it’s proper there within the present’s title, in any case — however the story was rather more targeted on the human-level drama happening because the world steadily succumbed to the invading forces. The end result was a present that began very slowly, although issues did ultimately choose up mid-season. In the end, season 1 felt like a prologue to a a lot greater story.
With all of that setup out of the best way, the second season begins out rather more thrilling — and it doesn’t let up for the primary few episodes.
Observe: this write-up relies on the primary 5 (of 10) episodes of season 2. I’ll have extra on the total season in a while.
One of the crucial notable issues about Invasion is its construction. The present follows a handful of characters unfold throughout the globe, every coping with the invading aliens in several methods. Season 1 was all about survival for just about the entire forged, whether or not it was a mom in America making an attempt to maintain her youngsters alive, a bus full of scholars stranded and alone in England, or a Japanese communications professional desperately making an attempt to contact a misplaced astronaut who additionally occurred to be her secret girlfriend. However in season 2, most everyone has a bit extra course, and it makes the present transfer ahead with extra function and depth.
The brand new season picks up a number of months after the spiky alien blobs first made their presence identified, and issues aren’t going so effectively. Main cities seem like battle zones, with most individuals having fled or died, whereas those that stay wrestle to combat towards the very robust to kill invaders. If it weren’t for the looming spaceships on the horizon, the present could possibly be mistaken for any variety of postapocalyptic collection early on. And as soon as once more, the forged is unfold throughout the globe, coping with the invasion — and their very own private struggles — on numerous fronts.
For instance, within the first episode, the aforementioned comms professional Mitsuki (Shioli Kutsuna) finds herself on the frontlines of the battle, combating within the streets and utilizing Molotov cocktails to maintain the alien invaders at bay. However very quickly, she’s picked up by a corporation known as the WDC (World Protection Coalition) and transported to assist analysis the one downed alien spacecraft on Earth. Her makes an attempt to succeed in her astronaut lover in season 1 made her the one individual on the planet to make contact with the aliens, and right here, she’s capable of proceed that work.
The scenes in and across the alien craft are nice. The whole lot about this species is simply so, effectively, alien; the ship is natural in nature, and anybody who spends an excessive amount of time inside begins to get somewhat crazy. Her makes an attempt to make additional contact with the aliens really feel like a mixture of Annihilation and Arrival, and ultimately, they’ve a big effect on humanity’s potential to combat again, with a number of scenes harking back to Independence Day.
However as a lot as season 2 can really feel like different extra outstanding sci-fi tales at instances, it does an amazing job of blending that with the grounded human drama that helped make season 1 stand out. The opposite half of the primary episode follows Aneesha (Golshifteh Farahani), who resides on the run along with her two youngsters, heading north and doing her greatest to keep away from different individuals within the identify of security. She additionally occurs to nonetheless be in possession of a chunk of alien metallic that the federal government actually desires to get its palms on. Her story is way much less concerning the precise aliens and extra about navigating the harmful new social panorama on Earth.
The present manages to easily bounce between the slower character improvement moments and storylines which might be speeding towards one thing with urgency. Principally, it’s nonetheless the identical Invasion from season 1, besides there’s much more ahead momentum, which in flip, makes it rather more thrilling. And it will get a lot deeper into sci-fi weirdness, with harmful new aliens and a wierd goopy creature that Mitsuki kinds a reference to. To date, it fulfills the promise of the primary season, which was a really lengthy setup for an epic sci-fi story. Now, we’re seeing that story unfold.
The start of Invasion helped us perceive the people on the coronary heart of its story. Now, season 2 helps us perceive the aliens that they’re working from.
Season 2 of Invasion premieres on Apple TV Plus on August twenty third.