Despite lengthy break trying fans’ patience, Prime series proves ‘invincible’

Despite lengthy break trying fans’ patience, Prime series proves ‘invincible’

Flying straight off a 110-day break, fans had exceptionally high expectations for the second half of the immensely popular Prime Video’s Invincible, making it nearly impossible for the cast and crew to uphold the standards of season one and the first part of season two. While the beginning of season two seemed promising following a lethal cliffhanger, the unsubtle break led to a loss of hype for the second half. The second season of Invincible sets the stage for an exhilarating path in a coming of age story for Mark Grayson, as it explores the unique themes of morality, heroism and self-identity. 

From the moment Invincible awoke from the slumber induced from a beating from Omni-Man, the character development for Mark was clear for fans to see. As the season progresses, viewers expect to see even more selflessness from the kid fighting to compete in an alien-dominated world. Aside from pure character development in Mark, many others besides him grew, most noticeably Allen (voiced by Seth Rogen), who is expected to see a formidable arc in subsequent seasons. Mark’s own liberation from oppression implemented by his father allows him to finally break free from his limitations and be invincible in this new season.

While the second season explores the redemption from PTSD rooting from Omni-Man in the past season, viewers were expecting to see little to none of Nolan past the season break. Diverging from his father, Mark has to fend for himself even more than most of the past episodes combined. The exploration of self-identity is not just limited to Mark, as Allen the Alien finds himself resoundingly enhanced and confident in his new body following the events of a deadly Viltrumite attack. As the crew of Invincible try to uphold the rigorous fan expectations on animation and storytelling, viewers get introduced to well-known characters from the comics  in the ensuing episodes like Anissa and Oliver. Not just limited to new characters, many beloved characters had their veils of self-identity removed, like Thaedus as a leader of the Autobots sounding Viltrumite, Donald as a cyborg hybrid who has died over 30 times, and Amber who manages to still be useless. 

As far as general opinion and reviews go for the second half, it proved to still peak viewer interest as episode ratings rose substantially. Reviews received were a steep influx compared to past episodes, and opinions were more critical as the season’s narrative changed significantly following an independently developing Mark. Critics and fans tend to criticize season two for adapting an emotional plotline and having weaker animation production. Although the positive feedback on season two is intriguing, the past season convinced many to commit and stick around, especially after Marvel’s decline and the rise of The Boys to the mature superhero genre. Despite having a mixed response to their break, supposedly for creativity and mental rehabilitation, Prime Video decided to introduce a mandatory ad-based plan during this period to their existing members, leaving fans questioning whether it was intentional or coincidental.

Leaving on yet another (expected) cliffhanger, many speculations have risen for new villains, along with the creative Easter eggs left in the final episode to fuel the attention from fans for the next 27-year waiting period. Flooding the algorithm with hope, fans fancast their favorite actors to roles like Thragg, strongest of the viltrumites along with Conquest, another immensely popular nemesis of our protagonist. As far as Conquest goes, popular actors like Josh Brolin (voice of Thanos), Ryan Hurst (voice of Thor in GOW), and Ron Perlman (voice of Animated Deathstroke) have all been speculated and rooted for. Aside from teasing the arrivals of new antagonists, open ended plotlines for Omni-Man, Allen, William, Anissa, and primarily Mark and Eve’s newly discovered romantic relationship leaves a lot for fans to desire for an eight-episode season three.

Despite significant variations in opinion amongst fans, the second season of Invincible sets the stage for an exhilarating path in a bildungsroman for Mark Grayson, and seemingly succeeds in living up to the hype through its creative differences and a several month break. As the subsequent seasons roll out, fans can look forward for an even more comic-accurate acceleration as season two has demonstrated to coincide with other contemporary media of the genre. 

Grade: A-

Invincible Season 2 flies off formidably following the lengthy, unheard of break period with unique storytelling, along with comic accuracy. However, it falls short due to extreme circumstances and reputation the show has created after leaving such intense cliffhangers,leaving fans on their toes on where the show will turn its attention ub following seasons.

by Luis Fonseca

Published April 29 2024

Oshkosh West Index Volume 120 Issue VI