When a new alien species was introduced in the previous episode of the Apple TV+ science fiction drama Invasion, it seemed like the series would finally get more interesting and pick up the pace. Sadly, that is not the case, as the show remains as predictable and unconvincing as ever, with one of the central characters, Mitsuki Yamato, taking the same route that she has taken so many times before by starting to grow a bond with the aliens despite setting out to essentially destroy them. Invasion season 3 episode 8 has Mitsuki travelling through the forest surrounding the Dead Zone all by herself, in the hopes of reaching the mothership and destroying the hivemind with the newly put-together shard bomb, but her adventures take an unexpected turn when she has to accompany the alien being.
Spoiler Alert
What does Mitsuki find out about the alien?
Invasion season 3 episode 8 begins with Mitsuki Yamato inside the Dead Zone, observing the mysterious new alien creature that she had spotted at the end of the previous episode, when she had ventured into the dangerous location all by herself. The alien creature, referred to as ‘gardener’ later in the episode, seems to be spreading some sort of alien fruit all over the land, as if sowing seeds to arrange for food sources, which is essentially why it is called a gardener. Mitsuki recalls an interaction with the alien from season 2, during which she had confronted it for destroying the Earth by invading and killing humans, but it had not understood what was being said. The entity did not seem aware of ideas like invasion and destruction, and Mitsuki now joins the dots to figure out what is going on.
The aliens, at least at present, are only concerned with creating a habitable space for themselves on Earth and are not necessarily killing humans and animals out of vengeance. They are simply clearing space and any threats in their way to ensure that their species will be able to live freely on the planet. This further suggests that the aliens have been driven out of their home planet for some mysterious reason, which Invasion will surely want to delve into many seasons later. For now, Mitsuki understands that, just as the hunter-killers have been tasked with eliminating threats, the gardeners have been given the job of sowing seeds all across the Dead Zone to grow food. She starts following the creature through the forest while keeping at a safe distance from it, with the intention of being led to the heart of the mothership, where it is seemingly headed.
But on her journey, Mitsuki follows the gardener into a cave and has to immediately turn on her flashlight to see the path ahead. This is when the gardener gets alerted and tries to scare the human away by emanating some pulse from what seem to be antennae on its head. Since Mitsuki understands the alien language quite well now, she quickly realizes that the creature is itself feeling threatened and is trying to act intimidating in front of her, but its trick does not work on her. She has been strong enough to repel the incoming communications from the hivemind, obviously with the help of the neural dampener fitted on her neck. But it seems like whenever messages are communicated by the hivemind, she has an instant urge to get rid of the dampener and be able to receive the communications, but she successfully fights off such urges.
Therefore at present, Mitsuki does not get scared by the screeching gardener alien, but soon fears that the strong vibrations from its pulse will make the walls of the cave crumble and fall in. This is exactly what happens, and both she and the alien are trapped inside. To make matters worse, the gardener is severely injured by the falling rocks as well, and Mitsuki now approaches to provide help, for the very first time. Rather unexpectedly, the alien does not seem to mind much and allows her to come close. A pact is formed between the two, in which Mitsuki helps the gardener jump up to a crevice through which it can escape, against the promise that it will help her climb out with its long tentacles. Although the gardener initially seems to not understand Mitsuki’s deal or go back on its promise, it does eventually help her climb out of the cave. But her oxygen cylinder and the mask she had been breathing through from time to time are left behind inside the place, meaning that she has to breathe the supposedly toxic air of the Dead Zone from now on.
How does Mitsuki get abducted?
After making it back into the open, Mitsuki keeps following the injured gardener as it slowly trundles towards the mothership, which it calls its home, leaving a trail of bluish blood behind. On the way, she spots a crashed WDC aircraft in a section of the forest and naturally goes to check on it. All the signs of the crash show it to be a recent one, meaning that the flight had gone down just a day or two earlier, and so Mitsuki is intrigued by the idea of solving its mystery. Soon, she is able to spot the pilot’s body hanging from a tree, meaning that they had ejected out of the plane before the crash and deployed the parachute but had ultimately died.
As Mitsuki cuts the ropes on the body and brings it down, she realizes that the pilot had not been killed by the impact of the crash or her hitting the tree but by breathing the toxic air around, as evident from the blackened nerves visible around her mouth. She realizes that the air is really not safe to breathe, as it can kill within just a day or two, and decides to move out quickly. In fact, the blackish fumes ejecting from what seem to be spore-like growths on the ground are visible if minute, but it is not yet clear whether the aliens have been growing them or if they too are affected by the fumes similar to humans. Before leaving, Mitsuki makes sure to go through the dead pilot’s backpack and scavenge for important resources.
But this is when a man suddenly walks up behind her and states how she should really not feel sad for the dead pilot, as the latter had only gotten the punishment she had deserved for trying to kill ‘God.’ It becomes apparent to Mitsuki that the man must belong to Infinitas because of his obsessive respect for the aliens, as he continues talking about how the aliens will soon reunify Earth in a unique manner and create a new society. Before Mitsuki can react, though, she is blindfolded by two other men and is dragged to the camp of the Infinitas scouts, who have been living inside the Dead Zone for quite some time now. She is even thrown into a chamber with two feisty hunter-killers, which have already killed two soldiers, in the expectation that she will meet the same fate. It is when Mitsuki immediately freezes the hunter-killers to the spot, using her ability to communicate with them, that they take her seriously, and the leader, Carmichael, asks to speak with her privately.
Who are Carmichael and Konrad?
The group of Infinitas scouts appear to have a very peculiar power dynamic, as their leader, Carmichael, depends heavily on his enforcer, Konrad, to carry out the necessary duties. This makes Konrad almost like an unofficial leader, who has enough power to turn on Carmichael at any time but chooses not to do so, at least for the time being. All the members of the group live normally in the not-so-hospitable natural conditions of the Dead Zone, which does make some of them crave, or physically need to, inhale oxygen from time to time, which they are unable to do because of the limited source of oxygen available. This is evident from how one of the members instantly starts to inhale from the canister that Mitsuki had brought from the crashed airplane and is immediately ordered to stop, and even pushed and shoved away, by Konrad.
But on the other hand, Carmichael carries around an oxygen tank with him at all times, with channels fitted into his nose supplying him with the necessary gas, which suggests that he is using his position as leader to live better than the others. Konrad explains that Carmichael is their spiritual leader, along with being the oldest Infinitas member among them, which is why he needs to keep his head clear at all times and therefore breathe oxygen as opposed to the toxic gas at the place. However, Mitsuki can sense that many of the members have their doubts about Carmichael’s need for oxygen, which is why she tries to make use of these lopsided dynamics to her advantage when she can. Her effort does not work, and she is instead taken into the camp for a private conversation with Carmichael.
Mitsuki learns that Carmichael is actually a grieving father who had lost his daughter, Monica, a few years back, and it is his desire to reunite with her that had brought him to Infinitas. Carmichael had believed Marilyn Tanner’s preaching about the aliens basically leading us to an unnatural space where we can reunite with our dead loved ones, and he still believes in it, despite also having his doubts. Having lived inside the Dead Zone for far too long, the inhospitable place has had an effect on his body, which is why he roams around with his personal supply of oxygen. It is evident that Carmichael fears losing his memories in the process and thereby losing Monica in every possible way, and so he breathes oxygen at all times, pretending like he needs to do so.
Mitsuki tries her best to convince Carmichael to help her out by setting her free and letting her take the bomb to the heart of the mothership, as she tries to sow more seeds of doubt into his mind, but she does not succeed. Therefore, as a last resort, she makes use of her advanced skills in untying complex knots and frees herself from her bonds. Mitsuki’s violent side comes on display as she leaves Carmichael hanging on a peg with the same rope that had been used to tie her hands, dying the most painful death. As expected, Konrad makes use of this situation by slitting Carmichael’s throat and establishing himself as the new leader of the scout group. As they chase Mitsuki, Konrad also kills the other member, who kept trying to steal puffs of oxygen, making it clear that he is going to be a ruthless leader. Based on how this group gets introduced, we can expect to see more of Konrad and his gang in the last two episodes of the season.
Does Mitsuki become one with the aliens?
Although Mitsuki escapes from Konrad and his men, she does get shot in the process, but she does not care much about the pain just yet. Instead, she tracks down the injured gardener once again and spots it lying down on the ground, having accepted its fate. But Mitsuki does not let the creature rest and encourages it to continue its journey towards the mothership, gradually building a very unusual but strong bond with it. While she does so for her own benefit, as she wants to reach the heart of the mothership and destroy it, her decision works wonders, as the gardener soon saves her when the toxic air starts to take a toll on her body. The alien squeezes the juice from the fruit that it had been planting everywhere at the beginning of the episode, and it instantly brings Mitsuki back to her senses.
Eventually, they reach a clearing in the forest where the gardener finally succumbs to its injuries and falls to the ground dying, but much to Mitsuki’s surprise, more of its kind emerge from the valley and use what seems to be their collective energy, or life force, to revive their fellow gardener. Witnessing such a surreal scene definitely has an impact on Mitsuki’s mind, as she too starts to wonder whether her determined crusade against the aliens is wrong, after all. She sees the aliens use their collective power to save one of their own, and this act makes them much more ‘human’ than human beings in the modern age. Mitsuki has only been seeing hatred and bloodshed among humans in recent times, and she too utters the word ‘home’ while looking up to the mothership.
This confirms that although Mitsuki might not have become one with the aliens or been taken back into control by the hivemind, she has genuinely started to wonder whether she has been working for the right side all this time. She even gets rid of the backpack with the bomb, but before she can do anything else, Mitsuki loses too much blood from the gunshot wound, and she falls to the ground, almost losing consciousness. In the final few moments of the episode, she sees the horde of gardeners come towards her, in a seemingly friendly manner, suggesting that they are now going to revive her as well. This would be instrumental in changing Mitsuki’s mind for the rest of the season and the series. If the gardeners end up attacking her, then she will need to be rescued by someone, possibly by Nikhil Kapur and the rest of the unit. But it is more likely that Mitsuki will be helped and saved by the aliens, which will conclusively turn her to their side, making matters more complex before the finale of Invasion season 3.
