In episode 6 of Invincible Season 2, we saw King Lizard seemingly kill Rex Splode, only for him to bounce back and kill King Lizard. Shrinking Rae somehow managed to make it out of Komodo Dragon’s body in one piece. Dupli-Kate died, and Immortal dealt with the whole thing in a heartbreaking way. Shrinking Rae and Rex Splode began their recuperation process, with the latter doing much better than the former. The Guardians of the Globe rescued Rus Livingston and made it back to Earth. However, it was revealed that Rus had a Sequid inside his body the whole time, which woke him up and started puppeteering him. Mark and Amber ran into a rough patch because of Mark’s superhero duties. Rick Sheridan returned after the harrowing ordeal with Sinclair. In addition to all that, Mark learned that Nolan’s books probably had the secrets to defeating the Viltrumites, which he passed on to Allen for further analysis.
Spoiler Alert
Cecil Reveals Donald’s Truth To Him
Episode 7 of Invincible Season 2 opens with Amber and Mark going to a comic book convention, which is filled with cosplayers (one of whom looks a lot like Thanos) and alternate posters of the movies and shows that we’ve watched (I think I spotted a poster of Shin Godzilla). Mark wants to get an autograph from Filip Schaff, the creator of Seance Dog, which leads to the series’ most meta moment. In this whole scene, the showrunners use Schaff to explain why animation takes so much time and how animators cheat in very obvious ways in order to save time and energy. And they just don’t talk about all this; they actually show the techniques that are being used in the show for cost-cutting purposes. Moments like these educate the audience and make them respect the art form. In addition to the audience, scenes like these are also meant for the producers, who overwork and underpay animators all the time. Anyway, Amber and Mark’s trip to the comic book convention is cut short by a call from Eve, who says that, in an attempt to get back on the horse, Rex Splode has gone off on a mission and has been cornered. Mark knows that it’s going to hurt his relationship with Amber, but since it’s his duty, he jets off to help Rex Splode. Of course’s Mark’s arrival in the battle between Rex Splode and a bunch of Octopus-themed villains levels the playing field. The heroes win, and it’s revealed that Rex Splode’s new arm has an incredibly powerful flamethrower in it. As a token of gratitude, Rex Splode says that he’ll help Mark with his relationship woes by getting the Guardians of the Globe to cover for him so that he can spend more time with Amber, and Mark thanks him for doing this.
Back at the Guardians of the Globe headquarters, Monster Girl finally uses the exoskeleton that Rudy has been pushing for so that she doesn’t have to transform all the time, thereby putting a stop to her deaging. Monster Girl isn’t happy with the controls and gets angry at Rudy. Bulletproof, while observing all of this from afar, tells Black Samson that the Guardians of the Globe aren’t fit for the job of protecting Earth (thereby foreshadowing the Viltrumite agenda). They are too scattered, too broken, and too unmotivated to save the planet from anything. Black Samson tries to talk about how they are a family despite their imperfections, but he is forced to eat his words as Immortal announces that he is quitting the team because he is not in a good headspace. Cecil says that he will allow him to take a temporary break, but that’s about it. In the meantime, Rudy is going to be the leader of the Guardians. We briefly see Rick suffering from a nightmare where he is being tortured by Sinclair before returning to the Guardians HQ, where Donald is seen having a conversation with Cecil about his resignation. His main issue is that he is having an identity crisis. So, to solve that, Cecil sits Donald in front of a computer and lets him see all the times he has been killed in action and then rebuilt. Cecil tells Donald that an earlier version of him put it in his clause that his memories should be erased after every reset. Now, it’s clear that Cecil isn’t doing this because he wants to. Donald wants this job, and that’s why Cecil is allowing him to turn into an android.
Amber Is Almost Killed By A Viltrumite
Mark meets Winslow, who has become the Dean of Mark’s college after being the principal of Mark’s high school, and he promises that he is going to work on his grades and his attendance. Winslow gives Mark a month to prove that he is prioritizing his life as a student over his duty as a superhero. Donald seemingly cancels his plans to quit the job after he realizes that he is turning into a complete android because that’s what he wants to do. He understands that Cecil isn’t manipulating him or anything. But I have my doubts because if he is part-android, then he is programmed on some level. So, can we say that he isn’t being puppeteered at all? Well, I guess we’ll never know. The focus shifts to the Grayson household, and Debbie’s coworker asks if she’d like to go on a date with him, and after some initial hesitation, Debbie accepts the proposal, which means that she is beginning to move on from Nolan. According to April (the nanny), Oliver is doing fine. The one who isn’t doing fine is Mark. Hence, the mother-son duo decides to sit on the porch and draw parallels between Debbie and Nolan’s relationship and that of Mark and Amber’s. The discussion boils down to the cold, hard, and unfortunate fact that it’s almost impossible for a human and a superhero to be a couple. At some point or another, the fault lines will become too huge to handle.
Rick decides to die by suicide, but Donald and William convince him to step off the ledge. When Donald reveals the fact that he is an android and that he wants to stay alive because he thinks he makes the world a better place, Rick remembers how he saved Invincible and William from Sinclair, and he decides to give himself a second chance. Mark goes on a date with Amber after taking a break from his superhero duties. By the way, in the moment where Mark and Amber walk through some kind of marketplace, you can see how awkwardly placed and static some of the background elements and characters are, thereby harking back to that conversation with Filip Schaff about the tricks that animators use to fool the audience. Anyway, things seem to be going fine with them, and the date feels delightful. But as soon as Mark and Amber start making plans about the future, a Viltrumite named Anissa shows up and threatens to kill Amber on the spot if Mark doesn’t have a chat with her. In order to save Amber, who is this close to soiling herself, Mark agrees to have a chat. Anissa leaves and tells Mark that if he doesn’t show up soon, she is going to wreak havoc. Mark hugs Amber and then shoots off into the skies to talk to Anissa. The shift in tone is brilliant and emphasizes that the threat of the Viltrumite invasion isn’t some distant reality. It’s right on the horizon, and ignoring it won’t solve anything.
Has Mark and Amber decided to break up?
The whole conversation between Anissa (don’t read about what she does to Mark in the comics in the future because it’ll horrify you) and Mark boils down to this: humans are incapable of saving themselves, and that’s why they need the Viltrumites to rule over them so that the species can survive. Since Cecil can’t get a read on Anissa, Sinclair’s ReAnimens aren’t ready, the Guardians are busy elsewhere, and Mark isn’t strong enough to survive a straight fight with Anissa, he tells Mark to keep Anissa talking while he comes up with a solution. One of the GDA operatives tells Cecil that there’s a Kaiju attack happening in the South Pacific Ocean. Cecil tells Mark to get Anissa to go there and prove her savior ideology by letting Mark save them. Initially, Anissa watches from afar, but when the Kaiju starts getting the better of Mark, she jumps in and kills the monster. Then she helps Mark take the sinking ship and the passengers on it to a nearby island. Mark thanks her, and then Anissa tells him to accept the fact that if she wasn’t there to help him, all those humans would’ve died. If that logic is applied on a global level, it becomes clear that humans do need the help of the Viltrumites. Of course, Mark doesn’t want that to happen, and he wants humans to decide for themselves instead of achieving utopia under an authoritarian regime. Anissa tells him to remember that she came in peace, and Mark decided to get into a fight. And then Anissa proceeds to beat the living hell out of Mark. It’s a great action scene. Every single punch and kick is so visceral that you can feel it in your bones.
Cecil tells Mark to stand down so that Anissa leaves the planet for the time being, thereby giving the humans time to face the Viltrumites. Mark refuses to lie about his stance, and Anissa keeps attacking Mark until he has no energy left. Mark tells Anissa to end it, but Anissa lets him live. She tells him that she doesn’t have permission to kill him. She simply warns him that someone more ruthless than her will come to Earth in the future, and by then, Mark and the humans should be ready to welcome the Viltrumites. Cecil cancels Mark’s flexible working hours because they don’t have the luxury to do that anymore. Mark goes to Amber, and they decide to break up because their relationship is literally impossible to maintain, especially if she can be used to threaten Mark. At the end of Invincible Season 2, episode 7, Mark gets a call from Angstrom Levy, who is holding Debbie and Oliver hostage. So, Mark and the GDA not only have the threat of the Viltrumite invasion hanging over their heads, they have to deal with Levy and his dimension-traveling shenanigans as well. It’s going to be overwhelming for the heroes, and I can only hope that Mark gets to come out on top eventually. The mid-credits scene shows Allen getting into a fight with Anissa. It’s evident that Allen has become so strong that a Viltrumite punch doesn’t even scratch his skin. That causes Allen to come to the conclusion that he can take on the might of the Viltrumites in the ship that Anissa is traveling in. So, he pretends to be unconscious after getting hit by Anissa so that he is put into the Viltrumite without too much resistance. That ship also has General Kregg on it. Maybe if he defeats all of them, he’ll be able to cancel the Viltrumite expansion, thereby saving Earth and rescuing Nolan too. In that case, Mark has to just deal with Levy, who’ll definitely be a handful. With one more episode to go, I can’t wait to see how the showrunners wrap things up and set up the next season.
