Summary
“It’s Much Bigger Than Us” leaves plenty left unresolved for sequel purposes, but also makes for a satisfying climax to an intriguing show.
This recap of Invisible City season 1, episode 7, “It’s Much Bigger Than Us”, contains spoilers.
It doesn’t come as much of a surprise, but “It’s Much Bigger Than Us” very much leaves things open for a follow-up season. But, in this case, I think that’s okay. The finale still did a decent job of closing off some arcs and subplots that have been developing all season, and Invisible City has shown enough promise overall that I’d be up for a second go-around. With a fair helping of ambiguity surrounding the climax too, the show really doubled-down on its mythical, fantastical elements to sustain that juxtaposition of real-world mystery with an otherworldly flourish. That balance has been sustained throughout and is easily the strongest aspect, just ahead of what has been, on balance, some tasteful and creative visual effects.
What has also persisted throughout is the cold opens, many of which have given context without necessarily clarity. Here, as we see the origin of the Curupira’s flaming head, loss of control, and the demise of the hunter, we get a real sense of the story’s stakes, and how the same themes of vengeance and unchecked emotion have continued to percolate through it.
Iberê’s rage at the death of Isac, then, has another tinge to it, as we know what his rage is capable of unleashing, especially in his true form. That transition is unfurled gradually throughout Invisible City season 1, episode 7, helping to build a sense of inevitability fitting for a finale.
Real-world forces continue to conspire against Eric, understandably, with him being bundled away and imprisoned, and Luna taken home, only for Eric to be freed by Camila. With the Curupira back in the forest and Eric in pursuit, we’re beginning to get that grand finale feeling.
The village subplot also feels fittingly climactic here, with something of a redemptive arc for João – he shares a touching moment with Ciço – in the face of a wind that threatens to displace them more literally than they imagined. Fabiana also enters labor, as Camila tries to bypass the spirit inside Eric to get at the real him. All the core characters are converging on the woods, as night falls, making for a nice visual palette and keeping the flames of the Curupira as a stark contrast to the backdrop. Effective, evocative stuff.
What’s interesting about the final confrontation between Iberê and the spirit inside Eric is that it really amounts to not a fight but people trying to prevent a fight from happening. Camila attempts to use her powers to hold off the spirit, and Inês once again assumes face-hugging butterfly form to transplant Eric into surreality, where he stabs himself in the chest and enjoys a purgatorial moment with Gabi, who tells him that he still has plenty more to do before he joins her in the afterlife. Whether this is symbolic for Eric, a realization that he has a real-world role and can’t consign himself to being with his late wife just yet, or something more literal, a transporting to another dimension, remains unclear. So, too, does the function of Eric’s sort-of self-sacrifice, which potentially forces the spirit out of him… but to where? Will it possess someone else? It’s hard to explain an ending that seems unwilling to really explain itself, but we have to get that second season, don’t we?
Either way, when Iberê hoists and carries the fallen Eric deeper into the woods with Inês and Camila, and the humans Ciço, João, and Marcia look on, denied entry to the ambiguous world of these deities, there’s lots of potential in a continuation. Invisible City season 1, episode 7 just about earns it, I think.
