Summary
Steven Yeun and Sandra Oh deliver two strong voice performances as Invincible continues to fire on all cylinders.
Mark Grayson is trying to balance life as a superhero in the second season of the Prime Video series Invincible. The comic book series created by Robert Kirkman with the art team of Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley caught the world by storm with its first season. The series is one of Prime Video’s highest-rated shows.
The creators of Invincible and Prime Video have taken the approach that other streaming platforms, including theirs, have recently and released only the first half of the season, with the latter coming sometime in 2024. Luckily, Part One kicks off on a high note.
Invincible Season 2 review and plot summary
Season 2 of Invincible sets the stage in Chicago as they brace to pick up the pieces in a world post-Omni-Man. While Mark Grayson tries to balance life without his father and being a superhero, Cecil Stedman seeks significant changes needing to be made inside the Guardians of the Globe.
The second season picks up shortly after the end of Season 1 with Mark and his mother adapting to life without their husband/father. We see the toll of the battles Mark faced as Invincible inspired him to want more in saving the world. However, Cecil Stedman attempts to put a halt to everything he is doing because he isn’t in the head space to go to battle and doesn’t want him to turn into his father.
What shocked me the most in the first four episodes was how the writers approached this emotional state of Mark. The internal challenges he faces take a toll on those around him, and as they try to help him, Mark continues to fend them off. Most comic book shows would’ve just let Mark step up to the plate and move on with his life and become a bigger superhero. Instead, they hunkered down and let him deal with the emotions, and the show is better for it.
Steven Yeun’s range within Mark sees him balance these emotions. How he portrays that pain makes you empathetic and care about what he is going through. This isn’t something easy to convey, especially in comic book shows, but Yeun perfects it, providing emotional beats to the series.
A brilliant start to the second season
If you are looking for the blood, guts, and gore from the season, you should temper those expectations a little bit. While we do get some of that, the writers focus on the emotional beats with Mark and Debbie. When watching, you could almost feel this “calm” before the storm-like atmosphere for the show setting up an explosive Part Two.
Anchored by some fantastic voice performances, Invincible Season 2 Part 1 kicks off on a high note. While the fluency that everyone loved in the first season might be out the door, the emotional weight that the writers provided with Mark and Debbie ensures that people will stay captivated throughout the four episodes. I truly believe Part 1 is a setup for what’s ahead with bringing back the levels of gore and pain we saw throughout Season 1.
What did you think of Invincible Season 2? Comment below.
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