Okay, final comments on
Secret Invasion. (Sorry / Not Sorry for any spoilers.)
The finale was lousy in the sense there was no real tension while it's supposed to be a rousing conclusion. In fact, the whole 6-episode series felt less like an actual story worth telling and more just a way to position world events for a particular setup for later stories. Oh, look, we now have a super-skrull. Oh, the skrulls as a people are all being hunted and murdered because of what they did in this series -- great, justified genocide. Oh, Fury just left earth. Oh, look the Kree and Skrulls are trying to vie for peace (none of that happens on screen, it is told to us by a sentence at the end of the episode), don't ask me how or why, but hey how convenient. Oh look, all the humans replaced by Skrulls are actually still alive (for some bizarre reason) and now released back to their lives -- although the main female character they fridged out of the blue in episode 1 is apparently really still dead for no good narrative reason.
It wasn't even clear why the super-skrull formula was given to the bad guy at the end except on purpose so there could be a fight between two super skrulls. The fight itself was really dumb and had no real emotion attached to it. I'd have been just as happy to see them both die. The whole standoff with the Pres was dumb as well, when the problem could have been resolved in a second.
About the best moment in the finale is when Colman's MI6 Sonya Falsworth tells the super-skrull that their relationship won't be based on friendship or affection but just gets real and says, "I'll use you, you'll use me, and together we'll make the world a little better for the both of us." Finally, something cynically realistic and actually dependable. And, like ST_TOS's trendsetting example so many decades ago, we also get the first Human/Skrull kiss on TV. Groundbreaking stuff.
There is no end-credits scene from what I could see, although this was a case where ANYTHING to take away the pain of this show's stupidity might have been a godsend. I guess God Bless Olivia Colman for making even 5 minutes of this series worth watching? And maybe the restaurant sequence between Fury and fake Rhodes?
I'm kind of surprised and ashamed of Kyle Bradstreet for writing 9 decent episodes of Mr. Robot before showrunning/writing for this series. Like, what happened, dude?
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I think that pretty much makes Wandavision is the only MCU series I have watched more than once, aside from 2-3 episodes of Loki that were worth a rewatch? Unlike most of the MCU films, none of this shit is worth getting on your hands more than once (and tbh not even once, but I am taking bullets for the team here under the fallacy of Hope Springs Eternal.)
- Wandavision: Average to Excellent (depending on episode) -- Episode 8 is the highwater mark of maybe all the MCU television shows, exploring the background of Scarlet Witch.
- Loki: Average in my opinion, with bursts of good/interest but also some real "eh" like Ravena's arc. Jonathan Majors in the finale was an actual highlight.
- Falcon & Winter Soldier: A concept show without the skill involved to be interesting. Action sequences were generally pretty bad, a lot of retcon with Sam not wanting to Cap to create an unnecessary story and introduce USAgent. A real convoluted dumb plot. Needless villainization of Sharon Carter (trying to be edgy but not making real sense). Kudos for attempting to explore black issues, but you need to explore issues via an actual interesting story, not 6 hour-long meandering pointless episodes.
- What If...?: Kind of just fan-servicy and not really crux-point like the best comic What If's ("What if Phoenix had Lived?" / "What if Elektra Had Lived?"). A few things were kind of funny, but all in all rather disappointing. Like, "What If All Marvel Superheroes Were Zombies?" That's not an interest plot diverge from established stories, that's just fan writing.
- Hawkeye: Really bad action sequences, episodes that were too long, some kind of "cute" scenarios and jokes but so much of it didn't matter. Kingpin didn't feel true. Echo was flat. Swordsman was wasted and a red herring. Even the cutesy Captain American broadway show was again not actually THAT funny or worth the amount of press the joke got. Kind of nice to see Kate and Hank building a rapport but was it worth the time watching? Not really.
- Moon Knight: Really great early episodes (1-3 maybe?) Then it just kinda lost steam, spiraled into "same old" and didn't really pan out.
- Ms. Marvel: Okay, I will give this show a bit of credit in a different kind of lead performance and its own tone. It had a unique visual footprint (not quite as great Spiderverse stuff, but you get the idea). Pakistani family as well, so that was a bit different for MCU. But there was a lot that was "ho-hum" and the episodes were generally too long for the content. I actually skipped two episodes in the middle because they were so boring to watch at times, and it didn't diminish the quality when I watched the final two. This and Moon Knight, I really wanted to like but at best could mostly just shrug.
- She-Hulk: Along with Falcon / WS, the other huge disappointment of Phase 4. This show had a great lead who would have benefited from good writing. The show's writing was terrible, it was mostly poorly conceived, and the jokes were derivative and/or not actually funny, all while the writers seemed to keep smugly trying to say, "Hey, look at how funny we are! Isn't this great?" I mean, just lay the stupid sexist battles over the show aside. It simply was uninspired and/or bad writing that ruined this show. Such a shame.
- And now Secret Invasion: Average show, some real crap as well along with one or two "huh, that's interesting" moments. Felt less like a show and more of a setup.
It looks like now we have Loki Season 2, Echo, Ironheart, Agatha, Daredevil, and What If? 2.
None of that looks particularly inspiring, although in her favor Jac Shaeffer did Wandavision. Everything keeps getting bumped because it's supposedly bad and needs retooled. You'd think if they retooled Secret Invasion and THIS was the best they could get it, the rest doesn't really stand a chance.
