Robert Kirkman's Invincible (Amazon Prime Exclusive) - Season Two

The second season of the American adult animated superhero series Invincible based on the comic book series of the same name, was created for television by comic book writer Robert Kirkman who also serves as the comics writer. The season was produced by Amazon MGM Studios in association with Point Grey Pictures, Skybound North, Skybound Animation and Wind Sun Sky Entertainment, with Simon Racioppa serving as showrunner.

Steven Yeun stars as Mark Grayson / Invincible, while Sandra Oh and J. K. Simmons plays his parents Debbie Grayson and Nolan Grayson / Omni-Man respectively, while the supporting cast is formed by Gillian Jacobs, Andrew Rannells, Zazie Beetz, Walton Goggins, Seth Rogen, Sterling K. Brown, Ross Marquand, Malese Jow, Mark Hamill, Chris Diamantopoulos, Kevin Michael Richardson, Fred Tatasciore, Eric Bauza, Jason Mantzoukas, Khary Payton, Zachary Quinto, Grey Griffin, Ben Schwartz, Jay Pharoah, and Calista Flockhart. Taking place a month after the events of the previous season, Mark Grayson is attempting to get his life back on track following Omni-Man's betrayal, all while he is forced to deal with the consequences of the aftermath and attempting to prevent himself from becoming like his father. However, Mark will be forced to face a new supervillain named Angstrom Levy who is capable of opening portals to multiple dimensions and becomes obsessed with revenge against Invincible following a mission gone wrong.

The season was split in two parts and premiered on Amazon Prime Video on November 3, 2023, with the first four episodes being released weekly until November 24, while the last four were released from March 14, 2024, to April 4. 

Cast & CHARACTERS

Main

• Steven Yeun as Markus "Mark" Grayson / Invincible

• Sandra Oh as Deborah "Debbie" Grayson

• J. K. Simmons as Nowl-Ahn / Nolan Grayson / Omni-Man

Recurring

• Gillian Jacobs as Samantha Eve Wilkins / Atom Eve

• Andrew Rannells as William Francis Clockwell

• Zazie Beetz as Amber Justine Bennett

• Walton Goggins as Cecil Stedman

• Seth Rogen as Allen the Alien

• Sterling K. Brown as Angstrom Levy

• Ross Marquand as The Immortal, Rudy Connors (clone), various others

• Malese Jow as Kate Cha / Dupli-Kate

• Mark Hamill as Arthur "Art" Rosenbaum

• Chris Diamantopoulos as Donald Ferguson, Doc Seismic, various others

• Kevin Michael Richardson as Mauler Twins, Amanda / Monster Girl (monster)

• Fred Tatasciore as Killcannon, Adam Wilkins, various others

• Eric Bauza as D.A. Sinclair

• Jason Mantzoukas as Rex Sloan / Rex Splode

• Khary Payton as Markus Grimshaw / Black Samson, various others

• Zachary Quinto as Rudy Connors / Robot

• Grey Griffin as Amanda / Monster Girl, Rachel / Shrinking Rae

• Ben Schwartz as Shapesmith

• Jay Pharoah as Bulletproof

• Calista Flockhart as April Howsam

Guest

• Tatiana Maslany as Telia, Queen Aquaria

• Cleveland Berto as Darkwing II

• Scoot McNairy as King Lizard

• Peter Cullen as Thaedus

• Chris Diamantopoulos as Vidor

• Phil LaMarr as Lucan

• Ella Purnell as Jane

• Chloe Bennet as Riley

• Cliff Curtis as Paul

• Fred Tatasciore as Giant

• Josh Keaton as Agent Spider

• Paul F. Tompkins as Narrator

• Grey Griffin as Thula

• Clancy Brown as Kregg

• Shantel VanSanten as Anissa

Episode Summaries

Part 1

Episode 1: "A Lesson for Your Next Life"

On a devastated alternate Earth where Mark sided with Nolan, scientist Angstrom Levy escapes through a portal. One month after Nolan's departure, Mark continues to struggle with his father's betrayal while performing his duties as Invincible. Cecil appoints the revived Immortal to succeed Rudy as the Guardians' leader and adds a new hero called Bulletproof to their ranks. The Maulers escape prison with help from Angstrom, who tasks them with building a device capable of transferring the memories of various alternate universe variants of himself to him so he can use their collective knowledge to advance Earth's technology and save other planets. Cecil sends Mark to stop the Maulers as they begin the process, forcing Angstrom to use his multiversal powers to summon variants of the Maulers, who nearly kill Mark against his wishes. Angstrom stops the transfer prematurely, causing an explosion, with one Mauler, Mark, and a mutated Angstrom surviving. Driven mad by his variants' memories of their versions of Invincible and Omni-Man, Angstrom vows revenge on Mark and escapes.

Episode 2: "In About Six Hours, I Lose My Virginity to a Fish"

While graduating, Mark defeats Doc Seismic and his Magmanites. Over the summer, tension grows between him and Debbie after she realizes he is only continuing his work as Invincible and working for Cecil to avoid Nolan's legacy. She confronts Cecil, during which she learns Donald is alive and later has a breakdown over continuous reminders of Nolan. After converting a vacant lot into a park, Eve argues with her father, believing he cannot accept that she can help with her powers. However, the park collapses due to being built on unstable ground, though no casualties were sustained. The stowaway Martian, who had taken the place of astronaut Rus Livingston, becomes inspired by original Guardian member Martian Man to become the superhero Shapesmith and join the current Guardians. After encountering and defeating Darkwing II, Mark is assigned by Cecil to appease the Atlanteans for original Guardian member Aquarus' death. Amidst a trial by combat, Mark battles a kaiju, but is injured by its roar. Nonetheless, he saves the Atlanteans from it against Cecil's orders. Angstrom travels to an alternate Earth where Mark was captured by the GDA to gain information on how to defeat his own.

Episode 3: "This Missive, This Machination!"

In flashbacks, Allen's homeworld of Unopa is attacked by the Viltrumites, leading to his people joining the Coalition to stop them and breeding him to become the strongest Unopan. In the present, Allen discusses his findings from Earth with the Coalition, explaining that Mark is unaffiliated with Viltrum and Nolan left Earth. Over several members' skepticism, Coalition leader Thaedus supports Allen, believing they possess an advantage, before secretly tasking him with rooting out a Viltrumite mole within their ranks. Later, Allen is attacked by three Viltrumites demanding information on Mark, Earth, and Nolan. While recovering, Thaedus secretly ends his life support. Concurrently, Mark attends college and meets a shapeshifting insectoid alien from the planet Thraxa who claims his people are in danger. Upon arriving on Thraxa, Mark is unexpectedly reunited with Nolan, who has become Thraxa's ruler. Debbie joins a support group for superhero spouses, only to be accosted by original Guardian member Green Ghost's widower Theo for being previously married to Omni-Man, and leaves in shame.

Episode 4: "It's Been a While"

In flashbacks, Nolan flies aimlessly through space after abandoning Earth. While contemplating suicide at a black hole, he instead saves a Thraxan ship from it and is made their ruler. In the present, Mark's lingering anger towards Nolan is worsened when he learns of Nolan's new Thraxan wife Andressa and their child. Understanding his son's feelings, Nolan nonetheless asks for his help in protecting Thraxa, but three Viltrumite soldiers arrive. As he takes Andressa and her son to safety, Mark learns from her that Nolan truly regretted his actions and loves him. The Graysons defeat the soldiers but are grievously wounded. Nolan is subsequently captured and taken back to Viltrum to be executed while Kregg, a high-ranking Viltrumite general, tasks Mark with finishing Nolan's original mission of preparing Earth for their invasion or else they will destroy it. Meanwhile, Debbie accepts that her relationship with Nolan was a lie, stops accepting his income through Cecil, and throws out his books. Elsewhere, Donald discovers evidence of his own death. Suspicious that he might not be human, he stabs himself in the forearm as a test. Initially relieved to draw red blood, he then notices that he has bent the knife's tip.

Part 2

Episode 5: "This Must Come as a Shock"

Following the Viltrumites' attack, Mark spends two months helping Thraxa rebuild before returning to Earth with his brother. At the GDA, Donald confronts Cecil about his body. Cecil reveals he successfully recovered Donald's brain and placed it in a robotic endoskeleton. The Guardians discover a Martian ship bound for Earth, prompting Shapesmith to reveal his identity and the impending Sequid invasion. After Eve recommits to heroism with Rex's encouragement, she and Mark are recruited by Cecil to join most of the Guardians in thwarting the invasion, but they are overwhelmed. Concurrently, remaining Guardian members Rex, Dupli-Kate, and Shrinking Rae confront the Lizard League after they capture a military base to ransom its nuclear missiles, resulting in Kate's apparent death, Rae getting devoured by Komodo Dragon, and Rex losing a hand and getting shot by King Lizard. Despite Thaedus ending his life support, Allen recovers from his injuries and has become as strong as a Viltrumite. Thaedus reveals he is a rebel Viltrumite and tasks Allen with recruiting Mark to aid the Coalition against the Viltrum Empire.

Episode 6: "It's Not That Simple"

Rex survives being shot and defeats King Lizard before he and Rae are recovered and treated for their injuries. The Guardians narrowly escape the Sequids and rescue the real Rus. Debbie decides to raise Mark's half-brother and names him Oliver. Despite her suspicions of Cecil, she accepts a nanny he hired to help take care of him. Rick recovers from being a Reaniman, but remains traumatized by the ordeal. Mark and Amber's relationship becomes strained when both realize the toll that Mark's work as Invincible has taken on their lives. Eve's feelings for Mark begin to resurface. While Amber speaks to Eve, Mark talks to Rosenbaum, who reveals that Nolan previously wrote several unsuccessful sci-fi novels, which Mark learns potentially reveal Viltrumites' weaknesses. He relays the information to Allen, who tells him about Thaedus and the Coalition's stand against the Viltrum Empire. Rus returns home, but is attacked and re-possessed by a Sequid hidden inside him. A healed and imprisoned Nolan is interrogated by Kregg for his loyalty to Earth. Angstrom returns to his native Earth.

Episode 7: "I'm Not Going Anywhere"

Mark and Amber attend a comic convention, but he leaves to help Rex. After Cecil puts the Immortal on temporary leave, Rudy returns as the Guardians' leader. Donald discovers that he has died numerous times and that the original ordered the memories to be erased. Nonetheless, he later overcomes the trauma while dissuading Rick from committing suicide. While on a date, Mark is confronted by a Viltrumite named Anissa, who tries to remind him of his mission. When Mark abruptly leaves to save a cruise ship from a kaiju, Anissa joins him and effortlessly kills it, saving the passengers. Despite proving Earth's weakness, Anissa fails to convince Mark and grievously beats him before ultimately sparing him and leaving to report back to Kregg. Amidst this, the Viltrumites confront a passing Allen, who feigns defeat and allows himself to be captured. After breaking up with Amber, Mark is called by Angstrom, who has taken Debbie and Oliver hostage.

Episode 8: "I Thought You Were Stronger"

Mark returns home to confront Angstrom, who sends Mark across the multiverse to weaken him. Debbie tries to convince Angstrom to let Mark go, but he refuses. She attacks Angstrom, who breaks her arm and beats her. Mark returns and, enraged by his mother's injuries, battles Angstrom across multiple dimensions before furiously pummeling him, accidentally stranding himself in a desolate dimension. Distraught by his actions, Mark is eventually found and sent home by a future incarnation of the Guardians from his own dimension. Before Mark leaves, the future Eve confesses her feelings to him. The Immortal discovers that the original Kate is alive and in hiding and reunites with her while two archaeologists uncover the tomb of Ka-Hor. At the urging of Eve's future self, Mark meets with Eve, but is unable to admit his feelings for her. Allen is sent to a Viltrumite prison where Nolan is being held and proposes he join the fight against them. Nolan admits guilt for his actions and that he misses his wife Debbie.

The Verdict:

After Season Three wrapped up, I wanted to jump in and review that season, but stopped since I realized that I never reviewed Season Two. That prompted me to re-watch that season over the course of a week or two in my free time last month while taking notes. As a result of my knowledge of what happens in the next season and what happens in the Invincible comics, I think that I have a little more insight on these events than I would have from my initial raw, unfiltered viewing.

I would have included the Atom Eve Special Episode in this review, but I think that deserves it's own separate review. In terms of the timeline/release order, it dropped prior to the first half of episodes of Season Two on Amazon Prime. That's another thing about this season is that it was split into two halves. The first four episodes dropped week-to-week, then there was a mid-season break for a few months before resuming to release the last few episodes until its completion. This annoyed a lot of viewers at the time, including myself, when similar streaming services have done this with eight episode season shows, such as Netflix with Voltron: Legendary Defender, just to ensure that their viewing audience would have to hang onto their accounts longer than intended due to the lack of new content on the service. With Invincible, there were a lot of issues with the production and development of this season that required more time, but don't look at me to excuse/forgive them for that gap between releases. I don't see the point in releasing these episodes period unless you have the entire season to go in the first place, but that's just my opinion. 

Episode Recap & Analysis

EPISODE ONE: “An Lesson For Your Next Life”

This episode introduces viewers to Angstrom Levy with this first one being one of many who saw the worst in Mark Grayson/Invincible as he slaughtered millions to conquer the planet for the Viltrum Empire. Still, there exists a version of Angstrom Levy who was born with the ability to open portals and travel throughout the multiverse. This version of Levy sought out all of his counterparts across the multiverse to use their combined intellect to bring peace to the entire multiverse. It was a feat that he couldn't accomplish on his own, but recruits the Mauler Twins to aid him in constructing a machine that would extract their knowledge about their unique universes to solve their problems and save other planets. Working with the Mauler Twins never goes as expected as we have learned from the events in season 1 (The Twins aiding Rudy/Robot constructing his clone body, the Twins attempting to revive Immortal as their pawn/slave, etc.) as the twins can never be trusted completely. Cecil sends Mark to stop the Maulers while being completely unaware of what they are doing with Levy. Levy isn't onboard with the Maulers intent on killing Invincible, so he tries to stop the knowledge transfer prematurely, despite the warnings from the Mauler Twins and their multiverse variants. As a result, the machine explodes, killing everyone save for Mark, one Mauler, and a mutated Angstrom as the survivors. Mark isn't privy to the survivors as it wasn't revealed until the mid-credits scene that one of the Mauler Twins and this mutated Angstrom survived. This sole Angstrom Levy has been driven insane by his variants' memories - specifically by the one that we saw at the beginning of this episode - and vows revenge on Mark for disfiguring him. 

This season premiere does a great job of setting the stage in terms of framing how Mark and Debbie Grayson are both struggling to cope with Nolan's betrayal. Both of them are adamant to continue with their lives - with Mark finishing high school while Debbie reluctantly goes back to work. To everyone else outside of the superhero community and their close friends, the rest of the world thinks that Nolan is "dead" while Omni-Man's reputation has been tainted forever for his actions. 

Mark begs Cecil to bring him back into the fold in terms of doing missions to protect the Earth to get his mind off of Nolan's betrayal and abandonment, but Cecil insists on Mark taking the time off to recover - not just physically but mentally. Mark fires back at Cecil in his frustration, saying that he doesn't need his permission to be a superhero - ending with a statement that he will utter repeatedly in this season: "I'm not my dad." 

I will add that Cecil had the perfect description of Mark's current mental state at the start of this season: "You went through an emotional tumble-dryer. I need to make sure your head stops spinning."

Mark's friends, William, Amber, and Atom Eve, all try to cheer Mark up and remind him that everything that his father did wasn't his fault. I have to give writers' credit for writing Amber a lot better here in this episode than she came off as a whole in the first season. I like to think that they heard the "Omni-Ma'am" criticisms loud and clear. It was there from the start, but I like that they are spreading more bread crumbs in terms of Atom Eve seeing something in Mark. Previously, her relationship with Rex Splode got in the way of her making a move - which was his excuse for cheating on her with Dupli-Kate as he assumed she cheated on him with Invincible. Now, Mark's relationship with Amber is still in the way, but let's see how that fares over the course of this season in comparison to their rocky relationship in the first season. 

As I'm currently rewatching this season after watching both the Atom Eve Special Episode AND Season 3 in their entirety, I have to mention this too. Shrinking Rae's speaking voice doesn't quite match her lines in later episodes in this season. I guess Grey Griffin didn't bother giving her that distinct accent until her follow-up, more regular/consistent appearances, but that's something that really stuck out to me after the extended amount of time we spent with her in Season 3. 

In terms of the timeline, this episode takes place a month after the battle between Invincible and Omni-Man that resulted in the destruction of Chicago. Debbie puts on a brave face (as usual), but vents to Olga, the widow of former Guardians member, Red Rush, who offers her an important card. 

Debbie has the best quote in this episode in terms of internalizing trauma: "I keep it all inside and it's like acid, eating me away until I'm hollow." 

The Guardians of the Globe have their own share of issues going on as Cecil appoints Immortal as the new leader in the vein of Rudy/Robot having difficulties adapting to his new human body (after creating one with DNA taken from Rex) and accompanying emotions, specifically fear. It's bluntly pointed out to Robot ("Before, it was all a video game to you," he's told). The team gets "more muscle" to the team in the form of new member, Bulletproof, who looks oddly similar to Invincible. Invincible comic book fans should know why but for everyone else, I won't spoil it, but will only suggest to keep an eye on this character for now. 

Rex Splode is as arrogant as ever but he's knocked down a few pegs in this premiere. First by Bulletproof for his childish codename and secondly by Dupli-Kate cheating on him in the same manner that Atom Eve caught him in Season One with her in the shower. This time, it was Dupli-Kate and her duplicates making out with Immortal in the shower. 

The biggest shocker in terms of the GDA though would be the return of Donald Ferguson after getting killed by Omni-Man in the season one finale. 

EPISODE TWO: "In About Six Hours I Lose My Virginity to a Fish"

In a continuation of a plot thread from Season One, the stowaway Martian takes the identity of the astronaut who was left on Mars and joins the Guardians as the Shapesmith after being inspired by Martian Man. Mark continues his heroics and almost misses out on his own graduation dealing with Doc Seismic. This concerns Debbie as she quickly deduces that Mark is doing this to convince himself that he's nothing like Nolan. 

Atom Eve contributes to the clean-up and reconstruction efforts in Chicago by fixing an apartment and building a playground, much to the delight of a waiting mother and daughter. She returns home after receiving a call from her mother, only to argue with her father about using her powers to try to fix everything after she notices that they are having issues trying to make ends meet. Her father had taken up working at a fast food restaurant to continue to provide for themselves, much to Eve's dismay. As much as I find Eve's parents to be unlikeable characters, they are right to an extent. Atom Eve's powers aren't an end-all, be-all solution to everyone's problems. That doesn't go just for Atom Eve, but a great commentary on all super powers and harkens back to the "with great power, comes great responsibility" mantra. While it's great that all of these super-powered individuals have the power to do so many incredible things, they have to be conscious of what those same powers are capable of. They could easily destroy the things that they love as quickly as they could save them. There's a balance that each of these super-powered individuals have to learn in terms of knowing when to act and when to show restraint.

Eve learns this lesson the hard way when she finds out that the playground that she built collapsed due to being built over unstable ground. Fortunately, no one was killed, but that was a bitter pill to swallow. 

The Lizard League are brought to prominence in this season with their first major appearance in this season sees their current leader, Supreme Lizard, being shot in the head by King Lizard. King Lizard quickly assumes leadership in a Starscream-like fashion, gaining Salamander, Iguana, and Komodo Dragon, along with their army of 300+ mind-controlled human followers at his disposal. 

One of Mark's missions for Cecil sees him confronting the new Darkwing in Midnight City. This new Darkwing was the former protégé/sidekick to the original Darkwing who was killed by Omni-Man. He tries to defeat Mark by trapping him into the Shadow-Verse, but Mark hangs into his body until he unwillingly allows them to both escape before they are devoured by the creatures/demons that reside there. This skirmish is another altercation where Mark is trying to convince himself and his opponent that he's nothing like Omni-Man, despite being forced into these situations where it would be highly beneficial to NOT show restraint for the greater good. Mark is walking down a dangerous line. 

After taking down Darkwing, Cecil assigns Mark to meet with the Atlanteans to answer for Aquarus' death at the hands of Omni-Man. He's forced to fight for his life in a trial by combat against a huge kaiju called the Depth Dweller. The creature causes Mark significant pain due to his high-pitched roars. When the kaiju breaks free from the Atlanteans' restraints and attacks them, Mark goes against Cecil's orders and saves them. Mark's actions appease the Atlanteans and end their hostilities while Cecil records the creature's roar for safe-keeping. You just have to know that Cecil's going to keep that in his back pocket for whenever he needs to slow down another Viltrumite. 

The mid-credits scene shows the mutated Angstrom Levy interrogating a captured variant of Mark who was captured by this alternate Earth's GDA. Their meeting is cut short by the gender-swapped versions of Cecil (Caitlin Stedman) and Donald (Denise Ferguson) confronting Angstrom. Levy merely leaves as he didn't come for a fight, but to acquire information on how to defeat Invincible.

EPISODE THREE: "This Missive, This Machination!"

This episode starts off innocently enough as Mark and Amber are adjusting to college life after moving into their dorms. One thing leads to the next before they end up in Amber's room, ready to make out before the episode cuts away to catch up with Allen the Alien in a hilarious manner. 

I found it ironic that this cartoon doesn't shy away from the extreme violence but gets gun shy about showing any sort of sexual content. That's a weird double standard to have when the majority of the content in this series qualifies it to be labeled as adult-oriented content anyway. 

This episode exists mostly to fill in viewers about the origins of Allen the Alien following his confrontation/meeting with Mark at the end of Season One. He discusses his findings from Earth with the Coalition of Planets. He was bred to be the strongest of the Unopans, who were wiped out nearly to extinction by the Viltrum Empire before they joined the Coalition. His job in the Coalition is to evaluate planets for beings strong enough to challenge the Viltrumites. When he brought up both Mark's defiance and Nolan's abandonment of Earth, the rest of the Coalition scoffed at the idea and remained skeptical, but the Coalition leader, Thaedus (voiced by Peter Cullen AKA Optimus Prime from the Transformers franchise), thinks that they have finally found some sort of an advantage that could be of some use in this war. Thaedus confides in Allen about his suspicions about a mole within the Coalition who is reporting their findings to the Viltrum Empire. Not too long after that, Allen is brutally attacked by three Viltrumites who want to know about his findings on Earth. Allen barely survives the ordeal and is left in a support machine to aid in his recovery, but Thaedus sabotages the device. 

Fun easter egg in this episode is that Allen the Alien's girlfriend, Telia, is voiced by Tatiana Maslany, who plays Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She also voices Queen Lizard in the Atom Eve Special Episode and Aquaria in this series. Much like Amber, she differs slightly from her comic book counterpart, whereas she was merely Allen's girlfriend in the Invincible comics, but she also serves in the Coalition's military in this adaptation. The sex scene between Telia and Allen is cut away in the same manner as it was between Mark and Amber, but the narrator has to hilariously talk about something else since there's nothing "acceptable" to show in the meantime. 

While Mark is at college, Debbie takes Olga up on that mysterious card that she handed her in the first episode of this season, only to learn that it was contact information for a support group for late superhero spouses. This was an interesting subplot for Debbie to engage with as I was thinking it was going to lead into some sort of revenge plot or something of that nature from Olga or any of the slighted widows would want revenge for what Omni-Man did. On one hand, this was a little disappointing but on the other, I'm growing more and more intrigued by these therapeutic measures that are being openly encouraged and embraced in these modern superhero narratives. These are people who are exposed to highly traumatic and extremely disturbing situations on a daily basis. It takes a strong will and determination to just dust yourself and keep going as if nothing happened when in reality you're screaming and dying from the inside out. In Debbie's case, this is exactly the outlet that she needed. Unfortunately, she makes an acquaintance at the session who is the husband of the late Alanna/Green Ghost. She reveals that she's Omni-Man's ex-wife and leaves in shame. I thought it was odd that there wasn't any other follow-up from this altercation for the remainder of the season. Was the point of Olga encouraging Debbie to join this support group when she would be potentially surrounded by more spouses whose husbands and/or wives were killed by Omni-Man? It just feels like a cruel joke on Olga's behalf for Debbie having to be surrounded by the grieving families in wake of Nolan’s actions. It sucks that this is never followed up in this season and becomes such a missed opportunity as well. 

When the episode catches up with Mark, he is visited by Seance Dog at his dorm room. Mark isn't buying it in the least as he reveals his true form as an alien from the planet Thraxa. He enlists Mark's help in saving their planet from the asteroid attacks that are going to wipe out their race. Cecil advises against leaving the planet and going off-world, but Mark goes anyway. Once they arrive at Thraxa, the story proves to be a ruse just to bring Mark to their monarch, Nolan. 

EPISODE FOUR: "It's Been a While"

When this episode originally aired on Amazon Prime, it was effectively the end of the first half of Season 2's episode releases before a mid-season break. It was still ridiculous in hindsight to split up an eight episode season into two parts just to get more mileage out of it when these weekly releases were sufficient enough. It just comes across as lazy on Amazon Prime's behalf and the creative team behind this series as well, since it just conveys the notion that they weren't done with or even started Season 3 in any capacity so they wanted to milk this season for more time. Additionally, Amazon Prime was at a loss for new content at this point, so I wouldn't be surprised that this was done to initially encourage viewers to maintain their Amazon Prime subscriptions until the season concludes. It's a dirty tactic, but I wouldn't put anything past these corporations at this point. 

Onto this episode itself, the majority of its runtime is spent on Thraxa, following Mark and Nolan's reunion. 

After his departure from Earth, Nolan wandered space aimlessly. Eventually, he came across a black hole and contemplated suicide (via throwing himself into the black hole) until he spotted a damaged spacecraft, full of Thraxans. He returned them to their homeworld, where they offered him sanctuary on their planet and became their monarch. 

In an eerie coincidence back on Earth, Debbie contemplated suicide as well. It’s not blatantly said, but it’s heavily implied by the scenes shown. Instead, she visits Nolan's "tombstone" and breaks down (for the second time in this season so far) as she reflects back on her relationship with Nolan, wondering if it was ever real at all. 

What is strange about this in terms of this season's bizarre portrayal of the passage of time is that only a month has passed since Nolan's fight with Mark from Season 1. At the most, three to five months may have transpired since that battle with Mark graduating high school and starting college. Thraxans are shown to have very short lifespans - only living out to be roughly one year in relation to humans. Andressa, Nolan's new wife, is shown in the flashback to have been one of the Thraxans who were on-board the spacecraft that Nolan rescued as a child. She bore Nolan a child too, much to Mark's shock. I don't blame Mark at all in terms of his outburst and reactions to all of this. What was the meaning of Nolan bringing him all the way out here just to parade his new wife and family, along with the new planet that he conquered in his face? It comes off as a complete slap in the face, especially from how things ended between them and Nolan practically abandoning his family and Earth altogether. Nolan informs Mark that the Viltrum Empire will come for him since he abandoned his post on Earth and would need Mark's help to fight against them. Mark fails to see how much help he could be in that fight when wasn't able to deal any damage to Nolan in their fight. 

Nolan suggests that they could start training again and this is where my brain really started wondering about this in my second watch since I have already seen Season Three by the time I started on this review. Imagine if Mark was able to hone his skills training with Nolan for a few months before he had to take on Levy, Anissa, and some of the other Viltrumites? How much of this story would have changed at this point? I'm glad that this was written in a manner where Mark isn't allowed that convenience like a typical anime (read: Shonen Jump-style hero specifically) protagonist who has time to sit on the sidelines, hone his skills in a training, montage or an extended amount of time devoted to this training process to get stronger. Instead, the Viltrumites immediately show up right up to Thraxa and start demolishing their cities. 

Nolan orders Andressa to escape with their son while entrusting their protection duties to Mark. This alone time allows Andressa and Mark to discuss her relationship with Nolan and fill in the blanks in terms of how much he misses his family on Earth. She tries to assure Mark that she isn't trying to replace his mother. As someone who lost their mother, I can relate with Mark somewhat in this situation as it's hard to see your remaining parental figure move on and date new people, especially when you have no connection to these strangers. It feels like a slap in the face to your old memories, but at the same time, you have to realize that your parents have to move on too, whether it's from the death of a spouse or a divorce/separation like with Nolan and Debbie. A part of it here feels like Nolan is just using Andressa as a coping mechanism to give his life some sort of purpose again. He abandoned not just the Earth, but his post and disobeyed the orders of the Viltrum Empire. He doesn't know how to do anything but that, so he naturally has a vacuum in terms of wondering what his purpose is going forward. 

For the record, I'm not condoning Nolan's actions either as I think he's an absolutely horrible father and husband. It's just that between this season (and later in Season Three) we get to see this downward spiral in terms of him attempting to find a purpose again and some glimmer of hope to prevent him from throwing in the towel completely without any drive nor attempt at redemption. I'll say it right now, despite getting ahead of myself, but I think that for as strong and powerful Nolan is, he's emotionally a fucking coward and that's a trait that is insanely common across the Viltumites. 

Mark runs into one of the Viltrumites, Lucan, while trying to aid Andressa in her escape, but he's no match for the elder Viltrumite until Nolan intervenes and impales him to a wall. 

Back on Earth, Atom Eve gets another lesson in terms of trying to juggle the responsibility of using her powers. She shows off in a battle with the villain Killcannon (a villain that she faces in the Atom Eve Special Episode) that almost gets two civilians killed due to her carelessness. She defeats Killcannon, but barely saves the two passengers of a vehicle that is knocked off the bridge and submerged into the water below. 

The fight back on Thraxa against the trio of Viltrumites turns into a bloodbath. Nolan beats Vidor with ease while Thula (the elderly woman with a hair whip like WWE's Bianca Belair that has a knife attached to the end) is giving Mark the fight of his life. Nolan gets annoyed seeing his son struggling so much to keep up in this battle and demands that he channel his inner Viltrumite blood and instincts. I'm sorry Nolan but that anime "main character power-up bullshit" isn't going to work here - at least not right now anyway. Nolan's right about one thing though: if Mark doesn't fight harder, then they will all be dead. That means him, Nolan, his brother, Andressa, and all of the remaining Thraxans that survived the trio's initial attack. Nolan's outburst reminds me of Vegeta and Piccolo's frustrations with Gohan's hesitations throughout Dragon Ball Z to perform violence to his opponents. From as bad as Nolan beat Mark at the end of season one, I would be channeling that fury into all of three of these Viltrumites. These people aren't showing mercy at all - compassion and mercy went out of the window the second they arrived. To put it crudely, it's nut cuttin' time. 

Nolan's words finally strike a cord within Mark and he finally starts to turn the tables against Thula until she stabs him in the abdomen. Nolan retaliates by fracturing her jaw with a vicious punch, but he's blindsided by Lucan (holding his own intestines in place no less) returning with a dropkick to Nolan's back that instantly shatters his spine from the impact. On my first viewing of this fight, my jaw was on the floor from the sheer brutality of this sequence. Just my god. 

Back on Earth, Debbie is joined for drinks by Art. Art says what I felt since Season One and that's Debbie was the strongest (and STILL is in my eyes) out of the three of them (Nolan, Mark, and herself). She's the one who kept their family together and raised Mark as an individual who values and cherishes life, unlike a heartless Viltrumite. Debbie's heart and sentiments rubbed off on Nolan, whether he likes it or not. And it made him a better man for it, otherwise the Earth would be under complete Viltrumite rule right now if we can stop kidding ourselves at this point of the story. Debbie's just as responsible for saving the Earth as Mark was in that regard. As a result of her brighter spirits, Debbie throws out all of Nolan's belongings, including his books and photos. She even tells Cecil to cut off their financial support. (Laughs) I know Nolan couldn't have been making that much from his books when even Art said they wouldn't sell. I figure Debbie's job was providing for that family for the most part, especially when Nolan was off and away saving the planet from all kinds of threats on a regular basis so I know he didn't have a real 9 to 5 job. It's not like Debbie can't continue providing for herself and Mark without him, so I didn't see the problem here. I appreciated hearing the kind sentiment from Debbie that she much rather saw that money go towards the families that were affected due to Nolan's betrayal instead. 

Seriously, how can ANYONE hate Debbie's character in this show? She's easily the best written female in this by a massive margin. 

Another minor subplot that has been sprinkled throughout this season is Donald's investigation into how he survived being killed by Omni-Man in the Season One finale. He cuts his own arm open with a knife, only to be relieved at the sight of blood, but looks in horror at the knife being bent in the process. Before he could investigate further, he's called away by Cecil. 

Back on Thraxa, Mark barely regains consciousness to see Nolan being dragged away by the other Viltrumites. Nolan urges Mark to read his books and asks for his forgiveness as this could be the last time that they see each other again. What a weird last request to make to your son on death row, huh? Don't worry. We're going to get back to that. 

General Kregg makes his animated debut by congratulating Mark for holding his own against two veteran Viltrumite warriors, but Mark isn't having any of it. Kregg lays into him and informs Mark that Nolan is being transported to a prison for he will be executed for his failure to complete his mission. Mark, on the other hand, will be sent back to Earth as its new Viltrumite agent. His orders are to kill a few humans to subdue them or the Viltrumites will slaughter millions if they learn that Mark has failed or if the planet rebels against them. Kregg adds that they will be checking on his progress soon, and, unlike his father, they won't be changing their minds. 

The episode ends by catching up with the surviving Mauler Twin from the explosion in the season premiere. By this time, he has successfully created a new clone with all of his memories. This clone kills the survivor with a cup of poison lemonade, leaving him as the lone survivor. I wonder how many times the Mauler Twins have done this by this point in the story.

EPISODE FIVE: "This Must Come as a Shock"

The Viltrumites haul Nolan away and leave Mark to fend for himself as he limps away to recover from his injuries. He's found by a few surviving Thraxans, who take him to Andressa for treatment. Mark contributes to the rebuilding efforts on Thraxa after his recovery, but Andressa and Nuolzot (the Thraxan who posed as Seance Dog and brought him here) encourage Mark to go back to Earth. An elderly Andressa encourages Mark to take his brother with him since he's his only relative left. Fast forward back to Earth, Mark returns back home and surprises her with Nolan's baby. Debbie reacts as how most sane women would in that situation and flips out at having to raise her deadbeat husband's child. I don't blame Debbie in the least in this situation, especially when this is another pile of shit that Nolan has dropped into their laps, if the entire ordeal with the pending threat of the Viltrum Empire coming to take over the Earth isn't bad enough. After some careful consideration, Debbie relents and agrees with Mark to take care of the child, seeming that they are the only family that the child has left since they have no idea if Nolan's still alive or not. 

At this point, I found it comical that Mark was even entertaining the thought of going back to school, despite his wishes to take a semester off to raise the child until Debbie was completely against it. Why not? As someone who has worked in the college system for several years, I would love to know what college allows for someone to have missed classes since the first day of classes (not even showing up for the first day no less, according to his conversations with Amber and William) and continuously did so without getting kicked out? I'm surprised that Mark still had a bed waiting for him back in their dorm room to be quite honest. 

This is the part where the concept of the passage of time in this season is really muddled. How long did it take for Mark to recover on Thraxa? A few days? Weeks? Or a month? The only concrete information we have is that Nuolzot said that it would take six days to get there. 

Mark barely has time to reunite with his friends on Earth and get back into the swing of things in college before the next big crisis pops off. The Guardians of the Globe are tasked with dealing with a ship full of Sequids - all controlled by the human host body of the astronaut that Shapesmith replicated. Shapesmith confesses that he's a Martian to the surprise of NO ONE - outside of Black Samson - and confesses that this ordeal is all of his fault. Cecil sends Immortal, Black Samson, Monster Girl, Rudy (Robot), and calls in Invincible since he's dealt with the Sequids in the past. Rex Splode chimes in and suggests that they bring in Atom Eve, who has been kicking herself for her irresponsible mistakes lately in terms of using her powers. Rex, Shrinking Rae, and Dupli-Kate all stay behind to deal with any domestic threats while the rest of the Guardians go into space. 

In hilarious fashion, Rex treats the ladies to a night of pizza, thinking that they are going to have it easy until they are tasked with dealing with the Lizard League under the new leadership of King Lizard. Rex, Rae, and Kate are getting their asses thoroughly beaten by Komodo Dragon, Salamander, and Iguana. Dragon kills Kate by smashing her two remaining clones together simultaneously, causing her to be unable to create any more. Rae shrinks down and kills Salamander to avenge Kate, but she's grabbed and swallowed whole by Dragon. She attempts to regrow out of his body, but is forcefully swallowed regardless and digested, thus leaving Rex as the last man standing. Rex loses a hand after getting it bitten off by Dragon but manages to kill both Dragon and Iguana with his blast charges. Just when he thought he won, Lizard King appears behind him with a gun and plants the barrell to the back of Rex's head. 

Meanwhile, the Guardians make their way onto the Sequids' ship, only to discover that there are Martians onboard being held against their will. They immediately chastised (and rightfully so) for causing this ordeal in the first goddamn place. Bulletproof spots and foolishly kills one of the Sequids, failing to realize that they share a hive mind and have been made aware of their presence onboard. Their swarm arrives and quickly begins to overwhelm the Guardians with their numbers. 

This episode's mid-credits teaser shows Allen bursting out of his recovery chamber due to his much bigger and taller appearance. Thaedus greets him and informs him that he is now strong enough to fight a Viltrumite due to the experiments that he underwent. Allen isn't convinced so easily and thinks that his time fighting the Viltrumites are over. Thaedus rips off his beard in rebuttal, revealing himself to be a Viltrumite himself - specifically the first to rebel against the Viltrum Empire. He then tasks Allen with bringing Invincible back to the Coalition as he believes that he is the key to defeating the Empire. 

Overall, this was a strong episode to continue the season following the mid-season break. They end this episode with multiple threats and tension to keep viewers hooked and coming back for the next episode. It's deceptive, but it works as I was anxious to see where this was going next, even on my rewatch.

EPISODE SIX: "It's Not That Simple"

This episode begins right where the last left off with the Guardians trying to fend off the Sequids' attack while Rudy rushes to construct an EMP device using components of his armor/drone to take down the mind-controlled Rus Livingston (the astronaut who is being used as the human host of the Sequids). Immortal and Invincible argue over who should take the device, but Immortal reluctantly agrees with Mark that he's faster and much more durable for the task at hand. They successfully take down the Sequids with the EMP device, only to be confronted by the Martians for Shapesmith's punishment. 

Lizard King shoots Rex in the head, seemingly killing him until Rex stands back up out of sheer adrenaline. He then proceeds to beats the hell out of Lizard King with his stump of an arm and passes out right as the GDA's forces arrive on the scene. 

The Guardians all escape, taking Shapesmith with them, but Invincible casually takes out their pursuing ships without killing any of the Martians to flee safely back to Earth. Eve greets Mark with a hug (hmmm... planting the seeds for the future) while Immortal thanks him with a handshake and apologizes for butting heads with him earlier. I applaud Immortal for showing SOME character growth here, but it's not enough as far as I'm concerned. 

Amanda (Monster Girl) and Rudy (Robot) are still having issues navigating their relationship as Rudy won't let go of wanting to help "fix" her of the de-aging aspect/curse of her transformative powers. I understand Amanda's frustrations since Rudy won't let this thing go and on top of that, it's something that she has essentially given hope of being cured of since she's been living with this curse for so long at this point. Most importantly, we can't ignore that Amanda has enough confidence in herself to recognize that she's not a thing that needs fixing. In a show that highlights and emphasizes the importance of mental health, Amanda is one of the few characters who has a somewhat stable mindset, despite so much trauma she has gone through with the other Guardians. In that regard, it's easy to see why she's annoyed with Rudy constantly implying that something is wrong with her when there's nothing wrong at all. This may be a pretty morbid take on Amanda's personality, but I see her like a cancer patient. She has come to terms with her fate to de-age out of existence from constant use of her powers and is content to make the most of the little time that she has left. She never considered the possibility of breaking the curse. From Rudy's perspective, he sees this as another opportunity to give someone else the second chance at living like he did for himself in a hopeless situation. For all of his intelligence and critical thinking, Rudy has a lot to learn in terms of navigating relationships and social boundaries. He fails to recognize that what he is offering to Amanda is on the surface in good will, but at the same time, offensive when Amanda doesn't see herself as a flawed/broken individual. 

The Guardians return back to the GDA, only to find Rex and Shrinking Rae in extensive care while the remains of Dupli-Kate laid in the morgue. A funeral is held for Dupli-Kate, which breaks the Immortal down as her death weighed more heavily on his heart than he had imagined that it would have. Immortal's grief begins affecting his work, to the point where Cecil orders him to take time off to navigate through his grief. For all of the shading dealings and skeletons locked in his closet, I have to admit that Cecil's a class act to offer some therapy/counseling to help Immortal work through this. I mean, c'mon. For someone who has lived that long, you have to be carrying a ton of heavy psychological baggage from your countless lifetimes of experiences along with how many deaths he has experienced. That kind of trauma creates supervillains and psychopaths. It's a miracle that he hasn't crossed that line (yet). 

Back at the Grayson's home, Oliver is already speaking which prompts a visit from Cecil who offers GDA services to Debbie to aid in raising the child. Debbie still refuses, but opts to hire a tutor. The first one is obviously a spy sent by Cecil, who Debbie could smell right away and turns down immediately. Then another shows up by the name, April Howsam, who is upfront to Debbie about working for the GDA but wants to work for Debbie and not as a messenger for Cecil as she has a specialty in working with "special" children with powers and abilities. We get a cute line from Oliver who calls Debbie, "Mama-boss", in response. Debbie accepts and hires April. 

Mark finally gets some time to reconnect with Amber but they both realize that they are spending less time together in college than they were in high school. For teenagers watching this, their relationship is a clear message that these relationships and friendships from grade school change as you move on in life. It's not a problem with your friends, but it's just that life sends us all down different paths. Sometimes it's going to suck that you don't get to hang out with those people who you were once so close with and maybe only get to see them once every few weeks, months, or even a few years. It's a testament to their love for each other that Mark and Amber are adamantly trying to make this work, especially after the hurdles they went through in Season One. 

I found it amusing that even in his brain damaged state that even Rex is noticing that Mark and Amber's attempts to maintain this relationship is a fool's errand. Even he can recognize that Eve and Mark would make more sense together given their similar situations in the superhero community. Rex noticed something was there between Mark and Eve since the first season and it's interesting how he is slightly nudging them towards each other. This is the start of Rex's turning over a new leaf for the better in terms of how he treats his peers. For those worried, Rex doesn't lose his snarky attitude and smart ass mouth, but he learns to be more considerate of others' feelings. 

This episode continues the subplot with Donald as he visits Mark and William at his college dorm just as he returns with Rick, who has had extensive surgery from the GDA to repair his body after the horrors done to him by D.A. Sinclair. Rick is still suffering from PTSD from the experience while William comforts him in his recovery. Donald suspects that whatever was done to resurrect him from the explosion that should have killed him when he confronted Omni-Man was done to Rick, but keeps this information to himself. 

Cecil offers Eve a spot back on the Guardians, but once again, she refuses. He departs only for Amber to arrive and they have some girl talk. Ironically and coincidentally, Mark visits Art to talk about "girlfriend problems", who informs Mark that all people have problems with dating - not just superheroes. Amber tells Eve that she feels like she's being selfish, wanting to spend more time with Mark while keeping him away from saving the world while at the same time, Mark is telling Art the literally the same thing. He feels selfish when he wants to spend more time with Amber, but knows that he should be doing more to protect the Earth and save others. Eve and Art tell them both EXACTLY what I was thinking watching this scene play out - why aren't you telling each other this? 

Before Mark leaves, he asks Art about Nolan's books. Nolan actually gave a copy of them to Art as payment, despite them being worthless. Art gives the collection back to Mark, who takes them back to his college dorm for reading.

• The Man with the Invincible Gun: A story about the legendary Space Rider, armed with the Infinity Ray. 

"It was said to emit an unstoppable energy wave that destroyed anything in its path. But it required a steady hand and, more importantly, a steady mind. For it wasn't a weapon to be used in haste. No one has ever gotten close enough to study the Infinity Ray for themselves. The Space Rider always makes sure of that. If the Infinity Ray is indeed real and as powerful as the stories claim, it poses a huge threat to our mission." - Nolan

• Savage Planet, Savage Beasts: A story about two younger Viltrumites (Not mentioned by Nolan but heavily implied to be himself and one of his colleagues) being sent on a mission to investigate a planet for the Viltrum Empire. The first anomaly about this planet was it's dense and strong gravity that hindered their movements. After discovering the planet had no usable resources, they found the second anomaly about this planet, red beast-like dinosaurs called Rognarrs. 

"In an instant, I was surrounded, swarmed, overwhelmed. I've battled creatures ten times their size. But because of the gravity on this planet, Rognarrs had evolved strength like no other. I had grossly underestimated these creatures, and I feared this place would be my grave." - Nolan

These creatures were extremely powerful and able to tear flesh from bones. They were completely unaffected by the planet's powerful gravity since they were forced to evolve to survive in these harsh conditions. Nolan barely escapes this encounter with these creatures. 

After combing through these two books, Mark comes to a sudden realization that Nolan's books weren't fictional stories, but a diary of real, legitimate threats that could defeat other Viltrumites. 

Allen the Alien happens to visit around this same time of Mark's discovery, but has a run-in with an already unhinged Immortal. Immortal tries to fight Allen, but Invincible steps in the middle to diffuse the situation before it gets out of hand. Allen and Mark catch up by comparing notes in terms of what has happened since his last visit, with Allen ending with an offer to bring him to Talescria. Mark declines, but offers something more important instead - Nolan's books for research. Allen excitedly takes this information back to the Coalition, while Mark promises him that he will be ready for war against the Viltrumites when the time comes. Boy, that's one bold claim to make when he couldn't even hold his own over on Thraxa. 

This episode ends with three particular scenes to keep in the viewers' minds in terms of setting the stage for the future. 

• Nolan is seen in the Viltrumite prison, getting interrogated and tortured for not following orders. Kregg concludes that Nolan's time on Earth has been toxic and unstable to the mind of a high ranking Viltrumite like him. 

• Rus Livingston returns home, only to find his home in a sorry state of affairs due to Shapesmith's lack of consideration to take care of his home. He vomits at the sight of the trash and other rotten things scattered around his home, only for a single Sequid to emerge from his vomit and reattach itself to him.

• Last but not least, Angstrom Levy has made a full recovery, at least as far as he's able with his mutated appearance, and is able to traverse the multiverse freely.

EPISODE SEVEN - "I'm Not Going Anywhere" 

This episode starts off in a hilarious, yet entertaining fashion with Mark and Amber attending a comic convention in a narrow attempt to salvage their strained relationship. We even get a tongue-in-cheek mention from one of the artists who Mark meets at one of the signings talk about the hurdles of animation and what tricks they use to exploit, fool, and trick viewers as they cut corners or spend too much time on particular sequences. Their date is cut off prematurely as Mark has to run off and aid Eve and Rex (who is sporting a new robotic hand from the GDA) while dealing with a villain named "Octoboss". 

Donald finally gets the nerve to confront Cecil about what was done to him. Cecil reluctantly caves and shows him the footage of his repeated deaths and reveals that Donald chose to have his memories erased to avoid further trauma. This revelation couldn't happen at a better time as Rick is having suicidal thoughts triggered from his PTSD from the encounter with Sinclair. Donald empathizes with his trauma and talks Rick down from making a costly mistake. 

Mark continues to commit to his relationship with Amber and his academics, but something else comes in the way of their relationship. During one of their dates, a Viltrumite named Anissa comes out of nowhere and threatens to kill Amber. Mark manages to get her to leave and take their conversation elsewhere. 

I'm not even going to sugarcoat this. As someone who has read (some of) the Invincible comics, I got painfully nervous when Anissa arrived. I wasn't expecting her this soon and I was thinking THAT scene was coming already - if you know, you know. I don't want to spoil it nor trigger anyone who may have experienced that trauma in real life.

Mark and Anissa have a conversation about the Viltrumite Empire where Anissa attempts to get Mark to see things her way - the Empire would ultimately save more human lives than he could on his own. Mark has to run off to deal with a giant sea monster per Cecil's orders, but to his surprise, Anissa offers a hand to save the humans from the kaiju attack and defeats the monster with ease. She offers for Mark to reconsider and allow the Viltrumite Empire to take over, but he's adamant in his opposition, prompting a fight between the two. To make a long story short, Mark is completely outclassed against Anissa here. This fight is stylishly choreographed and staged like a scene out of Dragon Ball Z, so it's naturally compelling to watch, despite Mark being on the losing end of the abuse here. Cecil monitors the fight from the GDA’s base and advises Mark to just give up the ghost and level with Anissa to play into that he’s willing to work with the Viltrumites, but as stubborn as Mark is, he refuses while he continues to get beaten up by Anissa. He eventually reaches his breaking point and yields to Anissa, who leaves him with a warning that another Viltrumite will be sent to check on his progress on the takeover of this planet. The only difference will be that Viltrumite won’t be showing him any mercy. Anissa leaves, disgusted with not only Mark’s refusal to see things her way but in the fact that he couldn’t hold his own as most Viltrumites should, especially one of Nolan’s offspring.

In a bad sense of timing, Anissa runs into Allen as he’s heading back to the Coalition. This time, Allen is actually holding his own against a Viltrumite and giving Anissa a run for her money. That is until Allen realizes how powerful he’s become since his “rebirth” and takes a dive, allowing Anissa to defeat him and take him to the Viltrumite prison where Nolan is being held.

EPISODE EIGHT: "I Thought You Were Stronger"

This episode begins with a brief scene following up with Nolan in the Viltrumite prison, where he's making short work of the defense robots and prison guards until General Kregg arrives. Kregg remains disgusted with Nolan's actions, despite passing the first part of his execution preparations. 

The episode then cuts back to the Grayson household, where Angstrom Levy is holding Debbie and Oliver hostage when Mark arrives back home. Levy flips out when Mark doesn't remember his identity, despite being there during the night of the explosion. Levy explains that his brain has been damaged by Mark's interference that night and "the best doctors in a dozen dimensions" were able to mend and reconstitute his body, yet they were unable to fix his appearance. Mark tries to resolve this matter peacefully, but Levy isn't having any of it, mostly due to his PTSD from one of the many multiverse counterparts (specifically the one who was saved from a gruesome fate at the start of this season) seeing unspeakable horrors at the hands of Invincible and Omni-Man. This causes Levy to randomly lash out towards "our" Mark as Levy paints ALL of Invincible's crimes across the multiverse on this Mark since he was the one who was responsible for his experiment failing and his body mutating to this current disfigured state. Oliver's wails make Mark nervous and reckless, causing him to jump the gun in terms of attacking Levy. Levy is ready and teleports Invincible into an unknown dimension. 

That act begins the ongoing gimmick/trend to this episode for the most part. Mark tries to attack Levy, only to get teleported to a random universe due to Levy's portal-creating powers. This first universe sees Mark being confronted by intelligent, talking raptors. They get into an argument over who is going to eat him and begin fighting among themselves AND Mark until he's able to escape through another random portal that Levy creates to return home. 

Back home, Levy is holding Oliver and notes that Oliver doesn't exist in any other reality that he has encountered. Mark warns against hurting Oliver, but Levy assures Mark that his family will remain alive as long as he (Invincible) dies first to satisfy his revenge. Levy casually tosses Oliver to the floor, but Debbie dives to catch him mid-air while Mark makes another lunge at Levy, only to end up in another universe. 

Back in the main reality, Angstrom Levy is growing more and more irritated until he starts reliving the trauma from his alternate selves either being killed or having their loved ones killed by Invincible variants. Levy refuses to believe that any Invincible is redeemable and would save anyone. His painful memories make him see Invincible only as a murderer and a monster - one that deserves to die. He brings Mark back through another portal and threatens to send Debbie and Oliver through a portal to another universe. Mark offers his life in exchange of theirs, but Levy refuses by casually throwing a knife at Debbie and Oliver. Naturally, Mark reacts by lunging towards them to make the safe, only to fall through another one of Levy's portals. 

Ironically enough, this trip lands Mark in The Walking Dead universe (another Robert Kirkman creation) as zombies are crowding around him as he flees from his home in that universe. 

By this point, Debbie has had enough of standing on the sidelines and tries to take out Levy by smashing a flower pot over his head and slashing him across the chest with one of the broken shards. Debbie hits Angstrom Levy with a truth bomb that hasn't dawned onto him. In this universe, Mark is a hero and she raised him to stand up to Omni-Man. She adamantly believes that her son is not a murderer, despite Levy's taunting that she is a "traitor to her own kind" for siding with Omni-Man and Invincible in other universes. Regardless, Debbie drops the microphone with one more realization that Levy has failed to realize - in this world, Levy is the villain, NOT Invincible. Levy refuses to believe this and lashes out at Debbie by snapping her wrist in half. 

Mark is growing weary by being forced to have various adventures throughout the portals in the multiverse. He even runs into a "bat-themed hero", who he questions his name (obviously DC Comics' Batman) before his travels lead him to see a lone portal appear. Mark's adventures had taught him to be patient until Angstrom stuck his head through the portal. That was when Mark lunged at him like a shot out of cannon to return back to his home universe. Mark is instantly horrified at the sight of his mother's condition and instantly directs his anger towards Levy. 

I don't know why Levy thought that he was being cheeky until now to reveal that he had his body improved by the doctors throughout the multiverse to strengthen his physical abilities. Mark's multiverse adventures were meant to wear him down and ultimately make him easier to kill, but it just gave off Saturday Morning Cartoon villain vibes to me. After rewatching this season AFTER seeing Season Three, his plans come off as even more convoluted, especially given the resources at his disposal. By this point, Mark has been pushed to his wit's end - physically and mentally - and unloaded his pent up stress onto Levy. Mark proceeds to beat Levy until he's a bloody pulp, promising that he will never allow anyone like Levy hurt his family. Once Levy's body stops moving and he's not breathing anymore, it finally dawns onto Mark what he has done with his entire body coated from head to toe in Levy's blood - he killed him. Mark did the one thing that he feared doing this entire season - he took a life and brought himself one step closer to being like his father, despite being so adamant that he wasn't going to be anything like Omni-Man/Nolan. 

We can't even deny that Nolan didn't warn Mark about this possibility back on Thraxa. When faced with the other Viltrumites, Mark kept holding himself back - both out of fear and refusal to do anything that would make him comparable to the crimes that Omni-Man committed in the previous season. Despite all of his alternate universe counterparts that Levy has compared him with have opted to embrace that violent nature, this version - our version of Mark Grayson, refuses to be a murderer. Unfortunately, push came to shove and Angstrom Levy left Mark no choice. His loved ones were brought into the crossfire and Debbie got hurt, prompting Mark to stop this threat to his family once and for all. Let's be honest here - Levy kept poking the bear and finally got what he wanted out of Mark. He wanted him to be a killer and found himself right on the receiving end of his wrath. Case in point. It's insane how many Dragon Ball Z this show has, but Levy did the same thing that Cell did to Gohan once he achieved his "perfect form" and challenged the Z fighters in his unique "Cell Games" martial arts tournament. Everyone warned him about Gohan's hidden potential but he was adamant on unleashing that. After threatening Gohan's friends and family, Gohan found himself pushed beyond the brink and unleashed his hidden potential. He made short work of Cell's minions and made that fight so one-sided that it was trivial to him while Cell was left cowering in fear of what monster he set free. Levy did the exact same thing here. He pushed Mark to this point and had absolutely NO answer of how to stop him. All of that planning and grandeur went out of the window when he was getting the holy hell beat out of him. 

For Mark this is a hollow victory for multiple reasons: 

• Now that he's killed once, he fears that he won't be able to stop himself from doing it again.

• This one action convinces him that he is on the path of being a heartless murderer like his father and other Viltrumites.

• Last but not least, Mark realizes that killing Angstrom Levy has stranded him God-knows-where in the multiverse in an alternate universe with no means of getting back home. 

• This means that Levy essentially got the last laugh. Mark may have won the battle but Levy ensured that Mark would never be able to return home and would have to live with his mistake forever. 

This would be a cruel fate for our hero if this episode didn't cop out in the last few minutes. A future iteration of the Guardians of the Globe show up through a portal, thanks to Robot (disguised as Rex Splode) reverse engineering a means to replicate Levy's powers. Robot conjures a portal to send Mark back to his own timeline, but this future version of Eve stops Mark and confesses her love for him out of nowhere, pleading with him not to make the mistake she made in terms of not acting on those feelings. Robot warns her of tampering with the timeline, while leaving a confused Mark to return to his own timeline. I wasn't mad about this, but I felt it would have been a bigger bombshell (or better yet, a cliffhanger) to leave Mark with his "sins" to weigh on with viewers in the gap between seasons. This scene could have easily been the opening scene to Season Three. Instead, these few hours that Mark has spent on this planet feel like seconds and viewers really don't get a sense of Mark's bleak situation here. 

Back in his proper timeline, Mark breaks down after seeing Debbie is safe, but he's still an emotional wreck from killing Levy. Cecil tries to comfort Mark by reassuring him that he's not his father and he did nothing wrong. I can see how empty that feels coming from Cecil when he sees everyone as disposable assets as long as the battle is won and/or the crisis is adverted. Regardless, the intent was there so that was something I guess.

This season wraps up a few lingering points among the Guardians too. Amanda (Monster Girl) and Rudy (Robot) come to terms with Amanda agreeing to allow Rudy to address her de-aging issue and asking him out on a date, much to his surprise. The Immortal retreats to his cabin in the mountains, only to find Kate (Dupli-Kate) is alive. She reveals that she faked her death since she never sends all of her selves out into battle as a precaution.

The running gag from Season One occurs again with Ka-Hor attempting to escape from his tomb in Egypt when two would-be tomb raiders, Jane and Riley, discover his tomb. Unfortunately, or rather fortunately for the two ladies, Ka-Hor cannot possess neither one of them as he requires a male host to leave his tomb. As a result, they are stuck in there after Invincible causes a sandstorm while flying past in his attempts to channel his frustrations. Mark is still haunted by his actions along with his memories of Omni-Man. He hovers briefly over Amber's dorm back at the university, but decides not to make contact with her as he's already endangered her life enough and opts to move on. 

Back at the Grayson home, Debbie and Mark find that Cecil has restored their home back to normal, but Mark is still troubled after all that has transpired. Debbie is taken back at Mark's decision to quit school, but Mark is adamant in terms of wanting to focus on honing his powers - possibly to train himself for he won't cross this line again. Mark then catches up with Eve, to whom he almost shares what he learned from her future self, but decides against it. I don't blame him there as this isn't the best time to be bringing up some pity party from her future self that might not even play out the same way in this universe anyway. Regardless, Eve comforts him the only way she knows how and states that Mark shouldn't have to suffer so much. Whether they become an item or not, it's clear at this point of the story that Eve is one of the only people in Mark's life who can understand the hurdles of navigating the hardships of these superhero lifestyles. Even if she's no more than just a friend to Mark, that's worth its weight in gold when they have someone to confide in this harsh lifestyle. 

Back in the Viltrumite prison, Nolan is still getting beat into submission by Kregg in preparation for his execution. Nolan continues not to object to these beatings, much to the dismay to his fellow Viltrumites. He has clearly come to terms to his fate - until he meets Allen the Alien as he is brought in. Allen communicates with him telepathically and offers some hope, but Nolan counters with his firm belief that he deserves death for everything that he has done. The season ends with Nolan confessing that he misses his wife, Debbie. 

Upon my first watch/viewing, I thought Nolan meant that he missed Andressa from Thraxa, but on my second viewing for the sake of this review, it's clear that he meant Debbie.

Nolan is a piece of work. He really is. I still say that he is a coward. He is ready to accept death instead of facing and acknowledging all of his crimes for not all of the lives that he destroyed, but the emotional turmoil that he put his own family through. I will repeat myself and say that he is the ultimate coward, but one of the bravest cowards out of the Viltrumites. He, much like Thadeus before him, had the courage to defy the Empire, but unlike Thadeus, he doesn't want to stand up and challenge the rest of the Empire and their ways head on. He rather just die and his efforts be for nothing. I don't see how Mark nor Debbie could forgive him in any capacity when he settled down on another planet, thinking he could merely start over with a new family and everything would be all forgiven. It's a fucked up note to end on, especially when he just blurts out that he misses his wife. Oh that same wife that he called a pet? Or did he miss having her coddle and nurture him like a child? Maybe I should cut Nolan a break. Maybe after all of this time to reflect and self-inspect himself and his ideologies, maybe Nolan has had the time to realize that he has been wrong about everything and wants to apologize to both Mark and Debbie. He probably wants to acknowledge to (and more importantly, thank) Debbie that she was single-handedly the best thing that has ever happened to him or ever will - and beg for her forgiveness. 

Closing Thoughts

Season Two of Invincible is a solid follow-up to Season One, but I felt like it wasn’t anywhere as exciting as the first season, except for the mid-season finale. Once we hit that high, I didn’t feel like we were getting to sink our teeth into as juicy content as the first season’s highs, but that was to be expected to an extent. This season is laying the groundwork for what is to come in Season Three and beyond, so there had to be a little of that “calm before the storm” before things crank up into high gear again.

This season's high points were definitely around the mid-season finale and mid-season premieres and really didn't keep things exciting after that point. Sure, we got the fun finale with Mark against Angstrom Levy, but to be Mark's self-proclaimed greatest enemy, he left a lot to be desired, especially as the "final boss" of this season. That finale couldn't hold a candle to the Invincible vs. Omni-Man fight from the Season One finale in the least. Without a shadow of a doubt, we got greater implications and consequences for Mark's actions in this finale that will continue into Season Three, but as a stand alone finale, it left a lot to be desired. 

A lot of characters are left in interesting places going forward, with the Grayson family taking the lead in the fallout of the events of this season (since they never really recovered from the events in Season One) to the Guardians facing numerous changes and hurdles in their own right. Atom Eve is struggling to find her place not just in life but in the superhero community as a whole. Amber is left twisting in the wind in terms of her college life and following her break-up with Mark. Cecil is doing what Cecil does; plotting and planning for the future - by any means necessary. Allen the Alien is gearing up for a prison break, while remaining hopeful that he can drag Nolan along for the ride. 

A lot of the comments and criticisms I see about this series, even after Season Three has dropped is how "weak" Mark is portrayed as over the course of this series. Critical thinking and comprehension is a foreign concept as time goes on, so allow me to enlighten my readers that decision is the definition of irony in terms of what Mark's chosen superhero name is. He named himself "Invincible" but he's far from it. We see him get beaten to an inch of his life in almost every major battle and never shows any sort of invulnerability. If anything, his name should "endurance" as the kid sure can take one hell of a beating and still come back for more. That being said, I have a bigger issue in this series with the inconsistent power scaling at various points of this series than Mark's portrayals as being "weak" in battle. The Viltrumites on Thraxa were beating the hell out of Mark and giving even Nolan some issues until a random pep talk urged Mark to level the playing field, yet when Anissa showed up, he couldn't match her in the least. Where was that extra power boost in that fight? Then in the finale, Mark was so unhinged that he wasn't being "weak" at all against Levy. So where does he really stand in terms of power in this show? It really comes off as lazy in terms of Mark just being strong enough for whenever and wherever the plot demands it.