You guys know how I like to watch everything slowly, and then after a few years, I’ll return to something I haven’t seen for years? Well, I guess I decided to do that, and come back to a series that I think is on Season 4 now. Naturally, I’m quite behind, so I thought it was a good time to do some catching up!
‘Invincible’ Season 2 starts where the last season finished. Mark Grayson, aka Invincible, tries to rebuild his life following the fight with his father, Nolan, aka Omni-Man. In an attempt at some form of normality, Mark, his girlfriend Amber and their friend, William, all go to college to live the student experience. Clearly itching for some action, Mark speaks to Cecil about going back to doing hero missions for the GDA. At the same time, Mark’s mother, Debbie, is struggling to come to terms with the massive change in her life, and any attempt by her to return to a stable mindset seems riddled with challenges. One day, Mark is approached by an insectoid-like alien who is from a planet called Thraxa. He tells Mark that they need his help to avoid a massive disaster. When Mark gets there, he realises that this was all a ruse and he finds out some extremely shocking news. You’d obviously think that was more than enough for Invincible to deal with; however, another threat emerges in the form of a man named Angstrom Levy. Levy has grown up in a world where Mark joins his father’s conquest, and they go about killing millions. Levy has a plan, but where does this universe’s Mark Grayson fit into that? And will Mark ever find out where his father ended up?
I remember when I watched the first season, I was surprised at the talent of the voice cast. Voicing our titular character is Steven Yeun. This guy is 42 years old, but somehow can voice a teenager. Unreal. Voicing his parents, Debbie and Nolan are the extremely talented Sandra Oh and J.K. Simmons. Their voices are fairly iconic, so you immediately know that it’s them. But that being said, I was able to pick up the voices of so many other actors, including Seth Rogen, who voices Allen the Alien, Sterling K. Brown, who voices the mysterious Angstrom Levy, and even Clancy Brown, who voices General Kregg. Sometimes I think to myself that if their voices are very recognisable, does that take away from the character and on reflection, I don’t think it does. If anything, for me it’s a bit exciting to guess correctly, aha! The voice acting overall was decent, no complaints from me here!
Now ‘Invincible’ exists in this niche space where it’s clearly a part of the superhero show market, but it’s tailored towards an adult audience, similar to ‘The Boys’. This makes for an interesting watch, because for intents and purposes, the plot of the show doesn’t inherently need to be for an older audience. The first season was definitely a very good watch, but I thought that this season felt a bit disjointed. There was a bit of an overarching arc, but for most of the episodes, there was so much stuff going on that I was confused which character development I was following. It may be that this was a setup for the next season, but even Angstrom Levy felt like a wasted character. I just expected a little more. I can’t be completely negative, though. The themes explored this season were certainly pertinent, and I think showing us what Debbie was going through really added to the feel of what life is now like for the Grayson family. Mark’s internal battle was also intriguing and clearly showed us alternate versions of him, showing us what he could become further down the line!
The show was created by Amazon, so there’s a decent budget. The animation style is crisp and clean, and there was even a funny ’fourth wall’ moment, where they acknowledged how they create the animation. I seldom noticed those points. The music of this show is great, and I have to give them props for that. It elevates the entire mood of the scene, and I need to find the soundtrack. Even the theme isn’t bad. Overall, glad to have gotten back into this show, but it felt like a slight step-down! I hope that it’s all to build what will happen next season!
Rating:
Story: ★★★½
Voice Acting: ★★★
Filmography: ★★★★
Integral vs Filler Episodes: ★★★
Enjoyability: ★★★½