Alien Nation

The latest MCU series premiered on Disney+ last night, Secret Invasion. Starring Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn, it can boast of some great acting talent, if nothing else. I'm sorry to say the episode was pretty bland.

It was written by series creator Kyle Bradstreet and co-written by Brian Tucker. Tucker's only previous credit is writing the 2013 film Broken City, which holds a 28% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Bradstreet has a little more cred, having worked in television since 2009, his most significant work being nine episodes he wrote for Mr. Robot. He wasn't the creator of Mr. Robot and he wrote only one episode in the series' first season. I've never seen Mr. Robot so, I don't know, maybe he wrote the show's best episodes. But considering how badly the Rick and Morty writers from later seasons worked out, I'm thinking this theory of apprenticeship, of supporting writers going on to be showrunners at Disney, isn't quite sound.

Other reviews have talked about plot holes and such, which are significant mistakes in a spy thriller, but I think finding the right tone is more important. The opening of the episode, which features Martin Freeman guest starring to meet with a stereotypical conspiracy theorist, should have established an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty. But since I doubt more than three or four viewers didn't guess that Freeman was a Skrull from the beginning, and the conspiracy guy was such a caricature, the whole section lacked impact. This show really needed to make us feel like the whole world could fall apart at any moment, that no-one is safe, but that never really happens.

Jackson and Mendelsohn are great and they both do their damnedest to make their scenes interesting. Jackson plays Fury as fairly laid back, as usual, and that works in a movie like Winter Soldier, which did build up that atmosphere of constant danger. Here, it's another thing that diminishes the sense of threat. Mendelsohn is a little better. He seems genuinely torn apart inside.

For those wondering why Emilia Clarke is a star, I've been watching Game of Thrones again lately and the answer is that she was really, really sexy on that show, at least in the first five seasons. And she was fun. So she's not really playing to her strengths here.

At least the show is so far avoiding the silly tone of Captain Marvel.

Secret Invasion is available on Disney+.