To say I was excited for Invincible Season 2 Part 2 would be an understatement. Since its debut in 2021, Robert Kirkman and Prime Video’s dark and brutal yet consistently earnest take on the superhero genre has been by far one of its best works; a major standout in a market filled to bursting with superhero media and without a doubt the best the genre has been on television to date.
And Season 2’s first half continued and expanded on the solid foundations set by Season 1 with great character work, clever explorations of the multiverse, and the show’s trademark epic and brutal action sequences. And the cliffhanger ending with the legendary Clancy Brown as General Kreeg taking Omni-Man prisoner? Who wouldn’t immediately want to know what happens next?
I am happy to report that Season 2’s second half delivers on these promises in spades. A truly exemplary work of superhero storytelling that defies many of the genre’s typical conventions while embodying everything that makes it great. How exactly did they manage to pull it off yet again? Let’s discuss.
Also Read: Invincible Creator Believes Superman Would Stand No Chance Against Omni-Man and Could “Easily Beat Him”
Invincible Season 2 Part 2 Plot
Mark Grayson, better known as the superhero Invincible, has a lot on his mind after the first half of Season 2. His grades in college are slipping and he’s barely been able to spend time with his girlfriend Amber due to his superhero responsibilities and he just had the first run-in with his father Nolan, also known as Omni-Man, since the whole “being rammed through a train” thing.
Now, his father’s been captured by the Viltrumite Empire, leaving him with a deadly ticking clock, he still has no idea how to fix his personal problems, and he has to figure out how to take care of his alien half-brother now that Nolan’s out of commission. And that’s on top of new and returning villains and some truly shocking shake-ups in the superhero community.
Invincible Season 2 Part 2
If you’re wondering how Mark “Ends Every Fight With Himself And/Or His Opponent In A Body Cast” Grayson handles these new responsibilities, the short answer is “not well.” People die, hearts are broken, our heroes are forced to make incredibly hard decisions, and lives are changed forever, not always for the better. To paraphrase Prime Video’s other recent animated hit, Hazbin Hotel, “for those of us with audience ordainment, watching Mark Grayson suffer is entertainment.”
But to say Season 2 Part 2 is simply a Mark Grayson Torture Chamber would be massively underselling just how good it is. A vast majority of the ensemble cast gets their time to shine, the stories feel grand yet deeply personal, and every time you think they might have forgotten a particular plot point, it comes back with an incredibly satisfying pay-off.
And the action is, as to be expected at this point, incredible. Every fight scene features remarkably fluid character movement and every move feels like it makes a major impact both physically and mentally. Not only do the punches produce massive shockwaves and broken bones; but a noticeable mental affect on the combatants that reflects a surprising amount of character.
And amidst all the blood bags and brutal beat downs, Invincible Season 2 Part 2 still makes room for the smaller moments. The sincere and earnest bits of levity and human connection that are often the best part of superhero stories because they remind us why our heroes are fighting in the first place.
Bonding moments between Mark and his mother, the playful banter between Mark and his fellow heroes, tender connections between the humans on the sidelines of these superpowered conflicts, and a handful of genuinely hysterical meta gags help keep the show tonally balanced and fun to watch while still having a deep emotional impact in its serious moments. And these moments are made all the better by the character animation in dialogue scenes looking significantly better than Season 1 and even the first half of Season 2. It’s still rather limited, but improvements have been made and the stiffness never feels distracting.
If there is any problem, it might be that the season’s main villain, Angstrom Levy, ultimately doesn’t get that much screen time, making him feel like somewhat of a step down from Omni-Man in Season 1. They end his story very well and his stuff in the finale is genuinely great; but I imagine some will be disappointed that he didn’t get more development throughout. There’s a similar issue with General Kreeg’s storyline, but that’s mostly just because they seem to be saving him for Season 3.
If I had to nitpick, I do wish we had a few more episodes to tell more individual stories. This is less of an Invincible problem and more of a “Modern Peak TV” problem; but the limited episode structure means that each episode feels less like its own story adding to a greater whole and more one big story that arbitrarily stops roughly every 45 to 50 minutes to do a credit roll. But again, this isn’t too big an issue when you have the story all laid out. Plus, it’s probably a good sign for your show if the biggest problem is “This is great. Why isn’t there more of it?”
In Conclusion
Invincible Season 2 Part 2 is, in a word, epic. Spectacular action, great character work, and truly gripping twists and turns keep the show just as enthralling as it’s been before, if not more so. Throughout all four episodes, I laughed, I gasped, I cheered, I felt my jaw hit the floor, and found myself thoroughly engrossed in this world, this story, and these characters.
Not every character gets major development, but most do and they all at least get a moment or two. Not every subplot gets a huge amount of screen time, but what is there is always impactful. It may not necessarily be perfect, but it’s about as close to it as you can reasonably expect from a superhero show of this magnitude made under these circumstances to the point where it’s almost scary. What can’t this creative team do? I guess the only thing left to say is……… bring on Season 3.
10/10
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