‘Secret Invasion’ Episode 4: Love, Loss + A Shocking Revelation
Episode 4 of Secret Invasion, titled “Beloved,” really shifted things into high gear for the Skrull invasion. It’s tough to talk about this episode without addressing the spoilers, so we’ll advise you here: SPOILERS AHEAD.
In this episode, we find out who has been a mole, who’s been aligning themselves with Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir), and there are some really close encounters with death. As we learned in episode 3 (“Betrayed”), Dr. Rosa Dalton (Katie Finneran) devised a way to create “Super Skrulls” with superpowers on top of their shapeshifting abilities. This will help them battle Earth’s superheroes when they decide to take over the planet.
However, when we thought Emilia Clarke’s G’iah had died at the end of the third episode, we were delighted to see she survived by using this new Super Skrull technology. We still aren’t sure exactly what powers she possesses in this latest episode, but they saved her from her attack by Gravik. Hopefully, it’ll be something that can further aid Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and her father, Talos (Ben Mendelsohn). She’ll surely have the element of surprise on her side: Gravik thinks she’s dead.
Moles and Skrulls
So far, we’ve learned that Fury’s wife, Priscilla (Charlayne Woodard), is a Skrull. Through flashbacks in episodes 3 and 4, it seems quite apparent that they are really in love with one another. “The Blip” and Fury’s post-“Blip “abandonment strained their relationship. This doesn’t stop Priscilla from seeing that Fury has a powerful sense of righteousness. She tells him, “Home is worth fighting for, and the weak is worth protecting.”
But we learn that Priscilla is working with Gravik after she met with Colonel Rhodes (Don Cheadle). During their conversation, she expresses that Fury was fired, which Rhodey laughs about because he knows it was Gravik shapeshifted as him when he killed Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders). If you didn’t already surmise that Rhodey is a Skrull like Priscilla from their meeting, he confirms it when he orders her to kill Fury. So, with this information, Rhodey has great influence over President Ritson (Dermot Mulroney) — and he knows it. Cheadle’s character is quite the A-hole, so it’s fun to watch him say things like, “The President doesn’t find out that the sun’s come up unless I brief him.”
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Throughout this series, we see how innovative Fury can be. He’s got the connections, the technology, and the guts to get to where he needs to be to stop Gravik. The narrative being pushed by Gravik, Rhodes, and now Priscilla is that Fury is essentially a broken man post-Blip and isn’t as indispensable as he once was. Priscilla pushes this narrative onto Rhodey to get him to forget about his order for her to kill Fury. He coldly tells her, “You keep telling me what you’re not gonna do. I’m gonna show you what I am gonna do.” Now that we know who all the moles are (we think), it’s only a matter of time before Priscilla and Rhodey get exposed. Meanwhile, G’iah has a huge problem if Gravik finds out she survived, especially after he tells Pagon (Killian Scott).
Fury & Priscilla
Now that G’iah is free from Gravik, she meets with her father and sweetly tells him she’s with him. But her mood quickly turns: she’s unsatisfied with Talos’ plan of saving the world and requesting amnesty. He plans to appeal to humanity’s better angels by showing them that the Skrulls deserve compassion and aid. Disappointed, she calls him delusional. “That’s not who we are. And that’s not who I’ve become.”
As they bump heads on the future of the Skrulls, Fury is set to face off with his wife back at home. Reminiscent of Mr. & Mrs. Smith‘s iconic fight scene in the kitchen, Priscilla and Fury act coy with each other, as if they don’t know that they’re both strapped up with guns. This doesn’t matter, though, because they still love each other. Putting the cards (or guns) on the table, Fury tells his wife she is “by far and away” his greatest mistake.
With their lives on the line, we learn more about Priscilla’s past as Fury asks her why she chose the body of the real Dr. Priscilla Davis. With only a few months to live due to a congenital heart defect, the Skrull asked her if she could have her body. The dying doctor gave her three conditions: 1. Bury her at sea (she did), 2. Be a daughter her parents (she did that, too), and 3. To never hurt Fury (sorry, darling).
“Late Fragment”
In their openness with each other, Fury recites her favorite poem — “Late Fragment” by Raymond Carver — before the two fire away at each other. They both purposely miss. Laughing, Fury says, “I don’t know if we should get divorced or renew our vows.” And so the couple solidify their loyalty to one another despite being different species. There is a question that still weighs on Priscilla’s mind, though. She asks Fury if he would have fallen in love with her “true self.” As he walks away to leave, he sighs and says, “Guess we’ll never know.”
Gravik’s Ruthlessness
After spiking his “favorite liquid lunch” with Rhodey, Fury uses nanotechnology to track the government mole. Hesitant on the highly expensive alcohol being poison, Fury literally admits, “No, nanotechs!” Too bad for Rhodey for not realizing this was the truth. With Talos at his side, the duo track Rhodey to find the President under attack by Gravik. Pushing the Russia-at-war-with-the-US agenda, Gravik speaks in Russian to ensure the President’s security believes the Russians are behind this.
But Fury’s got a sawed-off shotgun and goes to work to get the President to safety (that’s one way to get re-hired). In an effort to rescue the President, Talos is shot, and the Americans want to shoot him after he begins to change back into a Skrull. This final scene in the episode is wild because as one person is saved, another must be sacrificed. The moment Gravik saw an opening, he grabs Talos while disguising himself as an American soldier. G’iah “died” in the last episode, and but we think that Talos is gone for good. Meanwhile, we’re left wondering, how long has Rhodey been a Skrull? Has he always been a Skrull in every MCU film? Is the real Rhodey still alive?
There are just two more episodes of Secret Invasion. Episodes drop on Disney+ Wednesdays at 3 am ET.
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