Jam-packed with a plethora of human-on-human violence, this is science fiction with a self-centered mean streak. Disagree? Expect to be executed on the spot.
Invasion
The first two seasons are now streaming in their entirety. The first episode of Season 3 makes its global debut Friday, August 22, exclusively on Apple TV+ . New episodes debut every Friday through October 24. I've seen the first nine (of ten) episodes in Season 3.
As I noted in my Season 1 review, published in October 2021: "Rather than a positive view of mankind, though, the series chooses to take a largely pessimistic perspective, assuming the worst about most everybody in most of the episodes.
"This is not entirely surprising, considering the past work of series creators Simon Kinberg and David Weil. In particular, Weil has demonstrated a very dark view of humanity in his series Hunters and Solos; his dialogue is quite sharp and striking, but his characters have often been nasty and unlikable. That's balanced in several episodes by Kinberg's writing, which has generally been lighter and a touch more cheerful in his giant action movies he's received credit for scripting."
In Season 3, this tendency again manifests itself as the episodes progress, even though Weil is not credited for writing any of the nine episodes that were made available for advance viewing. (Kinberg and Weil remain credited as executive producers.) As dynamic and involving as the action scenes can be, the negative tone and viewpoint prevails in private interactions between characters and the public dialogue in general, which, after the first episode, is often reduced to barking or shouting or diminishing anyone who is not speaking.
Of course, the argument can be made: This is war! This is how people talk! What do you want, polite banter when lives are on the line and aliens want to kill everyone on the planet?!
Obviously, I am not a soldier or a police officer or an armed combatant in a war against aliens from outer space. And maybe the problem is that I binged the episodes in advance over a couple days; perhaps watching them weekly will lessen the cumulative 'downer' effect that the series gives off.
Simon Kinberg wrote Season 3's first episode, which gets things off to a positive start, resetting the table after events in Season 2 appeared to quash the alien invasion. Life on Earth has (basically) returned to normal in the two years that have passed, which makes the return of Trevante Cole (Shamier Anderson), who reportedly died while performing a heroic act that saved the planet, extremely surprising to everyone. Before the episode concludes, however, the aliens make their presence known (again).
Individual episodes allow the actors to bring their characters to life, vividly. Reprising their roles from the first two seasons, Shamier Anderson sturdily essays a more-than-capable soldier and uncomfortable returning hero, and Golshifteh Farahani shines as Aneesha Malik, a wife and mother whose intellect and quick thinking played a key role in saving her family -- and the planet.
Also returning are Mitsuki (Shioli Kutsuna), an engineer; Jamila (India Brown), a younger person; Clark (Enver Gjokaj), Aneesha's husband, a schoolteacher. New to the cast is Erika Anderson, who plays an increasingly key role throughout the season.
Without spoiling anything, the season draws together most of the leads from the first two seasons; rather than being scattered worldwide, they are closer together as the episodes progress, which introduces a few new wrinkles to their characters -- but not many.
Mostly, Invasion is about conflicts between humans. While the alien invasion is always topmost on their minds, their hearts keep getting torn asunder by divisions that arise, and ready availability of far too many automatic machine guns.
More than flesh is ripped open on a regular basis, as death becomes a far too frequent visitor. That may be the scariest, most disheartening, element of the entire series.
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