‘Secret Invasion’ Recap: ‘Harvest’

7/20/2023

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Five of ‘Secret Invasion’. To revisit the previous episode, click here. Also, this piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.

If there is one word out there that makes people instantly cringe and puts a bad taste in their mouths, it would have to be… failure. Simply because, that is a word which human beings regard as disgusting in nature, and the worst possible experience that anyone can go through. For we are a species that believes in only the spoils of success and to fail at anything, is somehow a betrayal of everything we stand for, and oddly… there are some fine reasons as to why we hold failure in such low regard. Because it can devastate a life and it can shatter a psyche for years on end if not forever. So, avoiding it has merit. But what’s funny about failure, is that there’s wonder to be found within it, and positives that can come from it and really… those two aspects of failure are top of mind today, simply because they were put on display in the next episode of Secret Invasion on Disney+.

For ‘Harvest’ picked up shortly after the harrowing attack on the President of the United States, and since Nick Fury saved POTUS… Gravik had to deal with failure. For he didn’t deliver the war as promised and others in his stead suffered and well… that brought about revolution in the compound. Where disenfranchised Skrull were ready to move a new leader into position to finally get them all that they had been falsely promised for some time. Which brought serious worry to Gravik since he had not expected this kind of trouble and that prompted him to use his strength to teach lessons to his followers and to pivot and try to figure out a new way to bring the war to fruition. Which meant, having Rhodey tell the president that the Russians and the Skrulls were working together, and that with an airstrike, retribution would be at hand. Which would of course… start a war. But the threat of that, was part of a bigger plan we will get to in a moment. But that aside, this was a fine reminder of how failure can bring about great trouble in our lives and had Gravik not been a Meta-Skrull, who knows if failure would have cost him his life.

But there was mention of positivity to be found in such matters, and that was explored, in part, via G’iah and Falsworth. Because Falsworth found agency in the failure of the Skrulls and was able to use her unique position to take charge of her division and learn what the Skrulls were actually up to on this world. Giving SIS unprecedented data and advantage over any other agency out there and of course… it put her at the top where she could be proactive to the problem at hand. As for G’iah… failure gave her perspective and a second chance to be a hero. To be somebody within the Skrull world really, and she took to that. By honoring her people’s traditions with Vaara and finding peace regarding her father in doing so, and well… the resulting attack on Varra’s home allowed for G’iah to stand at last against Gravik and his machinations and save a life. Something that clearly gave her newfound focus and direction… courtesy of failure.

But they weren’t the only ones to find positives in failure, for Nick Fury found it as well. Because losing Talos and seeing how far Gravik had come in a negative manner… gave Nick deep perspective. The kind that informed him of the man he had become after the Blip and after facing so much heartache through the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the many losses that have piled up, even via the Avengers. Which meant, he needed to find himself again and find a way to be the hero that Earth needed right now. For all of this was his fault really, and he owned up to that and knew that the only way to set it right… was to confront Gravik directly. Which brings us back to that master plan. Because something Gravik also wanted to make use of via his device, was to make real superheroes out of Skrulls. The kind that would have the abilities of Earth’s… Avengers. But alas, Fury had kept the location of their DNA a secret, but that secret would end in this tale… to prevent a bloody war and to allow for a final showdown between Fury and Gravik, to settle scores and old wounds… courtesy of failure.

If anything, this was just a fascinating episode when all is said and done. Since it is that rare superhero story that takes the time to explore the emotional fallout of what happens in these stories. For all we normally see, is the fight, the heroism, the sacrifice as needed, and we move on. But death leaves lasting scars as do the other losses that heroes suffer, and it was nice to have that be acknowledged here and see the good guys and gals in this story use that to strengthen their souls, so that at long last, years of pain and ugliness can be resolved in a manner we’ve also not seen before in the MCU. One without sass, armor, and smash… just Nicholas J. Fury trying to make things right with an alien that he deeply let down ages ago, and that is going to bring forth a fascinating finale to this series. One that will undoubtedly be as unpredictable and as a bold as every other moment this series has sent our way. Until next time.

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‘Secret Invasion’ Recap: ‘Harvest’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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