Invincible Episode 6 (TV Review)

Some TV Shows start fairly slowly and don't interest me all that much, but by the end of the first series, I am hooked and intrigued to know what will happen next. Invincible is not one of those shows. Straight out of the gate, the adaptation of Robert Kirkman's comic book grabbed my attention and by the end of episode one, I was in awe and dying to know see will happen next. Since then, Invincible has delivered on its promise of grizzly superhero action but the characters are what truly make the show. Mark's family and friends are all so likeable and the bond they have with each other is perfectly displayed on screen and Episode Six is no different. To sum it up, this is yet another fantastic episode of superhero television.

Episode Six has Mark (Steven Yeun) join Amber (Zazie Beetz) and William (Andrew Rannells) on a campus visit to Upstate University, hoping to discover a new future for himself. Meanwhile, Debbie (Sandra Oh) makes her own disturbing discovery.

This week's episode really does move away from the family dynamic and relationship between Mark and his father, Nolan, and allows our title lead to interact with his friends more which really does the show a favour. So far this season the bond between Mark and his classmates hasn't been as explored as the father-son relationship and in this episode, it works brilliantly. This chapter shows the pressure on Mark's relationship with Amber due to his superhero lifestyle and we feel the tension of Mark wanting to make amends yet can't due to the wishes of his father and the rest of the world. As the episode progresses, you feel the emotional impact and the show makes the viewer feel what it wants them to feel

The story also is very clearly setting up the final few episodes which really does feel satisfying. Some recent television shows try and shove in as many plot threads and cliff-hangers but only do that it in a way that sadly feels abrupt and unnecessary. They are not set up and feel like they have been tacked on at the last minute. Invincible instead lingers on specific moments that may not be important in this episode but will definitely mean something in the future.

However, my main problem with this episode is how it deals with the ending to Episode Five. They purposefully added a truly gruesome, bloody and shocking moment to end the episode but never really followed through with that here. Mark's character was left on a really dark note and in the latest episode, it's all resolved within minutes. I really wanted to see them allow the audience to feel the impact of this showdown yet we never saw that. It immediately shoves Mark onto this trip with Amber and William and the tone changes drastically. That part of Episode Six did not fully work for me and sadly, I wanted to feel the impact of Mark's close-to-death experience.

However, Invincible Episode Six might just be the best episode of the series. It did have a few tonal issues regarding the end to Episode Five but this chapter focuses on Mark and his friends and that was the highlight this week. It has the shock value, emotion and gruesome violence that is compacted together to create a mysterious yet fun adventure with our title lead. I enjoyed that the show decided to take a step back from the grand scale superhero fights and just focus on Mark as a character. I'm now extremely excited for Episode Seven and Amazon have a TV classic on their hands.