REVIEW: Invincible, Season 1 Episode One 'It's About Time'
REVIEW: Invincible, Season 1 Episode One 'It's About Time'
It's unusual to see a superhero animated series aimed at an adult audience. Despite animation being a valuable filmic art form in its own right, most television animations tend to aimed more at the younger demographic; they have a stigma as being 'cartoons' to appease the children, particularly with animated superheroes, that's just very hard to ignore. Amazon Prime's latest offering 'Invincible', however, is one of those rare exceptions to the rule.
Despite this the animation does feel very cheap. I don't know a great deal about the behind the scenes process of animated shows and films, but the movements here feel very basic compared to bigger budget 2D animation efforts like The Simpsons or Family Guy. For some audiences I imagine this could be distracting, but as someone used to watching the animated missing Doctor Who episodes, which adopt a similar style, it didn't faze me too much.
It begins with the most 'comic-book' opening ever, with the Guardians Of The Globe fighting the Mauler Twins (Kevin Michael Richardson). It's such an epic way to begin the show, that neatly establishes the world of the story from the off. This is one of those fantastical worlds where superheroes exist in one singular universe, something which we are all familiar with right now given the sheer amount of superhero shows and films available, which makes it a concept very easy to get on-board with.
It's a show that certainly wears its influences on its sleeve. Darkwing (Lennie James) is essentially Batman. Red Rush (Michael Culditz) is this universe's equivalent to the Flash. But perhaps the most prominent one to me is the family dynamic, which has shades of The Incredibles in the way it mixes the domestic with the everyday. Omniman/Nolan Grayson (J.K. Simmons) comes home every day after his superhero antics to his loving wife Debbie Grayson (Sandra Oh) and his son Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun), who later becomes superhero Invincible. The way they casually discuss the vigilante antics brings to mind the crazy mixing of superhero life and the domestics in The Incredibles; it's essentially a part of the furniture and just accepted as the norm. Then there's how Mark goes to college, which draws clear inspiration from the Spider-Man comics, and nicely captures that constant drama of juggling the superhero stuff with work (in this case, Mark has a job at a fast food place) and education.
Something that struck me as particularly clever is the twist that the show has on the puberty conversation that every son has with their Dad. It's that common discussion about how things will change with your body when you hit a certain age. Only here it also comes about Mark's own powers. You see, we learn in this flashback to Mark's younger days that these powers will become prominent when he becomes of age. It's a really natural and intelligent way of confirming how his powers develop. Making it a sign of puberty just makes so much sense on a mature level, as it is that time where you discover significant change. It works perfectly.
Talking about subverting expectations, this is something the episode does brilliantly with Mark's first superhero mission. Normally this is something that goes horribly wrong, but here Mark tracks down these crooks and deals with them without a hitch, owing to the fact that he is 'invincible'. By showing his first act of vigilantism to be a success, it does a great job at wrong-footing the audience and demonstrating the capabilities of this new superhero on the scene. This guy is a force of nature for sure, and it would take somebody very special to bring him down.
There is a bigger twist in the tale that this episode ends on however, as the Guardians of the Globe are summoned to their secret headquarters and taken down by none other than Mark's Dad, Omni-Man himself. This is something I did not see coming, however looking back there were some really obvious hints that all was not how it seemed with Nolan. The most notable being the fact that he literally punches his own son during training. And then there's the way he shouts at his wife, hinting at an abusive nature. In some respects I wonder if they'd have been better holding this reveal off for a few episodes though, and letting us get to know Nolan a bit more. It feels as though they might have played their cards too early, and it might have been better to have let us believe Nolan was a good guy just for a bit longer.
Overall, 'It's About Time' is an excellent introduction to the world of Invincible. It's an episode that wears its comic-book influences on its sleeve, whilst simultaneously subverting the genre in new and unexpected ways. The end twist in particular is a shocking moment, which has huge ramifications for the rest of the series; does this mean Omni-Man is actually a super-villain, for instance, or is he being controlled by an outside force? It does make you wonder however if the writers have played their cards too early. Have they picked the right time to play this twist, or should they have left us to believe Nolan/Omni-Man was a good guy just a little while more?
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What are your thoughts on Invincible's first episode? Let me know in the comments section.
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