Invincible - You're Not Laughing Now
Keeping to the series' trademark of overstuffing its episodes with plot, but somehow still managing to end in a cliffhanger, Invincible returns with a new season kicking off with Mark (Steven Yeun) all-in with training under Cecil (Walton Goggins) for months to expand his abilities. We get a couple of early fight sequences for Invincible that are otherwise disconnected from the plot including taking down the Giant (Fred Tatasciore) in the desert and, alongside Rex Splode (Jason Mantzoukas), failing to stop two thieves from stealing the Declaration of Independence when Multi-Paul (Simu Liu) shows up blaming Rex for his sister's death (except she' not exactly dead). The latter of these seems like it's important but it's dropped almost immediately to pivot to the reveal Dupli-Kate (Malese Jow) is still alive.
Kate isn't the only familiar face we see in the premiere which also brings the healed Shrinking Rae (Grey Griffin) back into the fold as part of the Guardians, and we get a check in with Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons) and Allen (Seth Rogen) in prison. We also get a subplot of Mark nerfing his chance at romance with Atom Eve (Gillian Jacobs), the reveal that Oliver (Christian Convery) has gotten his powers and wants to be a super-hero, and the plot which dominates the second-half of the episode involving Doc Seismic (Chris Diamantopoulos) using giant underground creatures to break out of prison and capture all the world's heroes. The only thing that saves the day is unexpected backup which Mark is none too pleased to see causing a rift with Cecil setting up conflict for the season's next episode.
If plot-heavy with little room for any of the various stories to breathe before moving on to the next one, "You're Not Laughing Now" still works in setting up the new season with a new more confident Mark in costume (but still quite unsure of himself outside of it). Having the first half of the episode focused on how unstoppable Mark is, with a sequence to let Rex get his butt kicked (heh), then to show him as equally ineffectual against the subterranean creatures is a bit bizarre. Mark's self-righteousness at the end of the episode pushes him firmly into the dickish category showing that Invincible's greatest enemy is often himself.
- Title: Invincible - You're Not Laughing Now
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