You Don’t Have To, Darling
Rooting viewers straight back into the events of the previous episode, “Harvest,” we begin with Priscilla returning to the shot-up remains of the home she shares with Nick Fury. The walls are still splattered with Skrull blood. She drops the duffle she carries to answer the phone; Fury hasn’t called her number in years. His admission that he’s dialed the number many times, just hasn’t pressed send, isn’t much consolation. The couple — if they can still be called that — don’t talk much. He won’t share his location, and isn’t sure if he’ll be coming back. With that, he tells her to take care of herself, and hangs up.
The One-Man Siege of New Skrullos
Outside New Skrullos, we see two uniformed Skrull guards attempting to flag down an approaching car. They fire into the air in warning, but the car continues. Warnings already exhausted, the guards fire on the car, filling it full of bullets until it stops. When they approach, the car is empty. A few seconds after the realization, they’re both taken out by a hidden sniper. It’s Fury, of course — wanting to make sure the job was done properly, he walks up to the prone guards and executes them at point blank range.
As Fury makes his way into New Skrullos, he sees Skrull bodies scattered around; the result of Gravik’s rampage after the attempted coup. Beginning to cough, Fury checks a Geiger counter and takes some pills before heading inside.
Coughing more frequently, Fury enters the reactor room. Inside, Gravik waits for him. Everyone else is locked away, it’s just the two of them. When Fury drops his pills during a coughing fit, Gravik crushes them and offers him a final drink instead.
Fury’s condition is deteriorating. Gravik points out that the radiation symptoms will accelerate without his pills. He also berates Fury for not recognizing his skin—the first man he had Gravik kill for him, when Gravik was one of Fury’s spies. Fury was his hero back then; he’d promised them a home.
Furious, Gravik gets up in Fury’s face, yelling at him while he sits and coughs, exhibiting effects from the radiation. He rages against Fury’s treatment of the Skrulls, putting them to work for him and then casting them off when he was done. He’s going to kill Fury, then take a flamethrower to humanity. It’s all on Fury.
Fury tells Gravik that he’s right. He failed them. He knew within a few years of searching that there was no other planet for them. To keep his end of the bargain, he knew the only way was to build the Skrulls a home here, on Earth. But he failed. Because it’s easier to save the lives of eight billion people than it is to change their hearts and minds. Fury tells Gravik that when The Blip came, the last thing he felt was relief.
Gravik, Fury admits, is why he came back to Earth. He felt responsible for him.
Not The Russians
Over in England, President Ritson is recovering from Gravik’s assassination attempt, which he still believes to be an attack by the Russians — a notion that Rhodey is driving home heavily, arguing with a cautious Admiral when she tries to suggest that they confirm, before rushing to conclusions, that it wasn’t a false flag attack. Rhodey is angrily dismissive, claiming that she has no evidence and is wasting time when she should be briefing Ritson on his options for military response.
Before the Admiral can begin, they are interrupted by another staff member. After a whispered conference with Rhodey, he tells her to put the evidence she has brought up on the TV screen for Ritson to see. Rhodey claims that what Ritson is being shown is real-time satellite imagery of Russia amassing tanks at its borders. Rhodey takes the opportunity to tell a stressed looking Ritson that he has taken the liberty of preparing a draft speech for him on the threat, so that he can address the nation. The people need to know who is responsible. Which of course, Rhodey reminds him forcefully, is the Russians. 100 percent.
Later, while Rhodey sits at Ritson’s bedside, his phone rings. It’s Sonya, calling to tell him to get the president out of there immediately. She says that Fury is on his way, and he’s lost it. It takes a moment for her to persuade him, but he rises and goes out into the corridor to check the surroundings himself. We see Sonya, obscured behind a door, watching him.
Rhodey isn’t taking any chances with the plan so close to completion. He has his team start wheeling Ritson out of his room to take him upstairs, and dispatches men to hunt down Fury. As three of his men enter a short corridor, they are swiftly taken out by a sniper from offscreen before being dragged away.
While the classified documents bearing Ritson’s orders are driven off, more Agents fall, corridor by corridor. In his bed, Ritson demands a gun.
Rhodey finds a room that he believes is empty, and ducks back out to tell his team that they can move the president there. Unfortunately, he didn’t check behind the door and, as he turns back, Sonya’s gun comes up to his face. She comments that he must be a Skrull, to have made such a mistake.
The Harvest
Back in Russia, Fury tells Gravik that he’s decided to give him what he wants: The Harvest. In exchange, he wants Gravik to call off the strike, and go find some other planet for his people. Gravik thinks the radiation is affecting Fury’s brain, but he takes the vial and uses his lab equipment to test it. It’s pure. It is The Harvest.
Fury is on his hands and knees, coughing, when Gravik activates the machine, with the harvested DNA inside. He walks up beside Fury, looking down at him as it activates. They are both trapped inside as the machine begins its process. When it’s done, Gravik is in his own skin, shirtless and muscled up even further. Fury staggers to his feet. He survived the process. Gravik, with his new strength, quickly backhands Fury and sends him sprawling. He follows up by lifting Fury up against one of the arms of the machine, and pulling back to punch him — but Fury catches his fist, equaling Gravik’s strength.
Fury pulls back and punches Gravik, sending him flying out of the building and through a tower. As Fury approaches a stunned Gravik through the rubble, he finally reveals himself — or herself. It was G’iah all along, wearing Fury’s face. And now, she has The Harvest powers.
Standoff
Sonya marches Rhodey toward Ritson. The president is confused, brandishing the gun he commandeered and pointing it at Sonya. A door opens, and the last two members of Rhodey’s team fall. Fury enters.
Ritson is torn, unsure whether to shoot Sonya, or Fury, or what is going on. Fury tells Ritson that he’s not here to hurt him, but Rhodey is. There’s a tense stand-off while Fury and Sonya try to convince Ritson that Rhodey is a Skrull. Fury explains that if Ritson bombs New Skrullos, he won’t only kill Skrulls but all the humans that have been held hostage there, including the real Rhodey.
The argument continues as the warheads Ritson authorized are prepared.
Fury tries to persuade him to postpone the strike. He can still bomb New Skrullos if it turns out Fury is lying — just delay. While Ritson hesitates, Rhodey manages to wrestle Sonya’s gun from her. But, before he can use it, Fury shoots him in the head. He falls the floor, revealed as a Skrull.
Horrified and panting, Ritson demands his phone so that he can call off the strike.
Super Skrull vs Super Skrull
G’iah is, somewhat understandably, pissed. Gravik killed her mother and her father. The two meet in an epic battle, tearing down buildings and throwing cars, each using various recognizable powers that come from the DNA contained in the Harvest.
Eventually, after Gravik taunts her about her father, G’iah blasts a hole straight through Gravik. Even his rapid healing can’t fix that.
With the tyrant dispatched, G’iah rushes to release the prisoners from beneath New Skrullos. The real Col. Rhodes, as well as Agent Ross and many other recognizable world figures, are helped out of the compound and into the light.
War Address
Ritson addresses the nation, and the press. He confirms that the attack on his motorcade was not Russians, but Skrulls. He denounces all off-world species as enemy combatants, essentially declaring war on all Skrulls. He promises to kill every last one of them.
Elsewhere, G’iah walks along a backstreet, alone. Sonya pulls up in a car and greets her. G’iah threatens her, but Sonya quickly clarifies that she’s not looking for a fight, and she’s well aware of G’iahs abilities. No, she’s there because they can help each other — or, as she bluntly terms it, they can use each other. The Skrulls need a leader and resources to fight the war that Ritson has declared on them. Sonya can help with that. They won’t repeat Talos and Fury’s mistakes; they will leave love and friendship out of it, and will make the planet safe for both of their people. The odd pair come to an agreement, and walk off to Sonya’s car together.
An End, A Beginning
Walking into his home, Fury sees Priscilla beginning to clear up after Gravik’s assassination team. He apologizes for not being there, but Priscilla reminds him she can take care of herself. Without him there, she knows who she is. Fury tells her that he loves her. He asks her for once last chance, but tells her that he’s leaving that night.
Priscilla tells Fury goodbye. As he departs, he says that if she can forgive him, she knows where to find him.
Out in the countryside, Fury answers his phone. It’s Ritson. Fury’s anger at Ritson for taking a bad situation and making it worse forms a voiceover as we see G’iah and Sonya enter a huge underground room. It’s filled with machinery — electronic tables, stretching as far as the eye can see. Each table has a human strapped to it. This, Sonya announces , is how the enemy got so good. The scene switches as Fury warns Ritson about what he’s unleashed, and we see vigilantes and hit squads taking out Skrulls around the world, as well as shooting innocent humans that, in their fervor, they believe are Skrulls.
Ritson refuses to call off his war. If Fury truly cares about the Skrulls, he says, then he needs to get them off Ritson’s planet.
Hanging up the phone, Fury walks off into the misty woods. A beam of light from a craft overhead beams down. S.A.B.E.R. has come to pick him up. As he’s about to board, a car pulls up. It’s Priscilla — or Varra, as she tells him she wants to be known now. Her birth name. Fury tells her he has good news. The Kree are willing to enter into peace talks with the Skrulls. She is skeptical, but agrees to help Fury with his peace summit. To get it started, at least. Then she will return to Earth. Her work is here. After agreeing, Varra reveals her true face. She wants to tell Fury that she loves him, as she is. Fury kisses her, as she is, and they walk off into the light.
That’s a wrap for season 1 of Secret Invasion. For news on any future seasons or other media you might love, don’t forget to follow Nerds & Beyond!
