Episode Grade: (7.2/10)
Gravik makes a bold move in an attempt to force Fury to hand over the Harvest. Fury and his allies prepare for the coming battle.
Plot (38/50)
Having lost patience with those around him, Gravik looks to accelerate his plan by threatening to take out New Skrullos through Rhodes. All Fury has to do to stop the attack is hand over the Harvest. Gravik’s recent lack of progress has allowed others to finally start catching up. Still, he has enough leverage to keep the pressure on Fury and co. If he gets his hands on the Harvest, it’s game over.
Talos’ Death Confirmed
Talos is dead. His death was rather unceremonious, but at least it was not another fakeout. In the immediate aftermath, Fury takes the President to a hospital. However, once Rhodes reveals that he’s released the footage of Fury killing Hill for the world to see, Fury is forced to retreat. At this point, he’s effectively the world’s most wanted man. He has a chat with G’iah at their old hideout before setting off for Finland to retrieve the Harvest.
Of course, he needs the Harvest in order to stop Gravik from unleashing chaos. Speaking of Gravik, his decision to murder Talos but let Fury go (again) did not go down well among the Skrulls. Pagon challenges Gravik’s judgement, and he’s brutally executed for his troubles. This causes unrest amongst other Skrulls, so much so that a group of them decide to ambush Gravik later in the day. After a brief skirmish, they all meet the same fate as Pagon.
Despite putting down his dissenters quickly and decisively, Gravik knows that he’s losing his grip on the Skrulls. As a result, he threatens to take out the compound at new Skrullos is Fury doesn’t bring him the Harvest. Rhodes tells the President that the Skrulls are working with the Russians, and he suggests that they take out the compound at New Skrullos as retaliation for the Russian attack. The President gives the green light, which immediately legitimizes the threat. A US attack on Russian soil would effectively start WWIII. It’s a lose-lose situation, but the priority has to be avoiding a global conflict.
Converging Allies
During her conversation with Fury, G’iah was advised to seek out Varra so she could assist her in burying Talos. Sure enough, Varra led the burial ceremony. However, given the circumstances, the procession was short and quick. Varra was under de facto house arrest as she awaited her execution at the hands of Gravik’s goons. When the assailants did arrive, she and G’iah were able to fend them off. The pair appear formidable and resourceful together.
Speaking of pairs, Fury and Sonya aren’t too bad themselves. After exposing the director of the SIS as a Skrull, Sonya becomes the new head of SIS. She uses her resources to locate and extract Dr. Rosa Dalton, who divulges information about the Super Skrull machine. Sonya then meets up with Fury in Finland. There he reveals that Rhodes and Varra are Skrulls. He also reveals that the Harvest is a collection of DNA samples belonging to various Avengers. Gravik is specifically interested in Carol Danver’s DNA, for obvious reasons. Fury retrieves the vial of DNA and suits up for battle.
Final Thoughts
The dynamic shifted dramatically in this episode to set up a more even finale. Fury is cornered in more than ever, but Gravik is also starting to feel the pressure. For the first time all season, he seems to be lashing out in desperation. It’s not the most consistent character development, but the shift was definitely needed from a plot perspective. Confirmation of Talos’ death early in the episode was a good decision that allowed for some suspense to build later on. All eyes are on the showdown between Gravik and Fury (with his allies).
Character Development (6/15)
With only one episode remaining in the season, it seems logical character development was abandoned in favor of advancing the plot. The behaviors of both Gravik and Sonya were somewhat inconsistent with how they’ve been built up thus far.
Fury and co.
Fury had a solid conversation with G’iah mostly because of G’iah’s bluntness. Talos’ death, much like Hill’s earlier in the season, somewhat bizarrely did not have a profound impact on him. His condolences sound superficial, and G’iah shuts them down immediately. She believes her father died because of his weakness, so she is insistent on taking a different approach. Her tone is noticeably softer at the burial ceremony with Varra later on, but make no mistake, she does things her own way.
Over to Sonya, she manages to weed out the Skrull mole in the SIS. The information she extracts then leads her to Dr. Rosa Dalton, who then explains Gravik’s Super Skrull machine. Here’s where it starts to get a bit inconsistent. Sonya has shown a willingness to help Fury thus far, but she’s also done so in a limited manner. They have a long history, but that didn’t stop her from keeping him out of the loop early on. What happened between then and now that’s led her to Finland as his partner? The premise of their first interaction was silly. Without it, the development would’ve made sense.
Gravik
Gravik’s development is similarly disjointed. He’s shown immense discipline and restraint thus far, but here he just lost his mind. He’s been cognizant and considerate of his fellow Skrulls, but here he behaved as a power-hungry autocrat. I get that the pressure is getting to him, but it does not constitute a 180-degree character shift. It’s especially frustrating because they’d done such a good job preserving the legitimacy of his character up until this point.
Theme/Messages (3/5)
- “The path of struggle is steep.”
Acting (13/15)
Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) rebounded well from his performance in the previous episode. Strong performances from Kingsley Ben-Adir (Gravik), Emilia Clarke (G’iah), Don Cheadle (Rhodes), and Olivia Colman (Sonya) made this the best-acted episode of the season thus far.
Cinematography (12/15)
- Shot of G’iah sitting in the back of a van with Talos’ dead body laid out in front of her (18:31)
- Nice contrast shot of a black Mercedes in the shadows against Fury’s white jet under the sunlight (21:41)
- Another good contrast shot of Gravik’s silhouette from behind as he looks outside the brightly lit windows (21:46)
- Cool shot of the city from above (28:43)