Invincible S3 Ep 6 Review

Revenge can be such a dangerous thing. On the one hand, it can feel really, really good when you pay someone back for wronging you. On the other hand, it can overwhelm the mind of an otherwise rational human being. This can cause them to act in an illogical, potentially self-destructive manner. I.E., like an idiot. Take, for example, someone who sees a loved one die because a hero is fighting a murderous villain. The hero can say they feel bad, and they often do feel bad, but that grieving person may not care. All they care about is getting revenge, even when evident that what happened wasn’t the hero’s fault. Unfortunately for Mark, that is exactly what he finds himself at the barrel-end of in this episode. He’s facing a man who lost everything to Omni-Man’s rampage, and just wants revenge on Invincible for it.

Scott Duvall, the One Seeking Revenge on a Guy who Doesn’t deserve it

Meet Scott Duvall, voiced by Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad, a man working for the GDA who has minor superpowers. He can turn kinetic energy into electricity, but is otherwise normal. He’s got a wife and newborn son, a sister, and a niece who recently turned ten. Life seems good for Scott. Then Chicago Happened

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The episode’s A-Plot focuses on Scott’s obsession with getting revenge on Invincible and how it ruins his life. First, he and thousands of others petition a DA to press charges against Invincible and hold him accountable. However, even ignoring how the public lacks the full context of Chicago, I don’t think they could charge Mark with anything. The entire world saw him trying to stop Omni-Man and save those people. He didn’t do anything wrong! However, Scott is so focused on revenge that he doesn’t stop to think things through. Instead, he uses stolen GDA tech to turn himself into this man called Powerplex, and keeps trying to pick a fight with Invincible.

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Powerplex: a man consumed by revenge…and stupidity

Much like Angstrom Levy, Powerplex is an example of how revenge can make someone do dumb things. Both hate Invincible for something that he either didn’t do or had no control over. The only difference is that Angstrom has the excuse of his mind being scrambled by his multiversal counterparts. Powerplex has no such excuse, which only makes his attempts to get “justice” look even more pathetic and tragic.

Case in point: he pretends to kidnap his wife and infant son and hold them hostage to draw Mark out. And his wife, who should be stopping this, fully supports what he’s doing! Both of them are so bent on revenge that they don’t care their behavior is scaring their infant son! And that leads to downright tragic results.

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*Play the following music until it ends.*

Sweet mother of mercy, this amount of revenge-induced stupidity is sad. And even after what happens, Powerplex still says he blames Invincible. His hatred has reached delusional levels. I couldn’t even be mad at him for what he did. What happened in Chicago broke this man. Aaron Paul deserves an Emmy for channeling so much Jesse into this performance.

Can the Universe Give Mark a Break? No

There are three other sub-plots during this episode: Paul trying to relate to Mark and Oliver. Robot making Monster Girl a belt that keeps her curse from aging her down. Rae leaving the life of a superhero behind right as she and Rex might have started dating. However, most of it gets overshadowed by how much Powerplex’s need for revenge gets to Mark. For his mental health, he tried not to think about the people who died in Chicago. Once again, though, he’s reminded of how his mistakes have consequences, even if he wasn’t the one at fault. You can tell that what happened has gotten to him, despite none of what happened being within his control. However, this is only a prelude to what is to come.

Earlier in the season, it was shown that Angstrom Levy was alive and spying on Mark and his family. At the end of this episode, we get to see just what he’s been up to this entire time. He’s assembled an army of Mark’s evil counterparts and is ready to use them to invade Earth. That man’s irrational hatred of Mark has gotten so bad that he’s willing to work with the versions of him that are actually evil just to get revenge.

This was by far the best episode of the season yet. It shows the consequences that vengeance can have and how it can destroy oneself. And it’s about to segue into an event that will break the Internet: the Invincible War. And I hope we can get more of Aaron Paul as Powerplex.

I Give “All I Can Say is I’m Sorry” a 5/5