Invincible S4 Ep 4 Review
Did you know that there were several plots from the Invincible comics that never got finished? There’s this war with the Technicians that were backing Angstrom that occurred off-page. The last issue even introduced the son of an Invincible villain coming to seek revenge on him. Plus there was this one arc in the series that I cannot spoil without saying anything, but I also see no point in why it was done. The end to the third season teased that we would be getting a story that never made it to the comics involving Damien Darkblood, which has now come to fruition as the show reaches the halfway point of its current season. The good news? It has Bruce Campbell in it. The bad news? The timing is so bad, I can’t help but call it filler as Invincible goes to Hell.
And I am not impressed.
What is this Cringe?
Mark is still dealing with the emotional fallout of having to kill Rus Livingston in the season premiere, and the depression is strong with him. He tells Art he wants to give back his costume because he’s not sure if he can call himself a hero anymore. He’s moping, mad at himself, and more lost than ever. And then, he goes to actual Hell, which is a real place. Though the locals call it Under Realm.
Back in Season One, Cecil had banished the demon detective Damien Darkblood for trying to bust Omni-Man for killing the Guardians before he was ready. The end of the last season showed us that he was back in Hell with his fellow Demons. This episode now shows us what they’ve been doing since then. And in a welcome twist on the subject of Hell, Satan and the Demons are not the ones who are pure evil and seek to corrupt everything…yet. In truth, their job is serve as jailers for these creatures called the Vile and their leader, Volcanikka. They’ve been trying to get her under control, but with all efforts failing, they’ve summoned outside help, AKA Invincible.
In other words, Invincible goes to Hell to help Old Scratch get his realm under control. And Old Scratch is voiced by none other than Bruce Campbell. Someone on the show’s staff must appreciate the irony to that. Sadly, I think that Ash Williams wasted his talents on this episode, because if this was Hell, I wasn’t impressed.
You Call this Hell? I’ve Seen Scarier!
I have seen plenty of depictions of what Hell and the Underworld look like throughout my life. Some are better than others, but the best are supposed to live up to the name of the place, with the kind of sights that are supposed to make most people’s skin crawl. Given how violent Invincible is, I kind of wanted to see something out of the Doom games in terms of how crazy it was. Instead, the place was just so boring! Mark only got two chances to fight, one of which was against Cerberus, and that was offscreen! And the place didn’t look nearly as scary as I thought it should, even if it was a place in crisis. The worst part, though? Bruce Campbell didn’t say “groovy,” or any other Ash Williams line. What a waste!
I’ll be honest: if this is what the show intends to do when it comes up with original ideas, then it should just stick to the comics. The only real change that happens is that it ends with Damien returning to Earth as Satan’s agent and Mark gets his classic outfit back.
By the end of the episode, Mark is still super depressed over everything that’s happened, and it’s starting to get to me. I would feel bad about having to kill Rus, but I also don’t think he should keep worrying about what could have happened and focus on bettering himself. Especially since he could become a father in the near future. Speaking of which, right as Eve is about to tell him about her pregnancy (after telling William), guess who’s back? Nolan and Allen. They’re here to recruit him to the war!
What Awful Time for a Side Story
This is why I think that this story came at the worst possible time. The Viltrumite War is my favorite arc in the comics, and I think the series should devote most of the season towards making it as grand and epic as possible. Thanks to this episode, though, it only has half a season to do so! That’s not good! Either Amazon should’ve moved this story to a later date, or added more episodes to the season. Either way, I felt like I wasted my time this week. The only saving grace was hearing Clancy Brown some more.
