Hey all, I know I’ll get downvoted to hell and back but the second season just isn’t hitting the same for me so far.

I liked episode 1. I thought it was a good, clear expansion of what happened in the prior season finale; seeing Chicago be rebuilt, Debbie’s grief, Immortal coming back as leader, the kids going to college, and just the overall conclusion to a lot of plot threads. I also liked how they reworked Amber, though it concerns me how much Eve’s romance is being sidelined, but I still trust the writers. Introducing the multiverse so soon surprised me, but in a good way. It was a great opener and I liked Angstrom and the Mauler twins, and I was cool with seeing the multiverse being introduced so early because I figured it’d be expanded upon throughout the season ALONGSIDE the viltrumite invasion. But no, the multiverse genuinely just… wasn’t mentioned after the first episode ever again, other than two random scenes and the Mauler twins–which was the Mauler twins knowing which one was the clone. But then that basically got retconned in the latest episode and we’re back to status quo. Uhg.

I liked episode 2 as well! I completely get why people were upset at how far the show altered from the comics over Atlantis, but overall I still enjoyed what the writers came up with. This was kind of another “bring back to speed” episode like episode one, but I’m glad Dr. Seismic got a return and was put away. The introduction to Midnight City was also cool and done especially well, and seeing the Lizard League for the first time (not counting the special) was hype, but a lot was just… filler? Eve’s entire chicago arc was cool but not interesting enough to contrast with Mark’s Atlantis stuff, and Debbie is still just sad, which is fine, but not strong enough to hold a multi-minute scene by itself. I did like Shapesmith’s inclusion, but the rest of the Guardians just seems strange this season, and I never thought I’d see myself agreeing with fucking Rexplosion of all people lol.

Ooh, episode 3 is where we get controversial. Absolutely nothing happened in episode 3 apart from like, a few scenes. I liked Allen as the central character, and while I typically dislike narration it isn’t completely unbearable here, but after that I just don’t care about Allen enough to want to see his day-to-day life, and the world outside of Earth isn’t made to be that interesting. Nearly everything done in this episode could’ve been either skipped entirely or done in a more interesting fashion. I mentioned only a few scenes actually mattered this episode, and that’s Allen telling the Coalition about Mark/Omni-Man, Allen getting his absolute shit rocked by the viltrumites, Thadeous being the snake (which I actually quite like as a shift from the comics but we’ll see how that plays out), and the final bit where Mark meets his dad again. The Debbie stuff was also stupid.

Episode 4 I was so fucking looking forward to. Robert Kirkman literally saying the entirety of s1 has nothing on this episode made me think that the season was just taking a moment to pick up, and now that we’re here I’m like… Kirkman what the hell were you talking about? I’ll start that I enjoyed the Omni-man/Invincible stuff, but even that wasn’t perfect. I absolutely loved all the fights, and Nolan grabbing Mark and asking why he feels upset about insignificant creatures dying is now one of my favorite scenes of all time, but it felt undercooked, mostly because of the other sub-plots. Debbie is still sad. Eve has been reduced to an emotional teenager. And Donald is being expanded… why? My problem isn’t even with these plotlines existing in the show–I’d be so down to see Debbie go through a realistic approach to depression, and Eve fighting her demons, and Donald becoming more of an important character, but none of these plot points are important enough to warrant entire minutes dedicated towards them, and none of these plot points are important enough to warrant ruining the pacing of the entire Omni-man plot. The entire episode I was just glancing at the screentime thinking "oh boy, we gotta waste another 5 minutes with montages. I want to reiterate that I do NOT hate filler. I LOVE filler. Filler is literally where 2/3 of character-growth and attachment comes from and allows for a TON of worldbuilding.

But when you get 8 episodes per season, only 4 episodes before an unspecified break, and a 2 year wait between seasons, that time’s gotta be spent better. I also want to reiterate that I do NOT hate s2, or the writers, or the animators. The reason I’m writing this because of how much love I have for those people. I absolutely adored s1, so much so to where I started reading the comics in conjunction to the show, and read the entirety of The Walking Dead (Robert Kirkman’s other biggest work). So much so that after the Atom Eve special came out and I saw how incredible the animation had gotten I went out of my way to make multiple friends watch the entirety of Invincible + the special with me so they’d be excited too. I love this show, and I’ll admit while my expectations were high I felt they were reasonable–but I don’t know anymore. I was excited to see the Guardians of the Globe become more official, which Immortal excited me for as the new leader, but then none of that mattered. I was excited to see stuff like Titan’s newfound control over the city following the Machine-Head incident, but it hasn’t been mentioned. I was excited to see Eve fulfill her true potential, but it immediately got shot down. I hate that everything I was looking forward to got put in the trash.

But finally, what hurt me most is seeing Robert Kirkman’s second product follow in the same footprints as his first: what I deem the 1/5/10 rule. The 1/5/10 rule is when big moments only happen in the season premiere, the midseason, and the season finale–something The Walking Dead show followed religiously.

I still love Invincible, but I’m just… disappointed. How does everyone else feel? Let’s have a conversation.

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