"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Thursday, May 2, 2024

The Book of Rannells: Invincible: Season 2, Episode 7 – “I’m Not Going Anywhere” (2024)

Penultimate episode of the season! Peeking at IMDb, it’s also the last episode with Andrew Rannells in it, so it’ll be my last Invincible review for now. It’s a good one, although it of course ends with quite a bit unresolved going into the finale.

Mark is still trying to get the elements of his ordinary life back on track after his two-month hiatus in space, and what he’s struggling with the most is his relationship with Amber. He’s anxious to figure out how to prioritize her and not be a “bad boyfriend” while also balancing his responsibilities as Invincible. Rick is having a hard time adjusting after his traumatic experiences last season, and he’s still dealing with the GDA “putting [him] back together] afterwords. William, desperate to help him, reaches out to a GDA agent for assistance. An unexpected visitor throws a dangerous wrench into everything.

The Mark-Amber plot is well done, although pretty much any time those two have issues, my “Black Midgame Love Interest” spidey senses start tingling. In this episode, both of them are aware that their relationship isn’t in a great place, and neither knows how to fix it. In a lovely scene, Mark winds up talking to his mom about it, trying to imagine her early dating experience with Nolan and what that was like for her.

Oh, and there’s a scene where Mark and Amber go on a date at Comic-Con. Which, one, neat. Two, Mark has to deal with seeing Invincible cosplayers running around. And three, we get a fun bit of meta where Mark is meeting one of his comic book heroes, and they get to talking about how animated superhero shows “cut corners” in subdued scenes to save their resources for the big fight sequences. Hee!

I won’t get into the details of the unexpected visitor, but this character tests Mark both physically and emotionally, and he has to dig deep to make his stand. Throughout their scenes together, I also like the dynamic of Cecil in Mark’s earpiece, trying to guide him from afar.

This time around, Andrew Rannells does get some nice material to work with, even if it’s fairly short. While he’s not really the focus of his scenes, William provides lovely support for Rick, and he does a good job as a college student trying to deal with a situation that’s way over his head. Seeking help from Donald at the GDA turns out to be the best thing William could do, because unbeknownst to him, Donald has been dealing with his own issues this season that are very similar to what Rick is going through.

Side note: the villain that hurt Rick last season was voiced by Eza Miller, but this season, he’s been replaced by voice actor Eric Bauza (who just so happens to be the current voice of Bugs Bunny,) which is great to see hear!

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