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Critic Reviews
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“Invasion,” a new series that concerns a sudden alien invasion but is much more about the people, is a refreshing and often thrilling juggling of plot-threads that involve incredibly flawed or hurtful decisions made in the name of survival.
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The writing and the performances are so strong in “Invasion” that we’d be drawn to these stories even if the sci-fi element never came into play. Ever-reliable Sam Neill delivers subtle and strong work as Sheriff Tyson.
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It’s good enough to stay with, that’s for sure. It does feel like, though, that the aliens are going to be beside the point in this show, kind of like the zombies became after the first season of The Walking Dead. And we’re not sure we want to see yet another series where other people are way worse than the unknown enemy that’s invading our world.
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While not being a particularly exciting slice of sci-fi, nor the best-written drama you’ll find on television this year – or even this month – Invasion is still an oddly watchable show. Its hodgepodge of disparate storylines work better than they have any right to.
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Like This Is Us, Invasion is mostly interested in an emotional connection with its characters, rather than in the trappings of science fiction — and it isn’t afraid of doing a little manipulation to get there.
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There is, you’ll have gathered, a lot of story here. It should also be pointed out that a lot of it is very good. ... The problem is that bigness again. In a bid to tell a sweeping story for all mankind (to borrow another strong Apple TV+ title), Invasion takes hours, literally, to get to the invasion.
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A smaller-scale account of alien attack that foregoes the usual city-busting CGI in favour of a more intimate, personal approach. It takes its sweet time about it, though.
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You can feel the creators Simon Kinberg and David Weil eager to draw parallels and find resonance with current issues: the fracturing family also in effect become refugees as they attempt to flee to safety; Trevante is a hostile invader about to feel what life is like on the other side of the equation, and so on. Even so, Invasion is a slow burn that threatens to become simply slow.
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There are precious few pieces of “Invasion” that don’t feel like they’re already riffing on pre-established genre ideas. It’s that all of these storylines, when added together, make up a whole that’s almost completely devoid of any emotional anchor.
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Maybe all these different storylines are going to meet up, maybe they’re all going to keep wandering around. It will take great patience to find out which.
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Feels so unhurried in its template of watching the crisis unfold as a global phenomenon as to blunt the drama.
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As “Invasion” hops from storyline to storyline to yet another storyline, its blunt dialogue and characterizations fail to make any of its disparate threads as immediately compelling as its scattered narrative needs to stay afloat.
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Invasion is science fiction without much science or any real genre thrills. ... But setup has to be more clever and more empathetic than this, and the payoff has to be less anticlimactic and perplexing. I’m truly not sure if the 10th episode’s ending opens the door for a second season or if I care.
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It’s a show that is so consistently self-aware of its perceived importance as dramatic television, so shockingly humorless and flat in terms of character/plot, and so fragmented in its storytelling that viewers will just hope the aliens finally land to get these people to stop talking.
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"Invasion" proceeds so incrementally across such a wide range of characters and their responses to extraterrestrial terrorism that you might well lose your way from week to week. Never mind your interest. ... Trevante's behavior is typical of both the writing and direction here, as he fumes, spewing vulgarities no one can hear, abusing the goat herder who treats his wounds and speaking English louder and louder, as if that would help.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 13 out of 45
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Mixed: 8 out of 45
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Negative: 24 out of 45
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Oct 23, 2021
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Oct 22, 2021
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Oct 22, 2021