Invincible 305 Podcast

[00:00:00] This is the Invincible Podcast on TV Podcast Industries. We're back with Season 3, Episode 5. This was supposed to be easy.

[00:00:30] That's it. That's all. Make a choice already.

[00:00:58] Welcome back, Guardians, to the Invincible Podcast on TV Podcast Industries. We are back for the fifth episode of Season 3, Rover Halfway, Chris. And this time we're talking about This Was Supposed to Be Easy. I'm one of your hosts, Derek. And as Derek said, I am Chris. I can't believe it. I know. But it's going so fast and is both amazing and heartbreaking at the same time.

[00:01:23] It's just the fact that we are so close to the end, but so far from the beginning. I am both elated and sorrowful. Yeah. And this time last year, we had a gap of about three months between Episode 4 and Episode 5. So, it was nice. That was just a week, wasn't it, Chris? Yeah. Well, so much has happened in that week. So, it felt like three months. Yes. Yes, it did. Good stuff.

[00:01:46] But before we get into the episode, we're going to have a little bit of feedback from our wonderful fellow Guardians on the last couple of episodes that's been sent in since they aired. We got some feedback from Meryl Smith on Episodes 1, 2, and 3. She had this to say. Welcome back, fellow Guardians of the Globe. Not Galaxy. It's so good to have the series back and the unique direction that things have gone are amazing. Love seeing Doc Seismic level up and as much as he did was great.

[00:02:16] The moral complexity of Mark versus Cecil has a lot of promise and is reminding me of Frank and Daredevil in Season 2 of Daredevil, which we may be getting more of in Daredevil Born Again. Ooh, yeah. Debbie's a-pauling choice to move on is interesting, although he's totally going to be a red shirt when the time comes to kill a character off. Oh, poor Paul. Also, as Spider-Man fan, pauls are not welcome here.

[00:02:46] Interject here from Chris. I think that's because, and I need someone to correct me, MJ's no longer with Peter. Spoilers, just in the current comic run, because they're destroying Peter Parker's life. And MJ's with a guy called Paul, I think. Okay, interesting. I think that is a relation to, although, Meryl, if I'm wrong, come in with something. Where is this Paul? What other Pauls are there? Did Ben Reilly change his name again? Just to Paul? To Paul. Paul Reilly.

[00:03:15] He doesn't have the same ring. And there's no canon there. But anyway. I think because I'm reading the Ultimate Universe, Spider-Man, at the moment, that's where I am, because I'm reading it in Marvel Unlimited. I'm probably a bit behind on the regular universe, so I'm fine with Pauls. Sorry.

[00:03:33] But, Meryl went on to say, Rex and Rey are totally gonna bang. The show tries to remind you that Amber is still a thing, and totally didn't get written out of the story. Mark and Eve are together, and finally the world makes sense again. Mm-hmm.

[00:04:18] And even balance. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And in real life, too, not just the character. Considering the violence this kid has been witness to, and probably retained the memory of, the short time span that he's had to grow up in, and the fact that he's still a child, all adds up to why he has a certain mindset that he has. This is gonna be a phenomenal season, I can feel it. Episode 1, 3.75 stolen declarations of independence out of 5. Episode 2,

[00:04:48] 4 out of 5 conversations that could have prevented a Civil War-style split. Episode 3, 4 out of 5 literal blood brothers, no dialogue opening scenes. Oh, yes. Yes. That opening scene. Again. It was brilliant, wasn't it? Yeah. It was brilliant. And I'm glad it wasn't just, like, our screeners having no dialogue. And we were like, ooh. I'm so happy. Yeah, I'm so happy once I heard that everybody was seeing the same thing and they were delighted about it like we were.

[00:05:17] So, excellent stuff. Thanks so much, Meryl, for your thoughts. Yeah, I have to say just your mention of that moral complexity of Mark versus Cecil, and that it's similar to Frank and Matt Murdock back in Daredevil Season 2. It makes me even more excited to see both those characters back in Daredevil Born Again in just a couple of weeks' time, Chris. I know. So close. 6th of March, isn't it? Something like that.

[00:05:40] Yeah, three weeks away, yeah. Cannot wait to get back to Daredevil. That's going to be awesome. Loving Invincible as well, but anything that can shine a light on the show that started off our Defenders TV podcast 10 years ago is always good too, right? Yep. 100%. And I love that Meryl also went for Scrappy-Doo with Oliver as well. That's exactly what I went for when we met him first last week, or first powered, let's say, on the first couple of episodes of the show. Yeah. Cool.

[00:06:05] And definitely agree that Damien Wayne energy is there. That violence with youth thrown in. Again, Hit Girl. Also Hit Girl. Think of Hit Girl. Think of Hit Girl. Yeah. I also think Oliver's going to get pretty bad as the show's going to go on as well. I don't think he's just going to simply ignore people's guidance. I think he's going to be pretty powerful. And yeah, let's see how he turns out as the show goes on. Brilliant stuff. Thanks so much, Meryl, for your thoughts. Let's move on to another email. We got an email in on episode four of the show.

[00:06:35] Just last week's episode from Coffee and Vodka, who says, Greetings, fellow unimprisoned defenders. Still, Alan persisted. Paul F. Tompkins' narration on a Kirkman animated feature. I can now die a happy man. Between this and your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, we're getting more than our daily recommended allowance of Paul F. Tompkins. The A story fell a bit flat. There's just something so two-dimensional about the immortal.

[00:06:56] Despite Ross Marquand's excellent voice work. The point of it, however, isn't lost. Another major and literal step in Mark's maturation from Good Guy to Planet Saver. As for the rest, from Alan and Papa Grayson getting it together, to Mark and Eve even more so, to learning that there's now less full-blooded Viltrumites than United States. This was quite the ride. Finally, one of the meters I write characters on is Impulse Control, which makes any episode without Oliver pretty much a winner.

[00:07:25] 4.5 Possum playing Unipans, Eviscerated Viltrumites, and Purloined Pizzas out of five Peace and Take Care Coffee and Vodka. Fantastic Coffee and Vodka. Love it. So yeah, for me, the split was really well handled, having the two different episodes in there. I really liked the idea of seeing how Immortal played out in the future if he had been left on his own by Mark.

[00:07:49] I thought that was a really good idea, because again, all I could picture was this could be Mark on his own in a thousand years' time, with all the people that we're watching around him, all the players in his life, all being gone, and Mark being on his own in the future. So that's what it struck for me, so I think I really enjoyed that story. But again, it's making Mark kill people too. That's also a terrifying thing that we see throughout this series.

[00:08:13] We're seeing Mark having to confront all the choices that he's making and all the moral gray that he has to face throughout his decision to become the superhero. So that's quite cool. But obviously, seeing Nolan and Alan get together and break out of prison, that was also cool. Yeah, no, definitely. And I agree, the scene marks maturing from Good Guide to Planet Saver.

[00:08:38] It's kind of that Superboy to Superman, but in a real world. Exactly. That's the reality part I enjoy. Absolutely. Absolutely. Thanks so much, Coffee and Vodka. Thanks, Coffee and Vodka. We also got an email in from Meryl Smith on episode four as well. The Rex and Ray Sloburn is still going strong. And why are montages my favorite kryptonite? I love seeing all the greatness with Mark and Eve's second, first date.

[00:09:08] And the ending was hilarious, especially when you remember that Eve had her own place and that would have come in handy in one of these types of moments. It would, wouldn't it? But she had to give it up to the former members of the Guardians of the Globe when they took back their old home again. She still has the treehouse in Africa. But I suppose it's a bit of a trek. A bit of a trek. It is. Maybe that's the backstory that we haven't heard, that that fell apart and that's why she actually took up the college course in engineering.

[00:09:39] Meryl went on to say, As a fan of the Justice League episodes Hereafter, I loved seeing Invincible's rendition of it with the immortal in Mark. Mark learned the complicated true nature of how you can end someone's life and help them at the same time. He needs to stop breaking into the Pentagon if he wants Cecil to trust him once more. Yes, he does.

[00:10:01] The minute I saw the previously on, I just knew Mr. Battle Beast was in prison and was waiting to see him in action. And I wasn't disappointed at all. Nolan's journey redemption is off to a pretty decent start. With Alan the alien by his side, there's nothing they won't accomplish. Four merciful decapitations out of five. Which decapitation do you think Meryl's speaking about?

[00:10:28] I guess that's the Viltrumite between Alan and Nolan? That wasn't merciful. I think we're going for the immortal, but that wasn't decapitation. I was going more of a squishing. That was a squishing. It was. It was. So two merciful decapitations out of five. Yes. No, no, no. That's not a rating. Four out of five. Brilliant stuff. Thanks, Meryl. Thanks, Meryl. And over on Facebook, we got some feedback in from Victor Von Doom on this episode. He said, I like the Alan Nolan epilogues. I hope they continue.

[00:10:57] Alan opened the can of whoop-ass. Cold Battle Beast was classic. Brilliant, Victor. Great to hear from you about season three of Invincible as well. Well, I'm presuming it's now going to move from epilogue into central storyline as we get towards the end of the season. We're probably going to see a big can of whoop-ass opening by Alan on the Viltrumites towards the end of the season. That's the hope. With him by his side. That's the hope, isn't it?

[00:11:22] And I wonder, does a can of whoop-ass called Battle Beast, what flavor is that? Is it like a tangy, spicy catnip kind of flavor? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I'm not sure whether I want to lick Battle Beast. Or is it kind of that kind of musty monster energy? Maybe, but I feel like you'd probably rip your head off for that. True, true. Remember, kids, don't lick your Battle Beast. You'd probably rip your head off for pretty much anything. Exactly, exactly. Great stuff.

[00:11:52] Thanks, Victor. Thanks, Victor. Thanks, everyone, for your feedback. And now, on to the episode. Let's get into the discussion, though, Chris. Let's get into our discussion about Invincible season three, episode five. This was supposed to be easy. This, of course, is based on the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and illustrated by Corey Walker and Ryan Otley, developed by Robert Kirkman for TV. This episode was written by Helen Shang, who also wrote an episode of Rings of Power this season, which myself and John covered on TV Podcast Industries and wrote on the final

[00:12:17] season of Hannibal, which was the first ever show that we covered on TV Podcast Industries as well. So what a great person to be brought on board for Invincible, Chris. Yes, 100%. Sorry. I love that they're included. Again, I have not watched either of those shows. I know you haven't. I know. It is terrible, folks. This is the one where, like, I should care. Like, all boxes should ticked for these two shows.

[00:12:47] But is that kind of like, it's like my dark shame. It's my hidden. It's just like, you know, everyone has that one drawer in their house. These shows are my one drawer. Like, my nerd cred should mean I've watched these and enjoyed them. I have not. Well, you can't watch everything. And the good thing is we don't make you podcast about the shows you don't watch because that would be a weird podcast, wouldn't it? No. There's definitely something there because I would love to just not watch episodes of The

[00:13:15] Rebar and listen to you guys and then interrupt because I could do that in real life if I really wanted to. But just kind of go. So, excuse me. Can you explain to me why Sharon is a big floating eye? Yes. Explain to me Sharon the eye. Yeah, you definitely realize why we don't invite Chris on these podcasts. You only have to do one hour of work a week, Chris. Watch the episode. That's it. And then come on board. That's all you need to do for this.

[00:13:41] If cutting out watching the episodes so you can pop on the podcast, no, not going to happen. But it'd be so fun. It'd be so much fun. But it was very cool. What an idea to have someone that was formerly on Hannibal and Rings of Power on board here. I think they just go through all the shows that we cover and pick writers from those and tell them to come on board for these shows that we're covering again. That's all. You know Ryan Otney and Cory Walker, friends of the show. Of course. Of course. But this episode was directed by Tyler Johnson, who directed Season 2, Episode 3, and the finale for Season 2 as well.

[00:14:10] So, two very strong episodes there. Chris, do you want to tell us what they gave us with your synopsis for Season 3, Episode 5? This was supposed to be easy. Sure. Eve and Mark need money to move out. But since being a superhero doesn't come with a steady wage, Eve arranges for Invincible to go into business protecting the supervillain prison where Multipal is being held. When Mr. Liu threatens to kill Titan's daughter if he doesn't break Multipal out of prison, Titan tries to convince Mark to help him out.

[00:14:40] But Mark refuses. And then Mr. Liu tries to take revenge on Titan. Then, the tables are turned when Mr. Liu releases the dragon inside him to attack the prison. Mark beats and kills Mr. Liu. But in the ensuing chaos at the prison, Multipal and Machine Head break out and escape. Machine Head replaces Mr. Liu as the leader of the Order and allows Titan to run his city operation with no interference. There you have it.

[00:15:10] Small, like, short. I say short. Still 47-minute episode. But, like, in terms of very condensed in terms of the storyline. Yeah. And, like, I'm really appreciative of this for this episode because the street-level villains have very much taken a backseat over the course of the three seasons. The first season was all about them. Was all about Machine Head. Was all about Titan. You know, was all about Isotope. It was all about those characters that they would fight against every day.

[00:15:39] And it was kind of the Guardians who were fighting against them. And then Invincible came along. And Omni-Man would deal with the bigger threats, you know. So having an episode that seems more dedicated to them, I thought was kind of cool. It was interesting to see what's going on in the underworld, I guess. Or across the planet. It was kind of cool seeing all of that. Yeah. For me, this is the one where I appreciate a lot of what they do.

[00:16:03] Which is they still, like you said, give time to these characters to breathe. And for you to kind of get to understand them. Because some of them may be important in the future. None of them might be important in the future. But you've at least had time with them. So again, like we were talking in their last episode. Like, they do a very good job of kind of giving... If you like a character, you will get to see more of that character. Because no character is just a throwaway. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:16:33] Or if they are, they're not even that big. And they're right in the background. You can't even see them. Yeah. So any character that you've been introduced to usually has some kind of returning plot point. Or they're the butt end of a joke. Or multiple things. Well, there were certainly some characters I wasn't expecting to see back. I certainly wasn't expecting to see Machine Head in this episode. Or Praying Mantis. Praying Mantis. Yeah. That was kind of cool. So that was really interesting.

[00:17:00] But let's get into our points so we can discuss the things we really liked about the episode overall. So our first point. Call this one Prisons and Dragons. Oh. I thought that was quite good. That was good. That's well done. That's a nice one. Yeah. But we start off the episode with Multipole's attempt to escape the prison on his own. He doesn't believe he should be in prison. He's too important. He believes. So he tries to find his way out of prison.

[00:17:25] Something that I did really like as we panned across the prison that we saw Magmanic and Tether Tyrant who were arrested by Invincible a couple of episodes ago. We saw them in prison now. So I thought that was quite interesting that we just had them in the background. That was quite cool.

[00:17:40] And then we cut into Multipole's cell where he is creating multiple after multiple of himself until the mass of bodies that are being created and crushing and dying break the containment door on his cell to break him out.

[00:18:00] It is so gruesome looking as he just finds a little slot for himself in the ceiling and just fills up the entire room with these bodies constantly multiplying and crushing each other until the door. The sluice gates open, I guess, and the blood seeps out underneath the door and then the door eventually breaks off the wall. I just thought it was so brutal looking. It almost seems obvious that that's a thing he would do, but it's still such a shocking thing.

[00:18:29] And I guess because we've heard from his sister Duplicate that every time she dies, she feels it. She's felt the death of every single multiple that she's created. So he also must feel that, right? Yep. And it's just such an interesting use of the power. Like, it is a very much like we've talked about how this podcast network, but also this streamer does the boys.

[00:18:59] It is such a boy style approach to using a power, which is duplicating yourself. Yes. Or multiplying yourself. But like, yeah, you could use that just to fill up this horrible amount of space. And it is that kind of gut wrenching where you start hearing them and seeing them squash and crunch and crack and bleed.

[00:19:24] And it really is that those sounds behind. I think there's one where one of the Duplicate's eyeball is just bulging and slowly coming out and further and further. It is very gruesome, but also cool. Yeah. Yeah. It really is. Like, what an interesting idea.

[00:19:45] But I guess as we get in through the episode and they eventually do stop him, they do have a weapon within this prison that can stop him from color, effectively, that can stop him from using his powers. And we see a meeting between himself and Kate. They don't seem to have a strong relationship, I guess, because of their past. But we do learn a little bit about their past as well.

[00:20:07] And that effectively, because of their powers, their father went insane and was taken away and allowed them to be taken by the government for experimentation. So while Kate seemed to have accepted that and now works for the government, Paul escaped from that government facility when they were younger and went off to a life of crime, effectively.

[00:20:31] So it's kind of, I guess, again, it's kind of that interesting, you know, path not taken, you know, nature versus nurture almost. Yet both of them being twins who can both duplicate each other, they both had different outcomes from exactly the same situation, which is interesting. Yeah. And it's interesting to see. We talked about it earlier this season. I wanted to quickly call out. We see a very young Radcliffe. Yes.

[00:20:58] In the door looking at duplicate and multiple. Yes. Cecil's former boss who gave up the job to Cecil. Yeah. Yeah. So very young. So at this point, I'm on the assumption this is when he started pulling together some of these superheroes. But I think not the piece where we think that he went to post where Cecil took the job. He's not that old. Yeah. He looks a lot younger.

[00:21:27] Now, that's what I'm thinking. It was just the look of him looked a lot younger. So I was like, oh, this must be when he decided to start using superheroes for somewhat. Like, yeah, he's basically going to imprison kids. So this is where I think he's like started going into the gray area of, again, the gray area. We keep talking about it because it's kind of a theme this season. Well, absolutely. Absolutely. Even though they have the white room, they operate in the gray areas in the GTA, really.

[00:21:57] But yeah, just thought it was a massively bloody opening for the episode. And just the confidence, I guess, of multi-pole when he's talking to Kate going, well, they're not going to leave me in here. I'm definitely getting out of here. I'm too important to them. I'm too powerful for them. And it's almost like he believes his own hype in the fact that he's using his power to kill off multiples to break himself out of the prison. He doesn't care about it in the same way that Kate seems to care a lot more about it because it's painful to her.

[00:22:23] It's not something that she will use if she doesn't have to, I guess. No. Yeah. Yeah. You're right. But it does lead to an opportunity for Eve and Mark. They have a conversation where they're in that sexy time where they're just having sex all the time when they're starting out their first relationship and they want to move out. They decide that it's time for them to get out from underneath Debbie's roof and get their own house. But the obvious question is posed.

[00:22:49] How can you do that if, well, Eve's going to college, doing night classes and has no job and Mark has, well, no job at all now, especially because he's left the GDA. There's no possibility for either of them. So Eve comes up with a job for herself, which is selling Mark as the new security guard for the prison. And because it took them a few minutes to capture multipole, some of their security guards died.

[00:23:15] But if they had a superhero and retainer who could get there within 30 seconds, well, maybe they could save all of their security guards if any of the superpowered residents get out of there. I thought that was, again, another interesting idea to have Mark in here being involved in security for the prison. The one thing I'm not clear on is this the GDA prison. So is Mark technically working for the GDA in a side job now? No, no, no. The GDA prison is not this one.

[00:23:45] This is just your standard. Superhero prison. Superhero. Super villain prison. Super villain prison. Sorry. Not superhero prison. That's a different thing. Oh, well, there's definitely a few non-superpowered individuals because we see later on a fair few of them getting squashed. Yes, we do. Yes. Under a certain dragon's foot. Yeah, they have a high security wing, I guess, for some super villains. It's your Arkham. It's your Arkham wing versus your Arkham prison. Exactly.

[00:24:15] That's the best way. For more of our DC nerds, there you go. It's your raft wing versus your kind of Belle Reve normal. Yes. Yes. So we have Invincible Inc. set up here and we have Mark working in the prison to protect that wing, effectively. And then on the other side of town, I guess we have the return of Mr. Liu going to Titan and telling him that he wants him to break multi-Paul out. So Paul was pretty right about his confidence that he wasn't going to be left in there.

[00:24:43] He's pretty important to the Order, which you mentioned, Chris, before that the Order is this kind of like the hand in Iron Fist and in Daredevil. It's this underground group led by Mr. Liu that pervades across the world, effectively. Yeah. A very strong group. It's your bog standard kind of global crime syndicate. Like Hydra as well, I suppose. Yeah, exactly.

[00:25:08] But more crime focused versus world domination fascism. Right. Right. Just your bog standard Yakuza go crazy and there's a different arm in every country or part of the world. Mr. Liu is an interesting character. And again, I've said this before again, because previously when we saw him, we saw him with, again, his bodyguard making threats. Here we really see him hulk out.

[00:25:38] Yes, he did. And it's not the bodyguard. It is the dragon. I love this piece because it is, again, it's a comic book come life. It is a superhero fighting a dragon. Yeah. It is your Superman versus Fing Fang Foom. And I love it. Where are you mixing your comics? Hey, hey, come on. This is definitely Iron Fist.

[00:26:06] This is Iron Fist versus Shao Lao, the Undi. Yes, there you go. At least for keeping that in Marvel, Chris. And something that unfortunately was never seen in the TV show, which I think is part of the reason why it wasn't as popular as it should have been. Of course. If they had a Marvel superhero facing off against a dragon back then, it would have been cool. Look at what happened to Shang-Chi. That was awesome. Yeah, fair. Looking at a Marvel character fight a dragon. It was awesome. But yes, Mr. Liu's big power is that it's not his bodyguard.

[00:26:31] It is the bodyguard just there to hold his body while, quite literally, while the dragon escapes. So he threatens Titan, but then Titan doesn't carry out his plan. He goes in to break out multipole himself using the dragon. And the new security guard, Invincible, takes him out and kills him, you think, until the post-credit scene.

[00:26:54] Which I don't understand at all, but I guess that's, you know, if you're going to have a dragon come out of a human body in this TV show, all bets are off, really, about what happens with that dragon afterwards, right? Well, the dragon isn't killed by Invincible because he is getting eaten. It is essentially that because Machine Head escapes, and we'll talk about that later, Machine Head kills the body. Yes. Shoots the body in the head. Yes, that's it. That destroys the vessel.

[00:27:23] That destroys. It's very much a vessel thing. I took it as. It's not explained any better in the comic books. It is just like, cool. Yeah. All right. I get it. I get it. There's a body with a dragon inside. A dragon's occasionally freed. Yes. Yes. He goes poof into smoke. I did enjoy this because it is that kind of, again, I said it's a superhero fighting a kaiju. So it's fun to watch that. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:27:52] But I do like how it sets up. Like, we see Titan earlier around walking around his city, his beat. His, he is your, what if Luke Cage goes, well, was a gangster. Yeah. He is that, the bulletproof man. But he's well respected in the, in the, the community. Yeah. Everyone, now he gets nods by one or two gang members, but you see everyone else just like happily giving him a coffee and stuff. Yeah.

[00:28:20] But you get that feeling that he is somewhat respected because he has brought law and order to the community. It would have been Luke Cage season three. You're absolutely right. Because he was just about to become that, that villain in his community, wasn't he? Yeah. Back then. So yeah, that's if, if it, if Luke Cage returns to, to Disney plus, that would be the story, right? Um, so I like to, I, I, I like this storyline.

[00:28:44] I also like that he is then thrown miles in the air and then out a window and you expect that he is kaput because his, did he, did he reform his rock just before he hit the ground? Everyone else thinks not. And then we do see him survive, come back later. Exactly. And I like that about Titan. Titan is that kind of ever enduring character that is in the background. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. But that's kind of the big breakout scene.

[00:29:13] That's the big prison and dragons piece of it. Um, we'll move on to our second point, which is about machine head. Cause it's also connected in with the order and connected in with the, uh, with the crime syndicates, but machine head returns, uh, is our point number two. Um, as I said before, I did not expect machine head to be back at all in the show. Um, I kind of thought that it was Titan had risen to the top. He'd taken out his boss and that was it. He's done. Uh, the idea that machine heads been in prison and they haven't been taking care of his machine head. Cause they don't have the technical to do.

[00:29:41] So I think it's quite funny, um, in its own way, but I love the voice. Once again, I love what they've done, um, with this, uh, with this, uh, musical, uh, computer generated voice, uh, for machine head. I think it's really cool. So I'm so glad he's there, uh, but he's pretty brutal. Um, when he does get out, uh, as you say, you know, shooting, uh, Mr. Lou in the head is, is the first act that he, that he does, um, which is brutal in itself, but he walks into the order. And now that Mr. Lou is supposed to be dead.

[00:30:08] He takes over this entire worldwide organization, uh, puts himself top of that. And I'm right in saying that that wasn't a position before he was the one that was leading the local organization. The Titan took over in this city effectively. Um, so he's kind of jumped up quite a few steps, um, in the order by killing Mr. Yeah. The way we were kind of led to believe is like, this is almost like New York and it

[00:30:31] is the capital of the crime syndicates overarching America business. So machine head was the head of the America business. Uh, so he's now become the head of the chair for the global, uh, situation. Um, all Titan cares about is just his New York city where it was crime rampant. But, and not even that, he just cared about his block and a few blocks again.

[00:31:01] But yeah, um, it's so, it's interesting to see that he gets out. I loved the, the, the initial meeting between Titan and machine head and it's, he's coughing and spluttering and you see some sparks and he's like, yeah, these guys are not great at maintaining multimillion dollar special sophisticated equipment. And you're like, Oh yeah, exactly. Yeah. That would make sense. Yeah. Like they don't have an ID department in the prison. It's really, it's really good.

[00:31:28] And this was all done because Mark refused to Titans, um, advance search, his, his approach. Um, Titan tried to get Mark to take down the order so that he would be safe and his family would be safe. And Mark refused to go after them. It's not his problem. That's a criminal underworld thing. If Titan wants to do that, he does it himself. Um, so Titan's choice was to go after machine head. And again, this is one of those ones where I'm going, well, it seems to work out quite well at the end. Um, I guess Titan seems to be fine. Separated himself.

[00:31:58] He's now in charge of his, of his local part of the business. Not going to be interrupted by machine head, but, um, machine head was pretty evil, uh, last time. Um, and now he's the head of the order and Mr. Lou, who machine had killed comes back in the post credits at the end of the episode. So, um, I'm guessing it's not going to be, uh, not going to work out as well as it seems to have worked out, uh, in this. No, of course not. I'm sure it's coming back.

[00:32:25] Because everything goes back to status quo pretty much, except that multiple is out and, and machine heads out and was taken his place, but everyone else is still alive and doing stuff. Yeah. Yeah. The only good thing is invincible Inc is now contracted and happy. Exactly. They're making a bit of money. Uh, yeah. As it is. Um, I will say the line from machine head, uh, when he's talking to Titan and says to him, you know, are you sure you don't want to join the order?

[00:32:54] Um, so it says, no, our deal was you leave me alone now that you're the top of the top of the order. You leave me alone. Um, he begrudgingly agrees and then says to him, but if you backstab me again, I will drain you in your child's blood while I pull off your wife's skin. Like it's brutal. Um, what an image after the entire episode has been pinned on the slight threat that Mr. Loo made to the possibility that he would, he would kill a Titan's daughter.

[00:33:21] And here we have, um, a direct threat for machine head. So, uh, maybe that's the reason why it'll kick back up. Yeah, maybe. Okay. Should we move on to our third point? Yes, absolutely. He's just a skater boy. I don't know the rest of the words, but I'll pretend that's what they are. Uh, yes. Oliver is just a skater boy and he is, uh, not destroying Avril Lavigne like I am.

[00:33:50] Um, it's a, it's a fun little piece. It's just like, he's gone missing. Where is he? Oh, wow. What's he doing? Again, based on wholeheartedly. We, the assumption is when everyone's searching and you get this information, he always being a superhero. He's outdoing the bold. He is, we're about to see Oliver punch through multiple people again. Uh-huh. For it to, to land on that he's just a purple kid trying to have some fun with some friends. It is kind of cute.

[00:34:20] And we see this constant, Mark is jittery. He's about to, and then you have Eve calming him and relaxing him. And more importantly, just setting him up correctly. Yes. Um, it's cute. It's fun. I loved the, uh-oh scene where we do have three bullies. Uh-huh. Uh, because it is so fun and so unique.

[00:34:47] I, even I expected like three kids to be mangled together and turned into a boat. Absolutely. I'll leave you as my skateboard. Yes. Yeah. I was expecting something or some kind of, I don't know, like what you would usually see in some other film, which is like a hard cut to Oliver holding them off the side of a building.

[00:35:15] And then just going, ah, I'll never do it again. Like that type of thing or floating and doing that. So this is a fun, yeah, that's what a 12 year old would do. Exactly. He'd pull down pants. He thinks it's funny and he also thinks it's going to embarrass them. Um, but it also sets him up in that way. He is following the orders and he's just being a kid. Well, exactly. Exactly. I think that works. It works really well, doesn't it? That he is just being a kid.

[00:35:44] I love that the other kids that are with him are saying, now Oliver, you have to do your skateboarding without using your superpowers, you know? So they all know already he's told them that he has superpowers and they're fine with us. They're fine with him being purple. There's no problem at all. They just don't want him to use his superpowers. They want him to learn how to skateboard properly, you know? That's really good. Um, so yeah, a lot of fun here. Um, and I like the realization, I guess, Debbie and Mark, that they don't have to wrap him in cotton wool. He can actually go out and be a kid.

[00:36:11] Um, they can trust him just like Mark was able to be trusted to go out and live his own life as well. They can't just worry about him all the time and worry about how many people he's going to murder every night. Thankfully, he seems to be living a good life, I guess. Hopefully. Hopefully, at least for the moment. Again, I was also expecting like the end credit scene to be Oliver out in his Invincible outfit again and just like dripping with blood.

[00:36:38] Just expecting that kind of like, just like that hard juxtaposition of like, he's a cute kid. But then, it's like that hit girl. The hit girl kind of approach. Yeah. I am Omniboy. I have, uh, I have a trail after trail of bodies in my wake. Yes. Yes. Uh, yeah. But like, again, I think it's a good storyline to give them.

[00:36:59] And, you know, it's, I am sure, um, Robert Curtin would say this as, as he has grown older and as he has become a parent, a lot of his storylines about the kids that are in his, uh, that are in his books. Particularly Carl and the Walking Dead. He wrote them very differently once he became a parent and having Oliver here, you know, growing up, um, having to release your kids into the world and realize you don't have to protect them every day. They, they develop their own personalities. That's a big thing, right? So, um, so that's what they're learning here. That's what Debbie's learning and that's what Mark's learning.

[00:37:28] Despite the fact that he is massively powerful, maybe they can trust him to, uh, to go out into the world and they don't have to, um, lock him down indoors every day. So, um. Not every day. Yeah. It's good though. Anything else about Oliver at all, Chris? No, nothing much. I do have some other notes that I want to bring up. Yeah. Um, I absolutely love the, the status quo shift back with Mark and Eve where they've kind of, they've decided that this might be moving a bit too fast.

[00:37:57] Let's take that pressure down. Let's ratchet. Cause again, like even last episode, they, you go from zero to a hundred. Uh-huh. So it is, it is that kind of fast enough, but then you see the maturity of both of them. Like, well, you see the maturity of Eve and Mark's still like, but, uh. I don't think you see the maturity of either. I think there's a, there's a great moment that they're trying to hide that they, uh, that Eve slept over.

[00:38:21] Uh, and Oliver is constantly joking about, you know, why did you go out the window of Mark's bedroom and come in the front door? You know, and they're really embarrassed about it, you know? And then Debbie tells Mark that she knows the two of them are having sex. The two of them are still children. Like they're still teenagers. You know, they're not, they're not adults yet. Uh, even though they've had a lot of, uh, weight on their shoulders, they're still not adults. So, um, so it's, it's good that they went, okay, yes, we've known each other for a number of years now.

[00:38:49] Yes, we know we belong together and yes, we know we love each other, but maybe we do still need to slow down. We can't just move out with each other, uh, after dating for three days. Um, yeah. I do love the, like, well, can't you not just like build something like you did in Africa? I was like, well, no, there's only a problem with my parents and I can't just like fire up an apartment. I'm like, yeah, but I, well, I wish I could. That's very smart though. I like that. Uh, you know, again, bringing it down to the real problems, you know, how do people move on?

[00:39:19] Uh, if you don't have a job and your entire job is superheroing, uh, how do you afford a house and all the, uh, all the things you need to afford? Is art still giving, um, Mark free uniforms for free, free, uh, costumes for invincible? Because, uh, he's no longer in the GDA, so how's he paying for them? Uh, you know? Mm-hmm. Interesting. And he's got a, literally in this episode, he gets another hole in his uniform. Yes, he does. Yeah, he gets a bit bloody, but he definitely has another hole. Yeah.

[00:39:45] Next up, I did want to just bring up the steak time dinner. Yes. With Ray and Rex. This is really cute following on from last episode. And, uh, Rex just being that bit more of a grown-up. Yeah. That we're starting to see him. I like it's the Drop Chef HelloFresh kind of joke of, like, I, like, yeah, no one's really a good cook, but they can follow orders. Well, absolutely. They can follow the recipe.

[00:40:14] There's nothing wrong with that. And it's not a complaint. There's nothing wrong with that at all. Order your HelloFresh. Cook something. The difference is he ate pizza for the last 24 years of his life, and that was his default, buy, get pizza in. I also love the tiny little touch that he calls her in to go to the kitchen to eat dinner with him, and she goes, Rex, it's 11.30 at night.

[00:40:35] It's like, oh, even with HelloFresh and following the recipe, he's been doing this since about 6 p.m., and it's taken him about six hours to cook a steak, which is a nice little touch. But also, because it's Rex, I love that he stole one of the mortals' ancient bottles of wine from his cellar, thinking it would be wonderful. And both of them realize it's absolutely disgusting because it's been sitting there for thousands of years. Yeah. Yeah. You sell that stuff. You don't drink it. Yeah, but it's Rex.

[00:41:03] Even when he's doing something good, he still has to steal from somebody, right? Of course. But it is nice. It's nice seeing the two of them together. I'm not totally sold on Ray's accent. It's weird, Boston-y, but not Boston, then Jersey, then not Jersey, then like New York. Like, hey, I'm walking here. And you're like, wait, which are you? Pick a lane. That's kind of the business.

[00:41:31] I was like, are you just not sure? Anyway, I completely agree. Do you know what I mean? I think we haven't seen Ray on screen enough, and she hasn't had as many lines in the past. This scene with just the two of them together, it's great to give more development for Ray and more development for Rex. It's awesome. But I did feel her accent was popping in there quite a bit. I was getting confused as to whether she's local New York or Boston or general US. Sometimes it's a very soft accent. So I don't know.

[00:42:01] I guess hopefully it'll get a bit better. There'll be a choice. Because I know what it's like with doing voiceover work. It could be months between coming back and saying two lines that appear in the same scene. So sometimes that's up to the director, though. They should be going back over the lines and making sure they all match and the accent is matching. Just felt a bit out there, right? It did. And I'm hoping, like you said. Or they make a poke fun at it in the next episode. We're like, where are you from? I moved around a lot. Oh, okay. There you go.

[00:42:31] You cleaned it up. You have an answer. You have an answer. Great stuff. Any final thoughts on this episode of Invincible, season three, episode five? This was supposed to be easy. For me, this is just... I don't want to call it a filler episode because it's not. It still moves everything forward. If anything, this for me is that check back in episode where you're kind of slowing the main story down. We don't have much Pulitzer White invasion. We don't have the GTA.

[00:42:57] You're still sticking to the main themes of the series and the season, i.e. that gray area, i.e. with Mark and Titan. But you're also kind of expanding out the universe more for people who are interested in, well, what is the order? And why are they the criminal enterprise? Give me more of that. Dragon. What the hell? All of that. We didn't even touch into Isotope backstabbing, backstabbing, backstabbing, backstabbing. But he didn't backstab in the end. It was all a big ploy.

[00:43:28] All of this. That was the only reason I didn't mention it. Yeah. Because I was going, okay, backstabbing's great, but since it all happened within the same episode, we don't need to mention it. This is just a fun, good, strong episode. That was my kind of overall thoughts. What about yourself? Yeah. Yeah. I really enjoyed this one. Again, it's because we're going back to something that we saw in season one. Seeing more of the citywide criminals and the earthbound criminals, I guess, and seeing how they're all interacting with each other and how everything's moving around with them.

[00:43:56] It does make me think that there's going to be some big movements with them as the season goes on. I think since season one, we've seen a lot more of the extraterrestrial threats, the bigger threats that effectively means that these guys don't matter at all. They're just regular criminals robbing banks and dealing drugs, I guess. That's their thing. But it's good to see them. And it was interesting pitching them against Mark as his first challenge after he's left the GDA.

[00:44:23] He's not dealing with an extraterrestrial threat this time. He's dealing with these criminals again. So I thought that was just interesting to have an episode where it takes it all back to a bit of a smaller story. I always enjoyed those more than the bigger stories as a comic book fan. Every week doesn't have to be a massive story. This one was fun. It's great to see Machine Head back. It's great to hear Machine Head's voice back. That's my favorite voice in the show without a doubt. So it was great fun.

[00:44:51] And again, having a little moment with Oliver, not killing people and just having a bit of fun with friends was nice. It was a nice change since all we had in the past was the belief that he would just kill everything that's in his way. Actually seems like a good kid in this episode, which is nice. Definitely nice. Excellent. So I'd say in this one, probably a three and a half out of five if I was doing a bit of ranking for the episode. There we go. Thank you so much. We will be back next week with episode six. All I can say is I'm sorry. Not about me.

[00:45:21] And that's probably all I can say is I'm sorry for singing earlier. It's okay. It will only happen once this season. I can't even promise that. I can't even promise that. I'm lying. All I can say is I'm sorry. You know, I have to say what's going through my head is a song that has. I just have to say I'm sorry. That's within my head. So I'm sure that happens. That will happen again for you for the rest of the season. And yes, back next week for episode six. Only three more episodes to go. So I'm really excited to see how the season plays out.

[00:45:49] We also on the feed just released our podcast about Captain America Brave New World starring Anthony Mackie, Giancarlo Esposito and Harrison Ford. We actually haven't seen it yet, though. So we don't know whether we liked it or not. I'm hoping we did. I'm assuming you did. But maybe you didn't. Check out it. Download and listen now. Who knows? Maybe it's the best thing since sliced bread. Maybe it's French bread. Maybe it's not even stale bread. Maybe it's just French toast. All these options and more.

[00:46:18] But you need to download the episode to find out. Absolutely. Pop it over to our website at tvpodcastindustries.com. You can find it there on the Defenders TV podcast feed or the Movies on TV podcast feed or the TV podcast industries feed, which has everything that we've covered for the last 10 years of podcasting. That's a lot of podcasting. But until then, make sure you subscribe, like and share. Until we meet again next week, keep watching, keep listening and keep being invincible. Bye. Bye.