In July the public was notified from these pages: they had seven weeks to catch up with one of the hidden treasures of contemporary television. The alien invasion of Invasion placed the viewer in a compromising situation: imagining the chaos of facing an unknown life form and the emergence of the survival instinct in the face of a threat that is impossible to understand. And, as we fans expected, screenwriter Simon Kinberg kept the standard, changing the form of his work but keeping it recognizable.
The first season, it must be admitted, received a few blows from a sector of critics. It was criticized for being a brick with a good production design, a slow series in which there was hardly any action, which was surprising with such an explosive starting point. But what was criticized, in my opinion, was what made it special: it was a micro perspective on a macro story.
Through characters such as Aneesha (Golshifteh Farahani), Trevante (Shamier Anderson), Caspar (Billy Barratt) and Mitsuki (Shioli Kutsuna), the complexity of processing personal conflicts and individual trauma in the midst of the apocalypse and the very real possibility was staged. that their species was annihilated by beings of intelligence as obvious as it was opaque.
This was the strong point along with the ability of Kinberg and Simon Weil, the other creator of Invasion, to imagine an alien species and force the viewer to construct a mental and social image without having the appropriate tools to do so (because they are not of this world). Visually, his touch was as unpredictable as his way of moving. In terms of sound, noises or language led to perplexity. Culturally, considering how their community functioned was also unfeasible. This confusion was most stimulating.
With the second season, however, the parameters under which to enjoy the series evolved. From the almost existential disconnection of the characters, the story led them to get closer to each other, uncovering the extent to which the map of plots was more interrelated than what was initially indicated. And, after being beings that were impossible to interpret, Mitsuki found a way to interact with them as if she were a kind of Amy Adams in Arrival, only in the face of an aggressive species. With communication, comes knowledge.
As happens with a contemporary science fiction proposal Apple TV, For All Humanity, Invasion is not a perfect series. It can be criticized for how flat some secondary or episodic characters can be and in these last chapters it is too easy to establish parallels with other titles. Here we have mentioned Arrival but it can be associated with Edge of Tomorrow or Stranger Things in relation to the treatment of Casper or his friends.
However, the ability of an artistic work to evoke a reality and turn viewing into an experience should never be underestimated. Visual effects and locations are part of the secret. And, among so much apocalyptic fiction, a series like Invasion is appreciated, which chooses to barely touch on the recurring theme of “man is a wolf to man” to focus on the feeling of wonder and panic of being faced with an invasive species and the need of the victims to survive (and, if the opportunity arises, even to become heroes out of obligation).
