Invasion (Apple TV)

[REBerg]

Launched with a pair of episodes Oct. 22.
With five or so story lines going, things are developing slowly. Lots of suspense.

​

 

[ctg]

I watched first two and saw the alien vessel. I have one more to go as they launched with first three, that seems to become the binge watching standard. It is a very different take on the invasion stuff and it's certainly going over what Prime and Netflix has put out. In places, because it's told from MultiPoVs, in multiple locations it is discerning and a bit hard to watch, almost like a couple zombie related apocalypse shows on Netflix.

It's just when the MC dies in the second, you start to think what am I going to write about it, when it seems that they all die and there's no core characters to really follow. The invasion stuff, however, very intriguing as they keep showing supremacy and planning in action, especially when they take out electronics and then commit to an air or rather orbital bombardment.

In first two we only get to see one alien and it's alien even for an alien. I laughed when US military decided to shoot it with infantry guns, without getting any effect. Nobody thought nothing. Let's just shoot the *******, even though there has been evidence that it came from outer space.

To me it feels that Apple is taking a risk and they're trying to pull something that might be a bit too artistic for the grand audience ... or am I wrong?

 

[tde44]

Only made it about half way through the 1st episode. The multiple story lines made it tedious for me and felt like they were trying to stretch out the story. If it gets good enough reviews here maybe I'll try it again.

 

[ctg]

"Well, Simon [co-creator Simon Kinberg] and I really connected over HG Wells' 'The War of the Worlds,' but then even more so, over Orson Welles' radio play," Weil said.

"To us, the purported experience that folks had when they first listened to that radio play of not knowing whether something was real or fiction, was sort of a North Star for us. We wanted to tell a story that felt as real as could be. That, if you or I were in this scenario and in this situation, what would we choose? Not what would Tom Cruise choose or Will Smith choose, but, what would we choose?"

Aliens return to conquer Earth in 'Invasion' Season 2 on Apple TV+

E.T. won't go home in creators Simon Kinberg and David Weil's character-driven sci-fi thriller.

www.space.com

"Oh yes," he laughed. "Science fiction to me, is optimism, it's hope. It's an exhortation of how we may, as a society, be living and how we could be living. The best science fiction is one that ultimately feels hopeful. That ultimately purports connectivity, innovation and growth. And so, I love stories that profess that. 'Ex Machina' and 'Under the Skin' were fantastic and '2001: A Space Odyssey' is always my go to."

"Invasion" follows the events surrounding a number of different people, including a young communications scientist who works at the fictional national Japanese space agency JASA, a wealthy, well-educated Middle Eastern family living in the United States, a U.S. serviceman on active duty probably in South-Central Asia and a group of English school kids on a field trip.

Before long, we learn that Japanese scientist Mitsuki Yamato (Shiori Kutsuna) has lost her secret gay lover, astronaut Yui (Naoko Mori), as the space station she was aboard in Earth orbit is destroyed by mysterious forces. Ahmed Malik (Firas Nassar), the husband in an upper middle class family, is having an affair with another woman who is pregnant with his child. His wife, Aneesha Malik (Golshifteh Farahani), is a Harvard-educated doctor and has only just discovered her husband's infidelity. And Trevante (Shamier Anderson) is the U.S. Navy SEAL on deployment in Afghanistan and loses his entire unit in an attack with an unknown force.

 

[ctg]

I watched the last episode and it turns the series better as the character PoVs are solidified. It is a different take and somewhat disoriatating just like for example Netflix's Black Summer that uses same format with multiple PoVs.

You get to see the same global event, but you don't get to see the same individual events as PoVs switched the view around the world ... and space. The humanity is at top of its game, but they don't have a covid crisis going. Instead it is a series of events that they (media faces) claim to be "the biggest terrorist event since 2001."

So yeah it's a bit propagandanised, but they also mention that "nobody wants to take credit." Yet, there are big things happening and a lot of people are in the disaster situation as the normal life breaks down. Therefore, is it watchable? Yes, but you have to be patient to let the character lines to develop.

 

[Vince W]

I've watched the first two episodes and this could be straight out of the Coronation Street rejects pile. Too many threads and characters to bond with any one of them and they ALL have tragic storylines or backgrounds. Yawn. This could be a Netflix series for all it's overwrought 'drama'.

 

[ctg]

I've watched the first two episodes and this could be straight out of the Coronation Street rejects pile. Too many threads and characters to bond with any one of them and they ALL have tragic storylines or backgrounds. Yawn. This could be a Netflix series for all it's overwrought 'drama'.

You are watching the series exactly as I was and feeling the same way. Next two episodes fixed it for me, while first two put me off.

 

[ctg]

Episode 5 is really pushing the invasion plot, so much so that it fixes a lot of earlier mistakes. The individual plot lines feel more solid, but there are a lot of questions that goes unanswered. It is a mystery, but it riles me wrong that the old school taboo and denial is so strong that it goes well past the first strike.

"What are you hiding?" A main character asks.

It is like with covid and the first thing is the truth. Nobody wants to voice, but when its out in the open, nobody knows what to really do. That is the drama. I know that the producers talked about getting influence from the War of Worlds and they wanted to show same elements in more modern times.

The thing I haven't seen is horror or rather the terror that the alien invaders cause to Earthers. Instead there is too much confusion and nobody knows nothing, because those who know says nothing and they are not part of the drama.

You could compare it to a slowly burning fuse and you wouldn't be wrong. The explosion comes with the revelation and then it's hard thing to find, as it seems that humans are on the losing side. Not that there could have been any other way.

Cool stuff, eh? Well, we have seen these coming and going ... time will tell if this is a strong series.

 

[Elckerlyc]

I quit after 3 episodes. I cannot connect to any of the individuals, who only seem to have problems with each other. There are some yet unexplained (as far as I could see) small scale incidents, but it are social problems what keeps the individuals concerned. Nothing so far about an invasion and how people would deal with that.
It is is indeed about an invasion, I do wonder why the aliens bother with small scale pinpricks. What's the objective?
DNF.

 

[ctg]

What's the objective?

Being scary?

 

[REBerg]

My patience is wearing thin. I want aliens, and I want them now!
More specifically, I want them to attack the school children and eat Monty. That's the least this series can pay me for my time investment.

 

[ctg]

I want aliens, and I want them now!
More specifically, I want them to attack the school children and eat Monty.

"We heard your call, where's the boy?"

To be honest, I too have been waiting for something to happen that little clown. To all of them, but the little ones keeps going no matter what. Then again I thought that cheating daddy-o would have bought it a long time ago, since there has been so many opportunities to commit an accident or four.

The one thing that is appealing to me is the horror angle. It is very well done, because it's making so many tensile moments. I literally feel for the characters, but there is no advice I can give as the aliens are so overwhelmingly powerful. All I can think is that when we get through this we are so much better on everything. Humanity will have lower numbers, but if they come out as a winner it's all good.

So I am rooting for the humans and not for the aliens.

 

[REBerg]

Spoiler: 1.06 Home Invasion

The good: 1. Finally! A direct encounter with an alien!
2. One story line got the whole episode.
3. Plenty of suspense and action.

The bad: 1. The lighting was so dark (at least on my set) that I couldn't get a good look at the beast.
2. What was a single alien doing, rummaging around in a house set in the middle of nowhere? Looking for snacks?
3. How is it that firearms couldn't stop the attack, yet an improvised knife did the trick?
4. The episode only ran about a half-hour.
5. Monty was not eaten.

I suspect that the creature implanted a larval offspring in the dad without killing him. It did not seem that home owners and the poor dog were so lucky.

 

[ctg]

Spoiler

What was a single alien doing, rummaging around in a house set in the middle of nowhere? Looking for snacks?

Yes, snacks. It was definitely a hungry one. Poor old lady was bony and tasted awful. Daddy-o same thing. Old guy a bit better, but nothing tastes as good as those sweet little kids. Buwahahaha.

3. How is it that firearms couldn't stop the attack, yet an improvised knife did the trick?

Because that metal is alien and it's poisonous on them. It kind of makes sense that they first drop these monsters and when they're finished with the business, they can be killed off ... leaving nice, cleared planet for the colonisation effort.

Besides it was third type of alien, one in the desert was a huge tripod, one in the hospital an alien dog and this one a blob.

Monty was not eaten.

Nom, Nom, Nom "Sorry boss, we're on it..."

 

[ctg]

Spoiler: 1.07 Hope

Daddy-o finally caught the reality. You get aliens material in your body and you're effed. What I'm expecting is turning or mutation or something similar because there has to be a reason for the alien stuff to remain alive inside the body. He is so lucky that wife is as skilled as she is, because he could have passed away.

The sergeant in the desert found a burned shell of those weird looking house invading aliens. So it is possible to kill them without using the alien metal. But he still couldn't comprehend the invasion. It didn't scare him, but it most certainly did confuse him a lot.

The kids. Monty didn't get run over, but they said they wanted to go back to London. It is as if they couldn't understand anything about the invasion, even though the evidence was on their face. I get a the shock, but why the denial when as if the aliens had been zombies, everything would have been okay. But since it's aliens, everyone are living in a denial.

I blame the taboo, the inability for us to seriously talk about what ifs and realities. The only saviour in this series is the Japanese Lady. She's like Clint Eastwood, rough, tough and take's no sh*t. The most surprising and at the same time most candid approach to the invasion was with the Afgan dad saying that his kids had only known invasion in their life. Nothing has changed to them.

Funny thing is that lady is the only one who is putting up a fight. She put her satellite station team to figure out that the orbiting aliens are part of the hive mind. But if that is the case then shouldn't there be many, many more aliens, like ants or bees.

I'm not expert, but the aliens: doggies, tripod, the worm are they part of the same species or are they part of advance force? Also what the hell Japanese government are trying to hide?

 

[REBerg]

Spoiler

Monty didn't get run over,

It looks as of they're trying to paint him as a victim of his upbringing. Considering that child psychologists and therapy sessions might be in short supply here, Monty's path to creephood doesn't matter to me. I still want him taken out, preferably in a very painful way.

Daddy-o finally caught the reality. You get aliens material in your body and you're effed. What I'm expecting is turning or mutation or something similar because there has to be a reason for the alien stuff to remain alive inside the body.

I'm betting on an Alien scenario. Breakfast, anyone?

if the aliens had been zombies, everything would have been okay. But since it's aliens, everyone are living in a denial.

Zombies are more dangerous than aliens in the early stages of the apocalypse. Walkers look like handicapped humans until one takes its first bite out of you. Even then, depending on what Universe you inhabit, you may not know how to put them down.

I'm not expert, but the aliens: doggies, tripod, the worm are they part of the same species or are they part of advance force?

The aliens encountered, thus far, appear to be some sort of predator species released by the invaders to clean up whatever their advanced weapons of mass destruction have missed. I don't think the brain bugs have slithered out of their ships yet.

 

[ctg]

Spoiler

The aliens encountered, thus far, appear to be some sort of predator species released by the invaders to clean up whatever their advanced weapons of mass destruction have missed. I don't think the brain bugs have slithered out of their ships yet.

"We are willing to give the boy a go, but we don't think it's going to be a thrilling experience..."

If this world would be anything like in Heinlein's vision they would have welcomed the invaders differently. More like how we vision of how the Spartan's welcomed the news of Xerxes forces landing on the beaches of Greek.

In those terms this world is very mellow and unable to put up a fight. Those spiky worms are a good example. They seem to be everywhere, and we are able to take them down, but everyone are just shocked and doing nothing. In this Kirkman's world terms this world is doomed and there's nothing they do to stop the invasion. Whole mentality is as if everything they see is normal.

Those kids that came back to London thought that it's business as usual, just because it has to be even though everything looks different. I was kind of surprised that they tried to deny the aliens, because there can't be aliens in the galaxy that has a trillion stars.

 

[REBerg]

Spoiler: 1.08 Contact

Contact? Not so much.
Mitsuki radios an assortment of video clips in the general direction of an assumed alien signal source in an effort to initiate communications and somehow save Humanity. How's that?
Is she expecting the aliens to respond with "Oh? You creatures can talk? Our bad. Sorry about all the death and destruction. We'll cease all hostilities this instant and move on. No hard feelings?'
Equally mystifying is Casper, who somehow believes his seizure-generated alien visions could have prevented the attack (and save his mum), had he revealed them in time.
No matter. He's sure that can still kick their butts, as soon as they're brave enough to come out and face him. No reason given.
The only glimmer of hope offered by this round is Casper and Trevante crossing paths in London, reducing the ongoing story lines to three. Maybe this will set a dizzying new pace by giving each story another 5 minutes of development.
Unless a second season has been approved or the remaining pair of episodes are significantly extended, this series will have a seriously telescoped finale.

 

[ctg]

Spoiler

They're pacing this slowly, never really revealing anything. It's like drip feeding and us the patient, don't have attention span for it. I'm pretty sure they could have more storylines, but they chose these because they've some specific thing in mind, where they need these characters.

 

[ctg]

Spoiler: S01E09 - Full of Stars

Bloody hell, the bloody xenomorphs abducted the astronaut and released her back. Man, should we assume that they did it in large scale during the invasion and that's why there's no people?

More amazing is that the lover abandoned the software radio and all the instruments tied to it to and ran to the squeaky, rasping hamset to have a conversation with the woman-in-space. If the Hollywood would not have dictated it, she would have done it on her laptop and possible checked the other instruments for extra data.

The mission is to help, not to have a "Dear John..." conversation. The atmosphere is only 100 km thick and you can sail through it in a space suit. So a jump from the edge is space is totally plausible but you are going to need parachutes and a ton of luck.

Biggest revelation was the request for "help." The US commander was puzzled by that fact. He could not fathom how a superior beings could cross the space and then play a trick like that when all we know is that it's a trap. His response to that was nuking.

We, the people, will never learn. By doing so, and exploding it near the atmosphere is going to cause an EMP. Maybe that's what the Overlords want?

Oh doctors, always in danger. Man, we have learned so well that in the apocalyptic type of scenarios the doctors are a valuable resource, and specialists especially so. The kids got so lucky that they found a functioning NHS hospital (not a private one) and the doctor was even willing to have a look, and then they threatened to shoot her.

"We got a gun," Tara said. In that point I just couldn't hold it in, it was too funny and her face is 10/10. Shamier was righteous for dissecting the doctor BS and telling her to "do whatever is needed."

I didn't expect her response to be the biggest torus MRI machine in the NHS history that's totally silent and then handing the control phase to the sarge. They also didn't strap Casper down but allowed him to convulse freely.

Thing is when you go to those tests they tie you to bed even if you are willing to go in it. "Be still" is something that they keep repeating you all the time. They also don't want any metal inside the machine, including wires that Casper has attached to his helmet.

In the story the weird boy gained an ability to tap into the xeno consciousness and it's kind of logical thing if he's a starchild. But thing is, I lost it when Sarge killed the monster with a casual propane bottle laying in the corridor.

Man, this series is ridiculous.

Hydrochloric acid caused a total structural collapse. How could the aliens be so weak when they're so strong otherwise? Is that the overlords method for wiping the vanguard xenomorphs by causing acid rain in global scale?

We know how to do that and ef everything very well, and effectively. But in the same time we'll cause another climate change that makes our atmosphere Venus like soup, where no life has so far been found.

It amazed me that the Pentagon ordered in the aftermath the family back into MRAP and not into a helicopter. More amazing is that the cowboys managed to blow a tire and cause it tumble. Seeing the marines getting beaten afterwards by hillbillies was depressing.

What the hell is the plot? I am so confused.