Invincible – Season 2 Episode 2 “In About Six Hours I Lose My Virginity to a Fish” Recap & Review

In About Six Hours I Lose My Virginity to a Fish

At the beginning of episode 2 of Invincible’s second season, it’s graduation day at RVJ High School, but Mark is missing from his seat next to Amber, Eve, and William. Mark fights a rematch against Doc Seismic at the Washington Monument. This time, he has giant magma friends to help him fight and destroy. Mark is able to sneak out a win despite a ton of damage to the famous obelisk. He gets back to the ceremony just in time. The four amigos share summer plans at Eve’s treehouse. Mark is rather separate, anxiously poised for duty.

The NASA-esque space force discusses Season 1’s mission to Mars, where ‘sequids’ are threatening to take over. Astronaut Rus, though, is one of these body-snatching, shape-shifting creatures. Eve helps cut through the red tape of city construction, helping Chicago rebuild from the Invincible vs Omni-Man fight. Debbie fails to relieve Mark’s anxiety over becoming like his father. Immortal and Dupli-Kate hook up, to Rex’s dismay.

Sequid Rus struggles with human behavior. Mark arrives at the cursed Midnight City in search of a revived Darkwing. It turns out that his assistant (“sidekick is degrading”), has taken up Darkwing’s mantle. He tries to leave Mark in a dark realm called ‘the shadowverse,’ but Mark traps the new Darkwing with him. Mark threatens that no one knows what he’s capable of, and that he could be like his father. Debbie criticizes Cecil over his arrangement with Mark. She’s surprised to see Donald, who died at Omni-Man’s hand.

Eve learns that her father works a minimum-wage job at ‘Burger Mart.’ She turns an apple into a 24-karat gold apple, but her father refuses to take it. Mark tries to give Amber a special lunch by flying to Vegas but is called to action by Cecil.

Under the Sea

In the wake of Omni-Man murdering Aquarus, Atlantean custom commands that Mark marry Aquarus’s widow to atone for the crime. Meanwhile, the Guardians get back into the action to fight the Lizard League. Sequid Rus emerges as a shape-shifting superhero. It so happens that Aquaria was the true ruler of Atlantis, and she’s done away with the old marriage customs. Instead… Mark faces trial by combat for his father’s sins. The Depth Dweller, Mark’s opponent, is humongous. Debbie has a tough day selling a house to a couple with an angry, controlling husband. She’s sent home after remarking, “She’s not your pet.”

Mark requires backup to escape the Depth Dweller. After he’s home-free, the beast begins slaughtering the Atlantean people. He decides at this moment that he’s not his father, and rushes back to help with renewed strength. He’s still pulled into the depths and manages an unseen, narrow escape to the surface. Cecil counts him lucky. Donald doesn’t realize he’s a clone.

Eve’s dad shares the other side’s perspective of her work in Chicago. Because of her actions, the condemned areas she rebuilt collapsed into unstable ground the city had cordoned off. Debbie, confronted with the metaphor of the broken cabinet door, rips it from the wall. Not even Mark can console her. Shapesmith reveals his fake origin story over images of sequids escaping Mars. The Supreme Lizard is killed by a loyalist to King Lizard. In the epilogue, Angstrom leaves a captured, evil Mark to be dealt with by female versions of Cecil and Donald.

The Episode Review

Invincible may not be the most original storytelling out there. It is, however, stylistically its own. Episode two opens in a bit true to the likes of Spiderman. The show’s signature brand of humor allows the Doc Seismic fight to deliver more laughs than jaw-dropping action. Mark’s final blow is gorgeous, and his future seems like it could be bright.

The name drop, as usual at this point, is well-delivered. The new scheme is now fully revealed. Where last season’s blood splattered on Invincible’s fledgling name, the whole title is now chipping away like broken glass, or the charred flakes of forging steel. The black and red breaking away to blue and black letters feels emblematic of Mark chipping away his father’s dark legacy while not hiding from its reality. 

There are a ton of threads to pull on, and each one unfolds with grace. The visual motifs of this episode are strong, consistent, and consequential. There are monuments, buildings, monsters, and Mark himself, all sinking into the ground. The rebuilt cabinet door and mailbox being poor, malfunctioning reconstructions speaks to everyone’s efforts to move on from the unimaginable.

Sequid Rus (eventually Shapesmith) is another effective use of the show’s comedic sensibilities. It’s a classic fish out of water bit that hones self-awareness. It feels less like Marvel humor, and perhaps more like One Punch Man humor, simultaneously using and critiquing many of its genre’s classic tropes.

Eve’s storyline is intimate, albeit seemingly a bit rushed. It really helps to watch her spinoff feature. It adds the necessary depth and context to truly appreciate the pace and deeper nature of her conflict with her parents. Her story, and her powers, are maybe the most original and exciting superhero elements told in a while.

Magmatic Emotion

Mark’s battle in the shadowverse feels like another echo of Star Wars. In this darkly spiritual place, Mark taps into the anger within the connection to his father’s evil. The references are all front and center, but there are so many developing plot points, and they’re all woven together with coordination and cohesion.

Debbie’s placement in this episode elevates this from a fresh and clever superhero world to a poignant drama of epic proportions. Sandra Oh’s performance is gut-wrenching, and the animation is seamlessly beautiful.

Both her and Mark go on a journey of sinking into the ground along with the hollow reconstructions of their lives in the wake of losing Nolan. Debbie’s climactic outburst shows that the potential for anger is something that people just go through, rather than some trait inherited by one parent or the other. They struggled well towards satisfying conclusions.

For Mark, it was deciding to value all life and live by his own principles. For Debbie, it was more about accepting help and fighting the feeling of inequity. It’s a difficult journey, but they ultimately show through their actions that they are trying to rebuild together.

Ben Schwartz, Tatiana Maslany, and Cliff Curtis feature smaller roles in this well-casted, smartly written, solidly animated episode. The sheer quality and depth of consideration for all the elements put Invincible squarely above most of the superhero shoes and films of recent years.